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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Tired of dealing with most people
Tired of dealing with most people
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LittleBubba
184 posts
Feb 14, 2012
12:48 PM
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@Walter: I prompted you early in the thread to try to get a little more out of you about how your struggles with your approach had effected your attitudes about other people. I think I've known you long enough to be very aware of some of your hopes and disappointments.
It's alot to ask of people to understand your approach to music, but you have handed out the clues liberally, esp. when you've spoken of the place you go to when you're allowing the tunes to funnel through you, and of your spiritual connection.
What is hard for people to relate to, I think, is the level of being "burned out" on the cover scene. When you say that you've played 200 gigs/yr. for 20 years, most of us have no way of understanding the impact of that. We tend to dismiss it. Also, it's hard to relate to the drive that has to be present in order for a person to play relentlessly night after night in your studio with nobody else around.
You're rare in some of those ways, and rare people can be unsettling/threatening to some of us.
What has allowed me to hang in there with you, honestly, is not necessarily the content & emotions in your songs, but simply the expressiveness & force in your harp playing. You may not play the Butterfield licks I like, but your hours & hours of woodshedding- and your talent- shows up in your harpin'.
Also, your willingness to play simple traditional harp licks with emotion and emphasis-- to play the blues-- takes me to that place that I'm lookin' for when I play the blues.
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gritsncatfish
38 posts
Feb 14, 2012
12:59 PM
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That's pretty much the response I expected from you. You want to be the "mystical harp guru” on the fog shrouded mountaintop who gets to pontificate without ever being disputed. That's fine, as long as you have your loyal obedient subjects, but I don't buy it for one second. So, I guess we'll just leave it at that.
>gritsncatfish: I have no interest in continuing our conversation. Your vibe is one of attack and anger. That doesn't promote communication for me. Peace and I still would like to hear some of your music. Walter<
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waltertore
1976 posts
Feb 14, 2012
1:00 PM
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LittleBubba: I appreciate your honesty. I am not burnt out on the cover scene per se. I am simply looking for a the right people to share what I do, with the music world, in a way that will create good gigs. Until then it is more enjoyable to record my music in the studio and share it on the net. To play gigs where people are not there to interact leads to nothingness with my approach. I know guys that say they practice stuff during these kind of gigs. I don't practice, don't need the money from the gigs, so there is no point in being there. I continue to grow as a person and what I said last year was last year. It was honest then but as the days go by I get closer to peace. Playing that many gigs is what I did and what I do now is what I do. It is my life. I think most people have no idea of what it is like to do music in the way I do from the angle of finding a place to fit in/be able to play gigs where people come to hear spontobeat. I find most people dig it when they experience my music but it is like rewiring the music industry's way of doing things and gettting gigs is directly connected to how connected one is with the industry.
A simple example is the old blues guys that fell out of vouge and stopped gigging because the industry dropped them and thus the public stopped being able to see them. Then once the 60's hit and the white rockers rediscovered them they were gigging at great gigs. It is a simple marketing thing. If today Eric Clapton started praising my music I would be booked all over and spontobeat would be deemed a cool new thing to experience. People would come out and so it goes.
One has to figure out what kind of venue is right for them to do their music. I have learned what I need. That is a great thing but also limits my options at this time.
I am learning the meaning of fitting in in this world changes as I grow. As of today it means being happy with my life. In days past it meant playing gigs most everynight. I still feel at some point it will inspire the right person(s) to take it to where I can play nice rooms that come to hear what I do. New things struggle until such a thing happens. I tried to be that person. I did a pretty good job but have learned it is too close to me to do. My thing is to play and my studio provides this. If someday people come out to hear spontobeat I will simply go from the studio to the stage just as I have gone from the stage to the studio. I have learned the key to making music is to be in the right environment and what society says is the right or wrong can have nothing to do with what is right or wrong for each of us. Also as the scene changes for ones music so they must change or spin out in misery. I have gone with the flow and into the studio for now.
