There's this guy, Lew.  He wants to be a famous musician, but god, what
trouble he gets into.  First of all there is his personal appearance - he
is always ill dressed, often doesn bathe enough, and drinks a great deal.
Then there is his language - it is obvious he wasn't very well educated.
He is often making grammatical mistakes in his speech, and misspells every
third word in his writing.  Lord, how he gets flamed for those.  He is
called illiterate - and when this happens he explodes into rage.

But it gets worse, he is ill mannered, and offends many people from polite
society.  He's involved in radical politics and is often told to cool it
when he utters remarks which disparge the right wing government and its
leader - a man who he doesn't regard as being legitimately in power.  He
fights with his publisher, he utters scathing attacks on the stupidity of
critics.  How can he expect to get good press when he calls them idiots
and morons?

But there's more, he doesn't edit his scores very well, so often they lie
around for ages before they are even looked at.  He has managed to offend
every conductor within reach, to the point where no one will play his
works.  Mostly, he has a few friends, and even they admit he has an
explosive temper and a crude sense of humor.

Moreover, he offends people with the airs he puts on, always quoting
Goethe and Kant, always talking about how music is closer to him than
other composers - such an ego!

Sorry to say, Lew is barely eeking out a living most of the time.

He really ought to know better - he should realise how he has to behave
if he wants any recognition.  A composer who offends nice people who go to
concerts to escape the terrors of the world, the critics and the important
people in politics will never amount to anything.

Stirling Newberry
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http://www.mp3.com/ssn