poker and the art of song writing

in a recent discussion i stated the following, "i'll be happy when one of these singles hits number one... mmmmmm, charts in the top ten... well, i'd settle for hot one hundred... ok, actually, if i could make enough to eat and pop out another record by the end of the year, that wouldn't just make me happy, that'd be amazing!"

i thought about this process of my settling and decided to flesh it out a little bit.

first, i think for an artist to aspire for riches, fame and the adoration of fans is all well and good, but a little much to ask as far as the issue of satisfaction is concerned. on the other hand, the idea of 'art for art's sake' is a little too far the other way. I mean, if writing a great song automatically means riches beyond measure, wouldn't it be motivating to just write something for no reason other than the monetary value, and further, wouldn't that lead to lower quality throughout the music industry? the answer is yes and yes, and yes, this has already happened.

my brother-in-law once quoted (though he was quoting someone else) regarding PhD candidates, 'a dissertation should be your first great work, not your only'. i'm sure i've messed up the quote a bit but its rather true in the field of songwriting also. i think its fair to call a one hit wonder a one hit wonder, but not necessarily a song writer. in the same way, like the case of mallonee, the lack of a hit does not define the quality of the song writing.

as far as 'art for art's sake', i think it should be restated, 'art for me'. i might write the best songs ever, according to me, but if people can't get down with what i write enough to give me a little something something to survive on, maybe i should return to hobby music and get on with surviving through a different avenue.

i think the aim should sit somewhere in the middle. i would not object to millions of dollars in bonds, stocks, properties and numbered bank accounts, but i do, and have, objected to crawling towards homelessness and starvation in pursuit of my art. i think it best to do as the aforementioned mallonee recommended to van gogh and '...deal your best hand out in the marketplace and let the chips fall'.

this record is my attempt to do just that. i don't want to starve. i don't want to be homeless. i want to live a good life, but i don't need millions of dollars to do that. i would like a roof over my head and food on the table and hope that i can write well enough to do just that. maybe i can't, but i've taken more than a year of dedicated writing to get this thing off the ground and one weekend in early february will be the teller of whether the hand i deal in the market place is good enough to warrant that.

i no longer have the record companies to rely on. i've got me. i've got the internet, but i'm not the only one. its exciting and its humbling but i, for one, am excited to see how this 6/8 off-suit plays out.