Music? Books? TV? Movies?

 I am gradually moving on from the book phase of my life. I've been solidly in the music phase lately, as I had finally put vocals to the music I had written years ago. I have 120 songs now posted on SoundCloud, and I am finally working on my "long awaited" Volume 1 - Rockin' the First Steps album. (Long awaited by me, that is.) I have the songs rewritten now, or rearranged, as they say, and once I have rewritten the lyrics, I will begin the singing process again. And I have no shame in saying that it is the singing process that is the most difficult for me. And there's a good reason for that. I'm not a singer. So there you go.

But I refused to let that stop me. Since I don't know any singers, and my attempt to find a singer through Craig's List was unsuccessful, I sang all the songs myself. With some success I might add. That's not to say I became a singer. I'm not a singer, I say again. But at least I do hit the right notes, and I do stay in key. It's just that my voice is far from a nice pleasant singer's voice.

Singers are not always good singers. People said Bob Dylan couldn't sing well. But that didn't stop him. Neil Young resorted to an unpleasant falsetto voice, but it worked for him and his music. There are probably other examples, but usually singers do have nice voices, which is why they are singers.

As for me? I will only say that my voice, like Neil Young's and Bob Dylan's, works for me and my music. That doesn't mean it would work for Simon Cowell, or any of them. They would probably kick me off their shows during auditions. Whatever. I'm not trying to impress them or anyone else. It's as simple as this: I composed songs and I sang them. That's all there is to it.

Sure there are haters out there. I am bracing myself for the inevitable hater to comment or post a review with a serious trashing of me, my voice, or even my music. Hasn't happened yet, but it will. It happens to the best of people. Whatever the art. Books, Movies, Shows, and music. I remember years ago, when I first became a Black Sabbath fan, I read a review of their latest album. The reviewer was a hater, and trashed their latest album which at the time was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

This hater criticized the music, of course, but what I remember specifically was that he was calling Ozzy a horrible singer, and to this day I can remember he used the words, "paper-thin voice" in describing Ozzy's singing. I thought to myself even then that this guy was just another hater. I had been hearing haters all around me complaining that they hated Black Sabbath and their music.

It's funny because, to me, Black Sabbath's music was the very best of all music. That doesn't mean that every song they made was a great song. There are some Black Sabbath (and Ozzy) songs that I don't like. One day I will post an honest and sincere review of every single Black Sabbath song. (In the Ozzy era, I mean.) I think I have the right to do that, because no one knows their music better than I do. One day. Maybe soon.