So you want to be a rock star…

You know what?  So do I.  But for all the wrong reasons.  I want to be a songwriter or a singer or a guitarist, but only for the money.  Lots of you want it for the fame or the lifestyle.  But some do it for the love of music, and those are the ones with a chance.  A very, very small chance.  And then there are the musicians who love music AND have played gigs in crappy dives AND have performed for free so many times they’re sick of it AND know their way around a sound booth AND put in hour after hour of mixing and recording AND get their stuff professionally produced.  And, they’re genuine, they nice people, and they have real jobs and lives because they know the odds they’re up against.  Those are the guys who have a real chance.  Those up there in that shot.  That’s a few guys from the Ryan Young Band, and I can’t predict whether or not you’ll download their new album from iTunes or pick it up at Waterloo by the hundreds/thousands/millions, but if musicians were priced like stocks, I’d buy this one.  Right now.  Maybe because I’m on the inside, and I know how talented these guys are and how hard they’re working to make stuff happen for themselves.  They are NOT sitting around in a smoky den waiting for MTV to call.  After all, as Calvin Coolidge (you kids will need to Google him) said, “…nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.”