Progress report:

I’m still struggling on completing these six previously mentioned albums. As I have said, I am 66 now and the fact is, I could die at any time for any reason. Metaphorically speaking, I am in what mountaineers call the Death Zone (anything above above 8,000 meters. There, anyone can die suddenly and without warning no matter how experienced and healthy. 66 years old is above 8,000 meters.). And since a good reason actually exists —and not just for the elderly— I am more fixated on completing my work than John would wisely advise.

Oh, to be in New Zealand now that COVID is hardly there!

Topmost of John Oszajca's suggested checklist:

• Decide on which album you want to finish first (try to put your best foot forward, commercially speaking)

One of the six albums I have farmed out to Luca Barbaga, a very talented musician and recordist in Milan. Two of them, however, are nearly finished. John urged me to think in terms of one step at a time and, to do so, complete Marketing Manifesto 4 .See:

• Go through Music Marketing Manifesto 4.0 and set up a funnel.

But which of the two albums, should I finish first?

One contains music I currently perform and is affiliated with the prestigious Bert Jansch Foundation in the UK. It was Bert Jansch who pioneered the baroque folk guitar approach that I use and it was Bert who was a pioneer of what is weirdly called acid folk. I have been called “an iconoclastic loner of acid folk.”

The other is a proto-new wave album begun 40 years ago that shows that, as a rock musician, I was the same as I am now, just louder.

It seems obvious that the NOW album is the one to work on first. Entitled Of Service in Rosemary Lane, it is modeled after Bert Jansch’s very influential folk baroque blues album, Rosemary Lane. Already, the Bert Jansch Foundation has included me in their Around the World in 80 Plays program: 80 guitarists —some quite well known— videoing a song for Bert for what would have been his 75^th birthday. Here’s the page they put up for me on their site:

https://80plays.bertjanschfoun.....gel-lloyd/

Its basically about who I am and what I do now. Pretty cool, huh? That’s got to be useful.

As for the proto new wave album from 1976, an associate has just made a rather fun lyric video to one of of the songs, an anthemic anti-anthem song entitled “Old Rockers never Die.”

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Cool. I’m not sure how it might serve Of Service in Rosemary Lane.

• Finish one song. 

I have eight finished for Of Service… I assume, I choose the one that would best serve my funnel?

Lastly, and quite by surprise, comes a video review of Shakespeare’s Plan 12 from Outer Space, probably the weirdest film version of a Shakespeare play ever made. I played Feste, the wise but not terribly funny jester. I also wrote the music to Feste’s songs in my own inimitable iconoclastic acid folk style. It featured actors like Emmy award winner Kay Lenz, Buck Henry and Billy Hayes (of Midnight Express fame). And now, 30 years after the film was made, comes this:

t=15s

After all these years, very gratifying.

Now, none of these videos seems to run any risk of going viral. So, I don’t see anything on which I can hitch a ride to better album sales. In fact, when I start to promote Of Service in Rosemary Lane, will they be of any use at all?

My delay in production is largely in part to my decision to master my own albums by learning to use iZotopes Ozone 9. Slow going but, it’s sounding very nice and I have two songs more to go. The cover is also nearly finished.

• Start building your list and communicating with the list.

I have a small list. On the advice of A-Weber, I load a blogpost every month about stuff that interests me and has to do with me as a musician. The content is not so important as the context which is: I am still alive and making music. It has been fun. I get interesting comments. Scott James interviewed me for his Intuitive Musicians project. Film critics contact me about obscure movies i worked on 30 years ago and… can you guess? It is f-ing exhausting. Fun as it is, I write way too much. Derek Sivers would HATE it. 

• Once the album is ready, start selling it to the list.

It will be ready soon. But it's not much of a list.

• Then finish more albums and sell those to the list.

A simple plan. Well suited for the elderly. Thank you.

Why do I like John O? There are some others in his corner of the business offering similar services. The first lessons are free. Cool! No kidding! However, the whole course costs (oh, I don't know) $3,000. But, if you act now, you can have it for $300. You know what? It looks hokey and hinky but it's actually cool because, as we used to say in the human potential movement, It Works. The indecisive of us then get a follow up email reminding us of the great deal we must have forgotten about. Are they great deals? Hell, yes. But then the third email comes and with it comes Career Shaming — except from John. I've never seen an email from John that says something like "I don't understand why you have not taken advantage of my amazing offer. I guess Your Career is Just Not That Important to You." As a former arts advocate by profession, this Royally Pisses Me Off. These other folks have sterling CVs of success and glory. So does John. But John is not afraid to tell you also about when and how he has failed —when it's important to know—and about what he knows and what he does not know. That is why I trust John.

I better do some raking right now before it starts to rain again. I am moving forward, however. I wish it was faster. As John Le Carre once wrote: "You're an old man in hurry, George. And that's very dangerous." I'll write less soon.

John — You'd make a very good Feste. Sir Andrew seems a more difficult role. 

As for artistic fulfillment, that's not really it because i have that. I'm just way behind schedule in making the artistic fulfillment into some thing tangible. I have fairly fierce ADHD which, in a way, has wrecked my career. But, on the other hand, look what I got! 

I want an income stream. My wife and I are living off social security and an inheritance. I would feel more secure if there was little more inflow.

Also, I want a reputation and a legacy for my the sake of my daughter and my grandchildren. I want them to know I wasn't just the fun eccentric old man who didn't seem to do much with his life. I want my life and work to be model and an inspiration. They might need it.

As an artist, I must make my work available for posterity. What posterity does with it, however, is not my call.

I mean, if Leonard Cohen's job is still open, i would take that.

No, I'm not here for artistic fulfillment. I'm here because you are a marketing guy who knows what artistic fulfillment is. 

Of Service in Rosemary Lane is mixed and I think i have it mastered well enough. It's sounding good on all the speakers I can find. So, I suddenly feel it is safe to go back MMM4 and complete what I started there.

Here's what Bert Jansch's 1971 album, Rosemary Lane, looked like. And here's what Of Service in Rosemary Lane will look like.

It is a dry jest.