#899882 - 09/15/09 11:51 PM
Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15066
Loc: CA
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couple thoughts on artists and day jobs. Not going into how much they eat up the time for the art, we all know that. But thinking about what happens when the artist becomes good at their day job? What if they even add their artist soul to it? Probably artists are frequently good at the day job. Have they now entered into a sticky web? Would they have been better off to suck and be miserable at the day job so that it wouldn't take any of their artist soul?
I don't know. I'm kind of good at my day job, and so I continue with it year by year until years become decades.
On the other side, I feel like if you have paid the price of the day job, shouldn't you view yourself as a free soul as an artist? I mean, in some ways, shouldn't the artists with the day jobs be the more radical of artists I don't have to toe any lines if my bills are already paid. I can be as experimental as I feel like, and I do it completely from the need to do art, from freedom.
Yet, so much of the music made by the day job crowd seems to be so completely conventional, almost hyper-conventional.
I don't have any particular point... just stuff I've been thinking about. The second thought is one of my favorite thoughts> I like to remind myself that I bought myself artistic freedom by paying my bills another way. I don't have to do any particular thing about my music. I just can seek out what it is I feel would fascinate me.
And all in all, I do really dig that aspect of the day job.
But I'd drop it in a second...
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#900094 - 09/16/09 05:50 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Tao Jones]
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virtualan
Planeteer
Registered: 08/26/04
Posts: 14958
Loc: Sauchie, Scotland, UK
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I connected with your last 4 statements.
I think recognition, sense of achievement and enjoyment play a big part of the power/force that drives both pursuits.
I too have thought about it in the past. I see it as a triad of forces that one has to balance: Social, Career and Self. Venture too far off towards any one and the others suffer. The best of all three worlds are best developed together in balance.
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#900107 - 09/16/09 06:07 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: virtualan]
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calypso
Planeteer
Registered: 07/22/05
Posts: 2404
Loc: mid-Missouri
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I used to have a career - work that I really liked. Problem was, it wasn't the ONLY thing I liked and it took every minute of my life.
Now I have a "day job". I don't like the work much, but it leaves more time for all the other things I want to do.
I guess those who have just one passion and are able to live it full time are blessed. But don't most of us have at least a few interests that we'd like to pursue? I get tired of music sometimes, and I'm glad it isn't my whole life.
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#900109 - 09/16/09 06:19 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: calypso]
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glensimonds
Planeteer
Registered: 12/14/02
Posts: 19626
Loc: Brooklyn Park, MN
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i connected with the first paragragh they call me a superstar, a machine and even a freak of nature  due to i sell as much as 3 poeple and mu commissions show it, but my artist side is definitly suffering, i think of writing palying recording alot of times at work, when i get home i feel to tired to walk down the stairs i am also caught in a trap here at work i cannot walk out of, if i was to leave i could not get a job paying what i make hourly much less the commisson which often is as much or more than the hourly
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#900127 - 09/16/09 06:44 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: DAGtunes]
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Doug C
Planeteer/Artist # 78
Planeteer
Registered: 01/06/03
Posts: 10921
Loc: Clayton, California
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Because of work, I rarely get much music going on during the week. Just don't have enough juice left at the end of the workday. That said, when I do get some time off, I usually fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
_________________________
Doug C
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#900130 - 09/16/09 06:49 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Tao Jones]
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DAGtunes
Planeteer
Registered: 11/29/07
Posts: 7590
Loc: San Clemente, CA
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...On the other side, I feel like if you have paid the price of the day job, shouldn't you view yourself as a free soul as an artist? I mean, in some ways, shouldn't the artists with the day jobs be the more radical of artists I don't have to toe any lines if my bills are already paid. I can be as experimental as I feel like, and I do it completely from the need to do art, from freedom.
Yet, so much of the music made by the day job crowd seems to be so completely conventional, almost hyper-conventional...
"Art" is in the eye of the beholder. Just because something does not strike YOU, or even the bulk of people, as "radical," is it not still an act of expression or creativity?
As for "conventional" music, if that's the medium one is working in, then it's totally appropriate. Oftentimes, "radical" art is too smart for the audience.
Speaking strictly for myself (and who else would I speak for?), I created most (if not all) of my music for my own personal experession. But I cannot deny that the artists who influenced me, and who's art also managed to express my feelings, didn't work it's way into my "artistic palette," or even provide an "outline" for my own compositions.
