I don’t know about you…but I think that’s a load of crap! I don’t disagree that in the old system, not everything was perfect. Artists got raped by record labels repeatedly, and that was on a good day. Most days it looked more like a gang rape, or a pack of hungry wolves tearing someone limb from limb. But on a whole, it still worked better for artists than the free for all that is going on today.

Let’s treat music like a product, it is one in many senses. Now in any industry in America, there is some form of control, or regulation. For food and medicine there is the food and drug administration. For real estate there is REBY and fair housing. For the president, there is congress and the senate. And in slightly different markets like football, there is the NFL…a league of teams that agree on a given set of principles. And the list continues. Every industry has some sort of bench mark that says “this is good” or “this is safe for you to eat” or “this means that you are now a pro athlete instead of a college athlete.” Record labels used to be that for music. They helped weed through the numerous “wanna be’s” and separated the wheat from the chaff. And the consequences of this breakdown in the system are immeasurable.

Technology has made it such that we no longer pay for music. We share it with each other, download for free and just listen to free streaming on youtube. We’ve almost eliminated record labels…the so called “directly to consumers idea.” What would happen if we started getting food for free? Starting tomorrow you can walk into any grocery store and take a handful of apples and either take them with you…or just take a bite and then put it back on the shelf. Grocery stores would no longer have money to operate and would go out of business, farmers would stop farming because no one was buying their corn, so maybe they’d share a little with their neighbors and then eventually they’d stop farming. Same with butchers, same with the corporations making the cereal you eat in the morning or milk you pour in your coffee. Eventually, we would all starve! Yes, the consumers are the choosers in the end…but without the middle man, without the specialists, and the companies regulating all the choices, we would all have to be our own farmer, our own butcher, our own wheat processing plant, ect ect ect. And it’s the same with music. Eventually true artists will realize that music can no longer be a profession, only a hobby. And the greats will be lost forever to the majority of us. We’ll be left with the music that our friends do. Hopefully they’re good!

Said another way, lets say all of the sudden all the butchers and cereal companies in the country all of the sudden also started producing corn. Corn was everywhere…everyone was selling it, or giving it away. Everyone thought they knew how to grow it, how to package it, how to turn it into products even if they weren’t an expert. We’d have a lot of shitty corn! A lot shitty cereals, the price of corn and all related products would take a nose dive…and eventually we’d have the same result. Corn would lose it’s value, so people would stop producing it…and eventually it would dry up. Or, what if we went from 32 NFL teams to 70, and games were on every day. It would dilute the brand and no one would want to watch football anymore.

And what’s more, today artists have to put out an album every year to even stay relevant. Music get sucked in and spit out so quickly for the new flavor of the month, that unless you are constantly putting out something new, the public forgets about you, you lose your deal and go back to bartending at Chili’s. Does this make for great music? No, it makes for hurried creations that have not had time to live or breath. Like genetically modified corn that’s been injected with special fertilizers and hormones for quick growth. It’s unnatural! A great song like “Imagine” has to be lived. It has to come from experience, for hurt and pain, from real organic shit…and hope, and have time to find it’s voice and it’s life.

Record labels, though imperfect, at least were able to separate the wheat from the chaff. They put money into that really great corn and gave it to the masses; established it’s value and allowed it to thrive…allowing artists to make it a profession and continue producing what people loved. Was it a monopoly? NO, there were handfuls of record labels competing. Pushing dollars into their artists in hopes that America would love them and latch on! They provided some sort of control. How many really great artists have you seen emerge in the last 3 years? Maybe 3? 4? Is this the trend we want to continue? I don’t know about you but I do not want to eat a lot of shitty corn!

Rubix Kube is an 80s cover band that not only delivers every lick and every line of all of your favorite 80s jams, but also brings you all of the bad hair, the unfortunately unflattering (but somehow still totally awesome) outfits, and even all of that cheesy choreography that you can’t help but love! They performed at The Canal Room on Saturday night for a crowd of a good 300 people, all wearing headbands, sunglasses and so much neon that it actually made the sunglasses more of a necessity than a fashion statement.

