Saturday, November 27, 2010

Why?

This blog entry isn't going to be funny at all. But every now and then you have to step out from behind the clown mask and say something personal, and perhaps even profound.

Lexie and I have been working ourselves to death trying to get this tour started. In spite of our best efforts we are very behind where we need to be. The task seems daunting, sometimes it seems impossible. But this tour will happen, simply because I feel it must.

This is a bold experiment with an agenda of sociological change. You could call it the pebble that rolls down the hill. Maybe it just rolls until it stops, or it might just start a avalanche.

This is very hard to put into words, but please follow along as best you can.

Music is not the Internet, or recordings, or radio, or videos on whatever TV station plays music videos now. Music is an art form that has relevance to a listener. Now I'm not saying all music is deep and poetic, but all music has relevance to a listener. “Girls just wanna have fun” is not deep or poetic, but it's one of those songs that ignites a broad pallet of emotions. Even guys get a kick out of it.

Music is not the lyrics, the rhythm, the melody, the chord progression or the production values. It's the effect all those elements achieve.

In the end, music is art that has emotional relevance to a listener.

Art does not thrive in a vacuum.

Are we too big for the Internet? Yes, but simply because music in and of itself is always bigger then then the channel it's transmitted on. Music is also too big NOT to be in the Internet as well.

As an Internet musician, and that is what I've been for the last two years,I need to reach out. Step away from the keyboard and present my music to new listeners, and never forget the supporters that took a moment to discover me on the Internet.

Now I'm well aware we could all cloister ourselves away and still reach a world wide audience. We could probably forge a sustainable living doing nothing more then Logging on. But that would be fundamentally wrong.

The effect of art is far more profound when we experience it as part of our physicality.

Example, there is a huge difference between seeing a photograph of the statue of David, and standing before it. Millions of people travel to Rome each year to see the Sistine chapel. We've all seen photographs of it, but to stand there and look up is a transcendent moment. If you've ever been to Bath England and viewed Stonehenge in person, you would know no photograph or video can fill you with that sense of awe.

Live music in a face to face setting extremely powerful, and in a way, magical. The performance happens then vanishes into history upon completion. The entire event becomes a memory to the listener as well as the performer. A powerful memory.

So Lexie and I undertake this task. To reach out from behind our computers and venture forth into a cold uncaring world. To find the few that seek a new and more personal music, and to connect with the supporters that have sustained our vision for the last few years.

Because Music is too big for the Internet, and somebody has to be the pebble rolling down the hill.

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