Conclusion: Buy The Ticket or Get Out of the Bar.
Nothing Before Right Now Mattered Because Feelings.
When I was a younger man I pursued a life as an entertainer. An entertainer varies from an artist in my experience, but there is some crossover. You get fooled by your demons; pulled in every which direction. You begin to pursue things which you think may help you “move up” in your career; mainly because a number of people who claim to have experience in the matter, but have not surpassed the position of “door man” or “talent booker” for a local bar, have told you that it’s “the right way to do it.” They will lie to you and tell you that the only way to “move up” is to follow their bad advice.
Who are you to know though? You’re just some kid on his way up and these people seem to know what they’re talking about right? They’re “in the industry” right? They “know everybody important” right? They “hang with the right crowd” right?? The truth of the matter is if they are still doing that job at their age: they likely have no idea what they’re talking about in relation to what you want to do. If you want to work the door at a bar though, I would ask them some advice…
I’m going to highlight some of the mistakes I made, or saw being made when I was younger, then follow it with some suggestions, advice, experience, and wisdom, then conclude by relating these experiences to a recent event which I observed and was inadvertently pulled into by the ignorance and arrogance of people who think more-highly of themselves than they necessarily should.
In hindsight, one of the biggest mistakes I made while pursuing my career as an artist-turned-entertainer was to “play the bars.” It seems like a good idea at first right? Considering I was coming up during the fledgling years of social media; the psyop-machine that we know it is now. Everything seemed new, fresh, exciting, etc. It was very easy to fill people with the fear of missing out (FOMO) in great new events going on by posting an “oh wow so fun look at this totally true and representative of the real experience” photo to your facebook or instagram that had more followers than theirs... This isn’t to say there weren’t great events before the advent of social media, or that our events weren’t actually a lot of fun, but as is the nature of social media, we were able to harness the shame that someone feels to get them to act in a certain manner. I didn’t know we were doing this at the time; we were simply putting on fun concerts and doing what we thought was important to “make it” lol.
The over saturation in people’s news feeds drove them crazy though. I still have this one guy who is a government worker in some Agriculture position in downtown Winnipeg who shows up in my DMs telling me how he’s going to be the next big thing, no one cares about this or that, yadda yadda. It’s the same thing: someone who never made anything of themselves in their desired career path trying to tell someone what to do like they have any weight in what they say. It’s pathetic. If I wanted to know how to email every country singer in Canada and send them drunken ramblings and threats, I would take what that guy has to say to heart. I don’t though… Here’s some advice from someone who played bars, small events, business functions, hotels, resorts, and so on while selling an experience on social media: do it for a very short bit if you want the experience, but if you want to move up in your career and have an expensive ticket price: don’t.
If you’ve been keeping up with my writing over the last few years I have outlined just how much money is made by bands and live events. I have also outlined how many people lose money making music. Many of those bands that give you a big price are undeserving of their ticket price. You will likely lose money if you don’t know how to generate event income. These bands have those prices because they were sneaky on their way up, and were able to drive their price up by manipulating the market through the use of agents (that make them seem important), agencies (that associate them with other “important” acts), managers (that make them seem like they have some big important team), and falsely reported engagement (lots of social followers and plays on YouTube then they sell you 6 tickets).
Maybe you want to be a surly old honky tonker; no wife, no life, no family, but hey! All the whiskey you can drink chased down by whatever nose-drug foreign nationals are flooding your local community with this month. That right there is the stark reality of these local bands’ lives: it is no way for a good productive member of any community to conduct themselves especially as they age up. This brings me to my next piece of advice: don’t do the drugs.
Heavy boozing and substance abuse is going to take your soul and hollow it out like someone digging at the pit of an avocado before making guac. Just don’t. You don’t need to. It’s a disgusting lie. If a crew of people who claim to “want the best for you and your career” require you to get blown-off-your-yoke just to associate with them, or even require it of themselves without asking you to (sitting around getting f*cked up all the time…), well… maybe not the best investment of your time. I’ll be honest with you: if you’re not waking up with sheer disgust in yourself for over-consuming some libations the evening before, and then taking actions to better yourself, you probably aren’t ready to do much for anyone. Emotional damage is a great motivator… Consume responsibly, or don’t at all: both options will leave you with a lot more time to focus on that which actually matters. This is bringing me to my next point of advice: you don’t need to play concerts at all.
