Guest Howard
GuestForum Replies Created
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Well Jung, as for “this old puppy is going to bed now too”, maybe you, but bed is still a long way off for this old puppy!.
And Itso, as for “I am repeating this for the umpteenth, and hopefully last time”, I get what you are saying but my point is it doesn’t matter if there wasn’t any cost in terms of time or money for MLT and they got a song of their choice accepted, they still wouldn’t want to be a part of the whole schmozzle!
The only way you could get MLT, or anyone like them to be part of a ESC type contest is to create your own and then have ownership of the criteria for submission, participation and voting. Good luck with that and competing with the ESC monster!
As for the business getting too big for them to handle, I had considered the possibility of them outsourcing some work like distribution and promotion. However, as they are so focused on quality customer service and presentation, as attested to in the wonderfully packaged products (with that extra personal touch) we receive, I’m not sure just how comfortable they would be with external assistance. The business would have to be substantially larger to make it worthwhile.
I’m currently watching “Eurovision – Australia Decides” and the contestants include Tania Dako (from Sweden) and Australia’s own Kate Miller-Heidke who performed an outrageous presentation that is definitely ESC material. Dami Im who was Australia’s first entrant in 2016 where she finished second, is providing the break entertainment.
The Jury votes have just been announced and it’s Kate’s ‘Zero Gravity’ with 48 points first. The public vote is now in and it’s also Kate Miller-Heidke first, so she is Australia’s 2019 entrant. You heard it first here in the MLTClub!
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I did read your posts in full and do understand that your proposal has merit, but probably only in a perfect world. I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t get a submission accepted by the two countries they are currently eligible for and don’t know if it’s possible for them to enter via a foreign country. If so, I’d recommend they try Australia as they did spend some time here.
However, I do believe your proposal is a “dream scenario” only and not worth the bother of them trying as I don’t think they’d really like to be involved anyway and don’t really seem to crave that kind of exposure. Maybe it would be more suitable for an up and coming song writer looking for a start in the music business. That’s not MLT!
As for your use of Miss Lisa, she probably realises you are teasing her, and by the proper pronunciation of Lisa, do you mean ‘Leesa’?
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Wow Itso! You certainly do have a passion for the ESC. I too was well aware of the ‘neighbour voting’ and other political issues involved. I’m also sure that if MLT ever decided to submit an entry it would not be through Austria. However, to submit an entry through Britain would require them to spend substantial time lobbying and appeasing the appropriate power brokers anyway.
Your suggestion ‘basically, to go there and show these people what real, honest music is!’, I think is addressed by Lisa’s comment: ‘They know they have to write and perform a song that fits into the ESC cliche to have a chance to win that is often very different to the original style of the artist.’ And: ‘Every country wants to win and therefore politics takes over and tells you what’s appropriate and what not. We think the ESC is a good example of what happens when art is guided by political forces’.
I really doubt that any of MLTs current songs would be deemed acceptable, thereby requiring them to write something that ‘fits into the ESC cliche’. I may be wrong, but I can’t imagine any country accepting a submission that didn’t fit their criteria of the appropriate formula to be a winner in that particular year.
I guess we can leave the last words to Lisa: ‘The win-win situation that Christomir describes in his post above would make a lot of sense in a perfect world.’ And: ‘can you imagine Bob Dylan or the Beatles following a two hours ESC televoting to see if they won’. No disrespect to you Christomer and other ESC fans, but I feel exactly the same way as a non competing viewer!
By the way, do you prefer Christomer or Itso? And just a little suggestion from someone who’s first and only language is English, regarding titles we prefer Mr or Ms. We did away with ‘Miss’ years ago as it is considered to be redundant. Consequently Lisa would be addressed as simply Lisa or Ms Wagner and we know that the twins are fine with just their first names Mona and Lisa. They probably wouldn’t object to you referring to them as Miss either!
