Donny, most musician/entertainers don't drop dead on stage. The vast majority die after suffering debilitating illnesses, some that may last up to a decade before that final day arrives. Of all the musician/entertainers I know, and I know a lot of them, only one dropped dead on the job - Jimmy McKinney, which was a forum member and good friend. Jimmy was a great keyboard player, and an outstanding sax player. Jimmy shoved every dime he made into his pocket, (most of his jobs were cash), then went about finding new ways to piss it away. He never put a penny in the bank, never figured on retiring, and he didn't. When he died, his wife was slammed with debt that she never knew existed. There were bills that came in from places she never heard of, and when he departed this wonderful world, he left her with more than a quarter-million in unpaid bills. He had a dozen credit cards that were in both names, but she never knew that, and they were all maxed out. He had no life insurance, no retirement, no bank account, and lived the high life right up till the end.

Now, NOTHING - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, in this world is free. Someone pays for everything. Even love isn't free. Remember the free love of the 70s? We're still paying for that one. There is NO free ride! Someone, somewhere, pays the tab for everything in this world. Hell, you can't even die for free - the funeral industry is a huge enterprise, one that makes a killing on people dying of natural causes. In this instance, I'm going to cheat the bastards, though. My carcass will be donated to the University Of Maryland School of Medicine. When they're finished with me, they'll cook me down to a box of ashes and send me home.

So, judging from your response above, can I assume that you have not set up an IRA? I sincerely hope you have, if for no other reason, for your family's sake when you take the dirt nap. Dying ain't cheap.

Gary