"That guitar is okay but you'll never make a living with it"

-John Lennon's Aunt Mimi
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...and the rest is history.

So, did or does anyone here have an Aunt Mimi?

Taike

Yeah that sounds just like my mother. I think it still bothers her that I have made a living for years out of video games and playing guitar/keys in bands.

Next week I am playing with my band for a private convention at Bellagio in Las Vegas. VERY nice money plus a comped room at the Bellagio. That electric guitar really can pay off sometimes.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 10-01-2007).]

When I started playing a the age of 12 in this Restaurant (in Queretaro Mexico), so, it was not illegal for been a minor an been working, so, there was this well known pianist Luis "N"(to bad that he liked to much the alcohol), he played VERY well, he came into the place I was working and told me that I would have more future selling Pop Corn in a street cart...is obvious that I did not listen to him, it only took me 3-4 years after that, when he came in a very upscale place I was playing (at the time with the Hammond X66+toys of the time) and he asked who was playing, and because of the building layout he could not see, you had to walk a hallway before entering where I was performing, the doorman told him that it was me, he just stoped there and started crying, then, turn around and left.

I was unaware of what happened until the Doorman came in and told me couple minutes later, I knew then why he cried, he did remember that he was not nice to a beguiner, and time, perseverance and practice made me improve, so, instead of smearing me at the time, if he would offer me a CONSTRUCTIVE advise, it could have been appreciate it...;o).

Sorry, but, that did FEEL Great !!....just a human natural reaction. It does prove, that who, who laugh last..... was me.


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mdorantes

What a great topic!

Can I add something?

Sometimes, (actually - often) we can be our OWN "Aunt Mimi"........

Very true, Hellboy.

Uh, Nigel...when are you getting a REAL job?

lol Taike My wife often gets asked the same question when she tells people what I do.

You may see the game I have just finished working on being advertised on cable tv at the moment. It is Stuntman : Ignition . If you see a video game ad on tv with cars flying through the air it is probably the one.

That's a great ending to the story mdorantes It just goes to show that you always have to believe in yourself.

Looks great, Nigel. Alas, my gaming days were pretty short. Rarely made it past Level 1 so I felt cheated having paid for all the other levels I never got to play.

Back on topic. I once read that quite a few parents of famous/great artists complained to their kids for not getting a real job and that it was time for them to grow up. And that was when their children already had established careers and earning millions. Guess having fun doesn't equal work no matter how much one earns.

Taike

My mom always encouraged me to be a musician.
On a similar note, my second wife couldn't get along with my son. He wanted to be a professional basketball player from the time he was five years old. She told him to forget that stuff, it would never happen.
I tossed her out, kept him, and guess what? He was a professional basketball player for 20 years. I think it was BECAUSE she told me it wasn't possible.
Great thread.
DonM

Several of my grandfathers kids (my uncles) played guitar, and two of them had appeared on Renfro Valley; sort of a low-level Grand Old Opry here in Kentucky. In college, I worked 6 nights a week at a college bar called the Fireplace. He hated that, and thought I should come home every week-end to work in his Western Auto store to make money for college expenses.

A month before I graduated, he showed up at the Fireplace...suspenders, pocket protector with 12 pencils and a tire depth guage in his pocket, and handed me Western Auto's finest guitar (you could shoot an arrow off the neck, the bow was so pronounced)as a graduation/peace offereing. Then, when i refused to move to Columbia, Kentucky to take over another Western Auto he owned (no night life-dry county), he wouldn't talk to me again for 3 or 4 years. Luckily, we made up before he died.Old "E.A. LAY" was a real DUDE!


Russ