Arts & Fetters http://www.artsandfetters.com Tue, 25 May 2010 05:12:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/artsfettershttp://feedburner.google.com failfailfail http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/artsfetters/~3/YN0NusmkLsE/ http://www.artsandfetters.com/2010/05/25/failfailfail/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 05:11:14 +0000 admin http://www.artsandfetters.com/?p=134
Yesterday’s Homework:
Finish a song for submission.
One week ago was my birthday. Two weeks ago the guy living across the street from me died. He was around my age, and his heart just stopped while he was sitting in front of his house with his mother. I was hopping around outside, trying to figure out where my shoes were, and all the emergency vehicles pulled away slowly.
In a way, I don’t believe China exists…because I’ve never been there. To some degree it’s all hearsay, isn’t it? Death is the same way. Or any experience. The guy across the street just stopped doing everything. Seriously. Like, everything. Everything. A few nights ago I had a dream that I was hanging out with the Jonas Brothers. That’s about as close as I get to not doing anything.
It’s empty refrigerators that remind us to be hungry. And perfectly-made beds that remind us to sleep. And lonely, old people who remind us to find companionship and love. It’s everyone else’s deaths that remind us what we’re supposed to be doing with our own lives.
Some years back I made a deal with my family that if I didn’t have my music career really on the move by 18 May 2011, that I’d give it up, return to school, wipe the stars out of my eyes. It always seemed like such a long time away. And now it’s approaching. It’s less than a year now.
Songs? A few.
Professionally recorded? No.
A band? No.
A team? Not really.
A plan? Nope.
Apparently I don’t have a lot going on. I don’t even really know how to use Twitter.
Bob Lefsetz:
“You can’t break an act alone.  Cannot be done.  You need a team… . And today that team tends to be the manager and the agent. … Experienced people are your future.
“And you’ve got to develop new business talent.  That’s what the CBS college rep program was all about.  Now you hire interns to do your mailing on the hope they’ll get a job.  Shit, if they’re working for you, they’re probably worthless.  Anybody who’ll make a difference is now working alone.  Watch out.  The old edifices are vulnerable.”
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/05/07/layoffs-2/
Sitting at the studio last night—trying to write, unable to do so…basket-weavers know where to begin, they at least know the shape. Shouldn’t I just be looking at the shape of the basket? Well…there’s a lot of different sorts of baskets. And that’s why I need a team! Waaah.
Lessons Learned:
1.      In retrospect, sleep always seems like a waste.
Today’s Homework
1.      Write melody for SOS.
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