There were a couple of announcements this past week in the world of music that are noteworthy.  George Harrison passed away and Elton John said he wouldn't be recording any more albums because he's fed up with the music business.  Harrison and John have more in common than just being British rock icons.  Both of them have expressed dissatisfaction with the music industry and the peripheral trappings that go hand-in-hand with pursuing musical careers on such a high level.

As I sit here typing, far away from the fame and status that those stars have, it is easy to glance at celebrities and think they have it all made.  On the surface, playing to arenas packed with thousands of adoring fans, touring in luxury, and commanding great influence seem like attractive experiences (and I'm sure they sometimes are).  However, we routinely see people in apparently enviable positions do all they can to escape their situations.  There are those who become mentally worn down and torn apart by their careers such as Brian Wilson or Peter Green, while some take the most dramatic and permanent action of all like Kurt Cobain.  Others drop out of the public eye altogether or continue to plug away while voicing their disapproval of the industry.

I think that most musicians initially play for the simple pleasure of making music.  There are those who may look at it as a vehicle to achieve fame and fortune for the sake of it, but most are drawn to the music itself.  Then a bunch of stuff gets piled on top of that, essentially robbing the player of his focus on what matters the most.  One doesn't need to be on the level of a George Harrison or Elton John to be affected by events on the periphery of music.  The normal demands and experiences of life often conspire to distract musicians from pursuing their art, regardless of stature.

In the case of Harrison, as a member of arguably the most beloved and influential rock and roll band of all-time, he did not find complete fulfillment as part of  The Beatles.  He grew weary of Beatlemania, the disputes with other band personnel, and the general things that he felt interfered with his artistic and spiritual endeavors.  I did see an associate of Harrison say George felt that having the whole world laid at his feet did more to impede his quest for truth and musical fulfillment than help it.

While Elton John did not elaborate about his specific displeasure with the music industry, he did say that he enjoyed performing but that he wouldn't record again.  Of course, anyone doing anything for over 40 years is entitled to grow a little weary of it, but as talented as Elton is, you can't think that he is completely abandoning music.  I would guess he loves music enough to not record.  Evidently, the bureaucracy, red tape, and overall demands fostered by the music business have become intolerable for him, but there may be another reason for it.  There is something holding a sense of creativity and freedom back in him which would ultimately mean a figurative death for the player if creativity can't be released.  A musician doesn't permanently lose his taste for playing and recording.  There may be times of restlessness with it all, but music is joy in its finest essence, and many things get in the way of staying in contact with that purity.

I find it curious and sometimes amusing when an artist says he is retiring from music.  You don't just retire from music.  You might retire from touring or even releasing albums, but not music. A great musician doesn't just stop playing forever, unless health dictates as much, right?  When Garth Brooks said he was retiring  a few years ago, I just rolled my eyes and laughed.  Now he's got a new album out and has commercials for Coke and other things on TV.  Real musicians have music in their blood.  They can get frustrated with the whole deal and get away from it for awhile, but it always comes back.

On a more personal note, I have a saying:  "Everyone is local somewhere."  One does not have to be famous or on the world's stage to encounter things which take him from the essence of making music.  Whether it's battling with band members, trying to survive as a musician or finding the time to play in conjunction with a "real world" job,  there is an abundance of things which take us away from getting the most joy out of music.

I don't think the average person in society understands the effort that musicians on any level put into what they do.  There are so many instances where I get frustrated with anything that stands in my way to finding musical peace and enjoyment.  I also don't like it when people I regard to be talented and inspirational don't get the recognition and praise I feel they deserve.  However, the fact is that we can't expect everyone else to feel as we do about music.

I'll let you in on something I've had to deal with lately, and I'm sure that a lot of my fellow guitarists and other instrumentalists out there can identify with it.  My first musical passion is to write and play original music, though it can be enjoyable to play other people's songs.  I've never had any desire to satisfy somebody else's vision of what I should be.  I have been playing in a few band situations recently in an effort to stay busy and make a living.  All of the musicians I'm working with are very talented people.  One band plays a mixture of blues with an edge to it, while another plays nothing but cover songs.  Between these bands, we play nightclubs, restaurants, weddings, parties, etc...all the things that "local" musicians do.

Some nights we are lucky enough to play for audiences that really immerse themselves into the music.  They dance and talk to us on breaks, expressing a genuine appreciation for our efforts.  It is on those nights that I am glad to be playing, and I find myself often elevated in spirit knowing that people are actually caring about what is going on.

Then there are those occasions when the band assumes an incidental role at events like weddings or places like restaurants.  Hey, you don't go to a wedding to see a band!  I know that. We're there for the atmosphere.  At restaurants, people are there usually to eat and not listen to music.  Still, it is much harder to lay my soul on the line at these places where people aren't focused on what we are doing.  It's like having a one-way conversation.  Sometimes I can play for myself and enjoy the pure essence of the guitar, but most nights like this become simply a means to grab another check to pay the bills... and I hate that.  I also hate admitting that, but it's true.

There have been some nights when people in the audience don't look at the band or applaud at the end of songs.  Then some old lady (nothing against elderly people) will make her way up to the stage and try to talk to the band while they are playing and get everyone to turn down.  While music is sometimes loud, I don't think it's good to be too loud so as to drive away the very audience you want.  There are times, though, when I think some people are very unreasonable about volume requests.  It's like "Take your conversation and your hearing aids outside.  This is a band after all!"  Bad attitude isn't it?  But I'm telling you how I feel.

It's hard to beat those weddings and parties where the band is regarded as "the help" and is almost treated like second-class citizens.  "The band entrance is in the back of the building, and you cannot eat any of the food provided."  It goes with the territory though.

I played a show about 10 years ago that I have on videotape.  I'll never forget that night because there was a good crowd and the place was lively.  There are two guys sitting at a table in front of the video camera talking to each other while the band is playing away.  Most of the audience was enjoying the music.  One of these guys came up during a song and asked if we could turn it down because he was trying to have a conversation with his friend.  I didn't see where he was sitting until I viewed the videotape later.  Of course we didn't want to be too loud, but for goodness sakes....it's a nightclub with live music!  We were playing at a level satisfactory to the club owner.  Nevertheless, things like that can quickly kill the inspiration of the show, because the artists realize that they aren't making everyone happy with their music.

An artist's personal control over his music is a prized possession.  Sometimes that control has to be compromised when working in certain environments or collaborating with other musicians, but it is extremely frustrating to the player when outside circumstances dictate what goes on with the music.  Whether it's the music industry ticking Elton John off, screaming women and unyielding bandmates suppressing George Harrison's happiness with music, or maybe somebody demanding the band play "Mustang Sally" for the millionth time, there is a lot of compromise one has to engage in to thrive in this business.  It's a tightrope act trying to find your own space with the guitar that pleases you while accepting the circumstances of playing with and for others.  The music industry (i.e.: record companies, agents, managers, etc...) are not solely to blame for musicians' consternation.  However, the whole hierarchy of the world of music does extend down to the local level in such a fashion as to potentially make things unpleasant.

This is why the Internet can become such a great tool for musicians.  It gives us an element of publicity and control for our music.  Do you think that if I desired to become a writer that any publisher would hire me based on what I scribble on these pages?  I think not.  Yet here I am writing this stuff and here you are reading it.  You have complete control to read this or find something else to look at on another site.  Isn't that a great freedom for you, and I still have an outlet to put my thoughts down?  It takes the bureaucracy and other middlemen right out of the equation, which is something that most musicians would like to do with the music industry.

Let's all try to focus on making music and minimizing as many obstacles involved with that as we can.
 

Jason