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Well, I can't wait to read the whole thing. Just to say
that I am an artist. I am a musician. I chose to be an artist by the
time I finally reached the age of 5 years. I chose to be a musician later,
at the much advanced age of 8 years. I have, on the anniversary of the
Sunday back in 1945, when the Allies "liberated" Dachau. I'm not even
Jewish, nor gay, nor Bolshavick, not even a gypsy although I envy those people
their music and their free spirit, I'm not even handicapped. I am a WASP
(white anglo-saxon protestant). No, I don't even believe in God, whoever
she is. But I digress (I think!?. . . maybe not). Music makes people
better human beings. NOT pop music , not commercial music. Serious
art music. Not your crap Madonnas, Michael Jacksons, Stings, Eminems,
Smarties, House, Garbage, Paul Ankas, Frank Sinatras, Perry Comos, I could go on
and offend a lot of people. What I'm talking about is what many (most)
people call "snobbish" "elitist" music. Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Bach,
Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Shosta... Chajkovskj, etc. etc. Most
are dead anyway.
I have been a professional musician for it seems very many
years now. I have not become a sell-out (in both meanings!) like Vanessa
May, Bond, Nigel Kennedy, etc. etc. etc. I have been true to my
discipline, true to my art. I have never gone after MONEY. Not like
the likes of Richard Stolzman and others who chase the rich and powerful win
competitions and prizes and kiss the arses of those who would give them money to
perform. No, not me. I was an original "hippy" who believed in the
brotherhood of man and woman who was ideal enough to respect all people. I
have nothing but contempt and pity for the rich and famous
celebrities. They have nothing to offer. They are always in
the press and the media. But why? There's nothing to tell, nothing
to learn. Liam attached so and so. Björk slapped a Jap
journalist. Madonna booked her caesarian birth because she had to be
somewhere on time. Kiss my arse will you. Jnr. gets paid for
destroying the shakey flimsy reputation of the USA by screwing Kyoto and the
world just so he can pay back the people he owes.
I'll tell you something. If I were a terrorist, I would
bomb the recording industry. I would Nuke Columbia Artists and all those
phoney worthless parasites - the artist agents and managers. I would stick
a red hot poker up the arse of Mark McCormack for being a shit of the highest
order. I would feed Ex Lax to Pavarotti and set the world's opera houses
on fire for destroying music. I will never buy pay for a record, CD,
tape recording. And I make my own recordings. People are invited to
buy it from me, but if they bootleg it or "steal" it , I say "Great! Keep it
up!" I'm all for it.
Now, you might say that I am cutting my own throat.
Well, well, well. What difference does it
make? No recording company, agent, etc. has ever done anything for
me. I know. I have given ALL OF THEM many chances to take me
on. All have refused. Fuck them all. If I want a recording I
go out and get it. I don't pay for it. I refuse. The Beatles got 1
penny an album. Who got all the rest of the loot? Sure, Paul is/was
the richest man in the business. What was it, £26 million a year 15
years ago. He can't even read music! He's been on an ego
trip for decades. Good for him. He's no great artist either.
But as for myself, I don's care anymore. I satisfy my own high
standards and serve the muse. Fuck the rest. If the world rejects
me, fine. I refuse to stop. I refuse to give up. I know that
what I do is sincere. If it's any good or not, that's none of my
business. I just do it. And I refuse to be beaten and destroyed by
the world and his brother. The human species is extinct anyway. That
doesn't bother me in the least. It's sad. But I rejoice because homo
sapiens will never be allowed to destroy life and the universe.
Evolution and Mother Nature forbids it. We are a destroyer species.
We deserve the extinction that we are living out.
So, fuck your Remuneration For Artists. It's all blood
money anyway. The greatest book of the 18th century and the most popular
and the most sold book made not one penny for the author. The author
refused to take any money for it because by doing that would negate the point of
his book. Go figger. Tom Paine single-handedly saved the USA.
He even named the country. He lived and died penniless. But he loved
you and me more than anyone you care to name. He did for future
generations more than all your $20 million holiday maker space tourists put
together. What a ride! Gimme the money. Don't spend one
$ to save the life of an infant child. Go waste you billions Gates.
Pretend to be a great philanthropist if you insist. We know better. You
slammed the door in my face. You refused to even give me half a
chance.
Enough of this rant. Fuck you all for having no respect
for art, for artists, for musicians, for poets, for painters, for actors, for
writers, for humanity. Fuck you all for not respecting the teacher.
Fuck you all for not respecting the nurse. Fuck you all for being greedy,
selfish, and totally normal human beings. And fuck you for getting us
extinct.
I play. Some one listens or not. Fuck off, Jnr.
wanker Bush. Your oil magnates, your gas fartties, your energy liutenants,
your water moguls, your religious fanatics, your murdering corporations and
capitalist communist arsehole economists who wipe your arses with new dollar
bills. The arts may be dead, but I fight on.
Sincerely,
Stephen Bennett
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