Perserverance

[Don]

For fans of the "Live From Daryl's House", this is a great read.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/ ... severance/

I’m not worried about anybody competing with me.

Because they just don’t have the dedication, they just don’t persevere.

In other words, if the first thing you’re thinking about is money, you’re doomed. It’s just too tough. Not that it’s illegal to think about getting paid, but if you don’t love what you do, if you wouldn’t do it for free, give up now. Because you just ain’t gonna make it.

The artistic life is truly about getting in your car and driving away from the action, away from the city, charting your own course and hoping the public catches up with you. And if they don’t?

You’re probably not doing something they’re interested in. Swallow that. There’s a good chance you’re not good either, but I won’t make that judgment. But the best work is done when the public is not in mind, when you’re following your own muse. And following and following and following.

I don’t know what inspired Daryl Hall to start "Live From Daryl’s House". But I know it was about music. And music is always about collaboration. Sure, you can make that record at home alone, but how you gonna play it live? Furthermore, with a musician’s life so hard, you’d better enjoy the camaraderie, the give and take, the playing, because that’s all there might ever be.

Artists are a different breed. They’re not about capitalism, but capturing emotion. Telling an aural tale. Hooking you and me not by dunning us, but through their music. I’ve never been closed by an e-mail, especially an unsolicited one. But music? You can hear it once and get it. You’ve just got to be exposed to it.

And one place to be exposed to it is "Live From Daryl’s House".

I used to go. In the beginning. But now that Fitz and The Tantrums was on I decided to check back. And was stunned that there were 39 episodes. Sure, there’s been some TV action recently, but that was years later. Are you willing to invest for years, with almost no financial return, just because you believe in yourself and are having fun?

I went to Daryl’s site and could now surf the archive and hear so many cuts. I could spend some time there. And this only occurred because Daryl Hall stayed at it.

Almost no one stays at it anymore. They want a quick return or they’re on to the next thing. "If this music thing doesn’t work out in 24 months I’m going to graduate school." There’s no time limit on making it in the arts, you can work your whole life and never get noticed or be noticed when you’re sixty or be noticed immediately and then forgotten. That’s the worst thing, to have quick success and never be able to walk away, trading on it for decades, stopping not only your creativity, but your life.

A great artist grows.

Daryl is just not presenting these artists, he’s playing with them.

That’s what a musician does. Play.

All that social networking crap is secondary. One great performance can eclipse a lifetime of tweets. And if someone can find you on YouTube, they’ll spread the word themselves, they’ll discover a way, you don’t need to work it on Facebook.

You see almost no one perseveres at their dream. Certainly not once they’re out of school, when there’s little financial reward. We revere those that do.

But we’re only interested in excellence.

When we find it, we stick to it like glue. We tell everybody about it.

Don’t worry about holding on to your fans tight. They come, they go. But they’ll always come back if you produce great new work.

But that’s hard.

Can you stay in the game when no one is paying attention, when not only do you not feel like you’re going forward, but you’re locked in the Sargasso Sea?

That’s the question.

[S2M]

One of the best 'shows' ever....I've watched a good 25 of those episodes....

[slucero]

Love DH... check out Eli Reed... guarantee you'll be seat dancing...

http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/curr ... l?ep_id=18

[Michigan Girl]

Eli Reed is the whitest black boy I've ever seen ...love him, soooouuull !!

[G.I.Jim]

Eli Reed is the whitest black boy I've ever seen ...love him, soooouuull !!

You been hanging out with Dan much?

[Rick]

I used to be on Lefsetz mailing list, but there for a while, his articles got to be about things I found pretty boring, so I stopped it. He has posted some great one's though.

[Michigan Girl]

Eli Reed is the whitest black boy I've ever seen ...love him, soooouuull !!

You been hanging out with Dan much?

Can he sing?!


DEB~ you've gotta hear this guy, if you haven't already ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQEQ0Z5NdJg

[Deb]

Eli Reed is the whitest black boy I've ever seen ...love him, soooouuull !!

You been hanging out with Dan much?

Can he sing?!


DEB~ you've gotta hear this guy, if you haven't already ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQEQ0Z5NdJg

I've never heard of him before, but thanks, he's definitely gotsta da soul!

[brandonx76]

I used to be on Lefsetz mailing list, but there for a while, his articles got to be about things I found pretty boring, so I stopped it. He has posted some great one's though.

I think he comes across as an arrogant prick who uses his pen aggressively because he was never able to be an artist...it's fantastic to sit on the sidelines and be the musical equivalent of a arm-chair quaterback, but at the end of the day, what is he telling us that those of us who have any salt of a soul and a nominal musical intelligence don't already know? I think it's great what Darryl has done, and it's a tragic shame his long time music partner T-Bone Wolk who was a key partner on these sessions passed away last year (http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/2010/03/01/hall-oates-issue-statement-on-the-death-of-tom-t-bone-wolk/), but Lefsetz just sounds like total vibe-sucker...just my take based on the few articles I've read by the guy...Maybe I'm just a frustrated musician who never 'made it', I'll give him that, but I'm not interested in reading his 'hipster' take on things...