I don't bother with his blog, but read the
Bob Lefsetz music biz piece over at Ritholtz's Big Picture when it turns up, usually coming on the weekend (
invariably when I'm looking at my RSS list for light relief while writing up the weekly report). It's a regular read it because it's a mixed bag of things, some of which sound stupid, some that come across as little more than coke-fuelled streams of consciousness, other times smart and funny, always thought-provoking and occasionally there comes a neat little soundbite that gets me saying "Yes, spot on" out loud to my screen. One of the latter category turned up in
this weekend's edition:
The richies have polluted the waters. They say they create all the jobs, that we’re worthless without them, that we need to be like them.
But nothing is further from the truth.
The truth is everybody should be able to pay their bills, have a roof over their head and food on the table, hopefully via a well-paying job. But after we institute the floor, life is about choices. And those who tell you to sell out to the man have no backbone.
Can you imagine a corporation tying up with John Lennon? Who incited controversy seemingly every time he opened his mouth? You wonder why we’ve got no more John Lennons? Because people are afraid to piss off the payers, the man.
Whole thing here and for what it's worth, I have very little knowledge about who Bob Lefsetz is and no idea at all about his recreational activities.
The above probably resonated with me after a week in which I've been offered several "business opportunities" (I think that's what the cool kids call them) for this blog, all of which have been refused (some more stridently than others). Sorry people, I worked out long ago that 1) being independent is worth more than your dollars and 2) I don't need to be rich. As the world's most subversive book put it:
What works reliably is to know the raw silk, hold the uncut wood.
Need little, want less. Forget the rules. Be untroubled.
Most people know the second line, the first one causes a little more brainache until you work out that "raw silk" is symbolic for simplicity and "uncut wood" means to be natural or honest. So to tie those two semi-connected thoughts a little closer in this weekend ramble, the last word goes to the incisive brain of Kurt Vonnegut:
"Go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."
That's exactly right.
