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Stoneman
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1/10/2019 1:57:45 AM
Why Stay In It?
Got a moving email from a long time musician friend yesterday. To be honest, I had often wondered what happened to him because he is such an extremely talented artist. Anyway, it had been about two years since I had heard from him until yesterday. He started out by telling me how hard things had been for him and that he had given up on his music. At first, I was at a total loss for what to say to him as my response is usually to encourage and try to inspire positive thoughts. However, I thought about the many times that I had tried to give up on music and how I stay in it even when I was bleeding Red through my bank account. Then I told him this:
Your music is a part of you. Giving up on it is like giving up on yourself. Don't ever give up on yourself because you are the only one who cares enough to encourage you when all else is lost. When you lose that ability, you must turn to a friend or your higher power to recharge and continue. The music industry is sort of like the Lottery. You cannot win it unless you are in it. You have to find the joy that inspired you to start in music in the first place. You have to find that joy and hold onto it until you achieve your goals. You have to surround yourself with like minded people. People that understand you and encourage you along the way. But most important of all: You have to believe! Believe in yourself and your music. Faith Rocks the world off of its pedestal. Faith makes one willing to face the naysayers and prove them all wrong. Faith gives you the strength to stay in it until the very end. You must not yield to your own intellect as it will lie to you and tell you that the odds are so stacked against you. You must ignore logic and trudge forward like a warrior running into the gun fire. That warrior knows that anyone of those thousands of bullets could take him out for good. But he runs toward the fire because he has faith that he can make it. I know this is true because I have seen it and done it myself. I have faced death knowing in my heart that I could defeat it. That gave me an inkling that maybe I could defeat anything. How about a stroke check! brain tumor? check! 15 bouts with pneumonia? check! war check! child abuse check! Prison ministry check! gang violence check! the music industry? check! I'm in it for life man. When I draw my last breath, I plan to be writing the final touches on my final song. Why stay in it? You cannot win it if you are not in it! Keep writing those songs and playing those gigs! It may seem like a waste of time but it is not! It is the best time you will ever have in your life. This is your moment. Make it count! An old Blues man once told me that if he is not singing a song he is slowly decaying and dying. It took me many years to understand what he meant. But I do now. Without music, I'm a dead man. That's why I stay in it! I like being alive! Ha! and that is saying a lot man because I attempted suicide several time when I first came back from the war. PTSD was destroying my faith. You cannot allow anything or anyone to destroy your faith. People ask me all the time how I won so many songwriting competitions and awards and my answer is always the same. I believed I could win and so I won.
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Psyche's Muse
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1/10/2019 2:46:43 AM
FANTASTIC!!! Very inspirational words for a world which NEEDS INSPIRING! Nicely Done! Thank You, STONEMAN! -M-
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1/10/2019 4:20:23 AM
Stoneman, what can I say? That last paragraph could be a mission statement for our site! In fact I'm going to find some way to get it on the front page for awhile.
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Shoe City Sound
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1/10/2019 8:05:31 AM
This is the first thing I read this morning. If you had any idea how much I needed to read those very words about faith. Honestly, thank you so much! I'm so totally grateful for the inspiration.
Love to you, Stoneman. There is no one like you and nowhere like IMP.
D
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1/10/2019 4:16:20 PM
ok if you refresh your cache it is now on the front page, abridged, but a beautiful statement about why we're here.
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Steve April
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1/11/2019 1:32:55 AM
---- Updated 1/11/2019 3:08:50 PM
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Psyche's Muse
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1/11/2019 4:53:16 AM
Good job, Scott! I like that. Thanks again, Stoneman! -M-
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Psyche's Muse
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1/11/2019 8:59:02 PM
dang it!
HOPE I did not "do it" again...
Sorry, Steve!
I guess I should not even post "anything" unless I am "totally" committed and involved. I was "in a hurry" and just rushed in here to thank Scott...
and then did not even make a comment on what you had written.
I am certain that it was heart-felt and sincere. And I certainly do hope that it wasn't my "inconsideracity" which caused you to remove/edit/delete it. Later man. -M-
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Stoneman
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1/12/2019 6:22:02 AM
It is always a blessing to be a blessing to someone else. I am thankful that others find merit in what I wrote. I am so honored to not only have my face on the cover of this fine website, but also my words. IMP this is truly home for so many of us. Much Respect To All, Stoneman
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Jilly
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1/13/2019 2:26:19 AM
I always enjoy reading Stoneman posts but I'm sure you'll understand if I don't always believe in 'blind faith' Many folk have marched forward behind and in front of inspirational, motivational, conviction banners.... some succeeded, some failed, but it's wrong to say they failed because they lost faith or stopped believing in themselves.... some of us fail because we are simply not good enough or that the consequences of failure are less important... they shouldn't be labeled as weak, faithless or cynical, they are human and the spectrum of humanity is wide open to analysis.... what works for some is maybe inappropriate to others.
