This is my current dilemma. Details if you want are this. I'm in a crew. The ideals of the crew are forfeit due to the needs of the "leader". I'm no longer going to help the crew. What do I do for the scene? Discuss.

I know it's been a while since we've seen any activity. Liven it up a bit if you can.
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sAro?
offline sAro?
California
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  • dave
    dave
    online 58

    Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

    Tue, June 12, 2007 - 12:08 AM
    If nothing else, keep mixing, you're making great progress in your style. That's always the best way to support in my humble opinion. Secondly, don't get down about it, you're a valuable dude. When I think of the crew that you speak of you're funny mug pops right into mind, and there ain't nothin' bad about that. Also, check it from all view points, I hope it all works out man, for reals.
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    • dave
      dave
      online 58

      Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

      Tue, June 12, 2007 - 1:39 AM
      *I read this blog from Adem Dirntz(sp?) The lead singer of the counting crows who have now broken up. Talking about a band member leaving caused the end of the band. It's pretty wise and relevant.



      My Diary-June 11, 2007

      Dated Monday June 11, 2007 9:45 am
      Greenwich Village, NYC

      Wow, I woke up early this morning and finally got around to opening my copy of The New Yorker and, lo and behold, they reviewed Stew and Heidi's play "Passing Strange". Fucking unreal. My friend Stew in the New Yorker. I always wanted to be written about in The New Yorker, the magazine of James Thurber and Dorothy Parker and the like. That's like a dream.

      This "rock and roll thing"...it's just dreams, you know. It's mostly nothing BUT dreams, which is not to say that makes it, or them, any less potent or real. Sometimes dreams are more real THAN "the real", as Stew calls it repeatedly in "Passing Strange". It's the dreams that drive you and propel you forward through your life to where you wanna be. Without the dreams...you might slow down and stop and then...

      I guess you have to make hard choices all the time. Sometimes these dreams you hold on to are just fool's errands you're using to avoid making the hard decisions about other areas of your life. And sometimes the compromises you make are just ways of giving up on your dreams. I used to think I was holding on to rock and roll because I couldn't face dealing with what my life would be like without it. Now it seems like I was just being brave and sticking it out (and I emphasize the word "seems"), but maybe that's just an accident of fate. If we hadn't been successful, maybe I'd just "seem" like one more deadbeat musician right now, someone you're mother wouldn't want you to bring home...as opposed, I suppose (god, that sounds like Dr. Suess), to the dreadlocked musician I am now, who by the way, your mom still don't want you bringing into HER house.

      Deadbeat...dreadlocked...dreadlocked...deadbeat...two sides of the same coin...a flick of the thumb add it flips through the air and it lands...?

      Think about Ben and the choice he had to make. He loves his wife and they wanted to have a family. He had a "LIFE" he wanted and he just didn't want to spend his whole time living it looking at it from a distance or listening to it down the tunnel of a telephone line. Can you imagine how tough it was to leave a successful band that you've put a decade into?

      (Actually, considering how big a nut job I was back then, it may have been an easier choice than I think. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised anyone's left at all)

      Anyway, my point is that Ben retired from CC because he wanted to raise a family and spend every day possible in his life among the people he loves. I know he misses us sometimes but, hell man, THAT is "the real". There is NO compromise there. He gave up something he loved for someone (NOW, it's plural) he loved. I hope I face that kind of decision when it comes and make the right decision, whatever that may turn out to be.

      The longer your life goes on, the harder the decisions become. Inevitably at some point you're asked to give up something you love for something you love. So, sure, you hope you make the right choice, but there's nothing wrong with giving up something you love for something you love. I mean if you're not willing to sacrifice for the things you love, what kind of as person are you?

      Huh.

      I got way off an a tangent there. I do that a lot.
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  • Twisted
    Twisted
    offline 172

    Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

    Mon, July 23, 2007 - 1:40 PM
    My friend...

