These local music award shows just keep coming, there’s been a few other ones that happened. I don’t want to name names and not gonna drop any names but I really believe that local music awards for local music is pretty dumb. Why?

All it is just that local bands/musicians and things like that are just desperate for a pat on the back. Just massive ego stroking and nothing more. Musicians really care for awards, really?

Not me. I don’t care about awards ’cause that’s not what I play music for. Even if I got nominated or won anything, I won’t even attend the shows ’cause I wouldn’t accept anything. These music awards in the Albany region music scene just keeps coming and it’s funny to me.

Each time these music awards happen, all I see is nothing but “conflict of interest” with all of them. All I see are nothing but their own people getting nominated and winning stuff… for example, their musician friends and groups of people that started the award shows like their sponsors and promoters, things like that. Completely snubbing real talent that are out there in the Capital Region. That shouldn’t be happening and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Anybody can start an award show… just put up a bunch of money to rent a venue, order the awards from a company and there you go.

There’s no such thing as being a “rock star” as a local musician and no such thing as being a “legend” either and I’m sick of seeing all of this. The rock star attitude in this area continues to be a problem.

Some of you may think I’m just jealous but there’s nothing to be jealous about. I don’t play music for awards. I’m into it for the music alone and for the love of playing guitar. That’s it really. If I ever did get something, I would totally reject everything.

Sure, they do local music awards as a way to support the scene and show support for bands and artists, I get that but you don’t need awards to show support. To show support of the scene, all you gotta do is go to a show, listen to their music online or buy an album. An award is pretty worthless, in my opinion.

I don’t support any of these award shows going on lately and not sure why it’s still happening. I won’t attend any of them. I’ve been trashing these local music awards since the start and still stand by it that these award shows are terrible.

Kev

If you’re a musician and a die-hard conservative/Trump supporting kind of person then be prepared for a lot of hate and a lot less support in the local music scene.

It’s getting harder and harder to support local bands, the local music scene nowadays ’cause most of the entire music scene has a leftist problem. It has been like that for a long time and the leftist problem in local musicians community is worse now than before.

If you’re a musician with “conservative” views or if you’re a Trump supporter or both… get ready for a lot of bullshit. A lot of musicians will refuse to add you in social media ’cause of your beliefs and even worse, if you were friends with a leftist musician chances are you’ll get “unfriended” and get “blocked” by them in social media. All because of differences of political views.

It is pretty childish and dumb really… all because musicians and promoters refusing to support each other over politics. I’ve dealt with it a long time myself and it’s okay.

I’m proud to be a die-hard conservative and I’m proud to be a die-hard MAGA supporter or as Joe Biden would put it ULTRA MAGA. I won’t change for anybody ’cause I hate leftism.

The leftism problem in the music is why I refuse to play shows and go see other band shows pretty much. I try my best to keep politics separate from music. If I like a band’s and artists music, I try to be supportive as much as possible despite political views. I don’t care about politics, if I like the music enough I’ll support them. It’s okay disagree with each other but support each other anyways, try it sometime, ya know?

That’s okay, let them do what they do ’cause all it does is just shows their true colors. Most musicians and people in the local music community are arrogant jerks anyways so fuck ’em, really.

To be honest, though, there are more conservative musicians now than you think so don’t let the leftism fool ya.

Kev

If the country ever opens back up 100% and if things ever get back to normal, will I ever get back to playing live music around the Albany regions music scene aka the Capital Region? Thanks but no thanks! I retired from the music scene years ago and no regrets.

One of the biggest problems we are having is how freakin’ liberal the music scene is and it sickens me how this area won’t stop being so damn political.

If you’re a conservative musician, don’t ever debate politicians with a musician or a promoter that is a liberal. These people can get pretty triggered easily and you can watch out for their nasty temper tantrums.

I’ve always said that musicians and bands needs to stay out of politics and that continues to be a problem today.

There are too many things I’m not too happy with the music scene but politics is the big one. I haven’t played out in the music scene in so long but I’m actually fine with that.

Life is good for me for the most part, I’m happy being away from it and even though I stopped playing live shows, I’m still playing music. I’ll just continue to make my music for the internet and I prefer that more.

The music scene still sucks and I’ll always stand by it.

