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All good points Steve, and small ones at that! What
is that, 5 point font? :) I had to get my microfiche reader out.
I wanted to offer one last analogy with
the corporate world to reinforce our thoughts below, which may also wrap some
warm and fuzzies around the thread...and then I'll stop.
At my company, we have several layers and
hierarchies of management, from first line managers, to directors, to
VPs, country, business unit and function executives, to our CEO,
which on average is about 5-8 levels from individual contributor to CEO. I guess
you could consider these folks famous, in our own ecosystem of over 100,000
employees. Many of these executives put in some intense work days, often
16-18 hours a day, talking to customers, traveling the world, speaking,
making high impact decisions, etc. They live their jobs and they get paid
accordingly. Whenever anyone think they have a busy job, even a professional
musician, they should conceptualize the job of a corporate executive. They are
extremely high stress, high accountability, and time intensive...and their heads
are on the chopping block to drive results for the company. They don't
entertain, they drive the health of the company, upon which many peoples'
careers and lives are at stake.
Moreover, typically we will have third
and fourth level executives who rarely exchange emails with teams of individual
contributors (non-people manager). That is just the way they do business and it
is their management style. Neither right nor wrong. However, on occasion, a high
level executive will actually participate in an email discussions with team of
individual contributors, because they feel it is important to be present on the
front lines. And they will do this on a regular basis.
MAIN POINT: I can say from experience that this
above interaction between executives and employees generates a lot of positive
morale in the company, and generally creates more respect of our leaders when
they do this. It makes people feel good to know that their leaders and
visionaries care about what they think, talk to them, listen to them, engage
them, etc. It breaks down those idealistic walls of proletariat and
bourgeoisie.
I think the same can be the case for the music
industry. And we've even seen it on our very own LD list. Just recently, a well
known looper posted something on our list, and it appeared that people liked
this...it brightened up their day and outlook on the list, their art, etc. And I
have to believe that if a famous looper can increase the morale of a discussion
group and make people feel good about what they do, inform them, offer bits of
advice and wisdom, etc....that the feeling will be mutual. Usually, when we do
good things that make others feel good, it makes us feel good ourselves. So it
can be a win-win situation.
And this is why I really value the opinons and
interaction of loopers like Steve Lawson, Rick Walker, Sunao, and many others
who do this for a living and our representing us on the front lines of the
looper world. Every time you post to the list, you help build a positive morale
and a stronger infrastructure of the community.
Kris
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:42
AM
Subject: Re: Re famous folks on list (Re:
RC-50 video on summer NAMM)
>>>I have a full time
job for a fortune 500 company (9-12 hours a day), play music and record CDs on
the side, coordinate projects and event, and raise a family with two 14 month
twins that get up at 5:30 or 6am in the morning. I can still find the
time to send encouraging and useful emails to LD. I don't buy the time
argument, because everyone has an issue with time, not just professional
musicians. It is about priorities. If a professional musician makes it a
priority to proactively get engaged with a community, they will do it, period.
Heck, I know folks who sync their email up and do all their correspondence on
the plane. And I'm not talking about sending hundreds of emails, but at least
a response or comment once in a while so that we know that they are real
people who communicate with the external world, and not abstract deities who
only communicate through the press and their agents..which seems pretentious
as hell to me. Personally, I think fame gets to the heads of some people
in the entertainment industry.<<<
Kris,
you're absolutely right that
it's about priorities, and for people for whom music is a hobby, a love, a
past-time, their relaxation, sitting chatting about it with a bunch of
anonymous emailers is a dream come true. If the rest of your time is spent
talking about musical stuff, dealing with music related questions, playing
gigs, organising gigs etc. etc. etc. the last thing some people want to do
with their free time is talk about music.
The one thing that LD has over
a lot of other lists is that the level of the discussion is often worth
reading. Most music related lists are appalling. I contribute to quite a few
online bass forums - partly cos I enjoy it, and partly cos I can write it down
in my own mental time sheet as 'promotional' time. But the vast majority of
the discussions on the forums a) don't need to happen cos Google has the
answers, and b) are of such an inane level, that I really don't have the time
or inclination to get involved.
When I first got onto LD 7 or
so years ago, the level of conversation was consistently high - smaller group,
more movers and shakers, and a young list so all the good topics hadn't been
exhausted. It's fairly rare that a topic comes up on here that really floats
my boat. That's not to say it's not good stuff, just that it's not good for
me.
So yes, it's all about
priorities, and a lot of people's priority structure doesn't include chatting
online. that's cool.
Steve
www.stevelawson.net - site
www.stevelawson.net/zencart/ - shop
www.myspace.com/solobassstevelawson
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