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From: Mike Curtis
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 13:33:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: What is good?

On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Evan Meagher wrote:

> can't sing, etc.>

All these are separate issues. The problem comes when they are confused
with one another. Is Dylan a great songwriter? Of course. Is he a great
musician? Of course not. Can he sing? Absolutely not. Does he play
good music? Nope, at least not from the purely technical aspect. Do I
like it? Yup! Do I think it's good? Sure. I can think anything I like.
It's MY opinion, and as such cannot be argued with. If I think MacDonalds
is gourmet, that's my opinion and cannot be successfully debated. If I
state that it IS gourmet, then it's open for discussion and can be
(easily) debated.

>I was recently told by a roommate's friend that "Trey (Anastasio of Phish)"
>is the "greatest guitarist ever." He then chortled "no offense Keith
>Richards," hearing my Stones blaring in the background.

If we take this as an absolute statement (which is the form it is
presented in here), then it can easily be debated. If the guy says "I
think that ...", then it's personal opinion e.g. what HE thinks, and
cannot be argued, because he can always come back after all your
scientific evidence, absolute proof, etc., and say "Well, that's nice, but
I still think Trey is the greatest", and there's nothing you can say to
change this.



>Now, I would not be so presumptous as to list KR as the #1 of all time, but
>when it comes to Trey Anastasio, I put him in the Eddie Van Halen group of
>virtuosos who don't sound good. Trey is not nearly as good a guitarist as
>EVH is, and his music isn't nearly as bad, but they're comparable.

In this form, it can be argued otherwise. If you prefaced it with "In my
opinion", it stands on its own.

>What am I saying? Let me think. (Maybe I'm just miffed over his slighting
>of Keith...;)) Actually, no. What I'm saying is that virtuosos don't
>necessarily produce the best music.

Actually, they do. It's simply that YOU prefer other music. And me too,
in many cases. But that's not "good music" - it's "personal taste".

> There are as many untalented hacks who
>produce great music (I love Dylan, but let's face it, his voice...) as
>there are virtuosos whose music sounds like a train wreck (EVH, the
>guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, any prog rock guitarist).

I like EVH's guitar work myself. It's not just a zillion notes. Each
note is clean and precise (when you slow it down, it becomes more amazing
because then you can really hear the precision), and I like the WAY in
which he plays - nice, short, and concise solos that fit the songs quite
nicely.

>Talent is important. Hard work is even more so. But neither will
>guarantee success.

There are no guarantees in life other than the obvious, but this
combination will make you much more likely to succeed. If you add in
persistence, intelligence, a proper demeanor for the line of work (e.g. an
entertainer needs to like people and be outgoing, at least on stage),
sufficient dedication, and a willingness to make necessary compromises,
your chances of being successful rise astronomically.

And add "love" to this list - arguably at the top of the list in
importance. If you LOVE what you do, you'll do a better job of it than
someone who does it strictly for money. The most successful small
businesses are frequently run by people who got into them as hobbies, or
who went into their particular business because they enjoy the work and
not necessarily because the money was great.

A lot of people get into music for the benefits - the attention,
adulation, women, the ego boost, etc. These of course do not constitute
"love of what you do" as regards music.

The old Cajun comes home from the Doctor wearing a Lincoln-style silk top
hat and tux and tails jacket. His wife asks why. He replies "The Doc say
I's impotent, so I's gon' dress impotent."


-- IronMan Mike Curtis
My CD "Doin' It All Myself" available in Tower, Blockbuster, Camelot, PX