I really appreciate your contributions as you have an extensive knowledge of all things European while mine, apart from the UK, is quite deficient. Enjoy your day!
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My concern wasn’t to do with any risk to their artistic integrity by competing but more the risk to their control of their business if it expanded beyond their current resources. Too much commercial success would come with the downside of relying on external assistance and their current business model is what has produced the MLT we now all follow. We have to accept that the Wagners know just how big they need to be before their business model is compromised. For one thing, club members would no longer be able to expect the current interactive relationship we enjoy with MLT.
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Thank you Lisa for taking the time to respond with such detail and drawing to our attention some of the intricacies I was not aware of in regard to participation in the ESC. As much as it would be wonderful to see a MonaLisa song performed at this event, it seems that as I thought, the demands of the entry process and the politicisation of the voting system, would not be worth your time and effort.
Thank you Lior for your sincere question and thank you once again Itso for educating me further on all things ESC. Your passionate support will mean that I’ll watch the ESC this year in a much keener and enlightened way. Thank you too Jung for your usual intelligent, reasoned and balanced contribution.
In the end, I believe if MLT did become successfully involved in the whole ESC business, it would lead to another dilemma for them. They are a small family business (I’ve heard the term cottage industry used in the past) and too much commercial success could alter the dynamics of their raison d’être in a negative way. That is, they would need to expand the business to accommodate the increased popularity to the extent they would now lose the total control they have over all aspects of their work.
MLT have been successfully growing their business for over ten years now through social media, radio interviews and plying their trade via basic hard work, leading to the creation of the MLT Club. I have complete faith that they know what is in their best interests when it comes to the production and integrity of their art. They are also in the fairly unique position of being able to bring their many fans and supporters along with them on their extraordinary journey and don’t really need any help from the corporate or ‘state’ commercial music world.
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Well done Itso. Yes, a very long post but as you took the time to write it, I took the time to read it. You are an excellent and learned advocate for the ESC and participation in it. I’ll never have your knowledge of all things ESC.
I guess MLT are the only ones who really know what the opportunity cost would be for them to consider submitting a song for inclusion. I hope they can at least find the time to read your very passionate piece recommending their involvement .
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I like your analysis Jung. Bach and Mozart on the other hand just sat there and inspiration kind of came down upon them in a sense. This sounds very much like the Paul McCartney experience whose Yesterday and Let it Be songs for example, came to him in his sleep.
As for John, I could never imagine Paul writing songs with the emotion and passion of John’s Gimme Some Truth or Mother. Even in his earlier days with the Beatles, this passion is also evident in songs like No Reply and I’m a Loser from the Beatles For Sale album and Misery from their first album, which was more a joint composition written for Helen Shapiro who was at the time, Britains most successful female singer.
In early 1963 the Beatles were fifth on the bill to Helen Shapiro’s nationwide tour of the UK. By the following year, Beatlemania had spread across the world. Can we possibly draw any analogies with the MLT supporting Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel’s 2015 tour? Steve Harley may not be the top touring act in the UK but the music scene has changed drastically since the early sixties!
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Ecellent contributions Tomás and Jung.
While it’s easy for us to use the term talent (in the most positive way), when discussing Mona and Lisa, it’s only the two of them that really know all the hard work, focus, passion and discipline that has gone into developing that ‘talent’. I have no doubt that their father and Michaela have also been a huge support in their pursuit of perfection.
I particularly like your analogy with a carpenter Tomás, as in other trades and professions, people aren’t born as plumbers, teachers and doctors. They achieve that status through hard work and discipline and MLT have certainly achieved their status (up there with the best in their particular discipline) through hard work and dedication to achieving their goals. Being born into an environment that has been very supportive of their passion has been a bonus for them as they have often attested.
I will also continue to refer to their enormous talent but on the understanding that this talent has been earned rather than inherited.
