Last month I wrote about being true to yourself and others, and this cannot be understated, ESPECIALLY in the musical context of LIVE composition, which encapsulates your life experiences. See, they really are interconnected. What you are in real life is exposed when you play, if you are true to the music. Playing live is a very telling and revealing experience to others in the band, and to the audience, who you may or may not know all that well. Playing guarded will always move your audience to be guarded as well. Playing honestly and revealingly will always endear your audience to react in kind. That, though, is easier said than done. It is very difficult at times to feel secure enough to experiment and enter uncharted territory, or boldly go where no one has gone before (where is that from?) while playing live. Yet, this is necessary to allow the music to grow, mature and move. Don’t be afraid to push the music and see where it leads you. The same is true in life. Don’t be afraid to be yourself and see where the life experience leads you.

Back in 1985, I had just started working for a great string company that began to develop a new amp line. I was fresh out of retail, and was now a road rep in southern California. I went to my first meeting at the NAMM show booth, where the new amps were first shown. They walked us through all the features of the amps, and finally allowed us to play on them to hear how “great” they sounded. Well, they didn’t sound all that impressive. In fact, they sounded terrible, and I voiced my opinion a bit…...shall we say, boldly? The next day, as the show is underway in full swing, I get a phone call from the company president – that I had never even met. “Scott, I understand someone there doesn’t like the new amp line.” I said, “No, not someone, ME.”  He proceeds to tell me that he personally listened to each amplifier and they ALL sounded great! I then said, “Well, then something must have happened to every one of them between the time you ‘personally’ listened to them and when they arrived here, because they are unsellable if played on!  Even I would never buy the line if I owned a shop.”  But I said, “You hired me to sell, so if this is the quality you want your famous name associated with, I’ll do my best to sell them for you.”   He continued to insist that I was mistaken, and I insisted back, “No, sorry, I am not mistaken.  They sound terrible, and I am willing to personally sit down with you if you would like, and we can listen to them together!”  Well, I hung up the phone thinking, “That’s it, I’m fired.” The show ends. Everyone shakes my hand and I leave. I still have my job.  Hum…….that went better than I thought.

Years go by and the company treats me great. I continued to sell the newly improved amp line, but ended up leaving the company on great terms to work with another. Then one day at a restaurant during one of the NAMM shows, a former employee of the string company sees me, comes running over, and hugs me! She then runs back and drags the president of the company over to my table to finally introduce him to me after all these years.  We order some fancy drinks, and then she proceeds to ask me if I remember the time I got the phone call at the NAMM booth. I said, “Sure.” She says, “Well, I just wanted to let you know after all these years, that I had an argument with the president right before he called you, and he promised me that YOU would back down to him when he confronted you about what you said about the amp line, because he thought he was such a superior salesman to EVERYONE.” She said, “Scott, I was sick of hearing it, so I was listening to your conversation on the speaker phone, and was determined to instantly FIRE you if you backed down to him, like everyone else had! But when you did not, he hung up the phone and I laughed out loud.  He said that you were the first person ever to not cave into him.  He then said that you could have the job for as long as you wanted! I instantly adored you! So what do you say to that?”  I was speechless. I simply shook my head and laughed a bit, and proceeded to drink a few more of those fancy drinks!