OurStage Blog

Go to Profile

CARTIERX's blog

Genuine Fans are Far Better than So-called 'Friends"

Beloved, this is a wakeup call. There is a reason OurStage provides Fan Contest Banners to put on other sites to build your Fan Base and bring others to OurStage.com. Unfortunately few music websites want other folks banners on their pages. Hence, we have a dilemma. Stop missing the opportunities right beneath your nose. It is difficult to be my friend if you don’t like my music. However, I can love your music without ever knowing you.

So… if you’ve found your way to my profile & this blog.. I welcome you to take a little stroll around exploring my heart, mind & soul music.. Thank you for reaching out to me, hopefully as Fans, obliging me to reciprocate. I love the process because I discover such beautiful music & gifted wonders of spirit. While I am honored to become your friend what we as Artists here truly need are FANS. I just signed with Moiko Records and the first thing any Industry Pro or venue wants to know is how large is your Fan Base? What Record Labels look for are large FAN Clubs & great reviews. I’ve noticed since the T-Pain Challenge there are far too many (selfish) young brotherz soliciting votes with empty hands, showing no respect on our Public spaces reserved for Reviews. You’ve got to take the time to give Love in order to get it back.

But be careful what you ask for because I won’t lie. I do not appreciate Country Rock, Acoustic, Pop, Hip Hop Rap in the R&B Channel. Nor extreme non-melodious noise pollution, nor extreme profanity nor glorified gangsta mentality nor the degradation of women & people that work honestly for a living. I’m no prude. I am just a weary professional Social Worker and loving Earth Mother tired of the oppressed human condition. I guess you need to ask yourself “Who & How many do I want to really Listen & HEAR my message?

Think about it. If you rarely use profanity to drive home your point more people will listen and your message will be more effective. Use your prolific voices to make a positive difference & be Blessed! I want my kidz to overcome not wallow in squalor & counter productive self destructive behavior. But you all should support each other despite the overwhelming competition & outrageous number of entries per appropriate channels. Spend some time voting in other channels. Broaden your perspectives. Plz check out my new entry in Spoken Word “Rich Man’s Nightmare”. We are not so much different. We just have different ways of doing things. I am too old to make a fool of myself by going backwards. However, you youngsters can effectively & proudly step up and grow forward.

As you can tell, I support far more Artists than support me. I also buy a lot of OurStage Artists music & CD’s. I fight for the rights of all artists on this site. So I’m not just posting this to gain more Fans for myself but to encourage each of you to employ a little diplomacy & practice “FAMILY” protocal on ANY fellow Artists site that you solicit for support. Try channeling your Friendship Requests to Fan Club mailing lists. Then send only inspiring, enlightening or important msgs. Most of us get far too much email as it is.

Light recognizes Right & Love is born. I only settle for being phony Friends if I don’t like/respect your music. Otherwise, I take the time to visit your profile READ while listening to your music. I search for the beauty & meaning in your work. If I like it then I fav it and proceed to join your Fan Club. Then pray you will feel the same about mine. Then when I vote I know who & why I rank you at the Top. If you can spread the Word.. Let the Young Guns know that here on OurStage as in Heaven… “When praises go up… Blessings come down”. More importantly than getting there is HOW you got there. Be Blessed,

Much Love & Respect, Preferring to be Your Genuine Friend & Fan, CARTIERX

Nov 12 at 9:12 AM EST • 0 comments • permalink • email

Soul Singers Assert Yourselves!!!

Beloved… Artists & Fans of every genre, I am asking you to help PREVENT the complete EXTINCTION of what is today called “Old School” Black Soul Singers & REAL R&B Music. It is said that OurStage.com is indicative of the Pulse of the Music Industry. Hence, I am asking you to join our Campaign for Change! Please write to OurStage.com Suggestions to request additional new Channels for 1> African Music and 2> Old School Soul & 3> Neo-Soul Music. This genre is immensely neglected, not only on OurStage but in the Music Industry in general. Yet everyone complains about Hip Hop & vulgar, violent Rap Music ruling the World Music Scene. How else are we going to change things if we don’t start promoting other choices???

