The other night, when I went against doctor's orders and went out for dinner, I spoke to the DJ.
We'd become friends with him on a night that Papi had 'a tad' to drink and the DJ put Papi on bell duty to keep his drunk ass busy.
His job was to ring the bell when something good happened in the pay-per-view fight that evening.
Anyway, the other night, he sat with us and I asked him if he'd like to listen to my music.
Papi gets so damn embarrassed when I self-promote, but if I don't do it, who will?
I suppose my last CD could sit up in a drawer forever, never to be shared with anyone, but that just doesn't seem right.
So, Papi begged me not to do it and I had to ask, with all honesty, "Is it because it's not good enough?"
I would hate to embarrass myself by asking someone to listen to my music if it sucked.
He was adamant that this was not the case. That it was that my music isn't Dominican.
Ummm ... the DJ plays Bon Jovi and Eagles.
Not sure what that is about people being uncomfortable with me self-promoting.
I'm sure if I had someone promoting me like Britney Spears, I would be on top of the music chain as well. It's all about promotion.
If I'm not doing it, it won't get done.
Years ago, in another life, I had a best friend that was a big support of my music, but she, too, was embarrassed when I would self-promote.
Once, I put on my SuperGirl Panties and gave my music to Jann Arden. It went really well chatting with her, and afterward my ex-bestie said, "OK. I won't ever say not to do that again."
Well, the other night, after the DJ listened to it, he had every person who worked there listening to it, including the manager, who said, "Can you play here live?"
Of course I can, but I don't have Drummer Boy with me.
He's back in Canada.
So, now I'll have to find someone here to be his surrogate.
That kinda sucks, because Drummer Boy was the meat to my potatoes.
Anyway, people liked it and I've been asked to bring by CDs. Of course, a lot will be given for free, because people in this country just can't afford to buy music.
I'll buy theirs though. Or swap my CD for their CD.
I know how hard it is to get money out of people for your art.
Kinda the same as, I always tip well, because I know what it's like to be a waitress, work really hard to please the customer, then get a buck outta some cheap asshole who had a $50 meal.
Whole point is, there's that saying from Susan Jeffers, 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' that I adopted after my motorcycle accident.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot that we only have a short time on this planet.
That we better fucking be happy and take those chances, because someone can come along in a little red Toyota and wipe us off the planet with one bang to our motorcycle.
When did I lose that feeling of living without fear?
Perhaps I got insecure from the change of moving here and fell back to old ways.
Fear.
A lovely Blogger Friend reminded me the other day, that those who dumped me didn't win.
He reminded me that I am better than that thought.
They were just weeded out of my veggie garden so that they didn't squish out the other healthy plants that are meant to be there.
It's time to plant some new seeds.
We'd become friends with him on a night that Papi had 'a tad' to drink and the DJ put Papi on bell duty to keep his drunk ass busy.
His job was to ring the bell when something good happened in the pay-per-view fight that evening.
Anyway, the other night, he sat with us and I asked him if he'd like to listen to my music.
Papi gets so damn embarrassed when I self-promote, but if I don't do it, who will?
I suppose my last CD could sit up in a drawer forever, never to be shared with anyone, but that just doesn't seem right.
So, Papi begged me not to do it and I had to ask, with all honesty, "Is it because it's not good enough?"
I would hate to embarrass myself by asking someone to listen to my music if it sucked.
He was adamant that this was not the case. That it was that my music isn't Dominican.
Ummm ... the DJ plays Bon Jovi and Eagles.
Not sure what that is about people being uncomfortable with me self-promoting.
I'm sure if I had someone promoting me like Britney Spears, I would be on top of the music chain as well. It's all about promotion.
If I'm not doing it, it won't get done.
Years ago, in another life, I had a best friend that was a big support of my music, but she, too, was embarrassed when I would self-promote.
Once, I put on my SuperGirl Panties and gave my music to Jann Arden. It went really well chatting with her, and afterward my ex-bestie said, "OK. I won't ever say not to do that again."
Well, the other night, after the DJ listened to it, he had every person who worked there listening to it, including the manager, who said, "Can you play here live?"
Of course I can, but I don't have Drummer Boy with me.
He's back in Canada.
So, now I'll have to find someone here to be his surrogate.
That kinda sucks, because Drummer Boy was the meat to my potatoes.
Anyway, people liked it and I've been asked to bring by CDs. Of course, a lot will be given for free, because people in this country just can't afford to buy music.
I'll buy theirs though. Or swap my CD for their CD.
I know how hard it is to get money out of people for your art.
Kinda the same as, I always tip well, because I know what it's like to be a waitress, work really hard to please the customer, then get a buck outta some cheap asshole who had a $50 meal.
Whole point is, there's that saying from Susan Jeffers, 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' that I adopted after my motorcycle accident.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot that we only have a short time on this planet.
That we better fucking be happy and take those chances, because someone can come along in a little red Toyota and wipe us off the planet with one bang to our motorcycle.
When did I lose that feeling of living without fear?
Perhaps I got insecure from the change of moving here and fell back to old ways.
Fear.
A lovely Blogger Friend reminded me the other day, that those who dumped me didn't win.
He reminded me that I am better than that thought.
They were just weeded out of my veggie garden so that they didn't squish out the other healthy plants that are meant to be there.
It's time to plant some new seeds.
i show compassion in helping my loved ones understand my dreams
I think you've gotta be able to do that to get people to give your stuff a spin.
ReplyDeleteGotta be fearless about it, even though it might make people uncomfortable from time to time.
That's the kind of people I see getting noticed, anyway. Shameless self-promoters!
i wish every one of us had a supporter like ourselves. it's hard being the artist, promoter, manager, bookkeeper, ad infinitum.
Deletebut as an artist yourself, i'm sure you understand :)