Facing 70: A Musician Leaves the Tech World Behind to Stock Shelves
A job with less pressure and more time for creativity suits this Boston resident
It was January 2020 when singer-songwriter Craig Sonnenfeld last did a live performance. It was at the Boston area's legendary and beloved Burren Irish Pub in Davis Square in Somerville.
The pandemic has also forced Sonnenfeld to suspend occasional gigs at The Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord, a medium security prison for men, where he played four times and, of course, had to play "Folsom Prison Blues."
Another relatively new venue for Sonnenfeld that's fallen aside due to the pandemic is playing for residents of a private mental health facility.
But as his 70 birthday approaches on March 21, Sonnenfeld is comfortable with his choices of what to keep and what to leave behind.
He's left behind his 33-year-long data processing career in the financial field, including jobs at Sun Life, Voya, State Street and Fidelity.
Ask him if he misses that work and he breaks into laughter.
"No."
Then more seriously…
"I don't need the pressure anymore," he says. "The deadlines. Being woken up at two or three o'clock in the morning to log on and fix software or contact other people to do it."
"I said, 'Thank you very much' and the next day I started at Target."
He interviewed for a high-pressure job in IT three years ago and got an offer.
"I said,' Thank you very much' and the next day I started at Target. I knew I was making the right decision and I never looked back."
A Good Move
Sonnenfeld works at the Target across the street from the home he shares with his wife of 36 years, Susan, near Fenway Park in Boston. They have a 31-year-old daughter.
He admits they live in one of the most expensive ZIP codes in the country, but says his wife is working, remotely from home during the pandemic, and he gets Social Security and a small pension from one of his jobs. The IT salary has been left behind, but Sonnenfeld says they're doing OK and, "money isn't everything."
These days, he wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and walks across the street to Target to start work at 6 or a bit later, depending on his schedule.
"At first, my job was in the grocery section as a 'food and beverage expert'," says Sonnenfeld. That included unloading trucks and taking meat into the freezer kept at 12 below zero. Now he has a different position that includes a touch of technology.
"I use a digital device, so my computer experience comes in handy. I have to find the location of items and change prices. I guess now my job is 'general merchandising expert,'" he says.
Sonnenfeld laughs again, talking about the variety of the merchandise. "I unload trucks in the morning, everything from toys to toilet paper," he notes.
Working through the pandemic, with a protective mask and latex gloves, he says he's made some good friends at Target. They're very careful and socially distance. He says he's been lucky to stay healthy, too. He has five cousins in Philadelphia who've had COVID-19 and, thankfully, recovered.
After sitting at a desk for 33 years, Sonnenfeld has discovered that the Target job keeping him on his feet all day is good for his health.
"I feel like physically, it's put me in fairly good shape. I feel very good," he says. "I can understand people stuck at home, cooped up, and going stir crazy through this. Once I started being active and got used to it, now it's hard for me to imagine not being physically active."
Focusing on Enjoying the Future
High pressure IT jobs and sitting at a desk for decades are left behind.
Music stays.
Sonnenfeld started playing guitar in a band as a teenager. Then he went a more solo route and studied finger-picking style guitar with well-known folk and blues artist Philadelphia Jerry Ricks.
Thinking about turning 70, he says, "I feel like I've wasted a lot of time being cynical and negative."
I first met Sonnenfeld more than a decade ago when I was a volunteer DJ doing a folk music radio show in Providence, R.I. I heard him play at the tiny Brooklyn Coffee Tea House. He had released his first CD. He told me he had taken his guitar out of the closet and "dusted it off." It was in that closet from the time he was in his 20s until he was about 50.
Once he started playing again, Sonnenfeld loaded his schedule with gigs around New England. He's recorded seven CDs.
During the pandemic, he's played a few Zoom concerts and would like to get back to what he enjoys, playing in front of an audience.
"I'm also looking forward to being able to travel again to Europe and other parts of the U.S. without having to worry about COVID," Sonnenfeld says.
Thinking about turning 70, he adds, "I feel like I've wasted a lot of time being cynical and negative. I'm still cynical and negative, but now when I wake up, I try at least to focus on what pleasant memories I have.
"I am getting older so, obviously," he laughs, "death is in the future."
"Fortunately, I've made it to this age, so better appreciate each day, good friends and my family. And good music."
