Nah, man.

It's 2013.

That excuse has been crusty & cobweb-corroded for at least a decade.

Take Lauryn, in my mind one of the most egregious example(s) but not limiting it to her by any stretch.

Writing manifestos in place of writing music as if the former explains the lack of the latter.

L-Boogie please.

Just tell the truth, grown folk understand that you don't owe us nothin.

You blew up, had some kids, decided your own priorities (babies, relationships, religion) were more important than those of your paying public.

Cool. That's completely your right as a human being. Enjoy your life if that's what you're doing.

But don't act like somebody's holding you back from showing people you wrote a coherent song in the past decade.

Don't pretend going out on tour each summer for nice checks to play mangled messes of the songs that made you famous is somehow you challenging any system but the nonsensical one you dreamed up in your head as a justification.

There's way too many ways for somebody with a track record & a name to cut out the middle man to get out their art to the public if this is actually about the art or if the public is a collective entity that matters to you.

If you ain't got no songs, just say so.....or better yet don't say anything at all.

If you do have songs but you're afraid of how they might be received, stop torturing yourself & put 'em out.

Odds are even if they're met resoundingly with derision that it will be easier to deal with then being Axl or D re-tweaking ten-year-old songs while filling yourself with dread at their reception as the year's mount.

It's hard to shake the feeling that a lot of these cats wanna stay reaping the rewards & acclaim of the machine that once gained them fame while at the same time blaming that very thing for their own career stasis & in some cases self-destruction.

Some artists that were quick to publically feed the myths about their own genius in the press later resent or feel pressured by those same writers/fans who want their next display of it after awhile.

Does anybody really believe in any era let alone this one that Miles, Stevie, Dylan or Prince were gonna allow outside forces to cockblock them from getting their songwriting shit off?

C'mon, Son.

The 'industry' you once knew has long since been shattered & it'll be a long time before it regains footing to the level that existed back when it birthed you.

If this is what you do, do it. If this is no longer for you, don't.

But we way past the point of might or maybe, will or won't.

It really could all be so simple even tho we'd rather make it hard.

The world's gonna keep spinning, Father Time is the only one who always stays winning and will continue to do without us & them, me or you.

Might as well quit holdin out & just let it do what it do.