I was quite possibly the only sober person in the room….but this sad fact did not hinder my enjoyment of this completely rockin band! This is one group that you actually don’t need to be drunk to enjoy (although being drunk certainly doesn’t hurt)** Normally, I might think it to be a bit of a sham to see a band with no original music…but Rubix Kube’s strength is their superior performance ability and the fact that they are delivering something unique to an over-saturated music market that continues to flood itself with mediocre, generic songs. Rubix Kube, however, performs the best of the best from the 80′s…all those songs that you want to scream along with and dance to without any of the extra crap that most bands try to extend a set with. But most importantly, they are true musicians! Every guitar solo was played with perfection by Eric Presti. The sax, synth, piano and string hooks that you remember from all your favorite songs were played note for note by their keyboardist named Sky (an incredible feat for a show of over 40 songs) and the two lead singers, Cherie Martorana and Scott Lovelady, delivered powerful vocals that would make Pat Benatar, Bon Jovi and White Snake proud! Rubix Kube even goes so far as to project music videos and band photos for all songs they perform on the wall behind the stage. One of my favorite moments of the night was marveling at how much better Brett Michaels looked before years of drinking, doing drugs, over-eating, and being stripped of all self-respect by VH1′s, The Rock of Love turned him into a middle-aged wash-up clinging to his former days by wearing eyeliner and paying trashy girls to date him.

The only downside to the event was that the room was so crowed with drunken buffoons that for a moment I wished I had
brought my slingshot! But even that was not enough to stifle the fun that Rubix Kube was dishing out like Santa Claus on Christmas morning!

Tickets for Rubix Kube at Canal Room: $15
2 drinks for my boyfriend and I: $20
Watching said boyfriend pour his drink on some drunk hoe in neon who kept trying to kiss him: priceless!

Check out Rubix Kube online at http://www.rubixkube.com. They play regularly at The Canal Room and I highly suggest putting on your high tops and legwarmers and dancing your ass off to songs from The Culture Club, AC/DC, Def Leopard, and many more of your favorite 80′s bands!

I actually found myself saying out loud last night, “Are you serious?” And not just once! Almost every artist offered their own unique kind of disappointment. Susan Boyle for example; can someone please explain to me how this woman still has a budding music career? I realize that she had a beautiful performance on Brittain’s Got Talent, and it was moving to see someone like her really have a moment in the spotlight. But the continual pumping of marketing dollars into her and putting her on major stages across the country is mind boggling. Since when did we let performers that consistently look like a deer in headlights continue to vie for our attention? There is nothing moving about watching a statue move their lips to some music, no matter how good their voice is.

And the Justin Beiber effect is another phenomenon sweeping the nation that makes me want to spew chunks. Just because there is one successful, talented and cute star under the age of 16 doesn’t mean that any cute, young 16 year old has the chops to cut it with the big boys (or girls) and that we should start scouring the nation like Harrod looking for Jesus to find another young clone to thrust into the spotlight in order to make a quick buck. Last night, Charise, who is supposedly the new hottest up and coming puppet of the music industry, delivered a robotic performance at best. Yes, she has a good voice and is awkwardly endearing…but there are millions of good voices and cute faces out there. What used to mark a star was their ability to put on a show, or write amazing songs, or do just about anything except stand there with a gimpish smile on their face and wait for their music to start. Last night Charise’s track didn’t begin properly and instead of turning the flub into a moment to shine, like any performer with any true credibility would do by making a joke, or breaking out into an accapella number…she stood there fidgeting and looking like shy Ronnie from Saturday Night Live. These are the moments that test real talent! When things don’t go perfectly, if you sink faster than an anchor tied to a kitten…then you are not ready to be performing on National television. Her pianist finally took the mic from her and said, “Gotta love live television.” “Are you serious?” Now, I can hear some of you saying, but she’s only 16, give her a break..and to you I would say, “Would Michael Jackson have waited for one of his brothers in the Jackson Five to snatch the mic from him and save the day?” Hell no! He actually had talent and knew how to command the stage! He was actually living in a time when record labels came to see you perform before they signed you and actually cared about putting their name on something that would make them look like they couldn’t tell a shining star from a crashing satellite.

To Charise’s credit, once the music actually started, she did recover and deliver a well sung song. But once upon a time musicians were not just about delivering the status quo…they were innovators, pushing music and performance to new heights.

