{"id":50,"date":"2006-12-29T14:06:42","date_gmt":"2006-12-29T14:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/?p=50"},"modified":"2017-02-20T22:11:36","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T22:11:36","slug":"a-guest-post-from-peg-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/29\/a-guest-post-from-peg-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"A guest post from Peg Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thought some folks might be interested in this tirade Peg posted to her newsgroup on SFF Net<\/a> in response to Helix’<\/strong><\/a> rule that we do not accept money from our writers. Money flows<\/em> toward the writer, is our rule.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here We Come a-Wassailing<\/p>\n

Peg Robinson<\/p>\n

I am, as seems too often to be the case, being subversive.<\/p>\n

Will Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans have made it clear, and more than clear, that if I dare try to sneak a penny into the old man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hat \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or even a ha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122penny \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it will come back to me with such increased velocity as to challenge Einsteinian physics. I have presented a piece of work to Helixsf.com, and from henceforth my money is no good in that bar. Indeed, they are paying me: in coin of the bloody realm, and in all the graciousness of being treated as an honored fellow of their effort. So I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make a donation, no matter how freakin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 good I think their goals are or how much I think they deserve to succeed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and think we need them to succeed.<\/p>\n

Hell with that bullshit.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got lyrics that possess me. Joni Mitchell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Playin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Real Good, For Free,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with its haunting contrast of a professional musician passing a street-corner player, has become one of my soul-songs: one I come back to again and again. Her recognition that the value of his art is as great as hers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c maybe even, somehow, magically greater \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for being offered for free, in the hope that gratitude and deep joy will offer back a nickel, a dime, a dollar bill in the old fedora, and in the burning knowledge that the music was worth it, regardless. There is a real, time-honored covenant between the artist, the art, and the audience that overrides all other issues.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how it works for you. For me? When I pass a busking player, and I have any time at all, I listen. If he or she is any good, I try to show it. If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paper money in my pocket \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the artist gets some. If all I have is coin \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even a penny will do. When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m cold stony broke, I try to find a silent moment between sets to say to the corner player, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That was real good.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even possible, I at least try to throw the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thumbs up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as I go by, knowing that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too hot, or too cold, or too humid, or too windy, or too lonely, or too dangerous, or just too damn everything on a street corner \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but that someone loves the pure sweet sound of what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing enough to busk with it, rather than break into houses or flip burgers.<\/p>\n

I also do it because I know that everything new started out in a slum, on a street corner, scribbled on a cocktail napkin in a bar. It stumbled, unexpected, across a high-school auditorium stage, flew into the mind of a prim, totally unlikely math tutor, danced wild and new and free on a honky-tonk piano, and rattled the windows of the suburbs as some garage band turned up the amps and really set out to ROCK!<\/p>\n

So Helix<\/strong><\/a> comes a-wassailing, and you have to decide, as established professionals, as promising beginners, and as just plain loving readers, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth flipping a coin in the fedora. If it matters to you that there are forums where no-names and the Big Names can play what they love, because they love it, and give you a chance to see what you might never see any other way, then flip in some coin. Because Helix<\/strong><\/a> has provided a street corner where artists can \u00e2\u20ac\u0153play real good for free \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or for whatever you can afford to toss in the hat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The most honored S.O.B.s who edit that worthy work won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let me dunk a dime in\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and this testimonial won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t add a single cent to the check they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already sent me in the mail. I have nothing to lose but my honor if I stay silent, and nothing to gain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but my honor \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if I choose to give a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shilling,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d since they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t accept my dime. So. Here it is. My honor, my one, white plume if you get the lit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122rary reference.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are not daily beggars who beg from door to door,
\nBut we are neighbors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 children, whom you have seen before,
\nLove and joy come to you,
\nAnd to you glad tidings too,
\nAnd we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 real good, for free.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

If you read Helix<\/strong><\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read Helix<\/strong><\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c put a penny in the hat, and invest in that unspoken covenant with the audience that brings jazz out of the bordellos and honky-tonks, rock out of a garage band made up of six kids of poor complexion and uncertain age and gender, and pure, perfect art out of a blind sax-player on a street corner.<\/p>\n

And Will and Lawrence, you can make all the bloody rules you like and I will honor them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as I honor you. But I will continue to be my subversive self and support the extraordinary, because, damn it, if I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t then not even that one pure (if tattered), white plume is left to me. So there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thought some folks might be interested in this tirade Peg posted to her newsgroup on SFF Net in response to Helix’ rule that we do not accept money from our writers. Money flows toward the writer, is our rule. Here We Come a-Wassailing Peg Robinson I am, as seems too often to be the case,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-helix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}