Friends and family

Today has been an interesting day, to say the least.

I'm not writing this to get sympathy, or to get pats on the back. I'm writing to get some things off of my chest. To give myself something to refer to in order to keep myself focused on what I want to do in this life. To rally actual support to the cause, and to hopefully inspire you to rise above the things in life that drag you down.

In my time in the music industry, I like to think that I've done some good things. I like to think I run a good, ethical, and fair company that has made a positive impact on a lot of people's lives. A few things that have happened recently have put some things into perspective. And it is this perspective that I want to explore, be honest about, and change some things about myself and the way I do things in order to properly continue what I'm doing.

Back to the events of today. I won't name names, because honestly, it won't get me anywhere. I stood up for a friend who promoted a show, and a band did their best to tear apart the positive thing he had put together. They probably didn't do it to spite the promoter, but they simply don't understand how their actions affect everyone else, and they don't care. I wrote an email to their booking agent, which was angry but fair. And it was forwarded along to the band, who has now encouraged their fanbase to "bust my fucking head". The scary part about this is that my phone number, email address, and AOL IM s/n were posted on the bulletin where they encouraged their fanbase to do this, and I've received multiple calls, IMs, and messages threatening all sorts of bodily harm.

So again, this message is not to have people feel sorry for me. Let's get to the root of the problem. My goal with Fusion Shows is to provide a positive atmosphere for music fans (mostly teenagers, let's face it) to be themselves, see bands, and just not be stuck under the thumb of other "teen events", where kids cannot be themselves and are ruled with an iron fist. I've managed to eek out a living doing this, which is a wonderful thing, and something I feel so blessed about.

However, in this business, you have to ride a very fine line between honoring your morals and your beliefs, and taking care of business relationships. This band we speak of has done some Fusion events, because their agent is someone that I respected and wanted to gain some history with, to get to some of his bigger acts.

Sadly, what I ended up with is threats on my life for my time. Who do I blame for this? Myself. I chased the money. I saw the culture of negativity and hate that surrounds this band and bands like it, and I allowed myself to get involved anyway. Many times, I find myself becoming the people in this business that I don't respect. I send nasty, snarky five word emails. I don't say hello. I don't treat people with the respect that they deserve. I book bands that don't respect themselves and their fans. Their fans are trouble. They look for it.

THIS IS NOT MY SCENE. And as much as I feel OK about my decision to stick up for the promoter that I did, it was a bad move, because it brought me to this situation. Now because of that, and some poor decisions on the part of some industry folks, I've been fielding death threats and foul messages all day long.

As was said at the Invisible Children "Lobby Days" event in DC in June, "If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I've been part of the problem far too many times lately. I've allowed us to give a place for this kind of hatred to grow, to thrive. I'm putting my foot down. Today.

Here's the thing though. It's not going to be "march" against anything. I'm not protesting anything. I'm simply going to refocus on our creed, our purpose. We are here to provide a POSITIVE atmosphere. And not that fake "Posi-" bullshit, where people say they are all positive, and then get in fights with people who aren't. I'm talking about creating an atmosphere where art thrives, where people are given the opportunity to make positive change. I'm going to continue to dive into the Invisible Children charity that I'm working on. I'm going to give everything I can to make people's days better, not worse. I won't foster negativity. I'll say hello, and thank you, and I'll reward people that work hard, that are positive, that make a difference.

I apologize personally to anyone who has been dragged into "the business" end of what I do. I value you as people, and I care for what you're trying to do.

I'm 30 years old, I'm happily married, and I'm far too happy with my life to get dragged into this kind of stuff. Instead of emailing an agent to "tattle" on a band that does wrong, I'm just going to put more effort into a band that's doing it right. Instead of calling out an agent who is asking ridiculous amount of money and being unethical, I'll simply move on and work with the people who do value what we're trying to do here.

I'm not going to get into pissing matches with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. They'll do their thing, I'll do mine. I don't need negativity to further my cause.

If you want to show support for this blog, and for what Fusion Shows is planning to do, please DO something to support. It's easy to voice support, it takes a lot more effort to actually do something.

Thanks for reading. I'm not getting into specifics, so don't ask.

Nate

Edit: One more thing I forgot to mention. Please, for your own dignity, do not accept this behavior in your friends, yourself, or in the music you listen to. There's another band that sounds just as brutal but doesn't act this way. There are talented musicians out there that do things that will make you the feel the way you like to feel, without being so negative all the time. Please support the people that do things the right way, and don't enable and make excuses for those who act this way. It's not right, and I don't have a problem in saying that.