But sadly one of the major problems with the music industry these days is that labels are putting no money into artist development. They are no longer looking for acts with serious heart and passion and signing them to multiple record deals in order to see what they can create and how they can evolve. They are no longer looking for those acts that might be slightly off the beaten path, but that just might change the way we listen to music. It used to be about inspiring music. It used to be about moving people! Now it is about trying to make a quick buck and jumping on any bandwagon that has had it’s 5 minutes of fame in reality television and riding it like a dog in heat until the wheels fall off. Please tell me how true art comes from this? If your answer to this question is “Hey, Don’t be Tardy for the Party is some good shit,” then please get in line for me to shoot you with the sling shot that I’ve now decided to carry around. It’s sad, but it seems that the days of Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan truly are dead because those two legends would never get signed today. Stevie would get overlooked because he’s blind, and in the days of 360 deals, we aren’t sure how to pitch a blind artist to fashion labels…and Bob Dylan wouldn’t get signed because his songs aren’t the “run of the mill, proven formula devoid of any real heart and feeling.” And even if he did get signed by some miracle…they would end up auto-tuning his voice to a point where none of his raspy emotion could come through.

But it’s not just the labels fault! We are the ones buying this crap (or stealing it by downloading it for free and therefore eliminating the value of music altogether and perpetuating the problem). We have proven lately that musicians who take a risk and make innovative music are NOT what we want. We want people like Ke$ha and Kim Zolciak and songs telling us to make haste and not be late for the awesome party tonight…woooooh!!!

Annie Lenox though….now she’s still got it! Whether she’s singing a Christmas song or “Walking on Broken Glass” that woman sings her ass off and delivers a performance that moves her audience every time! Quite frankly, she single handedly saved the show.

In most industries when you offer a service you receive a payment for your work or your goods. However, the arts work more like a not for profit in which you offer all of your time and energy for an emotional reward rather than a monetary one. You will most likely be performing for free and spending most, if not all, of your leftover income after bills on things like paying your band, buying gear, paying photographers, reproducing head shots, recording, or buying supplies, ect ect ect. So as you watch your vacation dreams, new clothes desires, and love of dining at fancy restaurants flush rapidly down the loo….remember to have patience! This is what you chose. It’s difficult swallow at times but that gaggingly stoic saying about how good things come to those who wait (and who work their a#*! off I should add) is probably true. (For the love of God, please let it be true!) And while you do occasionally hear of the over night success story…most of the time that “over night” break was created by years of hard work, sacrifice, and an pain-staking amount of patience! So keep working and wait for that moment! If you have talent, faith in yourself and passion for what you are doing…sooner or later the world will recognize you! How long can you wait….that’s up to you and your heart to decide. But here are a few brilliant examples of people that had patience and kept on keeping on:

Jack Nicholson got his big break at 30. Morgan Freeman got his at age 52. J.K Rowling was a 30 year old single mom on welfare and got denied by 12 publishing Houses before she finally got a measly $1500 advance by a small British publishing house to finish writing Harry Potter! Robin Thicke is the son of a famous actor but still got shelved for years by his label who didn’t believe America would get his music. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga got dropped by their first labels…and weather you are a fan or not, those ladies are raking in the dough and living their dream. So yes, it sucks most of the time, and I’m the first to admit that, but perseverance and patience are everything! America is built these days on instant gratification, fast food, fast cash, and living in the fast lane. But dreams can not be made like a $3 hamburger at Mickey D’s. So don’t forget why you started on your journey and be willing to hold out for as long as it takes to make it right! Patience is a virtue!

Should! It seems like such a harmless little word. But this one word can kill creativity and passion faster than you can say it. Why is that? Well, it’s because following your passion is almost never the path of least resistance. It involves more risk than most people are willing to accept, which is why very few people have the courage to truly follow their passion. I risked everything when I decided to follow my dream to be a musician. I risked having a 3 figure a year salary, risked having years of work experience right out of college, risked my parents and friends thinking that I was foolish, risked many people thinking that because I was waiting tables at 25 years old, that I wasn’t intelligent or capable of doing something else and the biggest thing that I risked was security, embracing instead the possibility of actually failing at something that I loved. All of these things weigh on your heart and slowly suffocate creativity and joy if you let it.

“Should” also kills passion because it takes the joy out what you are actually doing! When you say to yourself, “Maybe I should be in a more practical career,” you are injecting negativity into the bloodstream of your passion by condemning what you are doing as somehow incorrect. Following your passion requires joy and acceptance of yourself in it’s fullest. There are many many musicians in this world today, and some much more skilled than I, but I come with my unique background, my own thoughts to express in their unique way…and so all my fears, and pain, hopes, beliefs and experiences come together in way that is unique from anyone else on the planet. Following your passion is difficult enough without injecting negativity into it on a daily basis. Let go of all the things you think you should be and instead accept what you are. And let go of all the things you think you “should” be doing and instead accept fully what you have chosen to do and fight for it tooth and nail.

