Posts about Conflict
On July 4th
covering Business, Conflict
Here’s something I see all the time with couples, families, music groups, and businesses of all sorts.
Somebody has an idea that will affect everyone, and some risk is involved. The idea could be “let’s go to a movie” or “let’s go camping” or “I think we should approach X manager for representation” or “let’s make this capital investment”.
All of these ideas require agreement form the other parties, and all of them could go badly or well. The movie could be lousy, it could rain, the manager might be the wrong one, the investment might turn out to be bad. Got it? Read more »
On August 20th
covering Conflict, Leadership, Music, Music Ensembles
Here is my August column at Atlas Plugged. It’s based on an essay by Robbie Banuelos about a “last straw” moment that led him to quit a band. I’ve recieved some nice notes from musicians about this one.
How Bands Die, Part 2:
QUITTING THE BAND OVER A SHIRT?
In the music world the long odds are against success and a band is way ahead if it has worked out the basic issues of who’s in charge and how its conflicts will be handled.
There is a short band memoir by guitarist Robby Banuelos that begins “I was once in a ‘punk’ band that asked me to change my shirt before a show. I remember thinking ‘what the hell…’ ”. Banuelos tells the story of joining a band through Craig’s List, and being ill-treated by the somewhat older musi- cians who hired him, and finally quitting in mid-tour when he is asked to change his Levi’s button-up shirt for a black t-shirt before a show. Read more »
On July 29th
covering Conflict, Leadership, Music, Music Ensembles
My July 2007 article for Atlas Plugged. The title says it all:
A newly formed band has the life expectancy of a mob informer in prison. If you are involved with bands, you know how hard it is to keep them together. The brutal economics and Darwinian pressures of the music life are often the cause.
However. It might actually be a good thing for some bands to die quickly so the members can learn from their mistakes and go on to form new bands. Besides, if some bands didn’t die, the entire surface of the earth would soon be covered in bands.
But some bands die before their time — the songwriting is good, the gigs and fan base are there, they may even get a sudden burst of success, and then they just implode. This is a shame, and it’s preventable. The culprit? Human nature. Here are just a few of the ways bands destroy themselves, and some things you can do to make sure your band still has a pulse.
WHEN MINOR FRICTIONS BECOME HOMICIDAL RAGE
Imagine you have a tiny pebble in your shoe giving you a slight irritation. Now imagine you’ve walked five hundred miles with that pebble irritating you… Read more »
