Proud to be an Amateur:

In a recent letter to me from one of our writers Otto he wrote:

You know the word “Amateur” has really lost its meaning over the years and has lost the luster of its original meaning. It comes from the Latin word Amore, which means “to love”. An amateur is someone who does something simply for the love of it. In today’s way of thinking, receiving payment moves you into a “higher” category- that of a “professional”. The reasoning is that if someone is willing to pay for your services, you must be really good. An Amateur, therefore is considered to have less skill or talent (bullshit). In that case I’d rather be an amateur anything than a professional.

Being in the music business and in this field, I have seen the word “Amateur” being tossed around, not truly knowing the meaning. After reading what Otto wrote, I realized it’s hard to find someone who is truly an Amateur, someone who loves there job (whether it be music, art, modeling, photography, writing or whatever) so much that they do it for that alone: LOVE. I can honestly say that I do what I do for the love of writing, for the love of music and for that alone. Can you say that? Do you consider someone less talented because they are not paid? If so, you’re reading the wrong magazine… The people we write about in this magazine are that indeed: Amateur. They are people who sing, rap, pose, draw, paint, write, etc… all for the love of it. All aspiring to make it big, but are currently Amateur, Unsigned, Undiscovered and BETTER than ½ the people classified as “professional”.

Bug: (Bùg) n.
1. an insect or spider
2. to annoy, bother, or disturb

In prison it has a slightly different meaning. A bug is someone who is mentally disturbed. I guess free world people would call it an individual who is insane, mad or for lack of a better word just plain crazy. There are all types of bugs: OCD, claustrophobic, retarded, psycho, etc… etc… the list can go on forever. They’re not hard to spot in the chain game, because they’re everywhere. Anyone who’s been confined in a box with no human contact for any amount of time naturally becomes one. So, I guess you could call me a bug, but don’t get it twisted, there’s all different levels of psychs. I would probably be classified as a level 1 out of 5 which makes me pretty normal. Now on the other side of the spectrum a level 5 would be someone who could not function in society unless heavily medicated. For example anyone who plays with there own feces & throws it at anybody in range, or talks to themselves would more than likely be a 5. Now that you know this you’ll probably spot a bug everywhere you go, unless of course you are the BUG!!!