I am not trying to do away with Rap or Hip Hop. They’ve earned their right to exist & flourish. I would simply like to see the re-emergence of opportunities for real Soul Singers to be heard and their music promoted. Let the record buying Public decide! Give us more choices!!! Let Artists have more opportunities to swim against the tide of the Hip Hop Culture and dare to be different & wholesome. Not all Blacks grow up in ghetto streets surrounded by the drug & gangster culture. And even if we do, not all want to sing about it or glorify Jerry Springer Show types of behavior & culture. We’re sick to death of watching our young people die or their futures ruined before they’ve had a chance to really live! So why not use Music as a practical instrument for Positive Change??? And let those of with the most to lose or gain actively participate in the process instead of silencing our soulful voices!!!

Why should aging Black artists be limited to singing Gospel, Blues or Jazz???? Whatever happened to the variety shows that featured real R&B singers & groups. If banned from MTV & BET then we need to create our own alternatives. If we put in on the air waves they will watch it!!! Trust me. I’d rather hear kids singing subtle & respectfully about forming lasting relationships than just Fking and having a bunch of “Baby’s Daddys”, meanwhile they are forced to sell drugs or live on welfare because they can’t even spell employment or fill out a job application for a position that pays enough to even leave their babies at a decent daycare center. It is not just the music that I reject but the culture that it reflects. We need significant CHANGE! Black kids & poor kids growing up in jacked up communities need to know that they have other choices. They need to realize that just because you go to school to actually get an education and learn how to spell and read and write and speak proper English and other languages that you are NOT trying to act WHITE or be more than you have a RIGHT TO BE.

Our children need to comprehend the fact that studying History & the Sciences helps us to understand how things work so that we can make things better. Plz don’t hate me for daring to speak TRUTH. Instead, plz help me to make a difference. We didn’t create this mess in a day. But we can start trying to clean it up by starting right here at OurStage.com to use our voices to make a small difference right here where we fellowship & compete to be heard.

I am not asking for much. Just more opportunities for a dying Genre of Music to rise from the ashes to once again inspire generations to LOVE instead of Fk. So plz join me in asking OurStage.com to find sponsors for a few more Black Music Channels.

Below is a msg I left on a Country Artist page. It is what inspired me to write this blog. Country & Rock Artists defend their Genres fiercely. Yet, they have the freedom to expand & crossover into whatever channel or genre they desire. Black Artists do not have the same opportunities. Few of us will ever be accepted in the Pop genre not to mention Country or Rock. So its time that we assert ourselves and get it together. Hip Hop & Traditional Rhythm & Blues can peacefully co-exist if we each have our own appropriate channels. The Bible says that “We have not because we ask not.” So I’m asking. May we all be Blessed, Crystal CARTIERX

Beloved… I love your Country Rap tune. I think its cute! It is funny but true. I Love Country Music & have written a few country songs. But, I know from sad experience that while country singers often crossover into Pop, Rock, Blues, even R&B & Jazz, it is darn near impossible for Blacks or any other genre to perpetrate or successfully penetrate the country music channels. If they try they better be singing country! LOL Same for Hip Hop. There are so many of them that they dare not let any other genre in. Yet the poor dears are trying to find a channel not so densely populated where they can stand out & maybe get ahead. They even get kicked out of Spoken Word. LOL But they dominate so many others including R&B. Hence, there is no place for Old School R&B artists. So you guys may start seeing more of us seeking a break in Country even though it is also so crowded that you’ve been given several new channels.. If so, I hope you’ll give us a fair break or help us complain to mgmt to give Africans and Black Soul Singers a few appropo new channels of our own. I guarantee they’ll fill up quicker than Israel & Germany. (smile) Otherwise, real old school Black Soul Music is going to become absolutely extinct & Hip Hop, Rock & Country will continue to rule the world!!! LOL Much Love & Respect, 4-Ever Your Fan, CC

