Celebrations and Soapbox Time! And something else..

***DISCLAIMER***
**Mom... this post will be seriously dull to you! Except the very end**
(In fact it may be dull to everyone... who knows? Like it matters to me? It's my damn blog and I have had 3 cups of coffee so here I go!)
**Meredith... avoid the end of this post at all costs** 


I'm not actually celebrating now, although this cup of coffee is fantastic and I am building a shrine to the Coffee Gods in my mind.  It occurred to me that I often see music as a celebration.

Maybe that's why touring usually fills me up so much. Every day I get to be out there feels like it's a special gathering with hearts and minds aligned to partake in the sounds and vibe of an artist. I've said before that one of my fave things is to take a moment to stand in the back of a room during a show I'm working and just groove on the vibe and watch people drink in all the deliciousness that the musician is pouring out for them. It's an energy.  And when nights are off, you can feel it too.

Isn't it weird to think about the artists who don't get along and yet they have to tour to pay the bills? I would imagine that there is a lot less feeling of celebration if the energy between the artists is palpable. I saw a famous duo do a show... they had ZERO energy between them... just went through the motions. After the show backstage they didn't speak or even make eye contact. It was thick.. and unpleasant. It was also obvious they were doing these gigs to please fans...and for the paychecks and  but their celebration in doing this particular thing was long gone. 

I think working gigs like that would be a tough tour manager job for sure. Now, that doesn't happen really at the level I get to work at... (when I get to work at tour managing) but I would imagine a measurable percentage of the upper level musicians in bands have to really just play for the sake of the money. 

I was reading about the battle with Noel and Liam from the now defunct band Oasis... the hate these actual brothers have is monumental. That band doesn't exist anymore and most likely never will.

Look at what happened to Kings of Leon..  they canceled their tour and now they are off the radar... most likely while the lead singer gets some help for his drinking. The higher ups at the label do damage control and determine how to spin this whole thing. And they might be telling these guys ,
" Listen, just suck it up for a bit... ride out your shelf life and let's make as much money as we can while you are still relevant.."  I mean... those guys are a guaranteed ticket sales and album sales. And they are talented!

And there is no celebration for them right now in the music.

If they can get a handle on their demons, and manage to pull it together celebration could be pretty sweet. But it takes heart to move through all of this with grace. And major labels are not about heart. And the artists who are signed to them may have their faces plastered all over the place but do they have fun? Or are they just kidding themselves with all the decadence and attention? With any luck, the famewhores in music who are auto tuned to make them marketable will disappear (not likely) and the real indie talent can get a shot at a wider audience. If radio dies.. (will streaming really kill it?) and the mega corporations  like Clear Channel lose hold of what gets put out there to the masses, will it breed a better artist? Without reality shows shoving pretty people they can own and manipulate in and out of the recording studios where can we find the new talent?

You wanna know where? At local venues and on the internet via the buzz about live performance...  really that's where the good stuff can be found. Touring builds chops. Having the ability to play live and not suck takes practice.

Not auto tuning and backing tracks and hidden musicians. That's bullshit.

I have a little insider info from a few bands for the 80's and 90's about the rifts within the band families of some the biggest names in music.. often drugs and alcohol pulled these folks apart. Working at a treatment center is a great way to see if you are really "walking your talk" or not. And it gave me a chance to sit with some of these folks in a moment of celebration (the end of treatment) and reflect on what is important.

Fame does not hand you happiness. 

**20 minute time lapse**
And nothing gets you off of a soapbox faster than discovering a huge centipede in your bathroom right after your morning shower..

this last pic is with me squishing it with a drywall tool... it refused to squish, kept  moving it's gazillion legs and now my soapbox is solidly replaced by the creepy crawlies and terror...