IMHO better to be half a musician than no musician at all.

Get your priorities right gent's, I'm just bleeding glad to still be here and able to enjoy what I do, millions in this crappy world don't have that privilege.

Col

BTW ... I've never had a MacDonald's in my life ... and fortunately, my grandkids prefer the REAL stuff ...

... now White Castle is ANOTHER story ...

Tony, I humbly beg you to read Mark's LAST post in which he pretty much supports my position. While you're at it, PLEASE re-read MY last post. Doesn't that count for anything - the part where I've never criticized ANYONE's performance. Hey, I always thought you were 'my guy', a 'peacemaker', 'straight shooter', 'fair and balanced' (ok, that was a little over the top ). So I must say I'm a little surprised that you'd uh, take this position; even more surprised that you'd 'cherry-pick' a couple of phrases, mostly out of context, and ignore the gist of what I was saying. Sounds like that "self-playing" comment really got under your skin; don't know why it should. Anything with a built-in MP3 or WAV or SMF player certainly CAN be a "self-playing" instrument. My VP770 which I love to death, has this capability and can take my creaky voice and replace it with 4 or 5 pretty nice sounding voices. Fun, fun, fun, (2000,00 worth, in fact) but I still won't take it on a gig, why, because it would just sound weird with the type of music I do when playing out. That doesn't mean I hate it. In fact, as a non-singer, it's one of my favorite toys. It makes me sound much better than I actually do.

Hey, we're only talking about a piece of equipment here. To listen to the 'hate' in some of these posts, you'd think I was starting a petition to allow Obama to run for a third term (or join Synthzone). Mark made a post and asked for comments; I commented and he concurred with my comments; others didn't. That's called DISCOURSE or discussion. We need to chill out and not go nutso anytime someone says something that goes against the party line. If I've 'demeaned' anyone it was not intentional. As a third-rate hack musician, I'm not in a position to demean anyone. We make way too much over the little, inconsequential things in life. We'll live a lot longer if we just buy what we want, play what we want, like what we like, and pay less attention to what other people think. Getting stressed out is usually just a reflection of our own insecurities.

So Tony, stop cherry-picking my posts, let's get back to being friends, and put a Big Mac on your bucket list.

Peace,

chas

Thought I was dying a couple times this week. This stuff doesn't mean a thing.
Let's move on.

Good point, Don.

Ian

Yeah Don, that kind of experience does tend to make you put things in perspective. BTW, if we DO get a chance to hang out together, can be bring Russ along? We need someone to pick up the tab .

chas

Of course!

chas ... first, I've never NOT considered you a friend, even 'back in the day' when we had some more serious difference of opinions ...
But I just want to make a couple of points - friend to friend - and please read this knowing I do not have an 'argumentative attitude' as I am writing it ... just normal conversation ...

Mark's OP said nothing about arrangers ... you brought arrangers into the conversation, and in a negative way ...

I 'cherry picked' a couple of comments because someone, somewhere in this far too overly long discourse someone said something to the effect that you never said anything to insult anyone, and quite frankly, I WAS insulted by those remarks so I felt a need to point that out ... and while you say they were taken out of context, I find it hard to think that in context they were anything but far from a compliment to arranger players ...
And perhaps you don't understand why these comments got under my skin (hmmm, there could be a song there ) because you are NOT an arranger player ...
And also, perhaps, if I had YOUR talent (and don't give me that "third rate hack musician" stuff because I have you on my iPOD which proves otherwise ) and played a B3 I might feel about arrangers as you do ...

And yes, we'll live a lot longer if we just buy what we want, play what we want, like what we like, and pay less attention to what other people think, and let others do the same without criticizing them for it, which IMHO your comments were doing ... perhaps you didn't mean to, but from an arranger player's side of the fence it certainly seemed like you were ...

I never said you criticized anyone personally, because I've never seen you do that ...

And YES, life IS far too short for all this petty crap, and that becomes all too real when we are on a gurney in a hospital ER wondering 'What The *** ' is going on inside my chest ... unfortunately I been there too many times ... but just as unfortunate is the fact that when we get past it, we too often return to the minutiae of everyday life, and the petty becomes a big deal again ...

So, I have said my piece, will move on and if you allow me I will remain your friend, and CONTINUE to be "a 'peacemaker', 'straight shooter', 'fair and balanced' in all things MEANINGFUL in life ...

BUT, a Big Mac will NEVER be on my bucket list ...

I recently had a conversation with someone. I said to them "I enjoy conversation." Then I corrected myself and stated I enjoy "discussion" more than conversation. On the third go-around, I corrected myself again and said: "I take that all back, I enjoy "exploration" more than both "conversation" and "discussion."

Do you get how what I just said relates to this thread? There is very little "exploration" of thoughts and ideas that happens here or anywhere!

Martin Luther King had a "dream" and I had a dream too. My dream was that everyone, everywhere would learn to "discuss" at the very least and "explore" at the very best!

How many of you think the SynthZone (and just about every other group on the planet) would be more productive if "ego's" were checked at the door before you entered the room?

They want to legalize guns in the state I live in. God forbid, everyone's itching for a fight as it is, 24/7. Thank goodness, they don't have guns at their side!

For the record, I stand behind what Chas said 100%. And I, personally, don't feel he needs to apologize to anyone for expressing his views. Every member in here has the right to express himself, if it's done in a civil way, which is what I believe Nigel advocates.

If you don't want to "explore" an idea someone put forth, that's your decision. But don't knock the message and, certainly, don't knock the messenger. The more you do that the less innovative thinking will be introduced to the group and stagnation will rear it's ugly head. Does anyone really want to revert back to the "keyboard A" vs. "keyboard B" topics?

Mark

Mark ... getting back to your original post, I had the occasion to spend a couple of nights in Hartford CT this past week... next door to the hotel was this Louisiana style restaurant that features live music every night ... one night it was a 17 piece jazz/funk band ... there wasn't a player over the age of 45 yrs and I would say that at least 10 of them were under the age of 30 ...
The next night was 'blues jam' night, and while there were a number of 'older' players, there were still a lot of young - less than 30 yrs - players also ...
so there ARE still young people making real music out there, fortunately ... ...can't say what's going to happen in the 'pop' world, though ...