It’s been a bizarre 48 hours to say the least. This whole after show signing fiasco has gotten entirely out of hand. In fact, I don’t think I have ever received more email in such a short period of time about a single subject in my entire career.

Every aspect of the subject has been broached, from the suggestion that musicians need to embrace a new business model and perhaps think about performing for free, to those that feel massively misrepresented by the complaints of a minority. They’re right, of course, as the majority of the emails that I’ve received regarding the subject have been from fans rather outraged at those that have been overtly negative.

I went on a bit of a political/comedic tirade last night during the show. At its conclusion I humourously berated myself declaring that I should just shut up and sing. The exclamation was followed by significant applause to which I replied – “If I could fit enough quarters in my ass I’d be a jukebox”. It would seem my unabashed arrogance knows no bounds.

Tonight we’re in Parry Sound, where I have never performed before – and if I have it was such a long time ago that I don’t remember it. In the audience tonight will be a young man that has travelled here from Ireland to see two shows. Like others that complained after the London show, many of whom had seen me numerous times before – not to mention had already had pictures taken with me and various things signed, he too waited in hopes of a brief encounter. But unlike the various emails that I received berating me for not appearing after the show, his email to me yesterday was not negative. In fact, it was utterly courteous and complimentary. This is not someone who lives in a city in which I have played routinely for the last 15 years, after which I have spent considerable time meeting with fans. This is someone that has left school for a week to come over here to see me perform and is travelling by bus from show to show. So tonight I’ll meet him. I’ll invite him on the bus and offer him a drink and return in kind the respect that he has shown me. Because that’s how life works. Respect isn’t earned through the purchase of a ticket or an album. Maybe in the case of the Jonas Brothers it is, but not as far as I’m concerned. I’ve worked shit jobs before and I could very well end up working a shit job again. But I’ll be damned if I ever allow something as disgusting as the belief in consumer entitlement to ever force me, or my family, to feel fear because of the prospect of the loss of my musical career. I’d not let something so ridiculous ever become such a factor in my life as to alter who I am.

This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been to the puppet show and seen the strings. I’ve seen the lofty heights on this business and the ugliness that saturates it, I’ve seen its trenches and the pandering that takes place in them, and through it all I have somehow been able to retain the ability to be unlike the majority of my contemporaries – someone who has no qualms saying something no matter how ‘dangerous’ it might be perceived within the context of the business itself. Whether you like or dislike my music, the truth is that it is inseparable from that position. There is, unfortunately, no disregarding one in favour of the other. Personally, I truly believe that is one of the biggest mistakes that many people make when it comes to artists. The perception that they are too afraid to risk speaking their minds, even with regards to their own fans, in fear of what might happen. In the end, such trepidation is not the mark of an artist.

Someone that was very close to me when I was young imparted the following before their passing that I have never forgotten. To this day their words remain fixed in my mind, as if cemented to my heart…

“There is no shame in being who you are. There’s only shame in not going down swinging to protect it”.