In other words, sometimes "conventions" just work. Sometimes trying to outsmart "conventions" just doesn't sound as good.
As a matter of fact, while typing this, some of my Harmony classes from college are coming back to my mind, and recalling that "conventions" is a classical term having to do with the standards for composition. Cadences, tension/release, chord-formulas, etc. Back in that era it was almost sacraligious to step outside of those boxes.
While I don't agree with that strict a mentality, I do sometimes hear songs where it seems people stick in "odd" chord changes "just to be different" that to my ear are jarring, or do not work very well.
To each his own, I guess... 
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#900144 - 09/16/09 07:27 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: DAGtunes]
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SnappinGyro
Planeteer
Registered: 02/06/05
Posts: 2977
Loc: Detroit
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I resemble all of the above.
I am glad that there are others like me.
I am mad that it has been brought to my attention...again.
Another "10 years has got behind" and what's left of my youth are "plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines".
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#900292 - 09/17/09 04:43 AM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: SnappinGyro]
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Popmann
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 05/23/02
Posts: 33090
Loc: Twangville, TN
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Convention is in the eye of the beholder. Is the perceived safeness of the material what you object to? I can say a lot of things about VS Planetary radio...I'm not sure that hyperconventional would be one. Exceptions, certainly--although all a judgement call. Cliche is cliche for a reason--it works. In fact, I would venture that without musical convention, there is no meaningful departure from. What do you call a song with no hook and lyrics no one understands with a staggered beat unintentionally in 5/4 with a chromatic chord progression? Answer: no one's listened long enough to care to give it a name.
I have an interesting twist on this, as someone who left a career (if you could really call it that) working in the studio doing arrangements for shitty songwriters and engineering for shitty bands BECAUSE I loved music so much, and saw it draining my love. I will never really know if it was the right call or not. Hindsight is a bitch of a perspective to look through sometimes. But, it was the best call I knew how to make.
...so, I have a day job NOT in the music biz. And listening, learning, performing, and recording music is my life's passion. Is my music conventional? I suppose that kinda depends on how you define define convention. Do you draw the line in yin and yang...Paul and John? Anti convention IS a convention. Very much. Just filled with less self honesty. 
I think what's uniform is that weekend musicians aren't as good at what they do as, well...some chunk of people who do it for a living (although certainly not all). Side effect of environment. You get good at what you spend time doing--less than what you care most about doing. Sometimes, I think the caring is a bit of a detriment to progress. Spend 50 hours a week doing something you could give to shits about and have zero emotional investment in...THAT is a quick way to get good at something.
I'm babbling now. I just got back from Wicked. Talk about some fabulous instruments and composition. Holy shit. Tight band. And clever. And funny. If there just wasn't all that gay ass dancing.  I should probably go to bed. Meant to post today, but you know-I was busy excelling at something I could give a shit about. Tomorrow, I'll work from here because I'm having the piano tuned again. A guy's got to have priorities, you know?
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#900315 - 09/17/09 07:35 AM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Popmann]
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kid-surf
Planeteer
Registered: 09/21/99
Posts: 14908
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Seems like you guys have the day job aspect covered so I'll speak to what I know...As I've never had a 9-5 day job.
All I know is that there's no way in hell I'd be in the position I'm in now had my soul been drained by a day job all these years. I say "drained" because I know for certain that there is no day job in existence which would fulfill me the way creation does. And...creation is a full-time job for someone in my shoes. Thus, there's not much time left over for much else. I honestly can't imagine where a day-jobber gets the energy to create, maybe Pop answered that question.
I was talking to my buddy the other week, a day-jobber musician who is somewhat stunted in his approach. He want's to write/record more than he does. He's also trying to write his first screenplay. He wants to be a pro. ---- He read a book called War of Art. Called me, had an epiphany reading it, told me about a section which mentioned that a pro creates even when it's the last thing in the world they want to be doing at that moment - and that what they create in that state is REALLY good. He told me this as if it would be enlightening to me, too.
I told him that this has been my life for the last 10 years+, that it's no surprise to me, that I don't always FEEL like creating but I push through it and create almost every day of the week - which is how I got good at it - got good at creating quality when I'm totally not in the mood and far from inspired. I told him that when you're a pro you can't wait around for inspiration, that inspiration follows action in the professional arena. That, in the professional arena nobody cares (fans - reps) if you weren't in the mood to do your absolute best that day, they EXPECT your absolute best at every step - that this is how one is afforded a CAREER.
