----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 7:19 AM
Subject: [freenet-chat] Artistic
Remuneration
Well, I can't wait to read the whole thing. Just to
say that I am an artist. I am a musician. I chose to be an artist
by the time I finally reached the age of 5 years. I chose to be a
musician later, at the much advanced age of 8 years. I have, on the
anniversary of the Sunday back in 1945, when the Allies "liberated"
Dachau. I'm not even Jewish, nor gay, nor Bolshavick, not even a gypsy
although I envy those people their music and their free spirit, I'm not even
handicapped. I am a WASP (white anglo-saxon protestant). No, I
don't even believe in God, whoever she is. But I digress (I think!?. . .
maybe not). Music makes people better human beings. NOT pop music
, not commercial music. Serious art music. Not your crap Madonnas,
Michael Jacksons, Stings, Eminems, Smarties, House, Garbage, Paul Ankas, Frank
Sinatras, Perry Comos, I could go on and offend a lot of people. What
I'm talking about is what many (most) people call "snobbish" "elitist"
music. Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel,
Rachmaninov, Shosta... Chajkovskj, etc. etc. Most are dead
anyway.
I have been a professional musician for it seems very many
years now. I have not become a sell-out (in both meanings!) like Vanessa
May, Bond, Nigel Kennedy, etc. etc. etc. I have been true to my
discipline, true to my art. I have never gone after MONEY. Not
like the likes of Richard Stolzman and others who chase the rich and powerful
win competitions and prizes and kiss the arses of those who would give them
money to perform. No, not me. I was an original "hippy" who
believed in the brotherhood of man and woman who was ideal enough to respect
all people. I have nothing but contempt and pity for the rich and famous
celebrities. They have nothing to offer. They are always in
the press and the media. But why? There's nothing to tell, nothing
to learn. Liam attached so and so. Bj�rk slapped a Jap
journalist. Madonna booked her caesarian birth because she had to
be somewhere on time. Kiss my arse will you. Jnr. gets paid for
destroying the shakey flimsy reputation of the USA by screwing Kyoto and the
world just so he can pay back the people he owes.
I'll tell you something. If I were a terrorist, I
would bomb the recording industry. I would Nuke Columbia Artists and all
those phoney worthless parasites - the artist agents and managers. I
would stick a red hot poker up the arse of Mark McCormack for being a shit of
the highest order. I would feed Ex Lax to Pavarotti and set the world's
opera houses on fire for destroying music. I will never buy pay
for a record, CD, tape recording. And I make my own recordings.
People are invited to buy it from me, but if they bootleg it or "steal" it , I
say "Great! Keep it up!" I'm all for it.
Now, you might say that I am cutting my own throat.
Well, well, well. What difference does it
make? No recording company, agent, etc. has ever done anything for
me. I know. I have given ALL OF THEM many chances to take me
on. All have refused. Fuck them all. If I want a recording I
go out and get it. I don't pay for it. I refuse. The Beatles got 1
penny an album. Who got all the rest of the loot? Sure, Paul
is/was the richest man in the business. What was it, �26 million a
year 15 years ago. He can't even read music! He's been
on an ego trip for decades. Good for him. He's no great artist
either. But as for myself, I don's care anymore. I satisfy
my own high standards and serve the muse. Fuck the rest. If the
world rejects me, fine. I refuse to stop. I refuse to give
up. I know that what I do is sincere. If it's any good or not,
that's none of my business. I just do it. And I refuse to be
beaten and destroyed by the world and his brother. The human species is
extinct anyway. That doesn't bother me in the least. It's
sad. But I rejoice because homo sapiens will never be allowed to destroy
life and the universe. Evolution and Mother Nature forbids
it. We are a destroyer species. We deserve the extinction that we
are living out.
So, fuck your Remuneration For Artists. It's all blood
money anyway. The greatest book of the 18th century and the most popular
and the most sold book made not one penny for the author. The author
refused to take any money for it because by doing that would negate the point
of his book. Go figger. Tom Paine single-handedly saved the
USA. He even named the country. He lived and died penniless.
But he loved you and me more than anyone you care to name. He did for
future generations more than all your $20 million holiday maker space tourists
put together. What a ride! Gimme the money. Don't
spend one $ to save the life of an infant child. Go waste you billions
Gates. Pretend to be a great philanthropist if you insist. We know
better. You slammed the door in my face. You refused to even give
me half a chance.
Enough of this rant. Fuck you all for having no
respect for art, for artists, for musicians, for poets, for painters, for
actors, for writers, for humanity. Fuck you all for not respecting the
teacher. Fuck you all for not respecting the nurse. Fuck you all
for being greedy, selfish, and totally normal human beings. And fuck you
for getting us extinct.
I play. Some one listens or not. Fuck off, Jnr.
wanker Bush. Your oil magnates, your gas fartties, your energy
liutenants, your water moguls, your religious fanatics, your murdering
corporations and capitalist communist arsehole economists who wipe your arses
with new dollar bills. The arts may be dead, but I fight
on.
Sincerely,
Stephen Bennett
