mikevarley.com

Now among my cataloged flaws is a lack of basic salesmanship – or at least salesmanship in the traditional sense.  I don’t enjoy discussing my own work, I find money and art to be an abusive marriage and while I see the craft in an “elevator pitch,” they’re as facile as the Muzak that plays between the floor stops.

In searching for virtues to balance deficiency, I find myself again relying on truth – or truth as I perceive it.  The following things I truly believe, regardless of ten dollar purchase:

“The Events of Election ’08” is an important collection of work.  Its rhythmic-lyric writing is not poetry and it’s not spoken word.  If I were to label it beyond “oration,” I’d describe it as “folken word.”  It’s meant for ears, not for eyes and isn’t flashy.  I can’t define it more than that, but that’s the way I like it.

“The Events of Election ’08” is a unique collection of work.  It captures a powerful moment in American history in a way completely different from contemporary media.  Modern news constructs disposable shrines around the past day’s error.  “Election ’08” seeks the human condition in every plumber, pastor and maverick.  It is unique in perspective and unique in empathy, and bears none of the bleach of the vicious news cycle.

“The Events of Election ’08” is a seminal collection of work.  It is the first in a group of albums I will undoubtedly record and another chapter in a life that sees creation as vocation.  If I had one true selling point, it’d have to be this: I’m never going to stop.  This is not hobby.  This is not choice.  This is devotion unfounded and logic astray, and the only thing that will stop my creating is the thing that created me.  So if you’re not interested in “Election’s” subject matter, perhaps think of it as an investment in art speculation.

I’m selling the CD’s for $10 dollars each.  If I sell forty I’ll break even, which is all I’m looking for at present.  The rest will be used to try and get the message out there.

If you want a CD but you don’t see me regularly, email me your address and I’ll send you a CD with an addressed and stamped envelope for the money.  Don’t worry, I trust you.  If you think you know people that would be interested in this, tell them to email me or send them to theeventsofelection08.com or share your CD with them.  Every evangelist helps.

Thanks for your time and even more for your support.

Regards,

Mike Varley

As most of you know, I recently completed work on my first album, “The Events of Election ’08”.  It is a series of orations covering the presidential campaign from an angle different from any blog post or CNN graphic.  For the uninitiated, the album website (theeventsofelection08.com) can fill you in on more of the practicals. […]