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If you had your choice ......would you


57pbass

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Achieve your dream as a musician -

successful band / airplay / bling bling etc

And then lose it all due to attrition

(I think that word works here)

then trying to regain that same status

 

Or

 

Spend your life as a musician chasing that dream every weekend??

www.danielprine.com

 

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I'd say chasing the dream. Wasn't it the great Lemmy himself who said "the chase is better than the catch" ??? And to quote Nick Cave: "The tears you're crying now are just your answered prayers."

 

But then again, I am still not even a weekend warrior, just a rehearsal space runt :mad: That'll change though, next Friday is my first ever live performance ...

"I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes

 

The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour

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I think the first choice.

 

I did a lot of wild-ass stuff in my younger days. Things I look back on and shake my head in amazement that I (and by friends) are still alive. But now that I'm all domesticated, I'm very happy to have the memories of my misspent youth.

 

To have struck gold in music is a memory that I would love to have. Plus, trying to regain that same status would qualify as chasing the dream. Having a hit record(s) to point back to might make that chase easier.

 

If I had to choose, I believe I'd rather be a has-been than a never-was.

 

 

Break a leg, Eddie!

Push the button Frank.
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Originally posted by kenfxj:

 

 

To have struck gold in music is a memory that I would love to have. Plus, trying to regain that same status would qualify as chasing the dream. Having a hit record(s) to point back to might make that chase easier.

 

If I had to choose, I believe I'd rather be a has-been than a never-was.

 

 

Break a leg, Eddie!

+ 1

www.danielprine.com

 

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I could live with being the never-was as long as I knew my, um, stuff didn't stink. I could be happy knowing I did the best I could, and it was good. It would be nice to get some recognition, some validation -- even in my twilight years -- but that would just be gravy; like the artist that gets discovered after they die and suddenly their paintings are priceless masterpieces.

 

The has-been has the validation and can rest on his/her laurals. At least you have the satisfaction of having achieved something, even if you're a complete zero today. If you're the has-been contemporary to the above never-was, do you have the right to say you're better? Only time will tell, and someday the opposite may be proven to be true.

 

The only problem with the has-been in my eyes is that there has to be some sort of soul selling going on in today's world to "make it". Could you live with yourself if in order to get there you allowed others to mold your on-stage persona into something totally unlike the real you? Could you be untrue to yourself?

 

I've met some former rock stars and they're pretty decent folk. They made it by doing their own thing, but once there they were produced and marketed to the niche the recording company felt most profitable. This lead in particular to an album that was a total flop, and the band no longer plays any songs from it. On the plus side they still see royalties from their hits and they're able to once again make music their own way.

 

As I see myself heading down the never-was path, I can safely say I'm perfectly comfortable with that.

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Achieve your dream as a musician -

successful band / airplay / bling bling etc

And then lose it all due to attrition

(I think that word works here)

then trying to regain that same status

I think I touched on this in my thread, but I don't think the above equates to my idea of success. I play for me to express myself. While I like an audience that is responsive to the music, I honestly don't play for them. ;)
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It strikes me that good lives come in many different flavors, but the way these two options are set up means that either way you're setting your life up around fame, and that's something only other people can really do for you. I think that's a problem.
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I'm already a "never-was" chasing the dream, I don't think I'd mind being a "has-been" trying to regain my former glory. That is with the exception that I didn't sell out to get that kind of success in the first place.

 

getz76 - it must get pretty boring playing alone in your room all the time. I've played to enough empty rooms or indifferent audiences to know that I do play music live to be infront of people. Having people get into your music live is an unbeatable feeling. I write and play original music for myself - but without an appreciative audience it sometimes seems like a waste of time. Lets be honest - we love that rush we get from being on stage infront of a group of people otherwise we might as well never leave our rooms/basement/garages.

http://www.myspace.com/omegamyk

http://www.bassguitarrocks.com

Ibanez BTB 505 equiped w/F-Bass preamp(<-for sale)

Trace Elliot AH400SMX & 4x10

Sans Amp Bass Driver DI

Digitech BP8

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Now, ask the pertinant question - as a has been, would you be or have what you have now? If I had it and lost it, then spent the time trying to get it back, I would have never been able to have the relationship with my son that I have now.

 

Would I love the notoriety and the bling? Hell, yes! Would I trade every friggin' dime to be able to jam with my son or hang with my fiance? Again, Hell yes. No hesitation. I'm happy enough with what I have now as a never-was.

 

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

 

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I'm with you Social Critic. As much as I love performing live for those zen flashes of groove where the whole band is in the pocket together and we own the crowd, I've had one on one moments of bliss with my son that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Unconditional love is a wonderful thing...and it's better than whatever the crowd my give you for who they THINK you are.

 

I guess I just want to find a way to have both the family and the career making the music I love and earning a living while doing it...don't we all?

http://www.myspace.com/omegamyk

http://www.bassguitarrocks.com

Ibanez BTB 505 equiped w/F-Bass preamp(<-for sale)

Trace Elliot AH400SMX & 4x10

Sans Amp Bass Driver DI

Digitech BP8

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getz76 and omegamike, I agreed with both of your posts but allow me to refine it a bit for my own use on this thread:

 

"I make the music for me but I play it for them."

 

Back on the topic, a wise CPA once told me "Don't be like me. I had dreams of being a star but good sense and practicality took over when I was too young. If this is what you want to do, don't settle for anything less. I have to live with wondering what could have happened every day now." On the flip side, he's a very prosperous CPA and a happily married man with two daughters and wouldn't trade that for the world. But just the fact that a man living that comfortably told me chase my dream rather than settle for some perceived practicality made a huge impact on me.

 

I'd love to be a rockstar but I'm not hanging all my hopes on it. I'm going to be a professional musician of one sort or another. Starving or thriving. I don't know if I'll be playing in studios, on street corners or on stage in front of 40,000 screaming fans but I know that I'll always be making the music that I love, doing everything I can to get it heard and putting on the best show that I'm able to for each and every person that will watch and listen.

 

That said, Eddie had a great Lemmy quote. My deam as a musician isn't so much to make it big but to spend every day trying to make it big whether it happens or not. Acheiving goals is great but I always feel a sense of "What now?" when I get there. Joy comes to me through trying, not so much through acheiving.

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