Color

 

Grace, did your parents pay for your first album?  You have very supportive parents!  It's so obvious to everybody that they love you and are very proud of your music and of you.

I remember when I was a kid looking at the Billboard charts for stuff to listen to.  Independent artists don't have the same network as the corporations do, Grace.  And you can bet your ass they use streaming farms.  If anyone can get their own huge network going Grace, it's you.  Of course it can be done!  That's why TikTok and Instagram faces get invited to the Met Gala.  You have the looks and the charm.  Don't forget to use your stream to promote your music.  And behave like a 17 year old girl while you still are!  

Another option is to simply forget about promotion and just make great music.

Today is Whitney Houston tribute day!  Although I don't think Mary can sing any Whitney because she's still sick.  I think Mary sounds way whiter than Whitney.  It could be she is white.  Whitney got a young start too, Grace.  She followed the usual route because her mother was already in it.  I'm not sure how she was allowed to become corrupt, but the corruption ruined her singing.  Do you think it was planned, and why?  Her daughter died in a bathtub too.

A perfect life

 

Oh Grace, what a beautiful picture!  You are totally a pinup girl.  I hope you love your own music and your new single, more than what you expect other people to.  I like that song, and the single sounds awesome.  Again, it's most important that you love your own music so you put in the work to make it better.

This is your first band.  You don't have a permanent lineup yet, right?  People have their own lives to live, so it helps if you could give them a living.  Getting signed is not the answer!  You will become slaves!  The solution is to make the most out what already pays.  Which means merchandise will only sell when you stream.  Which means you need to stream more.  Which means you need to make endorsement deals.

Keeping a band together is very difficult.  We need some sort of success.  I was loathed when I was younger and active in a group.  But I was able to keep some sort of band together until we moved to Phoenix, and things went to hell there.  André died, I was the one who found the body.  I've been on my own ever since.  I discovered Mary a few years ago, and I knew she had to be protected.  But I have nothing.  All I can rely on is God.  And that is how this music survives today.

Dinosaur

 

Hi Grace!  Congratulations on your getting such a huge haul from your benefit concert!

So do you like that first slide?  This is the second time you've posted it.  So melancholic!  But beautiful.  Like I said the first time, winning doesn't feel like winning.  But that's cool, Honey.  You won!  If you want to feel good then maybe someone can tickle you.  I have a slideshow of you.  There aren't many choice photos to choose from because you're so young, and the better snapshots are the ones where you don't have that darkness in your eyes.  I thought I saw the darkness go away when you got some dinosaur to spring for you but no, there you go again even though you just won.  Melancholy makes good music, though.  Most love songs are just bummers.  No wonder Mary is so emotionally fried.

But you look like you're enjoying yourself in that photo of you and Esi.  You both look thrilled like a couple of hyenas about to dig into a carcass.  Oh go ahead and give John Oates a hug!  Perhaps you could reconcile him with Daryl Hall next time.  So many dinosaurs...

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the rejected.

118.  So say, "O my Lord!  Grant You forgiveness and mercy!  For You are the Best of those who show mercy!"

The Believers 23:118

Fever!

 

Hi Grace.  I'm sick.  So is Mary.  We still have to work, though.  Chest congestion actually makes me sound better, but Mary has to really fight.  Then my monitor died.  It suddenly went "eep!" and died while I was processing video.  It's probably a power supply problem, but I'm not going to mess with it.  I'll haul it to the dumpster tomorrow morning.  It's a 32" screen TV my mother gave me.  That will be a challenge to carry on the motorcycle.  And I don't like this song.

Honey, are you mad at me for making you buy a ring over junk?  I want to see you wear that ring 24/7!  That way I know you're serious!  I've been receiving all sorts of obscure videos of you.  I saw the one at the radio station.  I wish I could have been there to play the drums, but there's a lot of heavy stuff going on here that needs my attention.  That's one of many reasons why this marriage is important.  Concert videos of you at Winnetka have been trickling out to me.  Of particular interest was watching you scope out a route from the back of the stage to the crowd for your signature immersive guitar solo.  Sigh.  I didn't get anything from Iowa, though.  Oh I heard the short of your new single, "Wine on Venus".  That's a nice vocal ensemble, very psychedelic.  Works nicely with the guitar chords.

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the rejected.

38.  Or do they say, "He forged it"?  Say, "Bring then a Surah like unto it and call anyone you can besides Allah, if it be you speak the truth!"

Jonah 10:39

Steak!

 

Hi Grace!  How are you feeling?  Great!  I'm sure you haven't forgotten that you need to buy an engagement ring from the money that the crowd gives you.  Don't spend so much money on junk that you can't afford the ring.  Buy the ring first, then junk OK!  And watch out for those people who give or do something for free that you didn't ask for, only to find out later that it wasn't free.

The mosque gave me some beef for the occasion of the Eid this past Monday.  Which is great because I can only afford burgers.  In the bag were some steak cuts!  I was stoked.  I haven't had a steak in years!  So I enjoyed a steak dinner last night with broccoli and a tortilla.  Broccoli was on sale yesterday.  It had a little bit of mold, but it wasn't rotten.  I just cut off the moldy bits, which weren't much.  I managed to get 2 large heads of broccoli for a buck.  Alhamdulillah!  The steak was so awesome, I could eat a 64 oz steak.  But I didn't.

Water

 

Hello Grace.  How are you feeling?  I hope you will feel better.  Try to relax and enjoy life, Grace.

Let's talk about your next benefit concert.  Like I said before, we need guns to fight guns.  Plus there are so many hypocrites to deal with.  We could be hypocrites, too.  You know that little bit of strength that fights the urge to be like them?  That is from God.  After the Sandy Hook shooting, celebrities got together in something called "Demand a Plan", which completely fizzled out.  Hypocrites don't have the stamina to be righteous, so leave them to rot in their weakness.  However, Matthew McConaughey was aware of what was not gun control, but the funding for safer schools.  "Safer schools" isn't "gun control" and that made a huge difference, so the fund became reality.  Matthew's challenge is that nobody claims the funds, as you can see in the interview below.

Yeah, kind of like my "school as prison" rant a few weeks ago.  Whatever.  You must invite Matthew McConaughey to be the guest of honor of your next benefit concert.  Then make a big noise about it and who knows, it might turn into common sense gun laws.  We are musicians, that's what we do.  We make noise.  So here's the plan:

1.  Set up the next benefit concert, even if it be only the you and the Hodge Podge playing.

2.  Secure Matthew McConaughey's commitment to speak (or perform) at the show.

3.  Only after Matthew is confirmed do you start inviting your other friends, giving preference to the sincere ones.

A reason to dress up

 

Of course Grace, there is a reason to dress up.  Like awards shows and such.  Going on stage is certainly a reason to dress up.  I like the blouse with shorts and short boots thing you have going.  There are so many options for you, you are only just beginning.  I've done my share of costume for stage, now I find the preparation quite laborious.  I'm not being righteous, just lazy.  Hell, I've become too lazy to tour.  Let them come to me.  And they do.  Masha Allah.

I want to use an avatar for my live show.  That means computers, monitors, and motion sensors.  How to combine that with a live band would be interesting.  The band can just see me shirtless in a sarong.

Anyway, I don't believe that dressing up compromises the music.  They are two separate directions of thought and feeling.  Neither do I believe that dressing down makes you more righteous.  Modest maybe, but not more righteous.

Wait... that's an Orville SG!

Nina Hagen is incredible beyond words!  Just being her is dress up.