When I first met Dr. John Hipple, he was leading a last minute panel on mental health issues in the music business at SXSW '92. I remember scribbling down a few notes from his very lively talk on a 3 x 5 index card. ( I also remember a young A&R agent breaking down and crying, but that's another story altogether.) The thoughts contained on that little card, long since lost in a backstage dressing room of some god awful bar somewhere (probably Cohoes, NY) are what I personally attribute the reason I've been able to keep my band together for over a decade now, with at least a modicum of sanity and emotional stability.

In 1995 I asked John if he wouldn't mind coming up with a little 3 X 5 card for everyone to take with them, hoping it would prove as useful for them as it had for me. What follows is what he came up with:
 
 

• Make communication a priority. Take time to talk and establish goals: Who am I/are we? Where are we going? How are we getting there? When= a time frame?
• Plan/problem solve/debreif
• Be willing to compromise/negotiate/accomodate/compliment/ stroke.
• Sugar will get more than vinegar.
• Know who will have the final vote. A band is not always a democracy.
• Include "family," keep them informed.
• Be specific with suggestions.
• Confront the fear. Performance anxiety CAN be overcome.
• Recruit a good team: manager/lawyer/CPA
• Balance your life. Stress is caused by imbalance.
• Learn the business. Remember, music is an industry, not just an art form.
• Stay healthy.

• Gossip.
• Make decisions impulsively.
• Have to win every time.
• Name call. Label.
• Forget how or where you began. Never forget your roots.
• Overlook/neglect/mistreat the little guy. (He may be a "big" guy someday.)

Give up too soon.