Kev

There was an interesting discussion in FB with local musicians around the Capital Region about musicians hating on other musicians. Apparently, this is still a problem even to this day and the best part about all of this is that I’m definitely not alone. As some of you may or may not know, I have a real problem of getting along with a lot of musicians in the music community. Yes, I have quite a lot of musicians as haters of mine and apparently, there are plenty of other musicians that have a lot of other musicians hating on them too. It’s been a problem for decades and still is even to this day.

Not all musicians hate me, though… there are some that have always been very loyal and supportive of me for years and they still are which is awesome but I still have problems with getting along with many of them. There are many musicians who I once got along with who don’t speak to me anymore. A lot of musicians come and go in my life and I’m okay with that. Let ’em go, ya know? Life goes on.

Some of you may ask… why would musicians hate on each other? Well my view on this is that jealousy and ego for sure. Also, some musicians out there are just gonna be assholes. Sorry but not all of the local music community is gonna be lovable and positive, you will deal with a lot of negativity and drama. You will meet musicians who will be an asshole and arrogant most of the time. You will also meet musicians who are whack jobs and attention whores… you will also meet some who can be very “untrustworthy”.

In my experience, the most hated and the most criticized musician will be the one who can’t really play an instrument or can’t sing well. If you’re untalented, then be ready for a lot of criticism and hate. Believe me, I’ve been there and it ain’t fun. Other musicians that I’ve seen have gone through it too. Becoming an easy target in the scene ’cause they can’t play isn’t fair, in my opinion.

Another way that you’ll become most hated and the most criticized musician is if they feel if you haven’t established yourself in the scene much. For example, if you don’t have much successes in your music and if you don’t gig a lot and haven’t done much for yourself musically, other musicians will make you feel less superior than them. If you haven’t done much in the scene and haven’t established yourself much then they’ll make you feel like you don’t deserve to have a say toward local bands. They’re the ones that can talk local music however they want since they are the ones with more successes.

Yes, when you want to be a musician no matter the level of talent you are you gotta be ready to take a lot of criticism and hate ’cause you will go through a lot of that. Getting hatred and criticism isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. When people end up hating you, it can get you new fans and new opportunities in your music ’cause of it. Getting haters can get you more recognition and get you more exposure so don’t feel bad about it. When you get haters especially when your haters are other musicians, that’s a good thing really ’cause it’s gotta be either jealousy or ego or a mix of both. Maybe other musicians are mad at you ’cause you are doing things with your music? Things like that, ya know? Maybe they’re mad is ’cause they know you’re talented and they’ll never admit it? It kills them that you can play music better than they can. That’s why they lash out.

I also have a problem of getting along in the community over political views too ’cause yeah, I’m more conservative than most and most of the music community is pretty liberal. Most musicians refuse to support me ’cause of my so-called “right-wing” views.

I think the reason I have a tough time getting along with other musicians is ’cause I like to call out their bullshit and they think they can get away with it most of the time. There are so many musician that still like to shit talk me and make fun of me online still… I know who they are all are but I’m not gonna names. There are some that are completely obsessed with me and I can’t understand why but I don’t give a shit, though ’cause my life is good and I just keep on keepin’ on and keep moving forward in life.

The truth is you’re just not gonna get along with everybody and you can’t make everybody happy. That’s just the way it is. The only thing that you should be worried about is yourself and your music. The secret to battling against your haters is not caring about what anyone thinks of you. Just ignore all the hate and criticism. Keep moving forward and concentrate on your music. Let all negativity slide by. That’s what I do. You gotta stop responding to the critics and stop defending yourself ’cause that isn’t good. If you have haters bothering ya don’t be afraid to delete and block.

While I would like it that “everybody should just get along”, it’s never gonna happen. Musicians hating on musicians will always be a problem. It’s even a huge problem in the major label industry too ’cause there are too many famous bands that hate each others guts but they continue to play with each other in bands anyways ’cause most are in it for the money.

I don’t care who likes and dislikes me anymore. I don’t give a shit. I make music for myself anyways and there’s nothing wrong with having that attitude. It’s actually the best attitude to have.

