Soccer Dad

Rockers with second acts

Just in case you think that rock musicians are simply wastrels, who add nothing (of substance) to society it's good to know that there are some who have expanded their horizons beyond music and showmanship. For example there's Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, who is now an Anti terror adviser to the government.

From the original article

His defense work began in the 1980s, when it occurred to him that much of the hardware and software being developed for military use, like data-compression algorithms and large-capacity storage devices, could also be used for recording music. Mr. Baxter's next-door neighbor, a retired engineer who worked on the Pentagon's Sidewinder missile program, bought him a subscription to an aviation magazine, and he was soon reading a range of military-related publications.

Mr. Baxter began wondering whether existing military systems could be adapted to meet future threats they weren't designed to address, a heretical concept for most defense thinkers. In his spare time, he wrote a five-page paper on a primitive Tandy computer that proposed converting the military's Aegis program, a ship-based antiplane system, into a rudimentary missile-defense system.

On a whim, he gave the paper to a friend from California, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. To Mr. Baxter's surprise, the congressman took it seriously, and the idea proved to be prescient: Aegis missile-defense systems have done well in tests, and the Navy says it will equip at least one ship with the antimissile system by the end of the year.

Then there's Queen's Brian May, who handed in and received his PhD thesis in astronomy.

Queen guitarist Brian May has handed in his astronomy PhD thesis - 36 years after abandoning it to join the band.

May recently carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation of "zodiacal dust clouds".

The subject forms the basis of a 48,000-word thesis for Imperial College, London, where 60-year-old May studied before becoming a rock star.

"It's been the longest gap year ever," May said. "It was a tough decision back then to leave my studies for music."

But the star said that at the time, his "passion for music was stronger".

There were some mixed feelings though.

"I have no doubt that Brian May would have had a brilliant career in science had he completed his PhD in 1971," said astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian, who worked with May in La Palma.

"Nevertheless, as a fan of Queen, I am glad that he left science temporarily," he added.

(h/t Secular Blasphemy,

He is now officially Dr. May as he blogged. He defended his thesis for nearly 3 hours and got a "category 2" grade, which is not quite the top category.

(h/t Don Surber)

And the lead guitarist of Blue Oyster Cult reads Powerline! (OK I know it's not quite on the same level, but apparently Don't fear the Reaper helped someone get his doctorate. Well sort of.)

Given such accomplishments who could possibly have said

"Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

Oh, right that was a rock star, Alice Cooper.

Of course not all rockers have turned out so well. There's George Michael with a string of arrests going back further than I care to remember. And Boy George who just got into a bit of a row over a community service sentence he was fulfilling.

And horror of horrors John Hall of Orleans is now serving time - in Congress.

I guess that not all musicians become productive citizens in the end.

rock musicians.