Cheezy part two.

A couple of days ago I posted about my former bandmate's MySpace page. I voiced my opinion (useless as it was) about their decision to show a few women who'd come to their gigs on a slideshow they've got there. To my mind the best use of such a slideshow was to feature pics of the band (in concert and otherwise). I felt that such an approach would give the band itself more publicity than what they're currently doing.
In the post I explained my opinion, once again downplaying the presumed importance of what I had to say, excusing even SAYING it by chalking it up to the liberating and therapeutic benefits inherent in the freedom of expression.
The long and short of it is that I wound up using this word to describe the "female fan appreciation slideshow"..."Cheezy" (with a "z" no less!).
So, anyhoo, I checked the blog again yesterday (as I am always interested in what they're doing, even if the page is updated too sporadically for me to be very much "in the know"). Beneath the slideshow, in nice, big capital letters, were the words "IT AIN'T EASY BEIN' CHEESY!"...
Well, it didn't take me but a second or three to put two and two together and realize that someone in the band had read the post.
My immediate reaction was "Hip Hip Hooray! Somebody's actually reading my blog!" When my excitement abated I started thinking about it, and I figured there were probably at LEAST two others that I know who might read this thing with any degree of regularity...so now my readership had ballooned to THREE. Even then it might not have been a "ballooning" after all, since I remember that my brother used to check in quite often. Likely he's the one who saw the "cheezy" post and made his own comment, in his inimitable style, not here but on his band's MySpace page.
I wasn't sure if he still read this thing or not. I know he was mighty pissed off at me when I left the band (and with good reason, I would add). In addition, there seemed to be a lot of tension between him and I in the last few weeks before I quit (not placing blame on he or I, it very well could have just been an extension of our individual circumstances, situations at home, that kind of thing). So I wouldn't blame him if he'd deleted this blog from his "Favorites".
(If I'm mistaken and it was someone else who read it, I apologize for boring you with the last few details)
What I wanted to do with this post, assuming that it is read by the same ex-bandmate who read it last time, is to reiterate the last couple of words in that post: "Nothing personal".
And I hope that none of the guys took it personally as an insult or as a barbed criticism of how they choose to promote their band. It's not how I would do it. Basically it's like this: if I were still in the band and the decision were being made as to whether or not we should put photos of "females in our audience" (with the planned or unplanned "groupie" inference) on the MySpace slideshow or to keep the band photos there (as they were until only recently) I would, as you should know by now, have STRONGLY suggested the latter.
I'd also like to repeat another line from my post which I believe to be the gospel truth"---and that is: "My opinion on this matter is less than worthless". Indeed, when I told my wife what I had written she scolded me and wanted to know what reason I could have had to write it. She thought it was unnecessary and in bad taste. She's probably right about that. I trotted out my justifier, namely that I believed freedom of expression to be both liberating and therapeutic. I don't know if she was buying it, but I guess if she thought that I thought it was therapeutic, maybe that would trigger some kind of placebo effect.
The angel on my right shoulder says, "You know, that whole 'liberating, therapeutic bit only holds so much water, but forgive yourself if it gives you a little relief from the struggles you have endured over the years."
The devil on my left shoulder says, "Man, you are so full of shit".
Likely they both have a valid point.
So, if one of the talented forces behind Jubal Modine happens to be reading this, I hope you weren't offended or angered by my post. I suppose I only offer such opinions because it hasn't quite settled in that I'm not in the band anymore. The good things about "life after Jubal Modine" have been evident to me. But still, I didn't want to leave for any sinister reasons. I had a very good time most of the time I was on stage with you guys. That kind of thing makes it hard for me to completely divorce myself from the band, even if it's just "armchair psychoanalyzing" your career decisions. Plus the fact that I have no plans to EVER play in another band again, I guess I'm just vicariously living the musicians life, much in the same way that I'm sure the REAL Jubal Modine himself is doing, since he has never once shown up to a gig. If that weren't the case I wouldn't be checking your MySpace page every day for updates.
I do wish you guys the best of luck and hope, not only that you play successful, well-attended shows often, but that the cash flow for doing so will be much more than enough to compensate the work you've done turning Modine into a household name.