Janet,

I'm not saying that you do, but to all those reading your story I'd say: don't focus on one negative person.

Gatekeepers are hired to do just that. It's like security people at a nightclub. They aren't hired to be chummy or to let folks sort of push the rules a bit, they are hired to keep good folks safe and bad folks out. Well, it's the same in the "biz."

Believe it or not, there are a LOT of real nutcases who come to Nashville thinking their stuff is all hit quality and if they could just get into some record executive's living room for a few hours, and maybe get chummy with his wife and children, that they'd be the next Willie Nelson. "Wild eyed and wild haired"* they stalk the streets of Music Row trying to get in the door behind someone for whom the lock was buzzed open...figuratively and literally.

So, you get G-d (not to use His holy name for such an unholy game) scowling and scaring off the fruitcakes. She will be found at every event where she becomes the gatekeeper for THE gatekeeper. She gets between the biz folk and the wannabes. You'll find her, or him (the many faces of G-d), near publishers, producers, artists and an assortment of vice presidents.

Enough of her. If she runs you off, you've just lost the game. Ka-ching. Next player, please. Those of us who live here know she and her ilk are all over the place, but pay her no more mind than we pay to the state trooper on the side of the road...if we're not the ones for whom they lurk, then they are inconsequential.

So come on back and next time, write about the successes you've had, and may you have many.

All the Best,
Mike

*from "Crazy Mary" by Michael Peter Smith

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music