Once again, I’m doing a concert live via UStream. Tonight I’ll be asking my viewers about the future of the show, so if you’re interested in helping me plot a course towards the future then join me at 6pm Eastern US time!

You can find the show, as always, at http://matthewebel.com/ustream

First of all, thanks to all the people who made last night’s Ustream Concert a success. All of you Twittering and sending IM’s to your friends really helped build a crowd. In fact, there were quite a few new faces (well, okay, screen names) in the crowd last night and that’s always a good thing!

Which brings me to the subject at hand: assholes. Once you start to get noticed by a large group of people, they seem to come out of the woodwork. This is true whether you’re a politician, a performer, or even a priest. These are not the people who legitimately dislike your style, those people are critics. Assholes are people who simply have nothing better to do than piss on other people’s fun.

They’re the reason stereotypes and prejudice exist because often they’re the first representative you meet from a particular group. And here’s the key lesson from this sermon: Assholes transcend all age, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, nation, and political barriers. Simply put: they are everywhere, usually in positions of power. I emphasize this because I’m part of too many groups that are becoming more known for their assholes than their virtues.

You might know the Christians that carry “God Hates Fags” signs. I’m not one of ‘em. You might know the Furries that hump your leg at comic book conventions. I’m not one of them. You might know the liberals that want to take away your guns. I’m not one of them. You might know the chat room dwellers that do nothing but harass people behind a shield of anonymity. I’m not one of ‘em, and I’m rarely anonymous online.

So where am I going with all this? Other than the obvious (don’t be an asshole), try to understand that there are simply people out there that want to make you a bitter asshole like them. What sets you above them, however, is your power to set the better stereotype. You must have the self-confidence to write those people off in the blink of an eye. Those people are not your customers, so they do not matter. Critics matter, to a degree, but assholes will never, ever matter.

They only have power over those who give it to them.

Photo by jpockele

I just got done with my last UStream show for the month of April. In the likely event that you missed it, here’s the recording-

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, UStream, video[/tags]

I was self-employed for 365 consecutive days in 2007. As a result, I hugged my parents and grandparents more often than I had for the previous two years. I found out I’m going to be an uncle sometime in 2008.

I released a new album in 2007 that paid for itself from the pre-orders alone. Fans in Germany, the Netherlands, China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, and the US have already bought copies. My fans released another album on my behalf seven months earlier. They also launched their own website at matthewebel.net and created their own music videos.

I discovered UStream, Second Life, and Twitter in 2007. Half my fan base has never seen me perform in person, and most of that half thinks I’m a bird. UStream.tv put my face and my music in front of viewers around the globe. Twitter has found me beds to sleep in, gathered crowds for badly publicized gigs, solved technological mishaps, and made working alone a lot less lonely.

I visited Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Tennessee, New York, and New Jersey all in the name of the music business. More travel than I saw in the previous five years.

Touring has paid my bills in 2007. So has Coca-Cola, the Mommycast, crayon, Porter Novelli, Justin Kownacki, Joseph Jaffe, The US Postal Service, The Podcast & New Media Expo, Jeff Pulver, and a whole lot of music fans.

Chase Home Finance paid my bills for two and a half months in 2007, even though I wasn’t working there anymore.

I got my first mutual fund, my first IRA, my first business bank accounts, my own health insurance, and printed my first business checks with those useless stubs for people’s records.

Or, to summarize, 2008 is going to have a damn difficult time outclassing 2007.

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, 2007, 2008, Goodbye Planet Earth, Virtual Hot Wings, matthewebel.net, UStream, Twitter, Second Life, Hali Heron, Hali of Firpine, Touring, podcasting, Chase Home Finance[/tags]