Change, Nothing Stays the Same
Hit the Ground Running
Mark Rushton’s Perseverance in the Arts is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist.
This email is brought to you by:
Mark Rushton Gallery - for original paintings, metal prints, and tote bags.
License my music, sound fx, and illustrations at Pond5 for your creative project.
I’m on Bandcamp. And all the usual streaming services - Qobuz, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, Tidal, and other services around the world.
I do all my streaming listening via Qobuz, a service that actually sounds great and pays artists.
This week’s topics:
Stop Updating and Ghost Belvedere
Abandoning Social Media
Van Halen - “Unchained” (Live at the Tokyo Dome 2013)
Stop Updating and Ghost Belvedere
My latest album, Stop Updating, is out on all the streaming services and Bandcamp. It’s 7 mostly-lengthy tracks of syncopated beats and ambient electronics.
I also have a new single, Ghost Belvedere, released under the name Rushton, my “beats” band name. It’s also on the streamers and Bandcamp.
Abandoning Social Media
Last year, I abandoned Instagram. That platform is dying and throttled. Nothing but Reels and ads. No growth. Everybody on the mouse wheel.
I know I talked recently about Twitter/X and Substack Notes, but I am abandoning those platforms, too. It’s just not worth it.
Twitter was an experiment. Has anything changed since the censoring micro-doser left and the carnival barker arrived? Not for artists. The memes are funny, but I can see memes elsewhere.
Substack Notes had some interesting people, here and there, but it’s just other creatives. My Notes feed was overpopulated with people, or bots, proclaiming how happy they were with achieving 100 subscribers. Who does that? I kept seeing the same sort of thing over and over again.
The final straw was some guy criticizing me because I dared to comment that I left Spotify last year for Qobuz for my music streaming and I was happy with it. Don’t you see that by continuing to stream music, even by switching to the one streaming service that pays artists the most, I am “not helping” independent artists?
But I am an independent artist. Recording and visual. I worked with the Boundoff literary magazine / podcast for 9 years, which helped publish (and pay) independent writers for their work. I buy often on Bandcamp. I do other things...
That asshole reminded me of the time I was working at the college radio station. This was in the late 1980s, when the CD was taking over from vinyl. There was a small but smelly group of cranks who hated anything in digital formats.
Vinyl now, vinyl tomorrow, vinyl forever!
Vinyl über alles!
They also didn’t want the station playing anything that could be heard on the fairly progressive commercial stations in the area. So that new Love & Rockets single should be banned. Same with the Replacements. XTC. Nine Inch Nails.
Absolutely stupid behavior. I hated those narrow-minded, corn-fed Marxists.
I did get something good out the radio station, my wife:
Van Halen - “Unchained” (Live at Tokyo Dome 2013)
I’ve always been a fan of DLR-era Van Halen. I bought Van Halen II and Women and Children First when they came out, before I shifted to more alternative and electronic, but they’re still great records, and I remained a fan through Jump and Panama.
I never got into Van Hagar. Eddie trying to be “serious” with his music but then titling those albums like he’s Beavis on Jolt Cola. The cocaine years. Van Halen III??? Just completely off the rails. Being awful to Michael Anthony.
But this live show from 2013, after the final album was released (which didn’t connect with me), is nearly everything you want in Old Van Halen: Eddie smiling constantly and playing brilliantly. Dave being Dave. Alex pounding away like a master. Even Wolfgang is good! The whole concert is excellent. So much love for this in the comments.
Thanks for the Van Halen!