The best revenge...

Thu 14 July 2011

Over the years I've worked with many amazing people, but from time to time I've also had to deal with some complete assholes unpleasantness.

Frankly it's amazing at how downright dishonest, manipulative and plain stupid some folks can be.

Actually plain stupid applies to me too.

I've been repeatedly robbed, conned and trodden on by sharper operators. Some random examples:

  • TWO musicians stole instruments and equipment from me
  • a guy took me for over $50k on fake promo services for my band
  • a producer "worked with" me only to use my credibility to secure funding for his project
  • a media co took my investment, then blackmailed me to walk away by threatening to blame me for their insolvency
  • an entrepreneur took my free advice, plus a 3 month loan - then only repaid after a year of hassle and threats

I could go on, and on, and on.

Let's just say I'm a sucker for a good scam sales pitch.

At one point I started a website - www.musicripoff.com - thinking that maybe outing the bastards speaking out would even the score.

I encouraged anonymous tipsters to share their unpleasant experiences. Some of these were pretty jawdropping - for example the one about the A&R guy who used to leave a white creamy deposit on his assistant's desk every morning.

However I pulled the site, soon after receiving anonymous death threats...

You may be thinking - "WOW! Death threats? That's pretty scary!"

But actually, I was living in LA at the time. One day in West Hollywood a guy threatened to kill me for taking "his" place in a public car park, so it probably wasn't particularly serious.

In any case, I killed musicripoff because I realized that spending too much time dwelling on negative stories was screwing up my karma.

As the legendary Jim said "If you spend all your time sniffing around the ass end, don't be surprised if it smells."

So, what's the best revenge?

Live a good life.