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I’ve probably already seen it but wouldn’t mind watching it again and I’m sure MLT won’t mind you posting the link. I’d imagine they’d be interested themselves too. They did that brilliant cover of “The Two of Us” from the Let It Be album and included that awesome video chronicling their life. Like all the Beatles albums, this one has some excellent songs, including one of my favourites “Across the Universe” (now how I’d love the twins to have a go at that one), “Get Back” and “The Long and Winding Road”.
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Wow Mike, you have raised some huge issues here! And please lay off that ‘tone deaf’ friend of yours. Sounds like she could be my soul sister as we have something in common. As much as I love music, I too am tone deaf and no amount of professional training and hard work on my part could ever make me any more than a very ordinary singer at best.
While in primary school I had piano lessons from our local Methodist church organist and passed my first year examinations at our Conservatorium of Music. However, I could never play by ‘ear’ and had to rely on reading the music. I used to envy two of my brothers and a sister who couldn’t read music but could play by ‘ear’. My sister played piano and two of my brothers played the guitar.
I have five siblings and three of us inherited our father’s musical ear and three of us inherited our mother’s ‘van Goh’ ear for music unfortunately.
As for Mona and Lisa, it sure sounds like they have both inherited their father’s musical gene. If we look at that very brief video of them standing on the sofa singing ‘Singing in the Rain’ (I think), I bet they are in tune and they are only four years of age.
I understand why Mona isn’t ‘a huge believer in ‘talent’, as this label does people like her and her sister a huge disservice. While they may have been blessed with good genes, they “have earned that description by working hard on whatever they are good at and interested in”. I have no doubt that they have worked very hard on developing their ‘talent’, and we are now the beneficiaries.
Getting back to your unfortunate friend Mike and your comment “Her DNA simply does not contain the “talent” or inclination to sing well”. I can sympathise with her and find it very frustrating when people are offended if I don’t sing along with them at birthdays etcetera. I have developed the habit of pretending to sing as they would be even more offended if I actually did join in. LOL!
I agree it would be more useful for everyone if we used terms like “natural aptitude or skill”, rather than talent. I remember once, when I was younger and attending regular martial arts classes, someone asked our instructor what the difference was between an amateur and a professional. His response was, ‘repetition, repetition, repetition!’ In the case of the MLT, I believe it has been practice, practice, practice!
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I’d be very happy with 9 out of 10 for that one Mike. As for ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, I just looked at the album recently and there are some good tracks on it. ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ included six new songs: the title track, “I Am the Walrus”, “The Fool on the Hill”, “Blue Jay Way”, “Flying” and “Your Mother Should Know”. These were released as a double EP in the UK. In the US it was released as an LP and included single releases that the Beatle’s didn’t like included on albums. The extra songs on the US album release were: “Penny Lane”, “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”, “All You Need Is Love”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and Hello, Goodbye”
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Well done Mike. You are much more knowledgeable about Beatles’ songs than me. And yes, this is a MLT Club, but the MLT are a Beatles cover band and as such, the Beatles play a large part in their life, as they do in the lives of many of the club members. Both Mona and Lisa have often talked about the influence of the Beatles in their many YouTube videos, radio interviews and other media. Members also often discuss Beatle’s music in this forum because MLTs Beatle’s covers drew many of us to the Club.
I hope the quiz might give members ideas for suggestions on what MLT should cover next. If however, it was the consensus that the quizzes are not MLT focused enough, I would seriously consider ceasing them.
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Too true Jung. I wouldn’t expect any budding Bob Dylans, Van Morrisons or the Glimmer Twins subjecting themselves to a process like this either. Somehow it just wouldn’t seem right seeing artists like these putting themselves before judges in such a devaluing way!
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‘Good and Positive I’m thinking?!?’ Correct Jacki, keep your good and positive creations coming.
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Yes Mike, ‘Still a Friend of Mine was a simple video by comparison’ but even with this video, the time and patience that went into its production (the Barbie doll run through), is just amazing!