Oct 27 at 8:53 AM EDT • 1 comment • permalink • email

Distant Stars Go Dim

Distant Stars Written by Crystal Cartier

The loss of Sir Duke Isaac Hayes has torn my heart asunder and inspired my grieving spirit to ponder … How do we let our aging legendary stars know that we still still love them despite their absence from the Commercial Spotlights? What Becomes of the Brokenhearted… now jaded, dis-illusioned & discarded when their youth, beauty, energy, money, glamour & glitz of well financed public adulation diminish… & there is too little left to show (& too much the public will never know)... How about the glorious goals that you sought, the battles you’ve fought, the bitterness that you’ve taught, the millions you’ve wrought, the lessons that you’ve bought & bought you?... the sacrifices made, the heavy dues that you’ve paid… how many times you’ve been betrayed??? The hell you’ve lived thru just so everybody would know your name??? What happens when the lights go dim & the curtain falls? When influential friends no longer return your calls? How are they now paying the rent? What happens when your voice is silenced and your blessings spent?

Old School Fans pray that our favorite Starz hopefully got out before their souls were completely lost or before paying the ultimate cost of filling an early grave. May they live long & prosper in peace of the spirit, heart & mind. Aging & dead Stars live on & continue to shine in the hearts of genuine fans 4-Ever & all time.

But, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted that Never Made It? Those that watched Potential drowning but couldn’t save it? What happens when they finally realize that their rising star has detoured & been diverted, subverted, & sank one time too many before securing Times of Plenty? Hence, the brass ring was missed & now they’re pissed that the tail of the Super Star Comet Prosperity seems to have passed you by. Worse, you no longer have the youth & energy to compete in the A List bound Rat Race. Here we sit with egg on cracked face. Dreams of fame & fortune have been shainghai’d Lofty goals now reside in the defeated realms of Should Have Been’s & Could Have Been’s & Always Wanted to Be’s, the Dear God Why Nots? & It Shoulda Been Me’s!!!??? Sadly, I know… I’ve buried a few. We’re gonna go there… someday soon before I’m thru.

But that is another story. Let’s give God (or some say Lucifer) the glory and talk about those that were blessed or cursed to make the climb, to Make It… to fly then fall, to sprint then stall, to win then lose, to race & then cruise. Please know that… while you may have faded from Hollywood’s A-List views memories of your brilliance live on in my heart in KodakColor hues and precious melodies that lend comfort to my spirits. Kudos Beloved!!! So many tried but you really did it!!! So often, I allude to the ways you did what you did and so artfully said what you had to say. Thanks for the dance, tears, smile, scene, score or song that ever so often still pops up to inspire me along No your living has not been in vain You’ve spread Joy and given voice to our pain Your gifts have touched the lives of so many here. When God does call you Home I pray that you have nothing to fear. So if I never get to meet you I pray these sentiments will reach you And lend the comfort your spirits demand Thanks to your choices You gave us all voices Hence your Gifts live 4Ever in the hearts of your Fans. Thanks for the Memories!!! May God 4Ever hold you gently in the palm of His Hand. Keep On Shining wherever you are! True Lights that grow dim are just Distant Stars

Much Love & Respect Crystal Cartier

Sep 23 at 2:59 AM EDT • 0 comments • permalink • email

Room for us all at the Top on one plane or another...Choose wisely.

Fans/Friends/Peers plz bear w/me a moment that I might share a tiny fraction of what is in my heart tonight. I guess this is my blog. And while I can mention only a couple of you by name (OR i’D HAVE TO WRITE A BOOK & NO ONE WOULD HAVE TIME TO READ IT) plz know that I am also talking to YOU.