...I told him that being a newish pro is not about you doing your very best, but you outdoing guys you admire, guys you're intimidated by, your fucking creative heros, beating them, or at the very least, matching them. That there's not enough dollars to go around for everyone, which is why it's so damn hard to have a "career" as an artist. I told him that what you assume is your very best is often not good enough to those industry folks who choose to represent you because they believe in your tremendous talent above countless others. That, being a pro is constantly having to outdo the benchmark you just set for yourself. That as soon as you say "I've finally done it!" that now it's time to top that, almost immediately, and while you're still not over the mental exhaustion of the last project - then - once again, and again, and again. That this is what the industry expects of you, and it's what a fan base will expect of you. That this is what a pro IS/DOES. That your hang ups and self-doubt are the least of your worries at that point. That soon your work will be ripped to shreds by critics and lay people who can't do what you do, or they would, especially considering what you're getting paid (what a small house costs per project - or MUCH more). That these people will be PISSED if you do not continually blow them away...and that they absolutely deserve to be. Because if you can't do that, you should NOT be doing this, the guys who can, should. I told him that you will rarely hear what you've done right/well, even though you are outdoing 99% of those seeking to do the same thing, as the focus is always on what can be "fixed" or "bettered", leaving little time to praise you. I told him that even if you succeed beyond anything you could fathom, that you have a 100% guarantee that you will eventually fail in what will be perceived as failing in a BIG way - where all your past victories are brought under the microscope and questioned, publicly. As if you'd never done any of it. That you're always only as good as your last project. That your worth as an artist will be in constant question on a very public platform. After all, THAT'S THE JOB.
I ultimately told him that it is an absolutely daunting prospect and definitely not for everyone.
...But that, for those few fans you DO connect with, that it's probably just enough to let you know that you "weren't fucking crazy, that you could connect with people on that level". That this, perhaps, is what makes years/decades of sacrificing mind, body and soul...worth it.
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#900372 - 09/17/09 03:19 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: kid-surf]
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Waterman
Artist # 435
Planeteer
Registered: 02/20/02
Posts: 6817
Loc: Atlantic Beach, Florida
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Very cool topic Tao!
I've never had a day job that I liked, just a means to pay the bills!
I have, a couple of times in my life made a living with music, absolutely the best times of my life!
I'm somewhere in between right now. I work for myself doing lawns and landscaping which gives me the hours I want to work (gives me time to do music and go surfing). The down side is, it's brutally hot in the summer (Florida), and the work dries up in the winter.
I make some money playing gigs and some recording other musicians in my studio. But since it's in my home, I'm very particular about who I let in. I've actually made more money with on-site live recording.
At least for me in a perfect world, my art would pay the bills.
Pete
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#900376 - 09/17/09 03:25 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: kid-surf]
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Popmann
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 05/23/02
Posts: 33090
Loc: Twangville, TN
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That you're always only as good as your last project.
That's movie centric view. I would argue in pop music, you're only as good as your best work. Opposite in music. In fact, I would argue it's very much the opposite in music.
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#900409 - 09/17/09 04:41 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Popmann]
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grachus
Planeteer/Artist # 92
Planeteer
Registered: 01/10/00
Posts: 11909
Loc: burlington ont, canada
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i have a small story here.
i was down in the studio playing my guitar ,a new guitar i paid for because of my day job ,singing about love life and all. i was trying to figure out which setting on the new guitar pedal was right for the sound i wanted.( i paid for it from the day job) then my son knocked on the door saying he was unhappy about his birthday gift and his friends at school ...i had to drop everything and talk to my son and work things out with him.
the day job helped pay for his gift.
the artist was trying to express love in music
my son just wanted me to help him out.
i sat down in the studio later that night realizing again that life has more art to it then we see.
unfortunately my day job has few opportunities for art but i can practice my mandolin when i have time.
i often bemoan the fact that i dont work as a fulltime artist but i much prefer having money and a steady job then artistic ambitions and no work. sometimes i really dont care for art at all. i havent been to the theatre in years and in my twenties i would quit any job i had to work for free if i got on the stage.