Playing in rooms that are not designed for listening are becoming more and more the norm for people not on the top and I have found these rooms to be a waste of time. I am touched you dig my harp playing. It was my first instrument and still my favorite. Take care and thanks for your continued honesty. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
3,500+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Feb 14, 2012 1:56 PM
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jdblues
80 posts
Feb 14, 2012
2:37 PM
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Walter, I think you demonstrate a fascinating tension between rejecting others and reaching out for connections.
I think "compromise" plays a big part in this. You refuse to compromise your music, your goals, your life. You want people to interact with your music, but not if it means giving up Spontobeat.
Refusing to compromise can be considered narcissistic and stubborn or noble and principled, depending on one's perspective.
I really admire your refusal to compromise. But I can also picture you being much happier and getting the recognition you deserve, if only you didn't mind compromising.
What do you think? Are you a narcissist? Is it wrong to be a narcissist?
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waltertore
1977 posts
Feb 14, 2012
2:59 PM
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jdblues: I don't compromise my music because it just doesn't work for me if I put thoughts in my mind before playing. Sure I could put together a real band, do rehearsed songs, sound good, probably as good as most pro players, but inside I am not inspired by it. What I heard when the big names were courting me was I had the talent to make it if I would just compromise. Honestly, I believe they meant only good from there outreaching and I left all of these encounters with positive feelings of thanks and mutual respect. It is very touching to have people who are my heros want me to join their world.
The foundation of my music is to be inspired. Pleasing others is a nice byproduct but not in the intial equation. I don't need money from music to survive. I have a career that pays the bills and there I compromise daily. I am learning the more I share my way of doing music on the worldwide web the more I learn about how people percive things and most of these perceptions are from a narcisitic place. I don't mean this as a bad thing because we all are narcassistic to various degrees. If something is different it is often destroyed. Countless books and movies deal with this theme that has occured throughout mans history. The destroyers are as driven to destroy as the different one is to do what they do.
I have no intent to reject others. I accept others and how they do music. If it makes them happy I am happy for them. I wish all happiness, freedom, joy, and hope, through thier art. I get acceptance from most as to how I do mine. It is the minority that gets threatened somehow by what I do and a spew of words come forth. This time it is narcissism. I take no offense. I just do what I do and share it. If you dig it great, if you don't so be it. Such is the path of following a different way. I haven't conciously chosen this route. It has chosen me and I dig it enough to follow it blindly. If that is narcissim, then I am it in spades. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
3,500+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Feb 14, 2012 3:08 PM
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waltertore
1978 posts
Feb 14, 2012
5:37 PM
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here are some songs from tonight partially inspired by the posts here today. Walter
where the rosemary grows-my valentines present
why do people fear death
life is what you are today
jumping with joy today
money seems to give people the blues
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
3,500+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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mr_so&so
497 posts
Feb 15, 2012
10:30 AM
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I have been thinking a lot about Walter's spontobeat approach for a long time. I'm not sure why some people reject the idea that Walter is a constant wellspring of new music. Walter records his stuff and makes it available to the world, so if you particularly enjoy some of his songs, then you can listen to them over and over. That is great. Most people also love to hear new stuff from their favourite artists. Remember how you felt as a teen when your favourite band put out a new album? Walter does this all the time. What's not to like about that? Personally, I'd go see Walter live at the drop of a hat if I could, since I expect that live and in-the-moment is the place to best experience his music. Maybe if he lived in a major city, he'd be able to find a venue that would support him on a regular basis, but in his current locale, I think he's doing the most he can with presenting spontobeat. Maybe one of those legends he's worked with in the past will eventually invite him to open for them sometime, and he will get that big-venue audience for spontobeat. I hope so, if that's what he wants.
Walter's not-afraid-to-admit-it fan.
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waltertore
1979 posts
Feb 15, 2012
4:49 PM
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mr so&so: thanks! Hopefully I will be in your town someday! Walter
here are some from tonight:
learn to laugh and have some fun
some jazzin these bones
jesus, the devil, religion and me
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
3,500+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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Chris Jones
53 posts
Feb 15, 2012
5:39 PM
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As they say in Arkansas- "Walter is a dandy" ;)
Signed,
Another fan
Definition of dandy below.
Dandy(n): "One of a Kind", set in his ways, determined.
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