Quote Originally Posted by mistercarter2u View Post
I saw Mary back in May, and at her merchandise table, all she had to offer were small, standard trade paperbacks of "Dreamgirl" and "homemade" copies of her live "Up Close" CD. By that, I mean, the discs were in plain white sleeves ... not the case or packaging in which the disc first came. She also had some photos to sell.

I did not understand this. She sold 25 or 30 copies of the CD and a few copies of the book, and I know some of the folks who bought it already had it... they just wanted to buy something for her to autograph. I thought "Wow! Why on earth hasn't Mary issued her CLARITY of LIFE'S BEEN GOOD TO ME material?" Even if she self-manufactured it, as she did the live CD, she'd have something "new" to offer. MAKES NO SENSE TO ME WHATSOEVER!!!
Those facts speak for themselves. This isn't 1964, 1970, nor even 1977 or later. The fact she still performs is remarkable and these artists have to make do the best they can.

Simply stated, it is so obvious that there is not money around for all the frills. These days you have to tour to make any money and you have to have the ability to draw a decent sized crowd. For heritage artists, especially ones that really don't have hits of their own to draw on, it's not easy.