{"id":671,"date":"2021-04-13T13:38:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T18:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomic-temporary-59915401.wpcomstaging.com\/?p=671"},"modified":"2025-04-16T18:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T18:17:16","slug":"rock-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/angshu-purkait-cS1jMUcrnNE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-915\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@angshu_purkait?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Angshu Purkait<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/a-man-playing-a-guitar-in-a-black-and-white-photo-cS1jMUcrnNE?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">I\u2019m standing backstage, just behind the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Onstage the opening act is hitting their final number. The crowd is whipped up into a frenzy. The band eats it up. They\u2019re young. They haven\u2019t been sucked dry. There\u2019s still some soul left in them. Pieces of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Not me. I\u2019m buzzing. I hit it hard right before I go onstage. Something to carry me through. I\u2019ve been at this so much longer. I can\u2019t remember\u2026 How long ago did I start this nightmare? I remember it started as a dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Fame. Fortune. My name on the billboards. My songs on the lips of others. My songs\u2014that was true once. Myself\u2014that was true once, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Now nothing is mine\u2014not my name, not my music, not my privacy&#8230;not my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">I am no one. I am nothing. I am sucked dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">I am fueled by nicotine, pharmaceuticals, sex, pain\u2026 Anything that will tell me I\u2019m alive. But I am not\u2014I am the walking dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">I\u2019m sorry that the young band on the stage will endure what I have endured. If they were smart, they\u2019d drop out before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">If I were smart, I\u2019d drop out. But it is too late. There is nothing left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The crowd roars and the band bows and walks off the stage triumphantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">It\u2019s my turn\u2014meat for the feast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m standing backstage, just behind the curtain. Onstage the opening act is hitting their final number. The crowd is whipped up into a frenzy. The band eats it up. They\u2019re young. They haven\u2019t been sucked dry. There\u2019s still some soul left in them. Pieces of themselves. Not me. I\u2019m buzzing. I hit it hard right [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[17,30,50,52,53],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microfiction","category-prompted-writing","tag-amwriting","tag-lovewriting","tag-writersofinstagram","tag-writingsprint","tag-writingsprintchallenge"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rock Star - Huff Himself<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rock Star - Huff Himself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019m standing backstage, just behind the curtain. Onstage the opening act is hitting their final number. The crowd is whipped up into a frenzy. The band eats it up. They\u2019re young. They haven\u2019t been sucked dry. There\u2019s still some soul left in them. Pieces of themselves. Not me. I\u2019m buzzing. I hit it hard right [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Huff Himself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-13T18:38:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-16T18:17:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/angshu-purkait-cS1jMUcrnNE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael L Huff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael L Huff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/\",\"name\":\"Rock Star - Huff Himself\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/angshu-purkait-cS1jMUcrnNE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-13T18:38:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-16T18:17:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1df14aa44938b969e697821a8eaee23e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rock Star\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Huff Himself\",\"description\":\"A Man and His Words\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1df14aa44938b969e697821a8eaee23e\",\"name\":\"Michael L Huff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926deec7fc18a82226460e41ea109a8c2d36c2d415a5b3b9a6d74937bf8be27e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926deec7fc18a82226460e41ea109a8c2d36c2d415a5b3b9a6d74937bf8be27e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael L Huff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/author\/huffster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rock Star - Huff Himself","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/huffhimself.com\/blog\/rock-star\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rock Star - Huff Himself","og_description":"I\u2019m standing backstage, just behind the curtain. 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