Kev

Even though I haven’t been out to a local show and haven’t gigged in a long time myself, I still see how local musicians around the Albany area are online. I’ve always known that the Capital Region music scene has all kinds of problems and it is still the same. In fact, I think the local music scene has gotten much much worse. I’m no longer a fan of it anymore as much as I used to be, I think that’s pretty much why I retired from playing live music really. Disappointed with how this scene came out to be.

If you want to be a musician around the Albany/Saratoga Springs music scene, you gotta be able to deal with a lot of bullshit. You got to deal with huge egos, a lot of drama, a lot of cliques, backstabbing and things like that. Yeah, I have had too many fallen outs with musicians and people throughout the scene who I thought I got along with well but guess not. That’s okay. People come and go in my life anyways so I just accept it, say fuck it and keep moving forward in life. I’m more worried about myself and my own music and that’s a good attitude to have.

Yeah there will be many people who won’t care about your music but will care for you only if you care for them. There will be huge egos around here who will think they will be better than you. There will also be those nasty haters and critics around the scene as I know I have plenty of those but I don’t give a fuck, though.

One thing that bothers me around here though is that a lot of musicians will think they are so important just because they think they are talented and they know it. The rock star attitude is such a problem around here, it’s just crazy. That’s basically what turned me off about the scene and it’s why I don’t go out there anymore pretty much. Bands acting like rock stars online and at the live gigs. It’s a problem for sure and I don’t like it.

Even though I haven’t been out to any local shows, I try to watch some local Albany bands online and some of the onstage antics they do is pretty crazy. Making silly faces to the crowd, running around onstage and acting like a total animal, dressing like a rock star, etc. I can go on. Even a lot of musicians act like arrogant assholes while performing on stage. It’s becoming a real problem and it’s getting worse.

I love local music and I support musicians yes,  I just don’t like how it’s going right now and don’t really like the people in the scene right now ’cause it’s getting crazy to be honest with you.

With all this being said, though, I’m still playing music of my own and planning on getting back into songwriting again. Will I ever play live ever again? Not sure. Maybe I’ll do a live internet concert someday but playing at a venue around Capital Region? I don’t think so. Play out in the scene again is not on my radar right now.

I still don’t like how the scene is going nowadays, although admittedly there are still a few good local bands around here!

Kev

Some of you may wonder if I’m ever going to get back out to the local music scene aka the Capital Region. Will I? I don’t think so. I’m not too worried about getting back out there anymore and I lost interest in local music as a whole.

You hear a lot of talk throughout the community how the scene is “thriving” and how the local music scene has gotten so much better. Well, in my eyes, we haven’t gotten any better so don’t believe all the hype. From what I’m seeing there are still no music venues around the area and there are bands/solo artists out there still playing to empty venues. The music scene has always been the same it’s always been.

I’m also not so thrilled with the talent around this area ’cause I haven’t really heard anything good in a long while. There are a few local bands that I actually dig but lately, I haven’t been hearing anything that interests me.

On top of all this, I’m also not thrilled with the attitudes of some of the bands & artists around this area. This area has some of the most egotistical and narcissistic musicians I’ve ever seen (not naming any names, btw). Too many around either think they are “rock stars” or they want to be rock stars, take your pick. That “rock star” attitude has never changed with them even to this day, I see. They are still the arrogant jerks even to this day.

I also have no desire to come back when this area’s local music scene is very liberal with their politics. Almost every band and solo artist you’ll see around here are all liberal. Most everyone around here are all Trump haters for sure. I’ve always believed that this area would be more supportive of me and my music if I wasn’t a “conservative” and a “Trump supporter”, but I don’t give a shit whether they do or not. Liberals ruin everything, even local music scenes. I wish they would keep politics out of music but they never learn.

I almost wanted to come back to the music scene and actually thought about it but I don’t think I will. I am still playing music. I am still playing my guitar and singing. I haven’t written new originals in a long while but I’ve been learning cover songs more than playing originals lately which I feel proud of doing.

If I were to ever play live again then I would try to play a few gigs in Saratoga Springs and that’s about it. I don’t think you’ll ever see me play in the city of Albany again, though.

As of this moment, life is really good. Just keeping my focus hitting the gym 4 times a week, focusing on bodybuilding & powerlifting. I’m still keeping myself busy in life even though some don’t think so.