_________________________
Now is the time
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#900424 - 09/17/09 05:19 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Popmann]
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kid-surf
Planeteer
Registered: 09/21/99
Posts: 14908
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That you're always only as good as your last project. That's movie centric view. I would argue in pop music, you're only as good as your best work. Opposite in music. In fact, I would argue it's very much the opposite in music.
Maybe it's that way for your most devoted fans and admirers (music or film), but to the industry it's always project-to-project - they'll dump you if they don't see the numbers they expect to see, as they feel someone out there can bring those numbers to them.
That's the scary part, even if you succeed in a big way, you're always just one step away from failing, regardless of how high you're flying at that moment in time. In fact, I would say that it's one of the biggest misconceptions about the pro arena. Some feel that if they could just make it over the wall into the pro arena that it'd be smooth sailing from there on out...that your representation and producers etc will, more or less, take you by the hand and teach you all you need to know in order to not fail, and/or that they will handle that part of it for you.
I subconsciously assumed that myself w/o realizing it, despite the fact that my wife is an agent. My realization that this wasn't true was when I started doing calls and meetings. I was subconsciously, and somewhat consciously, expecting the industry person to guide the call/meeting, or to at least initiate where it would go. After a few seconds of silence, on their part, it dawned on me "Ahhh...this is MY call, MY meeting. I'M expected to guide it, as the professional. I'M the one who is supposed to have the answers pertaining to MY art".
Anyway...
But I did mention that my buddy wants to also be a screenwriter.
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#900429 - 09/17/09 05:30 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: grachus]
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The Vampire Lestat
Planeteer
Registered: 01/09/00
Posts: 4529
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All of us in my band have day jobs. In fact, they are more "careers" than day jobs for most of us. At first, my take on this was that it would allow us to play whatever shows we wanted to play, because we could play for free. We did not need to make money from music, and in fact, we actually spent alot recording CD's, traveling and stuff like that. That worked for a few years. We were young enough to spend a few days per week practicing and playing any opportunity that came our way on weekends. At that time, having jobs enabled us to avoid becoming a cover band, which alot of working musicians do to survive.
Eventually, our job responsibilities became too much. When life-safety issues or the complications of some multi-million dollar project are on your mind at your day job, you don't really care if you miss guitar practice that day. You have bigger things to worry about, and you are thankful when they work out. You end up living your job...and falling asleep as soon as you finish dinner. There isn't much energy for anything else. If you have a family, house, or any other responsibilities, there's even less time.
We still get together and play for fun. We do occasional gigs. Even that is almost too much...But, I can afford a house. I'm in a decent financial situation. And, I can afford to have a modest recording rig. It's a big compromise. Sometimes I think of the Jackson Browne line, "Try not to confuse it with what you do to survive." I still relax by reading guitar magazines and visit the guitar shop almost every Saturday. At this point it's hard-wired or something. It's certainly kind of depressing to know how much effort goes into my work and how little effort goes into music. Then again, rock music is sort of a young person's game. I'm practically over-the-hill as far as that's concerned...and we gave it a shot.
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#900432 - 09/17/09 05:35 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: kid-surf]
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kid-surf
Planeteer
Registered: 09/21/99
Posts: 14908
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Otherwise...
I agree with Tao's central idea that the 9-to-5'er is in the best position to find absolute creative freedom.
Here's an irony: When I've tried to give industry folks what I assumed they wanted, they hated it. When I've done exactly what I felt was "true/real", that's when they've flipped for it. These people aren't as dumb as we think, they're actually really good at deciphering when you're lying, often to yourself without realizing it - out of a subconscious desperation to end this "chasing of a dream".
Desperate writing isn't what lands with these people. Once you've established that you are authentic, THEN, maybe then they want you to sell-out, but not until they've established you are the real deal.
Which seems to be in line with Tao's gripe. I too see that, not only in 9-5er's music but their screenplays as well. It's as if they're too often writing tentatively, walking on eggshells, don't want to offend anyone. That approach rarely works. It won't work with the top folks in the business who are all working with your heros, these people will see right through it.
My point is that sometimes we create "safe" without realizing we're lying to ourselves. I've done it. I was so sure I was being honest with myself. It's a profound experience to realize that you were not. Sometimes what shakes you back to reality is having said work torn apart by an industry professional. The epiphany follows, and you write something real.
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#900444 - 09/17/09 05:55 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: The Vampire Lestat]
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kid-surf
Planeteer
Registered: 09/21/99
Posts: 14908
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Then again, rock music is sort of a young person's game. I'm practically over-the-hill as far as that's concerned...and we gave it a shot.
