a message from steven: ” must say that I’m a little confused these days with the whole push to make Blondie successful…I can’t help but think that we are after a kind of success for Blondie that the band is no longer interested in…I think they may be on to a different stage of their careers at this point where it really is more about the music, the art and getting out there and playing live. Blondie as band and Chris and Deborah in particular have consistently made decisions that go against the grain and from a marketing standpoint would seem to hurt sales. So I have to conclude that ultimately sales are not that important to them.” this makes me a little crazy for numerous reasons… it really strikes home, its the same stuff im always conflicted about… questions of personal happiness, obligations to others, money versus commerce, if its important to reach more people in the first place… steven does get the fact that blondie going “against the grain” is a big part of its appeal but its certainly not any effort to “hurt sales”… if i had enough money to lets say produce a full blown film project or get a record label going… the problem is of course the way ‘the system’ is today, just the concept of ‘marketing’ in regards to art is a really miserable state of affairs that i wish i didnt have to deal with… i dont think that competition has any place in art, the idea of holding up and comparing the expressions of two people just feels wrong to me, but we are in this period of lists and american idol competitive clone mentality and this is all just producing art that is less and less individual… so indeed i am often torn about the struggle involved with having commercial success (i think the nature of this success has changed so dramatically over the last 30-40 years)… but i think its important for us to stress our individuality and im committed to keep on working in the system at the same time trying to change it… so actually yes i would love to have a “hit record” but at the same time i might be more appreciative of our fan support and loyal followers what else… we have some tv spots coming up… hopefully the record will do ok here in the states… things are picking up