I spoke to CCBC’s music business class last night for my friend Artem Bank. I hope I wasn’t too filled with doom and gloom. I wish I’d talked a little bit more about age – something that won’t seem real to any of those kids for another 10 or 20 years – except they’ll THINK they’re old the whole time. It’s our curse as humans I suppose. You know, every day we’re as old as we’ve ever been and simply have no context for being any older.
I spoke about contracts and band dynamics and friendships and relationships and artistic isolation. I talked about open mics and ASCAP and streaming and the future thereof. I talked about being the one woman / one black guy / one white guy / one guy in a room of the inverse and how that’s an opportunity – or an opportunity to ruin an opportunity.
(In hindsight I wish I’d drilled into the fact that ‘no, this isn’t right, and no – don’t stand for abuse – but dealing with facts as they are is important’)
About 2 hours of Q&A was enough to make me feel like I’d harmed the hopes and dreams of the next generation plenty and then it was time to show off the Lair! Kristen’s bandmate Chelle had dropped by on her way home to check out / pick up an effects pedal, and so I got off my pleasant Zoom call and realized I had to mask up for company.
Over the many years of touring an accepted and frequent occurrence was the “go home with friend, have pleasant dinner, ‘would you like to see my studio?’” narrative in which someone, often a talented amateur but often as NOT a full-fledged A/V pro then shows off their amazing basement filled with audio mixing gear and glowing screens and mics just WAITING to capture our souls and cameras just waiting to capture our voices!
Or – you know – the other way around of course.
It generally fills me with avarice, desire for identity theft (because I don’t just want the gear, I want the set up) and a wish that I too could set up all my toys in one place and LEAVE them set up with dim but dramatic lighting and a pleasant rug!
This is the first time I’ve had it happen with someone else! Shame about the masks: there’s nothing quite getting the full lip shape of appropriately-impressed “oohs” and “ahhs”.
I’m glad that me making-shit-up-as-I-go-along for the past year has impressed SOMEONE!!!!
