Seriously, these comments are more interesting than some of the blogs out there.

Keep up the great work.

You are definitely the real deal and get my subscription.

“But I think that when you’re true to yourself and you don’t bullshit yourself, fuck ‘em. You gotta do what you gotta to do. It’s like swimming across the lake. If you stop swimming, you’re gonna drown.”

So close to what I’ve been telling my customers – “If you’re thrown out of a ship in the middle of the ocean with a lifering and the sharks start gathering, are you going to say, Jeepers! I never learned to swim, so I might as well drown?”

Expanding your comfort boundaries to learn what you HAVE to understand for the next level – it’s kinda sorta the same thing.
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..Add your OWN INCREDIBLY inexpensive affiliate program to your WordPress blog! =-.

I think you are right with your point about different worlds – the problems might be happening because those worlds are colliding.

(You know, kind of like what happens if you move to a different country and don’t conform to the local customs, but try to live the way you did before – it can cause “friction”, to put it nicely…)
.-= Brett Legree´s last blog ..6 weeks 2 days. =-.

Everywhere I’ve seen threaded comments brought in it’s reduced the interactions. Discourages digging through the whole conversation to add thoughts, which is what keeps things lively.

My 2 cents – I wouldn’t do it.

Later,

Kelly
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..Why *You* Should Work for FREE =-.

I think all of you have made such good comments here, thoughtful ones that clearly convey important points and things to think about. I won’t be able to cover them all, but…

Dean, I’m with you. But I’m curious as to your thoughts about whether bloggers blog TOO much for free and thus, set themselves up for more work put in than what they get out?

Brett, thinking about how musicians make sales… They launch a CD. One shot deal. They set up shows and concerts and *repeat* the songs on the CD. They don’t create new content, and they milk their songs for everything they can, making sure people hear the message so well that they can sing along and remember the words.

Maybe the music industry is a different world. Maybe their model or parts of it can’t be applied to ours. But it truly is something to think about.

Yosie, you can do anything, and there’s always a way. Trust me

Jared, thank you for your part in this interview. It was long ago, but it had impact, as you can see. (or read!)

Kelly, wait until Monday. I may need luck then

Mary,…

You’d be amazed at the rift in Canada between French and English. It’s difficult to break into the other group when you become known in one. Different mindset, different culture, and requires essentially proving yourself all over again.

As for your questions:

1. I woud like to know more about the mechanics. How did you do the interview? (in person, on the phone, tape recorder, emailed questions…)

I prepared a list of questions that I wanted to ask. Kevin called me up, I turned on the microphone and we started chatting, and by not too long into the conversation, those pages of questions were all spread out, I was working on improv in some of them and just going with the flow. It ended up being quite natural and taking a life of its own, which was great. Which was how it should be, no?

2. I pictured “dualing guitars” with one of you singing in French, and one in English.

Um. Well. May I just say that while I’m an admirable player, Kevin’s got several years experience on me. The French-English we could do, though.

Quick story:

K: “Oh – the interview’s going to be in English?”

J, switches to French: “Well, we can do it in French if you prefer, of course.”

K, in English: “No, no, that’s fine! I just have to switch the language in my head… been speaking so much French lately, so I might stumble a bit at first.”

I know the feeling. Happens to me every day

3. James, there are so many memorable lines, maybe you could write them up and collaborate with Kevin on a verse or two on a “song for the creative artists.”

Hey. I’m game for anything.

Reading your interview felt like eavesdropping on a private conversation. You could feel the love and respect.

I have to admit I’ve never heard of Kevin. I will check out his CD. I was shocked anyone would care if his CDs were published in English. Wow! That was new information. I’m going to have to learn more about the social, political and cultural issues in Quebec too.

Natalie and Sally B both already quoted some of his great lines from the interview. I’ll add my favorite:

“People respond to humans. They don’t respond to machines. They want something to be spontaneous, to be lively, to be spicy. If it’s expected, well what’s the point? “Here’s another singer or here’s another article…” Where’s the spice?
I think the spice comes from not taking it for granted and always wanting to be competitive towards yourself. Not competitive, but you know, to…
Always ask more of yourself.”

Kevin and James, this was an amazing conversation. It had just enough “spice” about using your talents and passion as creative artists. It showed us how artists can use our medium (songs, writing, blogs…) to try and make sense of the world–for ourselves (crazy or otherwise), for other people (crazy or otherwise), and for business (crazy or otherwise).

This interview also made me think of three things:

1. I woud like to know more about the mechanics. How did you do the interview? (in person, on the phone, tape recorder, emailed questions…)

2. I pictured “dualing guitars” with one of you singing in French, and one in English.

3. James, there are so many memorable lines, maybe you could write them up and collaborate with Kevin on a verse or two on a “song for the creative artists.”

i.e.
“I understand that they’re filters. Their job is to keep the crop healthy and send away the bad weeds

-If there’s a nice paved road, I might take the detour that has thorns and bumps in it just for the fun of seeing how I’m going to get out of here.

-I’ve walked through street after street in a snowstorm, looking for somebody who needs a push!

- There’s this contradiction that’s really part of us. Just look at our environment: nighttime, no sun, the moon. Daytime, the sun, no moon. (LOVE THIS)

-Right before I wake up in the morning… I think that when we’re writing, we’re trying to emulate that, trying to synthesize the purity we know we don’t have. But we know it does exist. And it’s kind of tough to… You know, if I could ….
Just grasp that moment, eh? (SEE, YOU ARE ALREADY FINISHING EACH OTHER’S SENTENCES)

-To be alive, to be out there, to be in contact with people… I don’t write songs just for the purpose of packing time or to furnish empty spaces… I want to write songs that mean something and at least have voice and opinion

…to feel alive through lines. (DOESN’T THIS DESCRIBE THE SOUL OF A WRITER?)

There are people out there who are happy to read you or get pissed off or have a reaction. We exist through writing, and that’s part of the reward.
On my deathbed, maybe I’m going to be glad that at least I gave it a shot. At least I cared. At least life meant something to me and I expressed it.
Because what you write down will live on, and there’s a beauty in sharing and of making part of history, even if it’s a little drop in the ocean. We’re making history when we write. It’s archives, it’s passing it on to another generation.