When I started recording music I took a 400 watt Peavy powered sound board and plugged it into my dad’s computer which had a super nice sound card with a 1/4” guitar jack. Since I was a young moron and had no idea about the difference between audio signals and power signals: I blew up his soundcard. Honestly I almost blew up the whole computer room. Well… he went and bought himself a new soundcard and he gave me the blown one. Turns out it was just the 1/4” input that blew: the RCA input was still working. Well… I had this 100 watt SGH tube guitar head I bought… I figured out how to get some direct input sounds run into the computer and I started recording some really hokey blues tunes. This was honestly the most fun thing in the world for me. Just like a lot of guys figure out Fruity Loops, a program where you can make beats and loops, I was doing the same thing with a free version of Cubase SE that came with the blown soundcard, my guitar, my amp, and an old yamaha 80s keyboard my parents had bought my sister when she was 10. I was layering it all together and making songs. It’s a lot of what I do now with my music, and the music I help produce for others.
Why all the backstory? Simple: I never actually got into playing music to play live. I wanted to just make songs. You know what pretty much kept me from making songs? Playing live. Trying to put my music out there for late night party people. Very few of these people went home and ever said, “wow that was so great I want to support this artist.” Most of them wouldn’t remember their evenings. If they did, and they enjoyed you, they would think about how great it was to come party while you played music; the atmosphere you were cultivating while playing on that stage was simply supplementary to their high. So… you want to play live shows to help make people higher? Crazy. They would throw you out the window when something more fun is on their horizon like a slightly more popular act. They weren’t fans. It was pretty much high school all over again. Crazy that this kind of culture even exists, but let’s be honest: it thrives. People seek cheap thrills because they have no long game, no foresight, and don’t care about the quality of their experience or their own lives. I know that a lot of people are hard up, sad, depressed, and even looking to drink themselves to death. It’s sad. That’s what you want to do with your artistry? Make people sad and dead? Not me. That’s why I’m blessed to be where I am right now and I have a lot of you to thank for that. With everything that happened these last few years I was allowed to return to what I actually enjoyed: making tunes.
Now I don’t think every live show is a waste of life and energy; the contrary actually. I think when people can come together; revel in joy and community: music is a wonderful reason and/or backdrop for this. This wasn’t happening in those booze-holes though. The majority of small bars like that were focused on their bottom-line. As businesses they should be. Does that help your business though? The bar’s bottom line? I don’t think so. What is $150 for 3 sets of open mic singing going to do for you long term? A bit of practice? I don’t think that culture is worth your time if you want to be an artist. On the other hand, small town festivals, rodeos, campouts, etc. were pretty cool for this, but even then, depending on the event, it could be more of the same. More than anything it comes down to you as an animated part of the event to cultivate an environment conducive to something positive. Sometimes you need to do things people don’t like, but in the long term it’s better for the overall health of what you’re doing.
I was fortunate that throughout my career of live entertainment God saw it fit to essentially put me in the middle of a lot of burgeoning cultural movements locally. I don’t regret what I did or participated in since it made me who I am today, but I do repent for what I was involved-in when I saw that it was not good. I know now He put me in these places so that I could experience this evil, recognize it, and steer others from similar mistakes. I am perfectly fine with, and accept, carrying this cross for Him. I know that holding that burden and helping others comes with its own share of name-calling, harassment, and coveting by others. One thing I noticed when around these cultural movements: hang-arounds.
You don’t really recognize them at first, especially if you’re an empathetic White guy. I used to be really accepting because I thought people were like me. I thought they might just be going through some stuff and that we could be friends. I thought I should just be cool to them and they all had something to offer. This is a lie. They’re not. There are parasites all around you, and you need to recognize them or you will suffer. I didn’t recognize them early on and his invited a lot of evil into my life. Here’s some more advice: keep your circles small.
I used to say dumb things like, “everybody can sing.” I think everybody can make mouth sounds, but doing the job of a “singer” is much different. Being an entertainer or an artist takes true grit. It takes focus, discipline, dedication, and a lot of sacrifice. You might be thinking about your local environment and thinking, “If it’s so difficult why were there so many local bands playing every night?” Some are genuine. The most are hang-arounds though. See most people aren’t serious. Some people want to be a part of something, but they want to put in the minimum amount of effort. If they do this, then they end up associating themselves into what you’re doing. This is how it was back then with these bands. Some would book shows and never show up because they were anxious or scared. Some would barely be able to keep a beat. They would get real mad when people other than them got attention, but they wouldn’t put in the bare minimum. Effort is key to everything…
You don’t need to be the apex predator in an ecosystem for that ecosystem to exist; quite the opposite actually. You do need to know where you fit in though. If you don’t do that, you end up placing yourself in positions that will get you torn apart as food. Does that mean some buck in the forest can’t become a big muscled predator and stamp a bunch of wolves to death? No. Of course he can. That big ole buck put in the effort to rise above where it naturally falls within the ecosystem and become something. The same thing happens with people in communities.
