Making It Big

 

I dreamed last night about musicians, about how being an entertainer is fundamentally a profession.  I’m not sure most of us realize that our favorite actors and actresses, and those we choose to hate as well, are essentially middle class.  They work for companies.  They have bosses.  There is an audience.  They perform.  It might feel degrading or they might have great pride.  Either way, it is doing a job.

I first figured out that actors were middle class during my visit to Universal Studios, Los Angeles, in the 1990s.  I took the train through the backlots.  The announcer talked about how Jim Carrey often appeared during the tour, said hello and hammed it up.   What was Jim Carrey doing there?  Oh, that’s right.  He had a job working for a company where he needed to be at Universal Studios for the purpose of making movies to satisfy his contractual obligations. 

Why would he work so hard as an already highly marketable movie star?

 I imagine Jim Carrey worked hard because he had to.  The job is highly competitive.  There were lots of people who could do his job well and were very eager for the opportunity.  Any extra points for showing up every day and representing the company only aided his cause.  Unless Jim Carrey got tangled in drugs and bad investments and thieving managers, he did alright. 

What about the rest of us and what about our heroes who make film and music? 

My friend that I haven’t seen for a long time is a location manager with credits in major films.  That is success that would be hard to fake.

Then, there were efforts that made TV and Amazon Prime.  It’s hard to know if there was money paid out, but certainly a strong attempt was made.  A whole scene got involved in that.  

My acquaintance who has made small budget films over three decades is making the attempt as well.  Who knows what comes of it, but film festival credits and authenticity count for something.

I have a Facebook friend who writes scripts and directs plays.  A production was set at an Eagles Club.  I enjoyed it.  This is very likely what a person would have to do toward being asked to do more.  (I imagine the same production in LA would have a lot bigger potential career impact.)

Maybe you know people on the periphery of a Hollywood career.  I definitely do.  Do these people have real careers where good money is made?  From the outside, how would we know?  Let’s say they won an award.  Does that even mean anything? 

The hustle is something they go through whether they succeed in a financial sense or they don't.  Few if any are wandering the streets assessing artistic merit toward offering big opportunities.

This brings me to my music heroes of the past.

The band, X, was one of my favorites from the 1980’s.  They toured.  They had fans.  Ray Manzarek (Doors) liked them so much that he chose to produce them.  The mass market apparently never latched onto them.  They never did the stadium shows or got the real money.  Still, members of X showed up frequently in movies and Dave Alvin was in any band he wanted.    Likewise, Danny Elfman suggested that Oingo Boingo broke up because they weren’t popular enough to continue.  Oingo Boingo was in movies as well.  Danny Elfman moved on to a career scoring films.  Icons of the generation were not mass marketed toward financial success at that time as the Boomer market garnered 100% of the marketing dollars.  (At least that is what X and Elfman say.)

This brings us to today.  Do artists need a mass market to continue onward?

The means to self-publish a film, music or a book are out there.  Your release is available in Saskatoon via the Internet if not at the local record store.

First Friday of each month, I am finding non-mass market new releases by entertainers I have seen perform and met personally.  Others use Patreon.

I’m not sure how viable these approaches are for those paying a mortgage.  Most have day jobs, I imagine.  Nonetheless, I appreciate the effort and the art.  Success is not always measured by the size of the audience.

Last night, I dreamed some songs.  They were really powerful.  Were these songs by Grant Hart?  He was there in the dream.  The music faded from my consciousness in the morning dawn. 

Did you know Grant Hart, post Husker Du, wanted me to put out his music financed by my self-started record label?  We met.  A musician named Lori Wray, recently deceased, was there with me too.  We went where Nirvana recorded. A dream?  No, that really happened.

With my generation, from when the mass market never existed, rock stars show up on Christmas card lists.

I hope the Bandcamp musicians, Eagle’s Club play makers, Amazon Prime movie makers, and Kindle self-publishers are successful enough to keep making their art. 

They are the real artists.  Nothing against Jim Carrey.