My dad recently asked the question on Twitter, “Do you really want to be famous?”, with the following video of Britney Spears getting harassed by the paparazzi:
So, I have been thinking – Do I really want to be famous? I don’t know. On the one hand, the end goal of pretty much any musician on the planet is to be totally famous – Britney Spears famous. But really, in my heart, I don’t want that. I want to lead a normal life, have a wife, kids, friends, etc. I don’t want to worry about getting a bad photo of me published in Us Weekly. God knows there is enough fodder of me on the World Wide Web already to give inquiring minds years worth of comedy, should I ever become famous.
The good news: I probably will never be famous. The bad news is the same as the good news. It’s weird. It’s like when I bake cookies, and all I want to do is eat them, but if I eat them I will feel gross afterwards. But I love to eat them, so I mow them down, and then I feel gross afterwords. *breath*
What I would LOVE, however, is something in between. I have always wanted to be able to play shows locally to packed houses. Tapes ‘n Tapes is doing it. They played a sold-out show at the best rock club in town last week. That’s where I want to get. I want to be onstage with a huge crowd, and know that I didn’t have to put any work into filling those seats.
“Why?”, you ask? Because I have spent the last month working my ass off, holding meetings, lining up bands, working with charities and booking guys, and promoting my band’s annual fundraiser. Maybe it will be a success, maybe not. That is the risk we run when we do things like this at the grass-roots level.
We have been fortunate to get Minneapolis’ hottest band, Solid Gold, on the bill as well as my old pal, Jenny Dalton, who is making quite a name for herself in the Midwest. Then there is my totally awesome band as well. And let’s not forget The Brutes, who also kick ass!
The point is this: This Valentine’s Day show is coming together with the help of all sorts of hard-working folks. We have community organizers, bands, friends, and friends of friends supporting us in this venture. It is going to be a great show. But the big question remains, “Can we fill those seats?”