The widest read, 'delivered to your Email box', weekly music Ezine on the Music Net.
The Archive
A service from 'The Serious Writers Guild' at MAKEHITS.COM Written by Dec Cluskey with a little bit opf help from his friends.
This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and
subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on
20.05.02
"
You are an inspiration to all who
know you......... but a pain in the
a** act to follow, just like
superman! You can quote me on
that."
Colin [Serious Writers Guild Member BAN0603030W]
AND.........
=================================
"My Emails are written in good humour, and should always be read with a smile"
Hey - have I had a week?
Gordon Giltrap has asked me to participate in a concept album with Midge Ure, Rick Wakeman, Brian May, Geoff Beck and other such 'Laudies'...should be fun....Gordon asked me "as one of the great guitar players"...hey, me playing with Tommy Emmanuel?
Well, I never consider myself to be a great player but Hey....when Gordon Giltrap says it - I better believe it! Now I have to prove it in that company. Shouldn't be hard...I just have to think of a 'never done before' idea. That usually gets a piece noticed. He doesn't want any vocals...so this is the first time I've ever done a total solo guitar piece on record...it'll be interesting. OK - I have a very identifiable style, but I have never been a 'ten thousand notes a second' player....I prefer to go for 'sound' and innovative melodic playing.
[Why do rock and roll solo guitar players play ten thousand notes a second? So that one or two will be right!]
What else happened to excite me this week?
I got to see my all time life Hero! Now this will not mean a lot to most guys reading this....but consider that John Lennon thought enough of this guy to put him on the cover of one of his albums....I advised Stevie Wonder to grab every album he could of this guy to develop a unique harmonica style...and Yep....he did!
So....who?
Toots Thielemans....the greatest living jazz harmonica player. 80 years of age...can you believe it? Playing to a massive audience in Palacio D' Congresso in Marbella, South Spain.
Lesson to be learned:
Just as I said above about finding a 'never done before' idea for the album with my pals, so Toots developed a 'never heard before' style that has seen him through his lifetime as the most innovative of instrumentalists. Think of 'Midnight Cowboy' theme...yep, that was Toots. Think about it. Practically every major film that had mouthorgan in got Toots to do it. He was the primary influence on Charlie Parker's playing, played with Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald...oh, just about everyone...if you ever wonder who did all the mouthorgan stuff with Paul Simon or Billy Joel...well Toots was the man.
He inspired me....as a kid I worshipped him. So I sent him a quick note last night and, not only did we share 'quality time' together, he kindly recorded a section for my next book and Interactive CD...on the value of 'never heard before' style.....
Do you think that kind of thinking could help your career?
What have you got to offer that has 'never been done before'? If a great Film writer wanted an unusual interpretation of his new piece for his next, mega, film would he call you? And by the way, Toots' other instrument is the guitar....if you have an interest in jazz - he was the guitar player on all the huge George Shearing Quartet recordings....what a player!
Do you love your music enough to be still thrilled , performing at age 80?
A serious worry I have about Music Guys world-wide:
I know that things are tough in the UK, at the moment, with the amount of 'hidden' taxation creating a grey. Socialist, 'dependency' society, crawling to the bureaucrats for hand-outs each month...Child benefit, working benefit, working tax credit benefit, 'you name it' kind of benefit. But since we introduced our pop-up survey on www.makehits.co.uk/swgintro.htm it has shocked me that, almost universally, music guys are smashed broke....crazy! Why?
For instance, a struggling French girl contacted me when she joined 'The Serious Writers Guild'. She was having quite a difficult time since the loss of her job. She wanted to know:
1/ How do I approach the bank when
I haven't sold one song ever in my life, my demo's are of bad qualities but
I'm starting a course on Cubase end of this month and hope to sort this out
quickly
2/ If I can't find any record deal by the
end of the year for myself, I want to sell the songs for others.
How?
She realises that
logically she should have her own Publishing Company in place to put herself in
a vastly superior bargaining position with a Record Company. She worried
about starting a business on the basis of no income coming at all but a lot
of expenses going out. By the way, check out www.makehits.co.uk/publishing.htm
for details of starting your own Publishing Company for less than £100.
Fifth printing is ready today....sorry for the slight delay to those who have
ordered in the past few weeks...but it is a big
seller.
My reply?
I get the feeling you want a bank involvement just to give you 'living' money...life doesn't work that way!
The best way to run any business is to 'bootstrap'...in other words run the business with ZERO money...that way, you will be forced to ensure the business makes money. By getting a bank loan, all you will do is spend that money...then go back looking for more.
"PERSONAL MONEY AND BUSINESS MONEY MUST NEVER BE MIXED UP."
It certainly focuses your brain on making money...I slept on Railway Station benches when I started my Recording career...that focuses your brain on getting somewhere to sleep and more importantly, getting money for food....and I never borrowed a penny.
Study your business, study your craft, practice your craft...just like a footballer or a cricket player or a brain surgeon / barrister / accountant / athlete.
Everything is in my releases...BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT! It's not just pleasant bedtime reading.
Finally...any bank will react to a well presented business plan. If you study my releases, look and behave and talk like a 'going places' person, then they will react favourably...but they will see right through you if you just want bank money to live on.
It is always worth a shot applying to 'The Princes Trust' for assistance here in the UK...they specialise in helping young people set up new businesses. Most other countries have similar Trusts that will help enthusiastic talent...check 'em out.
All the ways of promoting your toons are in my 'How To Make A $Million From your Music" program which you are now receiving monthly for the next ten months.
Did she listen?
What do you think? Her music was 'done a million times before'. 'Produced' [note the sarcasm!] by a studio engineer [please don't fall into that trap] and she ended up moaning and groaning that no one would help her and the whole business was 'fixed'. If only she had a manager. How many times have I heard that rubbish? Just a few! Or a few thousand!
It gets back to Toots Thielemans....he developed a unique, never heard before style that was an inspiration to so many, John Lennon, Paul Simon, ME....sold Zillions of jazz albums and has him jetting world-wide still at age EIGHTY.
Brilliant! Did he go to the bank to help? Did he need a manager? I doubt it...
"With talent that is sought after - managers will seek YOU
"Regards
Dec
"The secret of greatness is simple: do better work than any other man in your field - and keep on doing it."
Wilfred A. Peterson
Tip of the week: Don't even think of using a mobile to download or send Emails from a laptop or to access the Internet...totally useless! What the phone people don't tell you is that the fastest modem speed on a mobile is 9,600 bytes a second....try downloading 1,400,000 bytes at mobile phone charges from overseas...even when you can get it to work!
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Gag of the Week: What is the difference between a trampoline and a banjo?
You take your boots off to jump on a trampoline!
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One Moment with Stuart Goldsmith
"You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. "
www.medina.co.ukthe website of my good friend - Stuart Goldsmith
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