Level 3
So the question I’ve gotten a few times, in the wake of the recent record release, the free Twitter giveaway, the glowing reviews from lesser known publications, the question is: “How did it go?” and perhaps, a bit more slyly, “Are you famous yet?” and perhaps a bit more slyly than that, “Is there an abundance of fanfare and/or are you experiencing it?”
And here is my take on things as they stand now. I think The Flying Change has ascended to Level 3.
What does that mean?
Well, I think (and note this is all an abstract theoretical construct and not something that is definitive in any way or otherwise proven to exist mind you) that there are maybe 10 or 12 levels or maybe just 8 and that the zenith of this is something like Coldplay or U2 (I’m not commenting on quality, just awareness) and the nadir is not even 1 but perhaps 0 which is you just wrote some songs in your bedroom and uploaded them to ReverbNation or something.
My theory is that awareness is actually a step function but that there is a smoothing mechanism that is effort which means that, I suppose, that you have to put in your 10,000 hours over time regardless of if its showing dividends and then awareness will shake free like the plates of the Earth and there will be specific plateaus and you ascend to them at intervals.
So, anyway, my instinct is that The Flying Change is now at Level 3 which, you know, in the grand scheme of things is not so bad, all things considering. I was thinking about pasting in some kind of matrix that would input into an algorithm that would yield a ranking system for songwriters and artists and maybe at the top would be, well not Ashton Kutcher or MC Hammer, but you know, Radiohead or something.
Here’s another way of thinking about it: At first there is no awareness and now there is some. I think some people, friends of mine, etc., are scratching their head and saying, “What’s it all about?” and wondering why TFC is not on the cover of Rolling Stone or getting aforementioned review in Pitchfork but instead getting glowing reviews in places like Dagger Zine and Splice Today and Striker Bill.
And, first of all, the book is not yet writ on Pitchfork so I’m not willing to throw in the towel on that. But the broader point is that maybe there is a line from here to there and I’m merely making it more transparent but that the line from here to there runs through Striker Bill and Aiding & Abetting and ends up in Magnet and at The Mercury Lounge and then the Bowery Ballroom and then on tour or something to that effect.
There are levels of awareness you see. They are waves and waves and what you do is you work to stir the pond and drop in rocks and rocks and although it feels like all of a sudden you’ve just heard about whoever you just heard about, the truth is that, most likely, they’ve been throwing rocks and rocks in the pond and creating bigger and biggers ripples and waves and its only the most recent larger boulder, after a long period of effort, that some stray stone was unearthed and kicked down the mountain and hit you on the head, but that stone probably represents Level 5 and there have been levels before that and those collective levels all are perhaps just below the surface.
Also, perhaps, those stones are kicked up and unleashed by a community of stone movers and throwers that are not totally known and transparent to the outside world but known within the circles of the stone movers. So the point is that music writers and bloggers know of each other more than, per se, we know of all of them, and they read other’s music blogs and college radio Djs listen to each other etc.
All of this is a long-winded way of describing the old cliche of the ’10 year overnight sensation’ although that metaphor perhaps seems to be slightly more about dogged perserverence in the face of bleak despair and last chance hail mary chances at greatness (like David Gray’s story from the Bablyon days) then about the fact that awareness is about concerted effort and determination and that levels of widespread public awareness are typically preceded by ascending levels of private smaller scale awareness and that 0 to 60 does indeed happen but it’s rare and besides where we to evaluate success by that yardstick the only lesson you’d be able to derive would be that not hitting the lottery warrants the total subsequent abdication of effort and/or quitting and while you know perhaps being true isn’t really an aspirational lesson that I can get behind since I don’t feel like quitting just yet.
