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Re: (fwd) To all, from Linford
i gather, from looking at my imbox, that a lot of you
have already said someof the things i'll say below, but
i'm just gonna respond to linford's post and then read
yours and if that creates redunadancy, so be it.
>
> On Mon, 15 Mar 1999 11:18:00 -0500 (EST),
> OTRhine at aol_com wrote:
> Hello friends and,
hi!
> How have you all been? When I think of you I
> remember that I know you
> and
> that I don't.
i have been fine. in fact, weh i think about it, the
past year of my life has been one fantastic blessing,
which is something i'm not so used to...
I
> don't know if it's a relief to you to know that I
> haven't checked in on your
> conversations for a long, long time. But I have a
> dilemma that I would like
> you to discuss and then after y'all express
> yourselves, I think I'm going to
> get somebody to print out your words to see if you
> can shed any new light on
> the subject at hand.
ok.
> The dilemma is this. I have come to a place in my
> life where writing
> and
> recording music is the most tangible or physical way
> that I give a little
> something to the world and I learn a little
something
> in the meanwhile. For
> years I have thought of what I do as running a
> vegetable stand. It's sort of a
> family-run business (we're not a chain or a
> franchise) and people have to go a
> bit out of their way to come and get what we offer.
> Because we're a vegetable
> stand and not a hypermarket, we try to put a little
> extra care into what we
> give people, keep things fresh, organic, and the
> scenery is arguably a little
> richer out here.
we post about this from time to time. i think it's safe
to say that all (or most) of us are joyful recpients of
the magic you guys pass on to us. i remember once i
ordered a boxed set for my friend meighan's birthday.
you guys sent it in a lovely wooden cigar baox, wrapped
it up and wrote her name in lovely caligraphy on it.
when she opened it, it was like finding a treasure or a
secret box of mysteries that once released, would
change the world forever.
and i think that we all feel like that about you in a
way. the extra care and the personality you put into
your products, your correspondence with us, the free
shows at christmas, and so on- all of these mean so
much to me. it would be enough, i suppose, to have, as
i did for a few years, just the records. but having
stumbled on the apple orchard like i have, having found
not only the secret wonderful treasures you have, and
having found these crazy, wonderful people on the list,
i have to say that what you have accomplished with the
vegetable stand appraoch has affected me much more
profoundly than the normal marketing approaches have.
> The short version is this. If you were me and you
> were at a point that
> you
> knew you could make a record with a big budget and a
> producer that would get
> released in the next 18 months or so, and then you
> would promote that record
> for a few years and if you were successful, do it
all
> over again and maybe
> make a lot of money and have a couple songs on the
> radio et cetera, et cetera,
> or you could take care of the vegetable stand, put
> out two or three records a
> year that sounded unmistakably like your own records
> and could make a
> comfortable but modest living, what would you do?
whew. that's a loaded question. again, from my point of
view, i love the way you have been doing things.
but, i could never, never tell you not to follow the
rock star path. on the one hand, you have a powerful
connection with the rhinelanders. on the other hand,
you could arguably extend that connection to
"millions."
i'm an aspiring writer, and i've come up in the poetry
slam world, where publishing is not the main means of
spreading poetry. word of mouth is.
marc smith started the slam about 15 years ago in
chicago, as a rebellion against the poetry
"establishment" and to his (and everyone else's)
surprise, it took off and now there are over 50 slams
in the country. there are huge national slams every
year, tow movies have been made about it. some academic
types have dubbed the oral poetry coming out of slams
"fusion" poetry. poets are getting record deals,
appearing on television (MTV even) touring with
lolopalooza, etc.
and all because marc decided to follow his peculiar
vision.
i'm a christian, and i know from what the christian
market produces in writing, that i could easily become
an influential "christian" writer. i could get very
rich off of white middle class christian soccer moms.
but that industry, that subculture, quite frankly, is a
broken old machine in my opinon. its based on
consumerism, on marketability, and i know that the
price i'd pay for the quick easy fame and religious
recognition would be that i'd sacrifice my integrity.
i'd have to bow to the 'gods' of ccm culture: folks i
have little respect for like james dobson or word
records or a bunch of republicans.
i rather suspect that the christian subculture is a
copy of the "secular" pop culture- the record companies
like captial are about making a buck off of artists.
the difference between them and the ccm industry is
that they're not sick enough to pretend they're making
a buck for God. but all that talk they give you about
making you famous or giving you a platform to more
listeners is in a large part only talk. ever heard
"napoleon" by ani difranco?
speaking of that, ever heard of ani difranco? look into
her righteous babe record company. she did a lot of
what you've done- and she never bought into the record
companies' game.
there's a story in the bible of a guy named samson,
who, so long as he keeps his hair long, has immense
strength. his lady seduces him, gets him sloshy drunk
on an 800 dollar dinner, cuts off his hair and he loses
his strength. it is only after he's in prison for a
while and his hair grows back that he gets hi strength
back, and he redeems himself by toppling a building on
his own head. not a fun story. but i think you catch
the metaphor.
i wonder if by taking the fame route if you'd be losing
your hair. i can't tell you that, none of us can-
that's between you and the other members of OtR and
God. but you asked for our two cents (by the tie each
of contributes two cents, you'll be living large...) so
i gave mine.
know that whatever you choose to do, you have my
support. and my prayers.
I'm
> curious. Remember, the
> vegetable stand means no significant media exposure,
so you'll have a private life.
> no grammy,
do you really want the same award as nsync? or new kids
on the block? or hanson?
no "Florida
> girls with fluorescent tits" listening to your song
> on the modern rock station
> coming out of the boom box by the sand volleyball
> net.
i'm trying to figure out the positive side of that...
(Sorry, I'm quoting
> Karin again.)
go karin!
ok. so that's my two cents.
john.
np- a cd i burned for a friend of mine- just was
"strangers" by portishead, now is "once opened" by jeff
buckley.
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