Quote:

My father got burned out being a printer/typsetter and counted the days until retirement from the time he was in his 50s (very sad).



Notes, based on that comment, we are now starting to connect here as far as the general theme of this thread. Imagine how it is mentally for me knowing I can NEVER retire due to bad planning and no retirement funds.

Quote:

And a lot of people get into the music business for all the wrong reasons. Things like access to the girls, easy access to booze on the job, late night hours, it seems easy, it's 'glamorous', and so on.



THESE are the people I refer to with my perceived "anti-cover band attitude". And I really don't have that attitude, though some have taken it that way. It's that bunch that think music is a good career because it is easy that I am talking about. In one of my early replies to you, I said "YOU do it right". You actually work at this. It's that other group who never practice individually, never meet as a group to rehearse and generally "mail it in" will forever be hobbyists in my mind and my opinion. Those who refuse to TRY and write a song because they think nobody will ever like it. How defeatist is that? How is that NOT setting the bar low so you are sure you can jump over it? I have (sadly?) lived my life setting goals way too high and not reaching them. I was a really good baseball player when I was young and was 100% sure I was going to play in the pros. I was a good musician and was sure I could be a star. Obviously I did not become either of those things. Now, I believe in my writing and WILL someday have a major player use one of my songs, but it's going to take a lot of hard work, but musically and technologically. I'm up for it.

Just an aside here to explain "me", the first and last time I went skiing, it was with 2 people that knew how to ski. We took the lift to the top of the hill, and I immediately went to the slope with the black diamond. I don't "start slow". I dive in. Now, to be honest, I also need to tell you that the first run down that hill didn't go well, but when I finished tumbling to the bottom, I got on the lift and went right back to the same hill. 6 or 7 tries later, I made it all the way down without falling. And somehow I manage to avoid a major injury!!

I told you that to tell you this. Because of that perspective, I viewed playing in cover bands as only the first step, a skiing lesson if you will, but there had to be another level to which I would aspire and eventually achieve. I never got there, but not because I didn't try. The aborted mission to go to LA and show them how it's done, the constant driving to work harder and be better. (Which is why I can't keep people in a band - I DEMAND commitment! We rehearse when I say we rehearse and anything short of your own death is not a valid reason to miss one. Don't even THINK you are going to come to my rehearsal with your McDonald's bag and eat your lunch on my time. Change your guitar strings at home before you get to rehearsal. Music starts at noon, not 20 after. You punch a time clock at your job. You punch one here too. It's called commitment. And that's MISTER B@stard to you.)

You can look at your past as a series of failures or as a series of experiences that forced you to learn and grow from them. I am in the second group. I believe that I never lost a game. Time just ran out.

Quote:

If you don't get into the music business because you absolutely love playing music in front of an audience and want to do that for the rest of your life, do something else.



And when you DO pick that something else to do, be the best you can be at whatever that something is. Drive yourself until you can not possibly be better at it. It may take your entire life of trying to get there, and you may never get there, but always keep trying. Be THE best ditch digger or meat cutter or plumber or chef or car mechanic or landscaper or carpenter you can be. Never settle and be content with mediocrity.

Outside of my 40 hour job, I have a small computer repair business (small because I am scaling back in deference to age and available energy). It makes me feel like I matter when someone calls me and says "Dave referred me to you because he said you are really good at this and I need help." This is the same to me as someone calling Notes to say "I want to hire you because Sam said you are very good and your band would be perfect for our function."

And that is why I prefer to see an original band than a cover band.