going in. leaving all behing

[ROGI]

I've made up my mind, i'm gonna play. I quit university, I'm moving to states, getting a job (have one that's waiting for me). after 10 years of bass playing, music,gigs,bands,etc ect, i wanna go "all the way". Music moves me. My parents are outa their mind.
there are more than few reasons:

1. after 10 years of playing, and year and a half of thinking about it

2. i had been without band for 2-3 moths, my GF says I'm so down, that she really can see that i'm 100% into music (it was more like "i know u love music more than me" ), and i really didn't think about that until she told me that. now i have a band and i'm really alive. now that i think about it, it's true

3. if i do finish university , i'll have ****** job, that pays like 1000$ a month. A MONTH! (that's master's degree in economics, don't ask our educational system had some reforms that made things complicated , so we are not bachelor's - master's - PhD, but master's-master of science-PhD ) if u thought economy is bad in states, in here bad takes a whole new form. I'll earn more money in us washing dishes than here working office job (washing dishes and doing manual labor is paid around 400-500$ A MONTH HERE! wanna work in the supermarket? 10 hours a day, no break (legal system is a mess) for 500$ a month, that's a bit over 100$ a week ). and everything is so expensive here (from gas and food to electronics and cars) (new fender mia jazz is like 2000$ )

4. small country (4,5milion people...whole country, imagine that ), no opportunity for bands, making any money from music etc.etc, music bssns sucks ass here, no perspective for young people in music.

5. when it comes to music i'm ready to give 300% into it. play 8 hours a day, have 6 reharsals a week. don't want a big house, 4 cars, kids. (for the last 6 years i've been helping and babysitting my nieces. who are wonderful and i love them a lot, but it also made me see how much of a responsibility starting a family is). i just need 4 walls, bath, and bed, when it comes to that i could say that i'm willing to sacrifice everything for music, and i did it before.

6. It will not be first time i've been alone in us, and had to make it on my own. So i know what i'm getting into.

7. amount of freedom of expression, music, accessibility to every-possible-imaginable-thing, cultural melting pot, open possibilities. i know it aint all peaches and sunshine but when compared to here, it is, trust me. just to put things into perspective, biggest city here has less than 1 milion people. and if u had any non foreign non-mainstream-pop-of-croatia (it's not like the MTV, mainstream pop) band here, and wanted to play, there are only 3 venues where u can play that could hold more than 400people. rest of them are clubs that hold 100people max. Metallica had canceled their show here (few years ago), reason ? they didn't sell more than 1500 tickets I'm not a metallica fan btw. there were also lots of other rock-metal concerts either canceled or moved to smaller venues, reason ? not enough sold tickets , and big time bands come here once every few years or less. rolling stones were only once in last 20 years. that was in 1998. i think. Iron maiden 2 times in last 25 years. Prince will be here for the first time this December od January (ups, problems with tickets). that's musical abyss. Stanley Clarke comes here and you have to explain to ppl who he is musicians, not average joes.

here is our pop. ripoff pop. (hint, van halen jump)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6oQc...layer_embedded



and more of the ripoff pop,

hint, Johnny Cash - San Quentin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvwQlCv6-I


TOTO!!!!
not exactly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_OdM_g1WEA

bad thing would be separation from family and breakup with my GF

[onewebfoot]

That's a lot of personal searching, a lot of dreams, a lot of pending hopes, and a lot of major life decision to convey in a single post. Note that people do take notice (I did), but may not know how to respond. Clearly you have been thinking about this for a very long time, and counting the costs along the way.

If you do indeed bust this move, come to a new country, give up basically everything that you have now in life, to make it happen, may you find what you seek.

I've never quite faced this level of life change, but I have faced life change on at least three major occasions over the past 2.5 decades. Is it possible to break it up into chunks or pieces? If it were me, i'd focus on logistics and practicality first, then on artistic and musical fulfillment.

1. What is your target location in the US?

2. How do you plan to pay your bills initially once you get here? Relocating to a brand new country alone is tough enough, even if you were a professional techie. Doing that as a musician? Whew boy.

3. And aside from the regular income, where and how do you plan to live? With or without a car? (for example).

Then all the rest. Best wishes in your search. -Vince

[Hoover]

onewebfoot, I liked your "It would be a drag..." comment, why'd you delete it?

[onewebfoot]

OK, I'll put it back. "It would be a drag, for example, if you were to come here searching ultimate fulfillment of all your dreams, only to end up as a desperate actor in porn movies to make ends meet. Many have found that ends to their dreams, perhaps especially in Hollywood, and it'd b ea shame to be a front seat witness to watching it happen again."

There. :-)

[ROGI]

Boston, i have a job there waiting for me, it's a bakery but pays ok.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by ROGI

Stanley Clarke comes here and you have to explain to ppl who he is musicians, not average joes.

Yeah. Same here. Sorry, but nobody knows any bass players here or anywhere else in the world. If you seek fame and fortune, better start working on your guitar licks. Your chances of making it big in music in the US are no better than those of the tens of thousands who have lived here all their lives and still can't break out of their local scene. Best of luck to you. You're going to need it.

