I have no desire to be famous. Frankly, I have within the past 18 months come to the realization that I’ve very little ambition at all. I’m just not all that goal-oriented. I just like doing what I’m doing (taking pictures, eating food, reading comic books, kissing ladies’ faces) and have people bother me as little as possible.
If I could figure out a way to do all that w/o having to work, I’d be one happy man.
But figuring that out would most likely require some work.
Carré, on the other hand, she’s a musician. And as such, she wants to be famous. She has to, it’s pretty much a necessitated by-product of being a successful musician.
And she’s had some breaks, been noticed by a famous singer, encouraged by several talented professionals, and on top of that, she’s got talent.
Which is really something most musicians, hell, most artists, just don’t have.
But here’s where it gets rough. Because talent, friends, contacts, sometimes none of that matters. Sometimes you’ve got a wicked amount of talent, but you just can’t break through. It’s the music industry, one of several that works on strange magics that cannot always be sussed out.
It’s art, and art, being subjective, means that it’s entirely possible people just aren’t gonna get it. Or that they won’t get it right away, and it’ll take you years of working retail while recording in someone’s basement, squirreling away money for your demo, hiring and firing various members of your band trying to find the right combination.
Months, sometimes years of doubting yourself while you try to make it. And it’s that struggle, that uphill battle against fantastic odds, that I find maddening. Oh, for a simple meritocracy!
The ability to persevere in the face of all that is one of the many things that make Carré special. It’d be easy for her simply get by on her beauty, but instead she sticks with it, faith in her talent strong. It shows a large amount of fortitude in this town to go after a dream, and continue to go after it, despite however many setbacks it takes to make it.
So I give a lot of credit to Carré. Don’t get me wrong, I love attention. Love it. I like seeing comments on my photos, dig getting the occasional fan mail, deeply enjoy people telling me they like what I do.
But it takes a special level of commitment (or insanity) I just don’t have to follow a dream like that. I’ll settle for riding her coattails, taking her picture.
Give a listen to Carre’s band: Queen Kwong
Comments
Mark
August 21st, 2009 - 10:20:08 AM
You know, she's got some decent songs. But, uhh, listen to the radio ... singer/songwriter acoustic ballads aren't exactly making the Top 40. Which is fine. I mean, fans of this kind of music realize that and look elsewhere for it. So, I'd certainly encourage her to keep at it - she sounds good - just don't expect a major labor record deal (unless she adds some synths, drum machines and auto-tune!). Not for lack of talent, but for style and genre. Nice pictures though.
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