68 degrees this morning, cloudy.
Aliene and I had a nice Anniversary (due to the date of the CMA Fest, we always say our Anniversary Party was attended by 45,000 people!) Fortunately we are not responsible for organizing it! It seems like the past 17 years have sped by, although there are many memories.
Always amazing how a conference or festival finishes. You wait for it, plan for it and then suddenly it happens and is over. The CMA Festival was plagued by rain the entire time, although only one event was really affected by it (and it was delayed). It was strange to watch (and be part of) 45,000 people (plus or minus 5,000 or so) sitting in ponchos in the rain watching music. As long as it wasn't lightning or rain blowing on the electronics, the music continued. The continuation of the rain over the past several weeks has really been amazing.
Seeing all of the various music artists, I always wonder what makes the "edge" that brings stardom, fame and wealth, and just playing either making a living or even not making a living. Of course, being in the right place at the right time is important, but it seems that there is a lot more too it at that. Of course, marketing makes a difference, but you have to have talent to market.
It is true in sports also, since as the Memphis Redbirds (AAA, just the level below Major League Baseball), many of the players are probably skilled enough to make it in Major League Baseball, where the difference in income and status is literally unimaginable and is based on either the (in this case) St. Louis Cardinals needing a certain position or having skills better than someone else, even if it is just slightly needed.
We always say (and this is really somewhat true) that there are no servers etc. in Nashville. All servers singers, songwriters or musicians! They are all hoping the wheel of fortune will stop for them, in most cases it doesn't. (Nashville has an amazing number of young homeless people). Some do make a good living at what they love, some don't, some hit the big time. I try to see the difference, sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.
Another aspect I notice each year is the push to "change" County Music (or not change). I realize any type of music is going to change, but at some point it becomes another type of music and should be played elsewhere. It has really been evident the last few years, especially after ABC started televising the event, it has become a lot more commercialized.
I actually didn't care for Country Music until about 25 years ago, when I suddenly started liking it. Not sure why, because I didn't like it up that point. At least I was open to change!
I can't change it so I'm not going to worry about it, as some point we will just stop coming. I was surprised to realize this is probably our 10th straight year of attending. I was thinking we had been attending for 6 years or so, but I did some research and realized it was been at least 10 years. We have seen a lot of changes in that time, not all positive, some very positive. \
Going to be a busy week.
That's it for today, Sunday, June 8, 2014.
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