---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote : The noise you produce was even worse when playing inside a room with a microphone in a video you probably deleted. For good reasons. M: I haven't deleted any videos but then I don't post all of the ones of me. My two CDs are at CDBaby.com. I have sold thousands of them and won some awards for them. I am very proud of them. Each contains 6 original songs and 6 covers songs preserving the acoustic blues era and performed live as a one man band in the studio. With Christmas coming I'm sure you will want to buy several for your family and friends. Curtis Blues | CD Baby Music Store http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CurtisBlues http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CurtisBlues Curtis Blues | CD Baby Music Store http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CurtisBlues Listen to and buy Curtis Blues music on CD Baby, the independent record store by musicians for musicians. View on www.cdbaby.com http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CurtisBlues Preview by Yahoo
Reflecting on my job through this discussion has been interesting. One aspect of my job is public and because everyone believes their opinions are so precious they share them freely. It is a big obstacle for many artists and some are tormented by it long into their rise to fame and fortune. The key is to focus on your own artistic standards and the people who you solicit opinions from: people you trust and people you pay. I paid a producer to help me with my second CD and the results were so much better than my first. The advice was invaluable and helped me grow as an artist. Imagine this Nabbie. Some guy you have never met, a friend of a friend on Facebook sees a shapshot you took on vacation posted by someone else. It may or may not have been the one you would have chosen but they posted it so you live with it. The guy posts pictures by Ansel Adams next to yours and begins to offer you advice about lighting and composition and tells you that you suck as a photographer. Now inside you are thinking that you have to please yourself and your boss and you make good money, so who cares what this guy thinks, right? That's my world. I have many temporary bosses who I have to please with my music and since you don't buy my CDs or hire me for shows, your opinion about my music is none of my business, literally. But you took some time to form an opinion and I appreciate that. My problem is not people who don't like my music, it is people who have never heard it. That is a huge problem for any artist because we are all working a numbers game. We need to find the people who dig what we do. I am making a comfortable living from those people now. But I have to find the other people who are like them. That is the hardest part of making a living in any art form. And that is why I say: thanks for your opinion, but excuse me there is a customer behind you and you are blocking my view. I have pushed back a bit on some of your criticism of my busking show because most people do not understand what busking is and what it takes to make substantial money at it. Most musicians who try it don't take the time required to master it as a separate art from just playing music. To survive you have to play flashier and because people didn't pay to see you. You have to sing and simplify your playing in a way that can be sustained for hours at high volume. It is never your best artistic work. Then you have to take a huge humility pill that most of the people who pay you are paying for your interaction with them, not the music. The show is bigger than your playing. You have to engage them while playing at the same time. It is F'n difficult and can only be learned on the job. But after years of practice the rewards are that you are auditioning for people to hire you for private parties and festivals so you pick up work that way, you can make an hourly wage equivalent to a high level computer programmer, sell thousands of CDs to people who would otherwise not know you exist, and meet interesting people from all over the world who love this kind of music. You, Nabbie, are just one of the thousands who pass by without giving me a thought, or who decide they don't like what I do.To make a living as an artist means that you keep your head straight about who you are trying to please. I am not trying to convert unbelievers, I just need to find the people who hear me and feel the way I do about this music and how I play it. I know you were hoping to make me feel badly about what I do, but I am afraid that ship sailed long ago. N: You see now that I find you extremely pretentious M: Says the guy who doesn't play giving musical advice to someone who makes their living from it... N: and perhaps, though I doubt it, understand why I find your criticism of Maharishi as silly as your playing. M: Well you have had ample opportunity to counter anything I have posted about Maharishi with a reasoned argument Nabbie, but have instead preferred to try to attack me personally including your unsolicited opinions about how I make a living. Getting back to the reason you started this whole attack on how I do my job...your comments equating Michael with terrorists were way out of line, which is why I called you out on them. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <curtisdeltablues@...> wrote : M: Thanks for the well intentioned advice Nabs. I'll take it to heart. What I am getting from you is that when I am singing outside without a mike to an audience many meters away, I should sound more like a guy sitting in the corner of a quiet recording room inches from a mike. And when I am covering a fast Elmore James song I should play it like another song that is slower. You got some mighty fine ears on ya boy! ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote : "If Curtis were as bad as you say, what do you think he should do to improve?" Good question. First of all I'd recommend practise, practise, practise. He could start by hitting one note at a time, just one note and listening to it, how it sounds, vibrates and how the sound slowly disappears. Just that, very simply and innoscently create one sound, and then listen to it, how pleasing is that sound, does it sound better doing it in another way ? And again, and again, and again. By doing this one acquires an understanding of the basics and a love for the note itself. Without this basics one is lost and will never achieve anything. One should understand that the ability to play fast on any instrument is not the same as playing music. To be able to play slowly is the hallmark of a professional. Many amateurs, like Curtis, make this mistake; they skip the basics and try to convey too much. I recommend you to listen to the video I posted by Robert Johnson. Where is the showmanship in this ? There isn't any because his heart is in it. When you listen to this, perhaps you better understand my disgust when fellows like Curtis comes along claiming to play the blues. Robert Johnson - Kind Hearted Woman Blues (1936) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82yNxiF-T4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82yNxiF-T4A Robert Johnson - Kind Hearted Woman Blues (1936) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82yNxiF-T4A This Song contains the only guitar solo Robert Johnson ever recorded. I very good example for his amazing talent. He plays rhythm and lead guitar on one inst... View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82yNxiF-T4A Preview by Yahoo
