No matter what you do you can't make everybody happy, so quit trying. This is particularly true with music. Just forget it. I don't care who you are, what you play or how good you are. It can't be done.It is also true that if you put music on the internet and open up a discussion, you'd better put on your asbestos jumpsuit because it's gonna get ugly. Case in point: I recently made a music video for a song called "Run." One of my projects is "The Green Screen Trio," where I play all three parts. In this video I only played two. The song wasn't even a song yet, just a jam. I had fun making it and I posted the video on YouTube. Then I posted a link to it on Fark.com with a goofy headline for my friends to see.
If you are not familiar with fark.com, let me give you a little back story. This is one of my favorite places on the internet. A "news aggregator," I've heard it called. They themselves say "It's not news, it's Fark." I'll let you decide what to call it. I call it hilariously entertaining and informative. More importantly, you get real news, real fast. On 9/11 I read as people on the ground there told their stories live. It was incredible.
I hang out there a lot. Some of my best friends in the world are there; some I have never met offline. I've partied with a lot of Farkers over the years, including the owner, Drew Curtis (he has juggled my boobies), and much of the staff. You couldn't meet a cooler bunch of people. They make the world a better place, for the most part in their spare time.
It is a place where users submit stories with a silly headline and other users comment on the story, the headline, the submitter's mom and grammar. They also pepper the thread with "shops" and posters and lolcats. A lot of it is just stupid, even more of it is just hilarious. Some of it is educational, some of it is fun, and some of it is really important. When real news breaks I often hear about it there first, WAY before anyone else. I have seen some amazing stories on there that I would not have found otherwise. Go there, sign up and have fun. Look for me there as spontn80.
Anyway, I posted the link and, lo and behold, I got a coveted "greenlight." After I joined fark.com I signed up for "totalfark.com," so not only can I see what is approved for fark.com I can see every story submitted to the site (best five bucks evar!).
When you look at the list of stories – the "queue" – you see a source icon (cnn, espn, bfmn, etc.), then a link type tag (music politics, etc.), then the headline, then a number that is a link to the comments for that story. The headlines start out as blue text when fresh, then black, then at some point an "Admin" makes a decision and it is either turned red or it gets "greened" for inclusion on one of Fark's main pages.
Thousands of links get submitted and on the Submit-a-Link page it says, "Remember that less than 5% of submissions are hand-picked for Fark's main page." It was a goofy headline and I got a greenlight for the Music Tab. I really hadn't counted on that; I was posting it expecting only TotalFarkers would get to see it.
Click the image to get to the thread
Within hours I had over 4,000 views and some hilarious comments both on Fark and on YouTube. I've been doing this a long time. Nothing bothers me unless you stop listening altogether. I try to take criticism constructively and, by the way, I am my own worst critic. I know exactly where the mistakes are. I know exactly what scale I'm playing. I know exactly what is good and bad about a particular song.
Music people are a passionate people. The love what they love and they hate what they hate. There will always be the same arguments: who is the best guitar player, blues sucks, their old stuff is better than the new stuff, all technique no heart, this is the best song ever, no, this is the best song ever, blahblahblahghgh! I argue that it is impossible to pick a favorite grain of sand.
Whatever, dude. Play what you like, play what you know, let the notes fall where they may.
I'm not one of those people that can pick a favorite song or band or guitar player. I like vanilla ice cream; every other flavor sucks. Guitar players – man, I like damn near all of them for one reason or another. I have had some conversations lately with people so passionate about a particular song or band that they had become blind to the fact that music is meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed. Damning a whole genre because you don't like the guitar player in the band? Odd. The things I don't like are easy: Singing off key, out of time, or when the band sounds like they are not all playing the same song are things that get you off my playlist. Aside from that there isn't much music I won't listen to. Some I like, some I don't. Some I like but only a little bit at a time. Some I just can't get enough of. Some I listen to only a little bit of and only once. Not my cup of tea.
Apparently it is the same with my music. People hate it or love it and I learn from them both. They love me they hate me and I love them both. Feedback is invaluable and if they are talking about you then you struck some nerve, either way. I love this so much. When I got to YouTube for the first time to see the comments, this is what I saw. Note the times. Priceless.
I am framing it and
hanging it on my wall.
As to the big Fark argument over my use of the term virtuoso, I'll leave that up to you to decide.
I will say this, though, because I have to think this way (it drives me): I am, hands down, the best 12-string guitar player in the known universe, barre none. I will also say this: Even a virtuoso guitar player doesn't have to play a virtuoso performance every time. Sometimes we just want to have fun too.
It isn't the performance of one song that makes a virtuoso, it is the virtuoso that makes a performance of one song.
As always, your comments are welcome.
Thanks for listening.
Stay Tuned!
DanG