[ROGI]

yeah, i don't seek fame and fortune, just place where i can find a band & play.
i plan to work daily job, and play. i don't plan on beeing superstar.

ok, maybe i didn't explain it in the best way, it's not just music scene in states, my main reason is that with a daily job i can live much better than here and have time and money to do music. doing that here is much much harder, sometimes impossible, and the cultural barriers are huge. you get stomped, cheated on every turn. heck i know people not getting paid for like 5-6 moths, but still they work and hope they'll see their paycheck. another thing are political stuff that are going on here and this is not the place to talk about them. in 9-12 months it's going to be either hyperinflation or bankruptcy of entire country

[Krakmann]

Salud!

Good luck and best wishes...

[ROGI]

thnx!

i kinda see it not as a way to get rich and famous. nope, that's not what i had in mind. for example if i was an instrument builder, my dream would be , come to states, set up a small workshop (garage like) and do daily job so that i cover costs of (simple) living, and build my instruments in my free time, not planing for them to be sold in huge numbers or to become well known but to work what i love, to make the best instruments i can, to put all my love and skill into it and be fulfilled with it. when i make something that i'm proud of it really moves me in a way. satisfaction, joy, pride. great sounding band as a result of hard work & gazillion of rehearsals. ain't that a kick? also it's about environment. the whole mood, culture, vastness of ideas, lifestyle etc etc. for me Boston was turning point, fertile ground. NYC was even bigger kick. a positive one. it's a whole different world. u can't comprehend the differences between here and USA if u didn't live in some former eastern block (yeah, commie) country. i'm 25 so it's very soon or never.

[fenderhutz]

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of rockstardom. Your money isn't in music, it's in finding someone interested in making a documentary of the entire thing, good or bad. People in this country (unfortunately) eat up that kind of stuff.

Research documentary channels and send them an email, what could it hurt?

[tlr1293]

Bring the girl. Companionship will help with the dream.

[ROGI]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of rockstardom. Your money isn't in music, it's in finding someone interested in making a documentary of the entire thing, good or bad. People in this country (unfortunately) eat up that kind of stuff.

Research documentary channels and send them an email, what could it hurt?

how about making a story and do the storytelling with music?

Originally Posted by tlr1293

Bring the girl. Companionship will help with the dream.

she does not want to go

[Joe Nerve]

I made the same decision as you about 20 years ago. Came to my realization through my girlfriend at the time also. She was able to see better than me that I was killing myself to continue doing something I didn't want to do, when all I wanted to do was music. My choice was to either finish grad school and continue en route to becoming a permanent full time english teacher, or quit and dive completely into music. Dove completely into music and the rewards have been many. I have no regrets, until now. Just started teaching on more of a full time basis (took a night school english teaching job along with my daytime substitute job) and I've never been more miserable. This school semester lasts until the end of January and then I'm quitting, taking a big paycut and diving completely back into music.

It sounds like you have your head in the right place and you're being realistic about this. There are definite sacrifices that get made with your choice, but for some of us it really is the only way. Only thing I'd advise is to try and find a really flexible way to earn money. I lucked out with developing a good reputation in the school I was in and substitute teaching. I can earn a decent amount of money per day, my day ends at 2:30 (when I'm not teaching night school), sometimes as early as 1PM, and I can take off whenever I want, for as long as I want, without it affecting anyone. The thing I see that destroys the most musicians (here in NY at least) is desperation. Having no money sucks, and when music becomes one's only means of support (unless you're playing in a high paying steady gig), it's not a good thing on any level. Pushes people away.

It's a great life and we've probably only got one of them to live. Do what you want, and give it everything you've got!

[Rockmusician]

I would recommend staying in school. It is very difficult to make a living in the music industry and with an a degree you will have a better chance at being able to support yourself.

[ROGI]

almost no employe in USA will accept my university's diploma. that sucks ass. if i did medicine or electronics that would be different. at my university, lots of professors took bribe. pay 1000$ and u pass the exam. had a few professors sexually blackmail students, even "legal" buying of exams called summer school (u pay, then go to summer school and u had like 99,99% chance of passing the exam. that was legal) and there were lots of arrests, police came to university, arrested bunch of people, even students that were involved went to court. and that's the most prestigious school of economy here. even here it's like, "oh, you are from that university, so for how many exams did u study, and how many did u pay for?" f'ing great!

maybe that puts things more into perspective now.

[BuffaloBass]

Rogi, I only have current picutres of my dad's home village in a former Eastern bloc country.

RUN! Dont walk, outta there! Godspeed to you and your dreams.

Maybe you can get a real econ degree from one of the many B-Town schools if need be.

[ROGI]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBass

Rogi, I only have current picutres of my dad's home village in a former Eastern bloc country.

RUN! Dont walk, outta there! Godspeed to you and your dreams.

Maybe you can get a real econ degree from one of the many B-Town schools if need be.

thnx ! I was also thinking about getting more education in us. heck, i only have 9 exams left (out of 50), it's not like i don't remember all the stuff i had to learn and study

[rosanne]

If you don't come, you will regret it the rest of your life.

This country is full of people who have done exactly what you want to do, or who's ancestors did exactly that.

You sound like you have realistic goals. May you realize them! The best of luck to you!

[MiniMoose234]

I have complete respect for you, you are doing what you want to do, looking at it realistically and have a total passion for it.
Where are you planning on coming in the U.S?

[pstyle]

Why not finish school first?

Have you ever been to the states before? It's a little different from what you see in movies.

You realize you will be living and working here illegally right (which is gonna be a huge stress in its own)?