Well, I guess it's been about 2-1/2 years since I've written anything here. A lot has happened, mostly good, if you can believe that, but yeah, mostly good.
I've been living in Lake Tahoe and Carson City the past three years, and have been working a heavy schedule for most of that time, making some decent money, and enjoying for the most part. There are, though, the usual suspects, venue owners with egotistical motives, who would do their damnedest to punish me for doing things they cannot do, and god forbid, and for getting a little (or maybe a lot) too much attention - attention that has a less than pleasant effect on their body parts. There are the usual musicians with the same affliction. For the most part, though, I've done well in spite of all of it.
A few weeks ago, I decided to see what the music scene was like in Las Vegas. I contacted an agent a week or so ago, and after "Call me tomorrow, call me Tuesday", I finally landed a face to face with a "Bruce". I get there, and Bruce takes me to meet "Frank". Bruce seems to be a nice enough guy - kinda nondescript, 40 something. Frank, on the other hand, is the typical 60 year old grey haired guy, kinda homely, resentment just glaring out from every pore of his body. This is the guy who has spent X amount of years trying to make a connection with listeners, but never been able to, can't play or sing his way out of a wet paper bag, and is angry at any person he crosses paths with who may have some amount of talent, and has actually worked at his craft. He proceeds to tell me how much he loves MIDI, and, that while I'm a "Great player", he "Doesn't know what opportunities there are for me", because I don't do any Ed Sheeran, Dave Mathews, or any of a few other modern day "Artists". While I usually clam up I situations such as this, trying to be polite and non belligerent, and being caught off guard, this time I actually spoke up on my own behalf. I managed to tell him how much I hated MIDI, how "Computer generated music is just wrong", that "You music biz types think you know what works, but ya don't", and that "There is no way in hell I will ever sell out". He didn't have much to say while I was saying my piece, which is surprising, because they usually cut me off in mid sentence, and become very dismissive. While I did manage to say most of what I wanted, the bad part is that this ignorant, self righteous numbskull gets to decide whether I work or not, so, needless to say, I will not be working in any of the casinos that he works with. I hadn't planned to stay in Vegas anyway, but the point is made. For the record, I will never do anything - musically or otherwise, that will insult my integrity. Guys like this, they see my videos, my website, and they are instantly enraged, and will do anything to try to insult me, belittle me, to try to make me feel small, try to convince me that I'm doing it all wrong. I've had people trying this BS all my life - from the time I was eight years old, and pretty much straight time from then until now; and for whatever reason, I've never doubted me, never felt small, never felt inadequate or inferior. I never decided I must be that way, it's just who I am, I guess.
So, after this encounter, seeing once again that the business continues to be infested with this kind of person, and after being fed up with the business side of music for at least twenty years, I finally see, without any reservations, that it's time to get out. I have two other avenues to get onto, one is a passion that I've been entertaining (no pun intended), and have dabbled in on two different occasions, and the other is simply something that will generate some income. Neither involves working for some piece of shit company who would use my hard work to fill their bank account at my expense.
Ah well, just another episode of life that glaringly illustrates just how fucked up this once great country, this world, actually is; with the human race being the biggest perpetrator.
See ya next time.
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