Dear Lily:

I understand that soon you will be 40, the number of days Jesus remained on the mountain, the number of years Moses wandered in the desert, and the number of glazed donuts I've had since the New Year. So this is an important time in your life, and you should not lose sight of it.

Now Elliot has asked me to discuss your complicated relationships with your clients. Let me say first, that I don't have an agent. Perhaps this is why I am being evicted from my apartment on Venice Beach. In any case, I am inexperienced in this area.

But my guess is that your task foremost is to get financially rewarding work for your clients. I imagine this should relieve any difficulties in their temperaments. However, procuring rewarding opportunities can be problematic, particularly when the artist is only marginally talented.

And so, when facing an inept yet temperamental artist, I would simply turn the argument on its head and blame him or her for your failure to find rewarding employment. In fact, I would express my contempt and rage at the individual for wasting my time, standing in the way of my success, undermining my credibility and, if necessary, as a last resort (and I am not referring to a tropical retreat in the Caribbean) threaten physical reprisal.

But that's just me.

Regards to Elliot and Happy birthday Lily!

Joe Frank

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