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Mike Notter (currently with the bands Motopony and Hannalee) used to be in a band with a bunch of other window washers (Shim). Back then, cleaning windows was just a day job, something he did with his buddies before they started band practice at night. After Mike grew up and started a band and a family of his own, he learned how much the job had to teach him.

Emily Westman (of the band Sisters) came out to Seattle without a reason, without a plan. The band she'd traveled from Florida with broke up before they even got here. Without a friend's couch to crash on, she built a new life from Craigslist ads, playing music with every band that would take her, earning money painting houses and playing piano in the Space Needle restaurant. All that exploration helped Emily develop a unique musical voice and a fresh perspective on an old friend.

Day Job Season 2 is coming! I've had a lot of work with KUOW recently, and haven't been able to work on these as often as I'd like. But this Day Job series is a passion project for me, something I think about all the time. Click on the play button above to hear a preview of the forthcoming Season 2 of Day Job.

Tom Baisden is all about kids. He raises them, he teaches them, and as lead guitarist for The Not-Its!, he hops around on stage like a birthday clown for them. To reach kids, "you've got to have a shtick," explains Tom. It's a lesson he's learned from years of teaching special ed. But embracing that shtick isn't always easy. Especially when a buddy from Tom's old punk rock days came to watch a show. The friend stood in the back row behind mirrored sunglasses. He wore special grin on his face that said: "What the heck are you doing?"

Ben Todd restores guitars for The Trading Musician in Seattle's Roosevelt neighborhood. And he's become deeply embedded in the local music scene. But it took four years living in the New Mexico wilderness and the shooting at Cafe Racer next door for him to recognize how much he valued the community around him.

Ivan Gálvez plays timbales with the Seattle band Picoso. But what I want to know is... with all the fancy medical equipment at his day job, can he read my mind?

RA Scion is a musician who's always had day jobs working with his hands. Physical labor, he says, inspires his music and connects him to the work of his ancestors back in the tobacco fields of Kentucky. In 2007, he used to blow leaves, walk dogs and wash cars as the maintenance guy for an elite condominium building in Seattle's Capitol Hill Neighborhood. This bonus episode includes a profile of RA Scion dating from 2007. It was part of an experiment that ran 11 episodes over two years on Seattle Weekly's website.

Kari Kirkland stands on a narrow platform high above the ground. As a trapeze instructor, her job is to convince students to jump off that platform. Kari says that's especially difficult for people whose jobs require them to stay in control. But when it comes to her musical career, Kari needs a bit of coaxing herself to let go.

Chris Cunningham fronts the Seattle band Ravenna Woods. He looks the part, too, with a lip ring, skinny jeans and facial hair. What he doesn't look like is a paralegal. That became a problem one day when the firm partners unexpectedly asked him to meet a client face to face.

Lesli Wood has achieved almost every goal she's set for herself. She's a professional lawyer. And her band, The Redwood Plan, has played to big crowds at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival. She chalks it all up to a "ruthless" work ethic and good planning. But there was one thing that didn't fit into Lesli's plan. A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. And it's caused her to redefine what it means to succeed in music... and in her day job.

Kennith Darling played bass with The Trouble Starts. That is, he used to, until the band broke up. "I feel like I lost three really close friends," he said. But Kennith had a restaurant to manage, and the biggest night of the year was fast approaching. There's nothing to take your mind off personal problems like selling pies to math nerds on Pi Day.

Seattle's Matt Watson performs as a rapper and producer under the name Spekulation. He used to hate his day job slinging espresso. But after being outed as the cynical "Bitter Barista," Matt gave espresso another shot. At a tiny Beacon Hill coffee shop called The Station, Matt found just how meaningful the customer-barista relationship can be.