    I've been through this many, many times. To be honest, you have to look within and ask yourself what you want for the scene. If you're ideas have been different than that of the crew. Maybe it's time to move on. I was once part of a crew that was all for the underground and the culmination of a youth sub-culture. But things outside my control changed. Far too many things to list, but things that I'm sure you'll acquainted with. The end result of such thing for the crew was to continue making money and gaining exposure. So they evolved their format to that which I didn't agree. So I had to leave.

    I remained part of the scene until I couldn't take it anymore. Not being an active member of it forced me out of it. I tried to force an imposed exile on myself. I still spun for myself and my close friends but I didn't put myself out there anymore. I felt that what I had to offer, nobody (but my closest family and friends) wanted. That's when I discovered production. I had been remixing for years, but production is completely self-indulgent. I created music that I loved and that I would want to listen to. If it caught on, then great. If not, there was no worry of rejection and that awkward sense of wanting to belong.

    Eventually, I found myself wanting back into the scene. I had remembered how much fun I was really having. This time, though. I choose to leave the drama, politics, and bullshit aside. I developed an attitude that I just didn't give a fuck anymore. It became less about them and more about what mattered. It began to really be about the music.

    In my 15 years of this thing we call rave, there is one lesson I've learned that is probably the most valuable. Scenes change. People come and go. I can count on one hand how many people from "the scene" that I can truly call my friends. On that same note, I can count even less that I know that are still around even 5 years ago. The faces change, the sounds change, attitudes change. Politics and drama are there just to challenge you. But the music will be there always. Even if you decide to move on, the music will be there. The music will continue to be there.

    So my advice to you is to figure out what you want out of the music. Then continue on to fulfill that need. If that means flying solo awhile, then so be it. I don't believe that whole "no man is an island" idea. I know plenty of people who do quite well doing what they love and remaining isolated in their thoughts. But if you feel you cannot do it alone, then search out people who do think like you do. Even if that means moving on to other places.

    Hope this was some help.

    Namaste-
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    • sAro?
      sAro?
      offline 175

      Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

      Mon, July 23, 2007 - 3:05 PM
      Well put. Thanks, Twisted. I appreciate your feedback. Like you, I've taken up production and am less involved in throwing events (make that not involved). I'll definitely be back at it some day for the love of the music, but we'll see how when that happens.
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      • pufuchu
        pufuchu
        online 312

        Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

        Mon, July 23, 2007 - 5:14 PM
        i think that all the points made are awesome... to expand on one point sam made.... in sf i have at times been dubbed a "vibe mistress" promoters wanting me at their party and happy because my presence on the dancefloor is a catalyst for everyone's experience...

        also, leave the in-crew drama you are experience in crew. don't publicize it unless events prove so offensive that they violate universal laws of respect and decency. though you may not agree with how the crew is currently operating if no one is getting hurt and party goers are getting what they want and expect out of it then keep quiet, which i am sure you are. i have, through my friendships with so many promoters in this city, been privy to some, of the most, in my mind, scandalous ridiculous in fighting that i had ever seen in this little family of mine. the bullshit being thrown around by some of my friends was depressing. but those events really only affected the promoters and performers involved, so i spoke only to them about it....putting it out in public for everyone to see would only have caused irreparable harm to my relationship with those people and made the situation between different crews in the city even worse...
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        • sAro?
          sAro?
          offline 175

          Re: What do you do when the scene and you part ways but you still want to help the scene?

          Mon, July 23, 2007 - 6:51 PM
          Thank you. Exactly why the details of this are left out. They aren't anyone else's business. As you said, the ball still rolls and people get what they want or don't come back. As to why I posted this if you are questioning my reason and respect for others, I posted it to get advice (much appreciated) and definitely not to spread the muck around. I'm not so big on trash talk. The people involved are all savvy to my feelings and respect them if they have bothered to find out why. They are all more than welcome hear and I respect their input equally on the topic.

          All in all, Miss Puf, it sounds like you are objecting to this post being. If that is so, sorry you feel that way, but it's been up for quite some time now. I find it a good deal encouraging to see that other people understand and have lived through similar issues and continue to support which is what I came here to see. I hope that others will see it when they are having rough times in their scene and use the advice herein to their benefit. If you are not objecting to the post as I thought, sorry for the misunderstanding.
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