In addition to past experiences I am beginning to speak about recent events as well if you’re tracking…
What do you as an individual bring to the greater ecosystem to make it strong and unique? A lot of people, regardless of political-disposition, like to compare anyone they disagree with to “sheep,” but they don’t actually analyze the context of the terminology. A sheep in a community, be that any community, is someone who goes along to get along without trying to bring benefit. I know real sheep aren’t like this, but in the context of this discussion this is the perception… They begin to mimic the behavior of those around them. They subconsciously want to blend-in. They stop putting-in effort to improve. They start to fall into the metaphorical “herd” and given enough time, will begin to resent others within their ecosystem for a variety of reasons, often rooted in jealousy which is pride.
If you don’t protect your own circle; your own energy, you are going to end up with a lot of hang-arounds who aren’t supporting you, but are instead smiling to your face while talking badly about you.
I have much more respect for someone who openly dislikes me than I do for sneaky smiling faces who work their ways in around me. Someone who tells you they don’t like you at least have respect for you enough to say it. Those who position themselves around you for safety, comfort, or security are just weasels looking to either eat scraps or feed off your own carcass when you’re dead. Advice here is to identify these types and remove them otherwise you are poisoning yourself long-term.
It can be hard to differentiate between smiling faces at times, but you need to look at the behavior of people for “tells” just like in a card game. Is someone going above and beyond for you, because they genuinely care about you? Or are they somehow always there when it’s “feeding time” without bringing anything to the table?
You know… recently I watched a lot of “sperging” going on when friends of mine decided to make a large public group into a paid-only group. Alright. I can understand the qualms with this, but as someone who helped make this happen for them I also 100% understand the reasoning behind it. People fail to grasp the extent of work that comes with managing an online community, especially in the space of the one in reference. Most people are more worried about their “own good time” than the overall health of their ecosystem. The majority will be focused on their own story without caring about the consequences of their actions. These are hang-arounds. A friend of mine pointed out the next point, and I have long-pondered it this last week…
Someone who is mad about paying a small fee to support their “community” or “friends” doesn’t grasp the concept of community or friendship at all: they are the guy or girl at the local show who won’t pay the $five-bucks to get in. Now this doesn’t mean you need to PAY to be friends or community members, but if you want to utilize a service that your friends are providing, why wouldn’t you pay if the price is reasonable?
They want to be let in for free. Everyone who isn’t paying (band members, bar staff, photographers, etc…) that night has probably put in some time, effort, or work to help the overall event, that is… unless you’re an empathetic White guy who doesn’t realize parasites are infecting your ecosystem… it’s a sad realization, but we have to face the fact that not everyone has our best intentions at heart. They may have become parasitic in nature. You don’t have to be up-there spending thousands a month to be someones friend or fan; you can be a positive impact within the community and simply be someone worth speaking-to. You can identify who has become parasitic though when you take away their food supply… Parasites in your body, for example, will flood your system with chems that make you feel a certain way (angry, hungry, lusty, need-a-drink, etc.) when their food supply or longevity feels threatened. The same happens with parasitic individuals within our communities.
You don’t let that person in for free? All of a sudden they think you’re an asshole. What the f*ck? Are you a slaver? You own people You don’t keep maintaining a massive, fedposty-community for free so they can chat in there whenever they want or is convenient for them? Well, apparently now your “true colors” are shown.
I saw some broad call me and my friends tyrants for putting a price on this group. LOL. “Tyrants.” Here are some solution-oriented ideas to help you out if you think we are tyrants.
Start your own group chat to replace the old free one and see how much fun it is to moderate something like that.
Choose not to pay, then don’t chat, and be happy.
There is still a lot of free content to enjoy outside of this chat.
If a small fee a month isn’t worth it to you, then why do you care so much about it?
If it is important to you, find a way pay.
