Hello Alexander,   
      
   On Wed 2012-Feb-15 13:13, alexander koryagin (2:5020/2140.2) wrote to Richard   
   Webb:   
      
    ak>> I think that one of the most perverted thing in this   
    ak>> world is that people invented many wild professions   
    ak>> and occupations: a professional singer, a   
    ak>> professional poet/writer and so on. Any job that   
    ak>> requires inspiration must not be professional.   
    ak>> Inspiration is a very rare thing. You can meet it   
    ak>> just several times in your life. And any singer,   
    ak>> beginning his musical carrier, must be aware that, or   
    ak>> his life will be short.   
      
   IN many ways all too true unfortunately, but for somethe   
   profession is truly a labor of love, but they're not as   
   prolific as the money machine would like, because they only   
   present their creations to the world when they're up to the   
   standards of the writer/creator.   
      
   As a little perspective on my background for you ... I've   
   been a professional musician and also work in the support   
   side of the business as what i call an audio techician,   
   commonly called an "audio engineer" although i disagree with the term in some   
   ways.   
      
    RW> Indeed, bt you can't blame these professions for all   
    RW> of this. Those who have a long career soon learn   
    RW> perspective. IT's easy to "burn out" because of all   
    RW> the pressure one puts on oneself as well as that put   
    RW> on one by others. Yet you look at people like MErle   
    RW> Haggard, a man who probably wasn't expected to see his   
    RW> sixties, let alone his seventies. YEt MErle is still   
    RW> making music, still writing and producing his songs.   
      
   ak> Well, any rule, as a rule, has exceptions. ;) But if we   
   ak> talk of the rule or the general tendency in this area - we   
   ak> see it clear - almost all modern show biz stars have   
   ak> severe problems inside themselves, and cannot enjoy life   
   ak> as normal people.   
      
   Right, but these are often the "show biz" stars, and not   
   the people who write and create because it's what they do.   
   Again from the country world, look at Willie Nelson.  Has   
   been writing songs since he was a teenager.   
      
    RW> Why can MErle turn it around from drunkenness and all   
    RW> the dangerous parts of the profession? Perspective. He   
    RW> pared his life down to the simple things that give him   
    RW> joy, that give his life meaning, so that when he's not   
    RW> performing he can get back to that world and recharge   
    RW> his mental batteries. He has land in the country,   
    RW> grows a lot of his own food, enjoys nature. I'm sure   
    RW> it's a great contrast for him between the two. On one   
    RW> hand there are hotel rooms, producers and other people   
    RW> with the constant push push push. "TIme for the meet   
    RW> and greet now Merle" "TIme for the sound check, after   
    RW> the sound check there's a meeting with the promoter, a   
    RW> planning meeting, then a rehearsal ..."   
      
   ak> It perfectly illustrates my idea too -- a person must live   
   ak> as a normal human. His art making must be his hobby. One   
   ak> day he has inspiration, and he writes a song, maybe the   
   ak> only great hit of his whole life. But it is a very poor   
   ak> idea to do it every day, squeezing out himself a scheduled   
   ak> mediocre love(!) song or something of this kind, just to   
   ak> make money for living.   
      
   And, though he made it a profession, he refused to succumb   
   to the demands of the money machine.  When one of his songs   
   is good enough, in his mind, he'll present it to the world.   
   He enjoys entertaining an audience, but he understands that   
   other things are important to him so he can maintain that   
   enjoyment.   
      
   ak> The main rule is the following -- a person of art must not   
   ak> fully depend on the money he makes from things connected   
   ak> with inspiration. If you are a composer, you can teach   
   ak> people in your school, to do something useful else, and   
   ak> your job prevents you from the torture of art making   
   ak> without inspiration.   
      
   Or, if teaching isn't your thing, as it isn't mine, finding   
   ways to do what you love that enable you to keep your   
   sanity.  i enjoy helping others realize their "vision" even   
   though that's audible and not visual per se.   
      
   IN this case, Whitney was a talented singer, but she wasn't   
   a songwriter, and did nothing else but sing the songs   
   presented to her which were created by others.  She allowed   
   the money machine to control her life, let her perception of herself be   
   dictated by others, and all those others only   
   gave her positive reinforcement when she was making them   
   money.  IN other words, and this is going to offend some,   
   Whitney was shallow, as are a lot of these glamorous people.   
      
   HEre's another one, JOhn Lennon.  Until he was gunned down   
   on the street in front of his apartment building JOhn was   
   growing, developing, and coming to grips with it all.   
   Although the Beatles were pushed and pulled from every   
   direction by the money machine John opted out, pulled back,   
   spent a few years raising his son, and when inspiration came to him was ready   
   to record and perform again.  One has to   
   have other ways in life to be fulfilled outside the narrow   
   track controlled by the money machine.  That might be   
   teaching, might be volunteering for other causes, might be   
   rebuilding classic cars, or helping make life better for   
   people in less developed places.   
      
   ak> When a person has inspiration and talent his work makes   
   ak> itself, and the person produces a bright thing. In my   
   ak> opinion, only these things are worthy to be called songs or   
   ak> other pieces of art. This world is sunk in a bog of   
   ak> mediocrity, up to its ears. And, however paradoxically it   
   ak> can sound, the main balk of mediocrity came to us from   
   ak> people who make art professionally. They are forced to make   
   ak> money for leaving and forge piles of things without   
   ak> troubling themselves to wait inspiration. That's why we can   
   ak> take the work of any so called "stars" and to see in it   
   ak> just a few real things.   
      
   True enough, and look at most of the work they present, it   
   was not created by them, but created by others for them to   
   present to the world, just to have something for them to put out there.    
   AGain, Whitney was not a writer, was not her own producer.  Whitney may have   
   been a good singer, but that's   
   all she was.  This is why I give so little attention to most "celebrites" and   
   the like.  These are usually people with no character, and little class.   
      
   As both a sound person, and as a musician for hire I've   
   worked for  a good number of folks that perceived themselves as 'stars" even   
   if they weren't really.  ONe can usually   
   tell if this is a person with some depth of character within the first few   
   minutes of encountering them.  Those with   
   character treat their support personnel with dignity and   
   respect.  The others don't.   
      
    RW> everyone who supposedly works for you. The sound and   
    RW> lighting people don't make any money if you stay home,   
    RW> they only make money when you're touring. To keep your   
      
   ak> Well, brothels also cleate jobs.   
      
   Yes, but there again, from the support side, it's easy to   
   tell which sort of person I'm dealing with as soon as I   
   arrive.  Those with class and depth of character understand   
   that we are partners in their presentation to the audience,   
   yes i need them to perform to get paid, but they need people like me to do   
   what they do.   
    RW> IT's not these professions that are bad, it's the fact   
    RW> that people who enter these professions forget their   
    RW> humanity, because the great money machine pushes them   
    RW> to lose sight of it.   
      
   ak> That's it. To be a human and don't put true art on an   
   ak> assembly line. It's not a canned good. Every masterpiece   
   ak> must be a _piece_ of art. It must be rare, unique things.   
   ak> And ordinary people also must not perceive them constantly.   
   ak> Then they will preserve their sensitivity, and among the   
   ak> people of art will be less perversion, because they will   
   ak> work for another kind of people.   
      
   Right, and these folks are pushed, often from childhood to   
   believe that they are something extra special and that   
   attitude keeps them insulated from the parts of life that   
   can ultimately make for better art, and keep them from   
   developing as well rounded people.   
      
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)