General Music Chat

I never had a musician walk off the bandstand in the whole time I gigged. Being professional means that it doesn't get that far. We never had blow outs. I worked with several bands a week for years, and I always played 6 to 7 nights a week.
If you have that problem with musicians maybe the reason is closer to home than you think. I never looked for a job, and I was never out of work the whole time I gigged. I was always called to sit in for road musicians who either lost a lead player or bass player in the bigger clubs in this area.
For the most part we were in it for the music and couldn't afford to cast a bad shadow anywhere we played. In fact, I can't remember ever fighting with musicians. When disagreements would occur we had enough responsibility not to let the audience in on it. Even when some one was having a bad day. We just did our thing and went home.

You don't think this is the whiny generation? Wake up girl. Every night on the news you hear someone pissing and moaning about some trivial thing someone else said to them or did that they didn't like. Like OOOOOOOH Someone used the "N" word. Someone did this someone did that. Sounds pretty whiny to me.

We all have opinions. You are entitled to yours, I am entitled to mine. Mine is that a lot of this generation is thin skinned. Mostly due to PC. But perhaps some haven't been around long enough to know the difference. And some just have never grown up. Sometimes complaining is just plain whining. Or maybe the definition has changed to make "little Johnny" feel better about himself, like so many other things have changed to make "little Johnny"feel better about himself. Maybe I am older, but I've been around long enough to know the difference. If you live as long as long as I have, maybe you will have some opinions that the younger generation will disagree about, sometimes even if you are right. I'm certainly not "too damned old to remember" That is about as offensive to me as my saying that most of your talent is in your boobs would be to you. Fair enough?

Maybe your too young and inexperienced to know the difference. Complaining about what other people don't do concerning what you want them to do is whining. When you grow up you discover that other people put their interests above yours. Shocking, huh? And maybe answering every e-mail someone sends to them isn't very F**&^%n important to them in the greater scheme of things. We aren't always quite as responsive to others as we expect them to be to us. We have our agenda, they have theirs.
Maybe my definition of whining isn't the same as yours. But pissing and moaning when others who aren't in your circle don't do what you want them to do is pretty much whining to me. You can't force someone you don't even know on any level to do what you want them to do when they don't want to do it. When people realize that, they quit whining about the trivial things and go on their way to find what they are looking for.

So when you suffer rejection, why take it to the news media or the forums? Is it seeking sympathy? Is it trying to shame others into changing? If they don't want any part of you why not just quietly get over it and find someone who does. Maybe they aren't into you as much as you are into yourself. Or maybe it is as simple as that. When we are as good as we think we are, maybe there will be a line of musicians at the front door begging to join our band. Sometimes a bit of humility helps. Too many "stars" in a band now days?

Values have changed through the years. So has commitment. So have priorities.

My dear Slacker,

Wow, you just took a little email rant and blew it up to epic proportions. In your diatribe above, you make me sound like the Queen of Hearts. "Off with the head of the bastards who didn't respond to my e-mails!"

No, I do not post rants for sympathy, I post them (a) because I thought I was getting to know everyone here and I felt safe to just make a little ran (in support of the original poster) and (b) for anyone who was simply clueless and thought, maybe I'll respond the next time.

And how could you compare a little post about e-mails to someone saying the "N" word and then blowing it out into PC. You're way off base.

But I do agree, this is a whinier generation. I don't care if Dr. Laura and all the other shock jocks use the "N" word, I've been called it more times than I can count. I don't care if teachers tape my kids' mouth shut, my response is, "I'll guess you'll shut the f**k up next time." However, I'm not going to call someone whiney simply because they're frustrated and need to blow off a little steam. If more people had a forum to just be themselves, there'd be less suicides. If you don't like them, don't read them, and move on to the next topic.

I'm glad you've have this wonderful existence where you've worked your whole life and you haven't had to ask for anything. Some of us haven't been so lucky. To say my experiences were the result of my "not being about the music" is incorrect. You just got lucky, dude. There's millions of musicians out there and many of them don't do drugs, they're reliable and dependable and they work their butts off to make something happen. Some of them become really successful and some of them just get a ton of sh*t for all their hard work. So don't assume because someone has had a hard time it's because it's ALL their fault. It's some of their fault, but not ALL.

My alluding to the fights and such I've witnessed had nothing to do with me, I wasn't even involved except for once when I was trying to break up a fight between two other people. Some of these were well known, famous folks, so much for professionalism.

I never said my talent lies in my boobs. Not offended either. And I gave you a choice, you could have opted for the weed smoke. But then I didn't realize you had such a pollyanna existence, so I stand corrected. I'm sorry I called you an "old guy." When I namecall, it's meant very lightly.

As far as humility, I have it and use it when I need to. You're not all that humble yourself so you can't go pointing your finger at me. Some of your posts are filled with indifference or you have some kind of snide remark. So don't preach to me about humility and how I should act. I say what I need to say because I don't take any bullshit off anyone, especially when they're coming at me like I'm some kind of idiot.

Chaeya

You know what's funny? Before Big Brother got involved, everything always went so much smoother. There wasn't so much cyberspace clutter. I always found ads on bulletins at music stores and would be jamming the week after I called, or got a phone call.

For you younger peeps, that was when everyone only used their home phone, and the occassional payphone.

The hell is a payphone?

It's a phone where you spend your videogame coins on a phone call instead.

Break it up Slacker and Chaeya.