You don’t have the money to pay? I can understand that from your perspective, because I too have been there, but…
If you can not work for 2 extra hours in a year to contribute to a community you claim to be a part of to have access to a better experience where the people who spend the majority of their time managing they bad behavior of others in that who shouldn’t even be doing it actually get paid something for their never-ending torment of online autists who can’t “just not”… well I don’t know what to tell you. If you don’t have those 2 hours, you really shouldn’t be spending countless hours in chat rooms. If all the other content isn’t worth it for free, why is the chat so important? If you and your friends are mad, you had a lot of time to organize smaller friends groups to maintain your conversation. This is an endless list for an online chat room…
I understand what it’s like to see a price-to-participate as a daunting endeavor. A lot of years there when I was younger I put everything into music; I lived very poor for a while. I got into the mindset that spending a couple dollars on “something rudimentary that would improve my overall quality of life” was not something I could do, because if I did, I might not have that ten dollars later. This is not the way to live your life. If things are that hard, you need to adjust what you’re doing an adapt to your situation. God wants you to excel and do good things for yourself and your family. If that isn’t happening you need to make a change. Here is some advice to anyone feeling that strain: for your own good: push yourself harder. I know it isn’t easy, but if you are disciplined you are going to eventually overcome that what plagues you, be stronger, and look back on this time as something your conquered. You might even look back on some of your battles and think about how silly you were being. You still have to live with the burden of your actions during that time though; that’s where your lessons and wisdom come from. If it is impossible for you to raise the amount with which you contribute here are some solution-oriented ideas for you to consider:
volunteer to help in some way in exchange for access
consume the swathe of free content that’s out there
ask for help to find a way to fund your expenditure
I do think all of these solutions will be dependent on whether or not you just took a hot steamy dump all over some people who have been nice to you in the past.
I don’t really care if this ends up stirring the pot since the truth of the matter is “these people are gay for me.” They’re gay for me. They’re gay for my friends. Instead of being proactive and positive, they obsess over us, spend time “monitoring” our channels, and making an “impact” by leaving negative reacts on posts. The epitome of a joyous and fulfilled life… You should see some of the spergs they had at me and some of the boys though; it reminds me of the days when people cried about me playing some venue haha. It reveals one thing only: they were never with me, or with “us.” They were always about themselves. It was self serving. It was the behavior of a hang-around. If anything, I am disappointed I allowed myself to allow more “hanging around.” Maybe I will learn to protect my time and not waste it on helping people…
Rhetoric Hypothetical Question: Do you think someone who is “part of a community” as they claim would go straight to attacking it? No. That’s only done by people who feel entitled. That is done by hang-arounds who feel their position in the food chain is threatened. They feel entitled because something that they were comfortable with changed. The lack of self awareness in the end provided me with a good afternoon of entertainment. I saw someone write that my friend was “always crying on all his streams” as she cried non stop in her channel. She shared a post of mine out-of-context and said, “people always reveal their true colors,” completely turning her nose up to the fact that I did a bunch of free work for her and her father, never asked for anything, and was never paid or tipped. HAH. True colors revealed: I help too much. Thank her for how much less I will help now. This all without taking the time for basic self-awareness to say: “well okay I won’t buy it then and that’s that,” like a normal person who sees something on a commercial and doesn’t want to buy it. I guess an endless supply of irrational behavior can be funny for entertainment for a while, that’s why people watch soap operas I guess, but I’m too old and I don’t care anywhere near enough to allow myself to consume that kind of goyslop for more than a moment; not on tv nor on social media. Especially not in my life.
Here is an unavoidable truth: all things change. Communities change. Communities rotate membership. Communities end up dying. Sometimes they are even reborn. Some people leave. Some return. Things are wildly different now than they were in 2020. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them. I just enjoy them differently. I liken this all to my life the last four years though: yeah it hurt at first when it felt like the world came crashing down around me and some government dick suckers said bad things about me, and the hang-arounds in the local community got mad because their ecosystem changed, but I’m glad it did now. I was surrounded by inadequacies personified as “friends.” Now I am surrounded by so much more.
The struggles I endured have made me a resilient and productive member of my family and community. Would that have happened without an abrupt change? Embrace the change and the struggle that comes with it, and you could very well grow into something much bigger and better than you were before. I do think the size and weight of our struggles are significant as well in shaping us respectively. You know? For example: coming to terms with a shattered, broken, and false society which is trying to kill you and make you never work again so you starve and they can claim they killed a strong man vs… $5 a month to access a chat room?
So in conclusion…
buy the ticket or get out of the bar.
You can help support me by buying an album at
Where I just updated the jukebox where you can listen for FREE
LINK: Free Jukebox (too expensive)
I should have some new merch coming as soon as I get all the orders for the new shirts done in the grift shop
Have a great week!