Have faith! It may sound cliche…but you must have faith that even though thousands of people “fail” at realizing their goal each day…that for you the story will end differently! But don’t be fooled just because it sounds “cliche.” Having faith can be very challenging work! It is a daily commitment, one you must re-affirm again and again. We are human, and doubt is something that is engrained in our DNA. It sits right next to our confidence and taunts it the entire way saying things like, “You’re deluding yourself. You can’t do that. You’re not as good as him, or her, or you don’t have enough talent, education, or brains.” But it is precisely in those moments that we must reaffirm our faith and CHOOSE to press forward! As I spoke about last week, a passion is usually something we are born with, a deep seeded love for something that has existed in us for as long as we can remember. But having faith is a choice! It is a verb, which means it requires action and work! There is a beginning, a middle and an end! There is the act of choosing to have faith, then there is living in that beautiful place of pure faith, and usually, eventually that faith fades and doubt creeps in again and again and again. So when the doubt does find its way in, and it always does, remind yourself that everyone feels it, but heros do not turn away and run from it. Heros choose to believe and have faith that they can find a way to press forward. It doesn’t mean that they dont feel doubt or that it goes away…it simply means that their faith is stronger. I truly believe that faith is often what separates those who succeed from those who give up! So choose faith. It will save you! It is infectious, and if you have faith in yourself, you inspire others to have the confidence to do so also!

Here is one of my songs called “Fly” It was written about a time in my life when doubt was winning the fight….and when I had to make the choice to have faith one more time!

Discovering your passion! It may seem obvious, but discovering your true passion eludes many people! Many set out in today’s society to do what will make the most money, or what their parents want them to do, or what will bring them prestige in their community. Those of us living in the art world know about passion all too well because it’s been living and growing inside of us for as long as we can remember. I honestly can not remember a time when I did not dream of being on the stage. From the time I was 5 years old I was pretending to lead a choir, dancing on the fireplace as if it were my stage, and singing at the top of my lungs to Gloria Estefan and Whitney Houston. So although it’s not always easy to walk down the artistic path…I have always known what makes me tick.

However, what I realized recently is that I have another true passion that’s not as obvious…and for those of you who haven’t yet consciously figured out what your passion is…maybe this will help you!

I realized that I have a passion for my faith and for religion. I absolutely love learning about other religious beliefs, why people believe in what they do, and the stories that have lead them to their faith. From the Bible, to Paulo Coelho, to books about Hinduism, Buddhism and even New Age beliefs like The Secret, I can’t get enough. Almost every in depth conversation that I have with someone, somehow finds it way to the topic of faith! I am happy sharing openly what I believe, and love to expand on my faith by learning what you believe! And so, I came to discover my second true passion: Faith! Anything that you love to devour, to learn about, or to speak about is your passion. It is something you are born with! You can deny it…but it will never go away and someday, somehow will find it’s way to the surface. It doesn’t have to be what you do for a career…if you love helping people, can’t stop talking about the homeless who don’t have warm coats in the winter, or love learning about the welfare system in America…then get involved, volunteer and find a way to spend your extra time organizing a coat drive, serving at a soup kitchen or working to improve the welfare system. The sooner you accept what you are and what you love, the sooner you will start to understand your purpose on earth! Be true to yourself and your spirit and the rest will start to follow! By discovering your true passion you are one HUGE step closer to being able to follow it and live a life of deep fulfillment.

Visit the blog next Sunday for the second step to following your passion!

“Give it All Up” is a song about giving everything for love! All you have, all you’ve worked for, and all that you are! Sometimes fighting so hard ends in heart break…but if you give it all you have, it never ends in regret! Completely selfless love. We don’t often love this way…the world does not teach us to love unconditionally. It teaches us about what we get in return. But true love is worth more than diamonds and pearls. It’s worth fighting for!

“I’d take the knife, I’d bare the sword
Like rain my soul I’d pour
Just to help you win your war…”

Voice Piece For Soprano
Scream
1.) Against the wind
2.) Against the wall
3.) Against the sky

MOMA atrium