'these hard times can't last much longer' (even if they do)

horsemouth saw this piece by prog-lord andy edwards on the band income/ expenses  problem. it is a simple fact that most bands do not make money instead they cost the band members money. 

this is very possibly why horsemouth took up the folk music and acoustic instruments thing (lower barriers to entry). 

andy goes a little off-piste a few times but his heart (as a music teacher)  is clearly in the right place

horsemouth saw a friend's question on small business people trying to survive when all their increase in business is swallowed up by increased housing costs etc. (the running to stand still scenario). oscar wilde in his the soul of man under socialism jokes at some point that the tragedy of capitalism is that all the bosses want from the working class is their labour which is a tragedy because they have so much more to offer. 

and ultimately this is a drag on the economy (not to mention creativity) because the creative talents of all the people unable to afford to try new things can no longer be used. 

in the end the music will get made because the barriers to entry are low (unless you are making prog or jazz-funk like andy) and what people feel must find expression.  as to anything else (food, housing etc.) horsemouth  really doesn't know - the current strategy seems to be for the rich to own everything and to charge the poor such high rents for their use, this means  that next to nothing is left to run the rest of the economy. 

ultimately skip james survived and came back (so anything is possible) 'these hard times can't last much longer'  (even if they do).

to horsemouth a similar moment happens with the founding of hip-hop, the poor and the marginalised create something new out of next to nothing (two turntables and microphone, stolen car-paint, pieces of cardboard). similarly now a new economy of music is being born - the dj arrives with a memory key of tracks (there's no need to even cut the track to dubplate), they sell the track as a download (no need to get the record pressed to vinyl), onto the next track.

ok this morning horsemouth is up early and out the door to take his mum to a doctor's appointment then he's back  sharpish to let the guy looking at the stove in.