MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 


MySpace.com | rss | sign in
ATLUM SCHEMA



Last Updated: 12/4/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
City: Midlands/Southampton
State: South
Country: UK
Signup Date: 5/31/2005

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Thursday, November 26, 2009 
me singing I noticed recently, while watching a reality TV competition show that there is a strange phenomenon that the powerful now use in order to control the weak; the capacity to possess access to fabricated dream-fulfilment. It has probably always been rife but it suddenly struck me the other day when watching the X-Factor that the contestants in all of their delusion have completely missed the point. They talk about this being ‘all they’ve dreamed of since they were a kid,’ and how if they don’t reach the next stage their ‘dreams would be shattered’ etc. It got me thinking, what exactly is their dream? When is the cut-off point at which they can say it has been fulfilled? And did the original dream have someone else in complete control? I guess what happens to these contestants is actually very consistent with a real dream, you find yourself thrown around, arriving in different rooms with different people not knowing exactly what is going to happen next before eventually being chased, falling or worse being stabbed or punched by someone or something that you cannot control – it takes something like this to bring you back to consciousness, at which point you realise it was ‘just a dream.’ It is amazing how quickly a dream can turn into a nightmare. It is not only X-Factor where we see this; programmes like Dragon’s Den and the Apprentice for example are exactly the same. You find people so desperate for the quick fix that they submit control of themselves and their ideas to authority in unprecedented ways. Look at the difference between a Dragon and an aspiring beneficiary of their money. Take Peter Jones for example, who tried and failed on several occasions before eventually doing very well out of his Phones International Group. He didn’t just stumble upon this; it took years of gruelling work, nights sleeping on his office floor and the loss of his house and cars along the way. I don’t know what his dream was, but I’m sure it was ever evolving and that it became more about the journey made up of little dreams rather than any particular end dream in itself. Whereas an aspiring beneficiary would swoon in, ask timidly for £100,000 and end up giving up nearly half of their business. I doubt you’d find many entrepreneurs similar to the Dragons having done the same thing - many work their way up the ladder, gaining vital experience and building meaningful relationships. It is however, also these people (dragon-types) who convince the rest of us that our dreams can only be fulfilled if we sit in a certain box, present ourselves in a certain way or submit to their way of thinking about the world. Remember, the number one priority of all these people is profit and those at the top want to keep people below them so that they can gain even more. I don’t know what Simon Cowell dreamt of when he was a child but I think it is ludicrous that there are now silly numbers of people who see him as the gatekeeper to their ‘dreams’ – a dream that will last for ten minutes before they fall off the mountaintop into a devastating crater and the next set of freaks are rolled out in front of the blood-baying public. No, he is a profit-hungry businessman trying to make as much money as possible; he knows that the music being produced is as meaningless as the people singing it. He also knows that there are millions of people literally living for Saturday night so they can squander their money on phone calls to save these strange, insecure creatures. He might be living his dream yes but there’s nothing virtuous about what he is offering to his contestants. As far as I’m concerned, ‘living the dream’ is about an ever evolving sustainable dynamism and being able to do what you love and feel drawn to do even when the odds are stacked against you. It’s about starting at the bottom and crafting something through trying, through failing, through investing your time and effort, and through experiencing everything that can be thrown at you, constantly re-evaluating/adjusting and not giving up. It is about forming relationships with others rather than obligations and indebtedness. It is NOT about being famous and it is NOT about making millions, when these are your priorities you become desperate, you become highly irritating and you will more than likely end up selling out. It is about taking control and not submitting yourself and your work to someone who full well knows you need them a million times more than they need you. We need to dream but we also need to learn to take control and lucid dream for if we don’t our dreams can quickly become nightmares and the fall can be much harder to get up from. To sum up, lets stop watching so much TV and actually invest all our talent and time in meaningful ways. Don't allow the powerful to box in and control how you view what you can do with the abilities you possess...

3:08 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, November 26, 2009 

Category: Blogging
me singing Ahh yes the hometown gig. It is great to be able to play a show in front of all your friends every once in a while. The opportunity to get everyone down to support you and impress those who have never actually seen what it is that you always talk about doing. You get in touch with a local promoter and suggest you would be the perfect support for a touring band coming through next month. You assure him that you can bring loads of your friends to the show because you do have loads of friends… The problem is, you have loads of friends who are by no means necessarily fans. Whenever you play in this town you call on your friends to come to the gig, but they don’t actually like your music and they’re getting a bit tired of parting with cash in order to be ‘a good friend.’ They all say ‘attending’ on the Facebook event page for this show in order to show support, they tell you that they will pay on the door rather than pre-buying their ticket. You reassure the promoter that there will be loads of people coming on the door and console yourself with the fact that there are over 50 confirmed on Facebook. Then guess what, it comes to the actual night they are too tired or busy to come. You are left without an audience; the promoter is out of pocket and will probably put a black mark against your name as an unreliable and unpopular waste of time. All too often we put effort into getting our friends out to local shows rather than looking to establish a base of real fans in the area. It is simply not enough to expect friends to come to all your local gigs without pushing out to people who have never heard you before. I have heard local bands say that they don’t want to do many local gigs in order that those that they do play are better attended. This makes sense if you are relying on your friends to make up the audience each time, but it makes no sense if you want to establish a loyal, loving and genuine local following in your town or city. Play frequently, in various places and in a variety of ways. You have to connect with your audience and at first this takes a lot of hard work. If you play a range of venues all around your region with many different artists, in different forms (free shows, acoustic, full band etc), talk to people after you play and importantly get email addresses on your mailing list you will be able to attract people (and their friends) to your next show (if they like you of course…) And even when you’ve found new fans do not rest on your laurels, instead you need to be constantly seeking ways to reach more people and from time to time get out of your own town. On the flip side I know a few bands who have successfully developed massive local followings, would sell out all of their local gigs but it stopped there. Their fan base would only consist of about 300 very loyal local fans because they would never venture outside of a ten-mile radius. They would be hometown celebrities, always in the local papers but never capitalised on what was such a strong foundation on which to build. They showed that you can develop a great local following through regular gigs and connection with the audience but unfortunately this was as far as they allowed it to go. Don’t confuse friends for fans. After a while you might start to annoy them. You can make friends out of fans but you can’t make friends become fans. Ideally your friends are fans but even if this is the case you need to look beyond them as your local audience.
3:06 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate