RE: Skip this if you like Kate and Tori, both

[cbullard@HiWAAY.net (Len Bullard)]

Happy Birthday, Violet!  You're past the crucifixionInit.
Now comes the noBabyInit.  ;-)

I commiserate, V, but if you still have your music,
people are enjoying it, anybody wants to buy it,
and they are comparing you to Kate, hey girl, you
are wayyyyyyy ahead.  Consider:

1.  Henry Ford didn't start his auto business until he 
was over 40, so you aren't dead yet.

2.  Mama Cass was dropdead gorgeous and I still
miss her voice.  Any time she lost a lot of weight, she
also lost her voice, so whatever is working, be happy
for that... but stay away from commedians who feed
you sandwiches.

3.  Fame had better come with fortune because the
first without the second is chickenSpitOnTheFryer.
Can you say, no help AND no anonymity?

4.  I am 42.  I write, record and sell rock albums.
Soon I hope to put VR on them too.  The opportunities
opening up for artists with moxie and talent are
the best they have been in a few centuries.  The
combination of this Network and the freeware
available for the download, plus the unnumbered
people who will help for the price of a few electrons
outstrips any opportunity made for Kate since Gilmour
saw the light.  Honey, It's Clobberin' Time, as the Thing
used to say.  Look into the what's happening.  It's COOOL!

5.  Mincing is cool.  It gives you gentility, femininity, and
that o'so tenderWannaTouch kind of appeal, but if
you think that is any way to go after the musicBiz, think
a little longer.   There is more talent and more people
trying for that little tiny teeny almostInvisible chance that
you just get trampled.  Kate Bush is called by the
British press, the Iron Maiden of Rock.  They ain't
talking about her SexLife.  They are talking about the
ferocious lionness of SouthLondon who out-talked,
outsang, outgunned and outwrote every competitor...
and enslaved her elder brothers to boot!

"you have to work your butt off to get the emotion.." Kate Bush

I've had the chance to talk to quite a few people
in this business, high to low.  They say one thing
in common:  persistence counts.  Everything else is
assumed.  You like it, you do it.  Nobody and I say
again nobody is there to help if you don't do the 
groundwork, and even then, they have to see
some profit, or again, you are an alsoRan.

musicBusiness.  little "m" BIG B.

My last keyboard player is a deadRinger for
Elton John.  He is fabulous.  He has also been
told that there is only one Elton and the job is taken.
That doesn't stop him from recording, writing, and
performing, but he will never BE Elton.  He has
quit caring and since he has, he is more productive.
If it's natural, go with it.  On the other hand, when
he wants to "breakTheMode", he writes with others
like myself whose input forces him into different modes.
Between the two, we get something else.  

HINT:  you are what you eat or who.

So if they don't do a VioletMass, get up off your knees,
face the choir and shout "Do I LOVE IT?? HAIL YES!!!"
Recognition gets you a seat at a good table unless
someone more recognizable comes along.  Adoration
is good until they won't let you change because you
won't be adorable after that, so you strangle on love.
Money is Money.  If money is your thing, drugs are fast
and real estate is permanent.

But if you want Music, the BIG-M kind, your kind, all you have to
do is sit down and play it.

Easy.  You win.  ;-)

len

ps: as for the comments on tori and kate, 
"dat's jus smoke.  mos' folk laks ta sit
aroun's da fire at nite.  das da pulluvdabush"