Sparks from the Fire

Part 1 – As a company:

Life is good.  One of my New Years resolutions was to rebalance my life and get back more to my creativity in the recording studio as a composer/producer.  Funny how things just happen when you simply put it out there.

I was feeling like I was getting stuck in the daily excitement of Watchfire Music as an executive with the company and along came more studio projects than I can handle.  All good.  These problems I can live with.  It’s what I live for.

When it rains; it pours.

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Or…
What Kind of people Are Inspirational Music Lovers and Consequently Buyers?

The potential customers of Inspirational music line up by the millions. First, let’s remember that Inspirational music is entirely trans-denominational – it attracts people from all religious denominations. And this attraction is world-wide.

Of course there is the Christian music market. The Christian book market is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion. The Christian music market has become an industry powerhouse, selling 43 million albums in the United States as long ago as 2004.

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“I always thought I should be treated like a star.” – Madonna

“Fame is fickle and I know it. It has its compensations, but it also has its drawbacks and I’ve experienced them both.” – Marilyn Monroe

“Now there is fame!  Of all — hunger, misery, the incomprehension by the public — fame is by far the worst. It is the castigation of God by the artist. It is sad.  It is true.” – Pablo Picasso

If you fail to succeed in any case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of Christ, Truth, more in your own life…” – Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health

I find it interesting to note that Mrs. Eddy says nothing here about money, glory, good reviews, or fame. I personally have experienced all four of the latter, and I can’t say as I have gotten much of anything out of the four. The money, I spent — the glory, only served to confuse my ego — the good reviews, no matter how good, were never good enough, — and the fame — well, let’s just say, “it was all a bit on the hollow side.” in fact, let me tell you my favorite story about fame.

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Perhaps you’ve heard or read this story as it was passed around.  It’s worth repeating.

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium.  With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears.

This class would NOT pray during the commencements — not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

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I was given an assignment (and paid well, I might add) to write a song about being free.  When I heard the title assigned to the task by the client, I secretly groaned in disappointment.  “This song has already been written a thousand times”, I said to myself.  But I took the money and ran with it.

I put off starting the song for days.  The clichés coursing through my brain were deadly to the creative process.  Finally, with little time left, I reluctantly began the process.

I thought, “Well, what’s the biggest cliché in song?”  The answer: “I love you.”  And yet those three little words make up one of the world’s most cherished utterances.  So what makes a cliché a cliché?  No real content, no true meaning, no real stuff behind the words, in short, no truth.

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I like to think of a blog as a modern day soapbox. For some of you, the term “soapbox” may be so archaic as to be unheard of.

Wikipedia to the rescue:

“The term originates from when speakers would stand on a wooden box meant for holding soap. The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant impromptu or unofficial public speaking, as in the phrases “He’s on his soapbox”, or “Get off your soapbox.”

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