So that I wouldn’t seem incompetent, I prepared for our first rehearsal by playing bass along with Bangles CDs on the boombox in my kitchen.

I had four weeks to learn two hours of songs. Now I was going to stand in as a Bangle, and I hadn’t played onstage in 23 years. They broke up in 1989 and reunited in 2000. I had spent most of the 1980s learning ancient languages and studying for doctoral exams they had spent most of the ‘80s riding the top of the charts and touring the world. Two years after I left, the band members, along with their new bass player, changed their name to the Bangles. The band had not lanquished in obscurity. I began to doubt my sanity a day or two later, after my name was listed on the website announcing the benefit show, and after I removed my bass from hibernation and played some uncertain scales. Besides, I often wondered if I could still play.

These are not everyday occurrences for most of us of course I wanted to do it. To feel the drums pound through their feet, see the checkerboard pattern of faceless heads in the audience, stand in a spotlight, hear the applause. I know a lot of former rock musicians who are thriving in all kinds of straight jobs-art directors, teachers, academics, lawyers, salesmen-and I bet any of them would jump at a chance like this. But in saying yes, I wasn’t just doing them a favor. So what was I doing last year when I agreed to play with my former band? My band members and I had remained close friends over the years, and now the bass player was taking a break. Just four weeks later I was attending graduate school in London. After the show that night I tucked my bass guitar into its case, rolled up my power cords and walked across a parking lot to my car. The last time I was onstage was in 1981, playing with my band-at that time called the Colours-in a crowded, smoky L.A. It has been more than two decades since I considered myself to be a rock musician. I spend my days grading blue books, leading discussions about Hammurabi and chasing references in obscure journals. First I should explain that I’m a history professor.

Ancient Mesopotamia by Amanda H. Podany