There should be no pressure to make "music part of you" it doesn't have to dominate your life.... sometimes it can remain as a pleasant hobby or a way of passing the time.
If you lose a function, a freedom or ability to perform then you adapt. You have to go on if you lose a person you loved deeply, and likewise, if you lose music (for whatever reason) you don't die, you find another love or you live in regret. Losing faith is not the same as losing face so you have to be strong enough to admit that there is a fine line between self assertion, dogmatism or even stubbornness... ask Donald :)
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Paul groover
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1/13/2019 7:47:50 PM
MLK maybe Jesus not quite Stoneman oh yeah. I vote for what Scott said front page
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Stoneman
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1/14/2019 2:00:40 PM
Oh Jilly, I would hope that I would never be so pom pass as to suggest that my way is the only way. I was merely relaying the response that I gave to a dear old friend who has obviously lost faith in himself and his music. I say this because I have known him for many years and have watched him strive to overcome so many obstacles only to give up just when he was writing the best music I have heard from him. My intention was simply to help him become motivated again. By the way, it helped as he sent me an email last night with an awesome new tune he just finished production on. But, yes, you are correct in your assertion that blind faith may or may not have been the catalyst for the success of others. But I am not telling you about other people. I am merely sharing a process and philosophical approach that has worked for me personally for nearly 7 decades. Anyone that finds merit in that approach and uses it has my support. Anyone (including) who does not believe it and prefers a different approach also has my support. I would just hope that they would share their findings with the rest of the community as it may be beneficial to others as it is to themselves. That was my only approach Jilly. The though that this may be beneficial to others. A very wise rap group once said: "You can get with this, or you can get with that, you need to get with this because this is where its at" The choice is yours! I am just a messenger sharing a radical idea. A process that has seen me through a myriad of successes from health to money to music and even love. To even post a song on this website you have to have at least a little faith that it will be received in good standing among other songs from other people. But not everyone who has succeeded did it my way. You are absolutely correct. Much Respect To You Jilly. Stoneman
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Jilly
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1/14/2019 3:23:52 PM
You're a wise fellow Stoneman, I like your style. I appreciate your inspiring posts and I'm glad about your friend's renewed interest now. My main concern was for people who rely heavily on music being their savior to the exclusion of everything else in their life. I just think any obsession is dangerous. I realize it's hard to know where passion ends and obsession begins so I think it's healthier to stay chilled.
People succeed for many reasons, faith may be one but let's not forget the folks who get what they desire with money, connections and even trickery. It would be nice if only the good guys achieved their goals but sadly it takes more than prayer as a rule.
In music I will always be an all or nothing gal, my passion fluctuates with my mood, but I hope my realism doesn't come across as cynicism. I have known faith to work in areas of life but I think I'm too ignorant to be successful in music, I don't have enough 'streets' Cheers for replying - Jilly x
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Stoneman
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1/14/2019 10:39:34 PM
Jilly, All very true stuff. In order to understand someones point of view you may have to get to know a bit about them. Maybe if I knew more about you I would understand your POV a lot better. Moreover, I have been a man of faith for many years now. I have also been obsessed with making music my entire life. I am not a songwriter. I am an observer who has been given an ear to a wonderful radio station that plays in my head. That is one of the miracles of my life. At a time when I could have just shut down and died, the music began to play in my head. I became obsessed with interpreting what I hear so that others can hear it. It always felt so strange that I could hear it and nobody else could. For many years I thought for sure I was crazy. The music brought me through many long and brutal beatings though. It shielded me from all the verbal assaults I took daily. It became my refuge from the storm of violence I faced as a child. I believe there is power in it because it gave me a super power. The power to withstand the worst and still give my best. I learned that I could pass this power on to other people for their own temporary refuge from the hazards of being alive. I rose up from the ghetto and released myself from the shackles of poverty and crime. I liberated myself from my tormentor and spent a large portion of my life helping others to liberate themselves from their own personal demons. I wish I was great enough to say that I did it all on my own. But I didn't. I had help! I had faith in the spiritual entity that comforted my wounds as I cried laying in my own blood as a child. That entity has never left my side. He has never abandoned