True that...
It's almost 10 years to the day since I joined this site. I see that you're close behind.
Where were we all at 10 years ago? I was still trying to make it as a band guy. I had just broken up with a band due to two guys taking more lucrative tour gigs (they went on to do ok with bands we've heard of).
I was determined to make something happen on my own. Yet, I was approaching 30 and saw the light at the end of the rock musician tunnel closing quick. I decided "fuck it, let me try and become a film composer...but it's going to be starting from square one".
Fast Forward:
I did many projects. Did Ghost Writing on some big projects, too. Was offered representation as a film composer (just before I bailed to write).
Fast Forward:
Ten years after I joined VSP as a band guy, I'm putting together a TV show of my own and movies. And truthfully, I'm glad I never made it as a rock star. I tried.
...the irony for me is that I'd make a much better rock star at this age. Particularly on stage. And...I'd write better music. Yet, music for me now is no different than a 9-to-5'er. Making time for it is tough...And for the first time in 5-6 years, I could write the music "i" want to hear...If I could only find the time/energy.
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#900453 - 09/17/09 06:04 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: ulank]
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kid-surf
Planeteer
Registered: 09/21/99
Posts: 14908
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Great point!
...I was going to mention that next.
Yes, that aspect puts a completely different spin on things. There's really nothing like the feeling of "must" create.
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#900526 - 09/17/09 09:19 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: kid-surf]
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The Vampire Lestat
Planeteer
Registered: 01/09/00
Posts: 4529
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10 Years ago, I re-registered here, because I'd moved across the country to attend one of those "recording schools." Having been to a University, I knew that it was a long shot. Then, I did some interning on the East coast. At the time, I was in my early 20's. I ended up desperately needing health insurance, so I left and fell back on my "real" engineering degree.
I joined the band, because they were friends. I never believed that we could work hard enough or give up enough stuff to be famous...the guys in the band are just too family-oriented for that. I'd seen all of those struggling musicians and what they were willing to do. Most of them are probably still struggling. None of us come from wealthy families, so we needed to support ourselves...So, I knew that it would just be for fun. I just wanted to put together a solid "original" local act, who didn't care about playing cover songs. I wanted people to think that we were good. That's it. We did that for a while anyway. Now, we still play for fun, and the internet gives us an inexpensive way to release music without CD's. We'll be trying that out soon. But, you can't really keep a following without playing alot. It's also a struggle to be good, when you can't practice very often. I'm not bothered about remaining a "local act". It's the fact that we can't put more effort into it that bothers me. I've actually got a gig tonight, and I've barely had time to change strings let alone rehearse for it.
Edited by The Vampire Lestat (09/17/09 09:28 PM)
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#900757 - 09/18/09 03:53 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: The Vampire Lestat]
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HelenBakerShasta
Planeteer
Registered: 06/05/09
Posts: 648
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Blessing and curse kind of thing.
I have probably written more songs, and better songs, because I have a job and normal life and am seriously, deeply depressed all the time because I have a day job and am smart enough to know how good I am as a musician and writer, but no one will ever know because the music industry is stupid and life sucks and there is always something holding me back which does serve as a great creative source sometimes but shit if only I could just sell one song to somebody and get some roylaties enough so that I could not work and work on music all the time but damn it to hell I will probably die soon anyway which is inspiring me to go write a great song about mortality which just might hit the note with people but maybe, just maybe what I really need is a new video camera and new Mac computer so I can make a catch but stupid video and get that up on Youtube. Then I would be sucessful and women would flock to me for free instead of me having to pay for their services, especially Dominique the Dominatrix because for some reason as I get older my kink gets deeper. ANYWAY the plus about having a day job is that it does discipline you .. oh shit the boss is looking over my shoul---
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#901064 - 09/19/09 02:45 AM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: DAGtunes]
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Popmann
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 05/23/02
Posts: 33090
Loc: Twangville, TN
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Where the hell did Tao go?
Maybe the day job's got him wrapped up...
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#901236 - 09/19/09 06:39 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Popmann]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15066
Loc: CA
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I guess in the end I just don't care about the details. A quality piece of work will feed what I need. I am free enough to do that. It's all on me.
