I'm a pretty laid back, easy to get along with type of guy. My personality is very Minnesotan; I won't get in your face, I'm somewhat shy and I don't enjoy confrontation. But I'm beginning to wonder if my attitude and nature are my undoing.

When I look at people who have a successful business, a good cash flow and a good career, usually one in sales, they all have one thing in common: They all have a little bit of asshole in them. It might not be blatant, but it's there. I've figured out that to get what you deserve, yes, sometimes, you might need to be an asshole, but you also need people to like you as well.

I've thought about being more of an asshole on occasion, but I just don't have it in me.

For the most part, musicians and artists probably don't have huge cash flows and aren't making a living creating music and/or art. In my opinion, to make it in either of these professions, you need a healthy ego and not give a rat's ass about what people say about you. A metal-encased heart, to ensure criticism bounces right off you, doesn't hurt either.

Almost all the musicians Rift's featured, or whose albums we've reviewed, have been very cool and gracious. Once in a while, though, a musician doesn't like the way their music was reviewed and it's to those of you I want to say that a review is nothing more than one person's interpretation or opinion of your music. We know your recording is a piece of you, it's very personal and any criticism directed toward your recording can hurt. But on the flip side, how you deal with criticism will decide if your skin's thick enough to make it in this business.

I'd originally planned to use this month's intro to constructively vent about someone I'll call D and about the encounters I've had with D.

From the start, all I'd heard from D was negativity before the magazine had even written about D and D's band – and I heard about this from someone other than D. I reached out to D; things smoothed over – they even went well for awhile, but it didn't take long for the negativity to rear its ugly head again. Shortly after this happened, I came across a music bulletin board posting and read about other people's similar experiences with D.

Just a thought – if I was D and had issues with several people, maybe I would take a closer look at myself to see if the problem wasn't on my end.

It's okay to be an asshole every now and then; sometimes you have to be. You don't need to be loved by everyone, but don't lash out at those who don't want to love you – they have their reasons.

Just remember the Golden Rule: Do your thing and don't be a dick all the time!

rich@riftmagazine.com
myspace.com/riftmagazine