me the way my parents did. He has been there with me through it all. This is who I am and it is all I know that is really beneficial to others. I write about overcoming things because that is what I do. I am a professional over comer. Music is merely the tool I use to share that magic that comes to me from out of no where. I love the magic of making music. It thrills me beyond anything else. I also am a competitor. I love to compete. it is in my blood. I come from a long line of them. (competitors that is) My little sister (Vecepia Towery Robinson) won a million dollars on Survivor several years ago. The television network labelled her the "Bible thumper" but yeah, the bible thumper won! My entire family is very spiritual. But we are not fanatics. We just know God and he knows us. We are also all competitors. Meaning, we tend to strive to be the best at what we do. My cousin (Master Banqui) is a five time world champion in Kung Fu. I train with him. All of my siblings (including my sisters) are war veterans. There are two purple hearts in my family. We strive to overcome and we use faith based methods. However, I was not always a Christian. I was raised a Buddhist and converted to Christianity as a grown up. I studied Islam for a while but was not swayed to convert. I have always known that there was a spiritual entity in my life. I have known that because of all of the most uncanny things that have happened to me, through me or around me. Not sure why, but I have been blessed for a long time. It could have something to do with the work that I did in my youth as a prison minister/chaplain (yes, I am ordained and licensed for life). Or it could be just luck but where others see coincidence, I see the power of God. Where others see luck, I see divine intervention. We all see and believe what we want. That is the greatest gift that God gave us. The right to choose who and what we want to believe. By the way, the eloquence in the way you write clearly demonstrates that you are not too ignorant to be successful in music. You see, This is where my faith comes in in regards to my life. I refuse to put any limitations on what I can or cannot do. I just trust and go for it. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. But I am always in the game and I am always cheering for more than just myself. I get so much joy from seeing other people overcome things. That is why I encourage so much. I get off on seeing other people make it! When I was in the Navy I was a boxer. I won 7 straight fights (all knockouts) and got really puffed up like I was the shit you know? Then along comes this little short marine who knocked me out in a matter of seconds. I woke up and all I could see was moons, stars and craters and shit. It was a great lesson that I needed to be taught. I am not the shit! Hell, the guy who knocked me out was 0-3 when he did it. I was his first win. Its the same in music. I am a decent artist but I know there are so many, many who are so much better than me. A large percentage of those folks are not doing anywhere close to as good as I am. This is why I get up everyday and give thanks. I am blessed and this is why I have faith. I don't mean to preach to nobody (although I am capable of that) and I don't discount anyone's belief or lack thereof in regards to faith. I just share what I know personally and sincerely hope that it helps someone else. Thanks for your input Jilly! Stoneman
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Jilly
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1/15/2019 1:23:47 AM
Wow Stoneman I can tell by the length and depth of your writing that you are not a man who does things by halves and you apply that to everything in life.
When I read your stories I see why you need to overcome and conquer those demons - you have evolved through it all to become at peace with yourself.... that is something I and many others find too challenging, it works for a while but that 'while' is a condition that's hard to pin down. Maybe chemistry is easier to understand and thank or blame for the way we are.
Most of the demons I live with are my own creations, I force guilt and regret upon myself where it's not justified, and I play my story in my head from every possible perspective, I'm a born analyser, a serial ruminator :)
I'm not naturally a social animal, I'm solitary even in company but I'm very interested in the human condition and what makes people the way they are. Being that way I'm aware of the strength people find in a common God and the comfort they get from that I also look at Godless folk, often shallow, unquestioning people who are happy in their ignorance.
I am open to anything that brings peace and comfort but I believe that every soul has a unique God... I don't have a name for mine!
Getting back to the power of music - actually my thoughts on that are not deep, I regard poetry as my salvation... not just rhyming lines but the kind of stuff that buzzes around my head and needs to be released, not necessarily for other's enjoyment but so I can see what I feel and refer back to the time it was written. I make music for an entirely different reason, it's the best way I know to experience the mindfulness of the moment to the exclusion of all over thoughts.
I hope you know me a little better today.... but don't believe what I write, I could be quite different tomorrow.
Thanks Jilly x
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Paul groover
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1/17/2019 8:03:39 PM
I thought i made this word up but i didnt it's in the dictionary you are a fantastic oratist.
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