The American Spectator

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"Not so many musicians seem to understand this and that's where the idea everybody has of the poor musician comes from," he continued. "Well, I don't want to be poor."

Try to imagine such a sentiment coming from any one of the hundreds of thousands of spoiled middle class American arts students. It would be a rare find indeed. For those inclined to see that as the triumph of capitalistic avarice over some lost ideal, it is actually more a pragmatic map to independence.

"I am not rich today, but I am on my way to making sure I can make my way with music," he said. "That is what's important to me. I never take anything for granted. At my performances, I give something to people and they give something back to me. It's called synergy. That is what I'm searching for."

"There is more freedom in this economy than the one I grew up under," Novikov added. "But the system does not provide success. It provides the conditions for success or failure. In the end I make my own success the best I can within those conditions. That is all I am trying to do."

Shawn Macomber is a Boston-based freelance writer. He runs the website www.returnoftheprimitive.com.

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