It's Hard to Say Goodbye

 

I’m helping to undertake one of the most difficult, painful, irritating, aggravating and downright crappy jobs that I have ever done in my life (and I've had some doozies!) Mrs. Dear Leader and I are tearing apart the results of her long, creative musical life; we are getting rid of the many boxes of cds of her different albums and first we have to take each cd apart individually.

Before you ask, it’s because nobody buys cds anymore, actually they haven’t for a long time. As to why we have several boxes of them stored (that is, thousands of cds!) Well, you can’t blame her for her optimism when she had them made. After all, like any entrepreneur – especially someone creative – if you don’t think you have something that people will want, why would you even start in the first place, why wouldn’t you have inventory?

Like many, and more than most, the music industry has been disrupted by technology and the internet. It was Lizzy Rain’s bad fortune to produce her music just as it was going online with downloads for sites like Apple iTunes and Spotify. The rest, as they say, is history. And a sad history it is. Artists receiving pennies – or a percent of a penny – per download, people stealing the music and sharing it with friends with nothing paid to the artist, big companies like Apple and Amazon getting rich off the backs of artists. (Lizzy has had thousands and thousands of downloads all over the world which is marvelous, people enjoying her music - and made about a hundred bucks.) It’s not fair but who said life is fair? While all that is bad enough, somehow it’s not the worst of it.

I claim no artistic talent – and pretty much everyone would vouch for that – but I have always admired most artistic efforts and especially music. As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate that artists of all stripes are the keenest observers of society and the conscience of the average person. When you want to know what is actually going on in a country or culture just listen to the music, read books, look at the paintings, stare at the statues: George Gershwin, Van Gogh, Big bands, Rodin, gospel, Picasso, blues, JD Salinger, rock and roll. Just by the music alone an astute person could understand where the country was going and watch it change before so-called “leaders" have a clue. 

And yet we treat artists and musicians as second-class citizens – or worse - there to entertain us for whatever pocket change we generously throw them. I’m not talking about the few big names who manage to get all the attention and can tour the country and make the big bucks – good for them! I’m talking about people like Lizzy Rain and the millions of other talented musicians for whom there is no way to get their music in front of fans except online AND the drudgery of nonstop touring in little shitbird towns all over the country. Today, right now, bands full of great musicians play at bars for 75-100 bucks for 5 or 6 hours of work – and yet they do it night after night. Why? Because they love making music. Forget radio, nearly all stations are owned by just a few big conglomerates with automated play lists and fake formulas. Forget the music labels, they’re dying. (For which there is some karma since they were the ones screwing the artists before artists started getting screwed by Apple.)

Look no further than education for our concern for the arts. Budget problems at the school? Cut the music and art departments, for God's sake, not football! World full of complex problems needing new and creative ideas and we demean the most creative people - what a brilliant idea! Yeah, we need science and math but we also need the other side of the brain, we need the much disparaged – and greatest - form of education ever created, we need the liberal arts. And another thing . . . Sorry, whew, boy, I didn’t mean to wander off into a rant. Lord knows we have enough old white guys ranting about something out there.

Anyway, we need to get back to work dismantling thousands of cds. Just to add a little salt to the open musical wound, you can’t just recycle them whole you have to separate all the packaging - jewel case one way, liner notes another and cd yet another - and get rid of each separately. In a fit of pique it would be easy to say to hell with it and just take the boxes to the dump – but we like to think we’re better than that. (Well, Lizzy Rain is better than that.) Besides, this is still the work of a lifetime for her and they deserve a decent funeral. 

But no need to mourn just yet, it's not really the end of Lizzy Rain's music just these pieces of plastic. The muse still visits her often and there's still a lot of great music inside that beautiful, blond head! 

(This post is approved by Lizzy Rain)

On another positive note, as of today the Resolute desk is now occupied by a deserving president.

Hail to the Chief