| options are not an option. |
 |
 |
|
| Message: 4 Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 01:02:33 EST From: volmail@aol.com Subject: i never usually pisss and moan about... Nashville Tn... but not this time... Cheessh! What a town with it's head up it's ass... or maybe it's the club itself, i haven't decided. I played what i thought was a great show at the 5-spot in Nashville last Friday night... Not only that, with the aid of the superbly gifted Kenny Hutson, we tore through about 16 songs and a few brand new ones...to no avail. i think next to about 4 folks there no one out of the chatty crowd of 20 gave a damn...i sold 1 CD.... Discouraged? You bet... With no real "machine" behind this thing (i banished that idea when Paste Music dropped the ball on PL) i'm probably doomed to forever play your basic holes in the walls of an ever changing face of over an saturated, image-as-narcotic, wannabe glutted markets on the lower rung of a rotting food chain... i was told obscurity and insignifance had an address once...i guess i never really came to grips with actually having to live there. I've had a hard time paying the taxes, if you know what i mean. One likes to think they're actually playing for a reason. Career Advancement? Strategy? I was always told: "you gotta get your music up in front of the "right" people, the "right" bands, the "right" labels, kid!" I hate cliques... always have... always thought God was bigger than all the David Geffens' and Sonys and Universal Seagrams of the world... the same dynamic operates all over the place in ever "hipper-than-thou" scene i've ever tried to crack...somes is "in" and "somes, day be out." But like i said i always though God was bigger... i STILL think that. I'd be the FIRST to admit that i'm not always happy with what He deals out...sometimes i feel like saying: "you know Lord, that's not good enough right now." It maybe blasphmey but honesty usually comes before faith and growth. i always hated what kind of person i seemed to be becoming whenever i tried to "work it" towards the "right" people....Screw that: there are no "right" people...there is either good music and artists with some to say...or there isn't. I'm not saying i always have even said "it" well...and Lord knows i can be tired and distracted and give a "lesser" performance...but not often. At my level of "marquee value," given the venues i have to work in, the obstacles at this level of no-safety-nets are often psychologically and physically crushing...Most of the time however, i proud to say on most nights that I "gave it all my heart." The Recordings? I can say that I've never released "filler" or unambitious tracks EVER. You may have an affinity with the Americana stuff or the Poppier stuff...but you won't find lazy paint-by-number tracks anywhere. Paint-by-number is what I hear in that poor excuse for a music town... I've played these high and mighty so-called music capitals, courted their "boutique" labels and played their seminars before, where the general sorta malaise is that "if we haven't heard of you or you haven't kisses our ass here you must be shit," vibe prevails. At the 5-spot there was even some ex-Capricorn A and R guy there who was pleasant enough to say hello, but didn't stay for the set...i gave him a bunch of Cds and said: "call if ya need me." I don't think folks care about songs on most days... they're pretty usless items it seems like... EVEN among the folks who F&^%$^#@ say that SONGS matter to them in places like Nashville me? i can't live without songs... writing them... listening to then, playing them alone in the basement... crying over them, nurturing them... i hear SO much in my head i think it'll explode on some days... and then listening to other's tunes... they keep me hopeful and happier... they grace my life... it's almost like forgiveness. I think my work is/has become more fragile...ever sense the darkness of Locket Full of Moonlight (which my label at the time didn't like nor did they even review it)... but weaker and fragile...the deeper the risk the deeper the hurt when rejected...i have nothing left to put in front of anyone anymore...so when some MF in nashville the other night was laughing about half way through "Friendly Fire" i actually had a "healthy" homicidal thought...which i resisted... Oh well...a beer or two and some narcotic late night TV show and we'll...get up and do it again the next day..."Save me from bitterness and cynicism, Lord." My life seems more fragile than ever before...i dunno: maybe it'll make for some great songs... yes, God still seems bigger... i just wish He didn't like "fragile" so very much... pax, bill |
| Bill Mallonee has released 16 full-length albums over 14 years and received critical acclaim for each of his heartbreakingly beautiful works. He plays 120+ gigs a year, and has done so for over ten years. Bill Mallonee has toured with or opened for some of the business's big names, like the Dave Matthews Band, REM, and David Wilcox. He has released his albums both through record companies, big and small alike, and independently and has garnered top 10 singles in AAA radio as well as Modern Rock radio. His songwriting is often compared to that of Bob Dylan. Also, Bill Mallonee is on the cusp of obscurity. The following is an e-mail from Bill addressed to a fan list he is often found contributing to himself: |
 |
 |