Criticism

Davey G and the Keyboard was recently the target of some vicious criticism, in print, from someone who apparently was not going to like it no matter what (Let me just say that this person objected to the fact that I play with a Casio keyboard, supposedly indicating a lack of seriousness--nothing could be further from the truth--and the rest of this blurb flowed from that rather unfair prejudice). Rather than respond to it directly, or dignify it by even mentioning it’s source [no, it’s not my arch enemy on Park Ave.] , I would like to offer some thoughts for others who may experience the same thing.

The best criticism, they say, is done in private, with a loving arm around your shoulder, and is never meant to embarrass or hurt.
And then there’s the other kind. The flat-out mean, the “I didn’t get it but I’m going to shit on it anyway” sort of unconstructive stuff that can only lead the person criticized to discouragement.

I invite myself open to criticism every time I get up on stage, or anytime anyone listens to my music, and though this may be shocking for me to admit, people don’t always love me. It’s just a fact of life, and I accept that.

It was especially obvious back in the days I performed at the comedy club. A lot of the times I would do two shows a night, and often it was bittersweet--the early crowd might absolutely adore me, and then a different later crowd would hate me. What it taught me is that I am the same every time: it’s the audience who changes. That is not to say that people are “wrong” not to laugh, or to enjoy my act--it is just to say that sometimes the situation can be stacked against you and there is just no saving it. That is when I just have to trust that I know what I’m doing and get through it, even if I’m not feeling the love from the crowd.

In the last three years of performing as Davey G and the Keyboard (of a total of seven), I haven’t really had a bad show (thankfully) and I have been doing this for so long that my act truly “is what it is.” If someone doesn’t like it, there really is no changing it. And that is what I tell myself, the thought that helps me deal with harsh words: I know what I do is good, because I feel it, because many, many people (who have nothing to gain by kissing my ass) tell me it’s good, because it is me, and it flows from me.

“All Art is a search for truth,” my old acting teacher said, and while I do not believe what I do is Art, for me it is truth. No bad words against me are ever going to shake me from that truth.

Thanks for reading!

--DGK.

www.daveygandthekeyboard.com