FROM THE DESK OF SAMUEL Z.

This is a simple question to ask, so I might as well as it: what is the difference between the words play and work? In the English language both words could go to stand for the content of what we produce on a stage, depending on who is in the audience that night and how much say they have in whether or not we do it all again the following night. Really, it could go either way.

But -- really -- which is it?

I want to think that it's work because that validates what I do somewhat. It gives me an answer to the person who asks, "What do you do for work?" Also, if it isn't work, then what reason exists that I should allow it to take up so much of my time and energy? A person should not occupy him or herself primarily with anything but work. And why would anyone come to watch me play?

But then who would come to watch me work? Unless I was some great ice sculptor with some great, bulging arm muscles. More and more I wish I could have studied ice sculpting in grade school, and here I will resist the cliché about ice sculpture programming in our nation's schools.

A month ago, at a house show where I had followed my roommate Leor, I think I may have figured it out. Taking note of the small audience's reaction, it seemed all very clear that work and play have a very close relationship when referring to music. The audience may have been small, but their reaction was large and positive. That is, to my mind, a willingness to sit on the floor without chairs or cushions and listen quietly to someone's guitar songs is a hugely positive reaction. It made me gleeful to see such patience practiced by members of the generation that invented On Demand Cable Television. It made me wonder if such patience could be mined y an artist working in the theater (meaning, of course, myself). Additionally, it made me wonder how many of these On Demand Generationers use semi-colons on a regular basis. That is not pertinent to my point, but it's true I did wonder it.

Most music shows I've been to, comfort has taken second fiddle to the watching of art, under the assumption (at least I assume that someone has assumed this) that the audience members like the music enough and/or are young enough that they will forget about their discomfort entirely. Oppositely, play theaters assume an older audience that will not stand for discomfort. They require cushiony chairs with cup holders (I have seen this) and armrests. So there is not much work that goes into viewing a piece of theater -- by this I only mean to say that an audience will not put up with much in order to view a playgroup they want to see. There is no production of the Bacchae good enough that I would stand through three hours to see.

But meanwhile, how is it fair that jam bands garner audiences willing to endure crowding, suffocating heat, bad weather (if outdoors), etc. if only to see them play?