But I have poured myself, my time, my efforts, into so many children. Hundreds. Can't feel bad about that. But I do that as a matter of course, reflex, instinct. What else could I do? It's a kid...gotta come through.
I'm sure that is what I'm remembered for: changes made in little lives, hard earned quality changes...
Yet, I hardly think about that when I think of what am I doing here in life. I think of my music. Maybe I'm good at lifting the kids partially because I am not really identifying with it. I just do it because I'm a natural at it. But it's not where my creativity is magnetized to.
I'm not unaware of the value brought to all these little lives, and I'm proud of it, yet I really could walk away in an instant, because I am absorbed by music and I can't help that. I don't think of my accomplishments in my career often when I'm not working. I tend to not think about those things though I guess I could build a whole identity around it.
Instead, I react to them when I'm there. When I'm not there I think of myself as a musician.
The comments you all wrote were fun to read, for sure.
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#901238 - 09/19/09 06:45 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15066
Loc: CA
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I don't know how well I'd work as a pro. I am used to a lot of independence in my job, in my life, in my music. A lot of years of being able to just decide everything. So I'll likely continue in these paths because in that sense I am free.
EVen in the solo gigs, which have over these several last years become a pretty profitable business for me...even there I'm no kind of juke box in the least. I play mostly covers at those gigs, a few of my own, but there is little chance of me playing requests. I mean, once in awhile someone happens to request something I know, and then I'l play it for them, but probably 19 out of 20 times I don't know the song they want, and they just gotta go with the stuff I play. Stuff that was mostly chosen because I can feel it when I play it.
I built a life around doing things how I want, and so I pay the price of a day job, career really, but I guess at the heart of this post is the realization that I like to have bought my freedom, and I don't regret that. It's central.
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#901241 - 09/19/09 07:00 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15066
Loc: CA
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As for the comment I made about conventionality in home recordists, I can't really add much to it. I read the responses here about that, and I do agree we're all free in that sense to make it how we like it.
And so go forth with it...
I just want to make the thing that mostly just I can bring...if there is such a thing...I sure feel like there is, but talk is cheap.
I like the freedom to explore it, and I am set up in a way with equipment and a studio that is sound proofed sweetly...so good I would have cut a toe off for it in my earlier days.
It's so funny that I have not hardly done much with this set up since I got it all together, but I am stuck on doing a proper demo of my solo show, and that is taking much time. After that, the vista opens so wide that really, why should I care if I'm a pro or no? Why care at all? The question is do I have the tools and time I need to pour out what I can...I think I do, so that is righteous, and I can't wait.
For those who might say I'm stressing the solo demo too much, and just get it over with (people tell me that all the time), I can only say,"You go try to do it to your satisfaction. Pick even just five songs covers or originals and make a recording in real time of just you and your instrument, no dubs no punches. Let me know how long it takes you to get what you respect and would like to have out in the world."
And I'm going for more than five. It seems to me the process of recording that way is a lot like figure skating. You know, they slip a little, and they can finish the routine and we'll all be happy to watch, and they may do amazing things from then on, and even before the slip.
But we all know that the one little slip means it's over as far as that performance goes. Like on the tape, I slip a bit, and it could have nice parts all over the place, but it's likely going in the trash heap.
Edited by Tao Jones (09/19/09 07:02 PM)
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#901245 - 09/19/09 07:14 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: The Vampire Lestat]
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Jazzooo
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 05/18/02
Posts: 55410
Loc: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ...
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Hmm. Good thread. I loved my day job/career, because it did afford me free time to do my music and eventually and outlet to sell my music which I'm hugely grateful for. But after a while, it was evident that the flame for other work had extinguished and happily we were able to make a graceful exit. Now everyday life is my day job, and it takes up a whole bunch of my time and energy, of which I have less because I'm spent, older and distracted. Still, I think my best work is either sitting on my hard drives or right around the corner.
_________________________
Dougrobinson.com
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#901253 - 09/19/09 07:38 PM
Re: Portrait of the Artist and the Day Job
[Re: Jazzooo]
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JazAddict
Planeteer
Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 18011
Loc: The West Coast of Florida
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one of my favorite thoughts> I like to remind myself that I bought myself artistic freedom by paying my bills another way.
Yep. Me too.
I have more of a day-career....but the light's showin at tunnel's end (no sound of a train yet).
_________________________
Liberty is inversely proportional to government. http://www.bobminer.net  Da Bears   Bob Miner
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