As for new original music, I’m still itching for new stuff and trying to come up with new stuff. Even though I don’t play live hardly at all anymore, I’ll always play music for the internet. Always.

Kev

Here’s another shocking truth bomb that many of you I know will call “bullshit” but it’s true. Knowing from my own experience of dealing with local musicians over the years, most of them don’t really care about you. Most of them only care about themselves really. You want to know why a lot of musicians around the scene are friendly with other musicians and sharing gigs with others and all that stuff? It’s because musicians will only like you if you do stuff for them. Like, if you give them positive feedback on their playing, buy their music or go see a show of theirs that’s when they’ll be all over you, but at the end of the day… they don’t give a flying fuck about you. You may support them but many of them will not support you in return knowing from my own experience.

A lot of people make the mistake that a lot of musicians out there in your scene are good people and a bunch of sweethearts. Um, no. Like I said in a post before, not all of them are gonna be good people. Some of them will be but from what I’ve experienced throughout the years of my life in the music scene, most musicians around here are nothing but flat-out douchebags. Like I said in a post before, you can’t really trust a lot of them. You will meet musicians with many different personalities. Yes, you will meet some musicians out there who can be good people and sweethearts but you will always meet some that have many different personalities. You will meet musicians who can be real jerks… a lot of them can have short temper problems. You will meet egomaniacs, attention whores and you will meet musicians who are really weird.

There will be a lot of musicians out there who only accepts positive feedback about their playing and their music. If you give them any criticism of any kind or disagreements of any kind, they can be all defensive. Maybe that’s a part of why a lot of them hate me ’cause they don’t like that I can disagree with them.

A lot of musicians in your local scene like to promote themselves as if they are rock stars when they are not and that has always been a problem for years. It still is a problem and it’s even worse now with all this social media stuff going on with bands. Yeah, I understand they use social media as a way to promote your band but acting like a rock star when doing it is wrong, in my opinion.

Some of you may ask, how do local bands act like rock stars when promoting themselves on social media? Hmmmm… let me give you some examples: announcing tour dates (even when the shows are all local they still call them tours), announcing release dates for their records, releasing singles, having a merchandise section on the band’s websites (sell t-shirts, posters, etc.), bands & artists being mostly about themselves instead of engaging with the fans, etc. I can go on all day. You don’t need to promote yourself that way and I never did.

So many live in rock star fantasy land. It’s pretty crazy, ya know?

I never took myself seriously as a musician. If I wrote a demo or a song, I’ll just release it. When I promote myself on social media, I like to be more engaging with people and actually talking with everyone and replying to everyone. I just want to make music and play. That’s all I want to do. I’m an unsigned musician and I act like it. Even though I am an unsigned musician, I don’t pretend that I’m a signed artists like so many local musicians do around here. That’s the rock star wannabe, I’m talking about. What’s even worse with “local bands” acting like rock stars is that a lot of them have managers and booking agents when you don’t need either one of those.

The reason why so many unsigned bands pretend to be “signed” bands is ’cause they think they’re entitled to success and recognition. That’s why you see many of them going off about their successes and accolades in front of their fanbase. Many of them just don’t let the music speak on it’s own and they think success/recognition will fall in their lap. Either that or many of them already think they’ve been established in the scene when they are not really.

I don’t see myself as a professional musician or a rock star and never did. I just want to play, play, play and that’s all. Just play, rock out and have fun. I just want to do like what everyone else is doing is playing music.

No doubt that a lot of musicians are big narcissists and I’ve been saying it for years. I’ve had too many musicians who got so hell-bent on destroying me and had many refusing to talk to me ’cause of my “right-wing” views in politics. This is not good for the scene and it’s getting worse. I’m sure many of them still hate me but I don’t give a shit, ya know? Life is real good. I’m still playing the guitar, singing and focused on powerlifting. Life is great.

Kev

 

 

 

 

Some of you may wonder why I always have negative feelings toward the local musicians community and toward the music scene itself. Well, I don’t have negative feelings toward the local musicians community for no reason. I’ve been a part of the musicians community for like a decade or a little over. So I’ve experienced a lot of what goes on over the years… some good and some bad.

A lot of people like to make the mistake that the musicians community is a positive community. People mistakenly believe that the community is fun and all musicians are good people. Well, I’m about to give you a major truth bomb, y’all.