My Beloved Sister Cat… you are sooo very precious, gifted & giving. Whenever I think of you, I smile and feel inspired to press on being kind to even those that wish me harm because the Lord of Love lives in me… & thee.

I would think that any of us blessed by your Light will look forward to one day spending some time in your presence and working with you on so many levels. May God continue to bless your sweet nurturing spirit.

I say this to you & all that would listen/read & care that I am truly enjoying my collaboration with Mystery Bill on OurStage. He has truly been a blessing in my life since we hooked up last month. We’ve already recorded 4 new songs. But we are definitely a grassroots production team. LOL Plz come join us if so moved.

I have also found another exceptionally gifted, charming & multi-talented young composer/musician/producer on OurStage (Malik D)that deserves a break and deserves to be heard… and deserves an opportunity to shine around the world. I hate to name names because I do not want to overlook or insult any of my OTHER precious, gifted & genuinely kind & caring Fans/Friends/Peers/Lights… you know who YOU are and how I feel about YOU. I just have to say something about Brother Malik because ITS REALLY NOT ABOUT ME… ITS A TESTIMONY. 1> It had always been my dream to one day work with the late great Issaac Hayes but my hopes were forever dashed & my heart broken when he passed away. I think I own every record he’s ever made… & Lord knows they have been played… over & over again. But then I heard a tribute to him composed & produced by our noble brother Malik D and once again my heart knew joy. He is true blue & so very gifted. His music is absolutely enchanting. His tribute to Sir Issaac Hayes is so beautiful & well produced yet created in such a short space in time. Like Issac & Prince & some of you, he plays & does everything!!! and he does it well!!! More than that he is a true gentle man. A bit young & raw but (not in his music)& he is ever so kind. He has Heart. He is not cussin’ fussin’denigrating Life, women, any one or himself. He’s worked so hard to create awesome product & God knows I tried to help him to the Top 10 & No. 1 where he belongs but we failed him… OurStage failed him… at least for this month. (smile) But if you all get a chance to check him out plz do show him some much deserved Love & support.

I take great delight & find strength & inspiration in the unselfish efforts of the precious few Earth Mothers & Fathers (Earthbound Angels)among us. Too often, ours can seem a very thankless task/calling. But, God is Good! Reminding us periodically that even in this cold cruel world Love is yet Alive & well. Time is so precious & short for us all. Hence, how we SPEND our Time is important … as it makes us “who” we are.

I feel so Blessed. Not just because the new channel entry system here at OurStage has been improved enuf that even folks like me are getting an opportunity to be heard. Heck! A Black Man may even become our next President! Hallelujah! Thru God all things are possible! Ranking No.1, 2… or anywhere in the Top 10 or 20 is an honor & privilege in this fickle environment/industry. Unfortunately the competitive process of crawling up there is too often an ugly, ruthless anything but glamorous requirement in this Industry & Society in general… making monsters of us all. That’s why its so lonely at the Top yet dangerous at the bottom.

Despite the chaos, & hatred based on greed… I sense a powerful movement sweeping across the world & among artists to be kinder to one another and thus teach others by our example. We suffer for our art because we CARE about people & our art is an expression of that Passion… not because we’re only in it for the money. We desire to make a significant difference in the lives of those we love.. and we artists have a great capacity for loving a whole lotta folks. (smile)

So I don’t know about y’all but I am having a wonderful Life… for all its roller coaster ups & downs. On my first album I spent my youthful energy trying to be ME but commercial. Since then I have grown so much that my old material pales shallow in the Light of what I’ve since been blessed to write. But now, it seems too late & the opportunity to say something worth saying the way I really want to say it has passed me by. Still I rise… to the challenge. “Obsession”

OK I’ve said enuf. In the time it took me to write this I’ve probably plummeted back down to No. 10. But still I rise and pray… May God bless us all each day. Much Love & Respect, Your Fan & Friend, Crystal Cartier

Aug 30 at 2:30 AM EDT • 2 comments • permalink • email