Sunday, October 06, 2013

A Birthday Thank You.

I want to thank the many, many well-wishers, friends and family who posted links to my songs on YouTube. It was the best birthday present of all, to know that people care enough to share your art. I spent many, many hours, days, weeks and years writing those songs because I had to live them before I could write them.

For struggling artists with no label, no producer, no agent, no manager, but lots of friends who care, those shared links mean the world. So, don't just share mine. Go to an artist you love -- someone else struggling to pay the rent and stay alive -- and give them some link-love. You have no idea how it will brighten their day to know someone out there really listens to the heart and soul they invest in their music.

Lastly, just as I did when we started the TLS adventure, I've burned 100 home made discs for sale of Tales from the Bonus Round. I've signed and numbered them as a collector's item. In a way, I had to do this anyhow since I didn't use a service to manufacture any CDs (too expensive and no storage room in our apartment for boxes). "Tales," right now, is only a download or a stream, though Amazon will do one-off manufacturing starting in about 5 weeks or so (they say).

To this day, people come to me with signed and numbered cassettes I gave out at the first presentation of The Last Session at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in early 1996, before the new drug came along that summer.

And thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday. I learned on that "death bed," that in this life nothing matters but the people around you. All else is silliness and vanity. And that's the lesson of the bonus round. Anyone whose life is about "things" is living a lonely existence. Feel pity for them. And embrace your loved ones ever tighter in service to each other, community and adventure. And that's how you live a remarkable life.

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