The local musicians community isn’t always a positive experience. All I’ve experienced over the years in the musicians community is nothing but negativity, lots of egotism and so much drama. The community can also be pretty cliquey as well. Not all musicians are the same. They’re all different. Yeah, you will meet some nice musicians… there can be some pretty nice ones out there but not always. In the music scene, you’ll also meet some egotistical attention whores and you’ll meet a lot of douchebags and assholes.

One thing that I’ve learned through the musicians community is that you can’t be trusting everyone. I made the mistake of trusting everyone too easily in the musician’s community and I’ve gotten much better at not giving a fuck about everyone anymore. The scene might be cool to be making friends with other musicians but I don’t really care to make friends with other musicians anymore. I’ve made friends with musicians in the past but many of them turned on me, stabbed me in the back and I don’t speak to a lot of them anymore. Some people would think it’s my fault and some may think I brought it upon myself and burnt too many bridges but not really. When will people realize and wake up that some musicians can be real douchebags out there? I’ve had musicians who I thought were big supporters of mine but now a lot of them turned into haters and enemies.

Interesting on how a lot of this is. Some people wonder why I talk about the musicians community in this way, well… I’m just doing my best to wake people up more and hopefully try to give people the red pill about what the music scene really is.

If you’re a musician, you just got to realize that not everyone is going to like you and you won’t get along with everyone either. You just gotta stay above this stuff and only focus on you and your own music. Not worry about everyone else. You need to be focusing on your own dreams and goals. You want to grow your own fan following. You don’t want musicians supporting your music anyways ’cause it isn’t good really. You want non-musicians to be supporting your music is what I mean.

Some of you may ask, why would some musicians turn on you when they supported you in the past? Is it you that they don’t like? No, I don’t think it’s you at all. I think musicians turn on you and stab you in the back for maybe a few reasons: 1) You’re doing stuff with your music while they aren’t 2) They know you’re more talented than them.

Why would other musicians hate you and not get along with you? Well, not only ego and jealousy is a huge part of that but there’s more. The music scene online and offline is a pretty cliquey scene, ya know? They’ll hate you if they feel that you’re not talented enough. I’ve experienced this a lot. I’ve had musicians harshly criticize my music in the past and they felt like I didn’t belong ’cause they felt I wasn’t “professional” or “established” enough like they are. They’ll make you feel left out for those reasons. I think these could be the reasons why I have a tough time getting along with some out there. If you’re not talented enough, these musicians will feel more superior than you.

On top of all this, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing when musicians dislike you. It means that you are probably a good musician and you’re doing good stuff with your music. So let ’em hate and don’t worry about it. Just ignore ’em and fuck everyone, ya know? That’s my attitude. While I do have a lot of musicians as haters, though, despite all that… I’ve got some pretty loyal musicians who stayed supportive to me even to this day and they never turned on me at all which is awesome. The more haters you get, the more supporters you’ll get too so don’t worry about it if they don’t want to like you anymore. Just keep making your music and that’s all you need to worry about and nothing else.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I do love live bands and I love other local musicians but gotta be in red pill mode and be realistic about everything, ya know? Nothing wrong with that and it’s a good attitude to have.

Kev

 

I am pretty bummed about this news. I never knew Caroline but I was always a huge fan, admirer and supporter. I first heard about Caroline aka Motherjudge when she did a performance on the Sounding Board TV show from years back. While I never knew her much, we did talk online for a little bit, though.

She was definitely one of the best local performers around the area. She had a singing voice that would send chills down your spine and give you goosebumps. I never saw her live but I’ve seen plenty of her live performances on youtube.

I’ve always had immense respect for Motherjudge. She was an artist who was humble and was a very nice lady from what I’ve seen. We definitely need more musicians like her ’cause she was one of the very few good ones.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Local-iconic-singer-open-mic-host-dies-13677343.php?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&cmpid=fbsocialflow&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR1GWGJECEQb4iNppDNQNYI1o8MTkYRaoOZyNvtu2RBag_Mv1W5w3C9IKP8

RIP Motherjudge and thanks for the great music. A sad loss in the Capital Region. Cancer sucks. I’ve lost 4 different people in my life due to cancer.

Kev