Monday, August 06, 2007
Blame it on Art
I just listened to this week's This American Life podcast. The show was about art, struggling to be an artist, becoming famous for things other than what you planned.
I hung out with artists way too much when I was in college, and got to know painters and sculptors on a personal level, married a fine art photographer who moved on to government work, leaving the art world behind to concentrate on architectural preservation. I saw how the artists turned on her, belittling what she did, thinking she'd sold out for (heaven forbid) making a living.
It's an odd world even if you "make it" as a serious artist. There's jealousy and resentment when someone sells a piece, almost as if making a living doing your chosen vocation means that you've "sold out."
While listening I read SMB's Blog. For the uninitiated, SMB fronts a fantastic band in the RC called Abby SomeOne. Shawn is easily the most talented person I know, far and away the best songwriter. He's also a far more accomplished writer of prose than anyone you probably know.
ASO struggles despite their talent, despite how close they've come to making it at various times in the band's history. Shawn remains one of the most upbeat and positive people I've ever met despite it all. I've seen it very closely. I've seen people sing their praises, and yet some of those people would undoubtedly accuse them of "selling out" if, for example, one of their songs made it into something as banal as a daytime drama, you know, a soap opera.
In the same music scene, I played with Mike Reardon, another excellent songwriter. Mike recorded an excellent album of original material. It was generally acoustic with lush vocal harmonies and interesting instrumentation. Mike and I started playing together because I could handle most of the harmonies and I could mimic, for example, a flute, on the harmonica.
It was amazing to watch Mike work on arrangements, analyzing our weaknesses, knowing what two people could and couldn't do live, pushing that constantly, trying to bring his vision of his music to people in a live setting. Wanting people to hear his poignant and thought provoking lyrics as he intended.
Cut to one "Blind Orange" Julius (notably and quite capably accompanied by "Twelve String" Andy Welvrig) who, while trying to write a poignant and thought provoking song about how all of the advances that we've made as a society aren't necessarily a good thing, accidentally writes a song about a skanky former girlfriend. The same guy who writes a Christmas song about Martha Stewart, a song about masturbation, and a song about taking a date to Wall Drug. Generally my songs involve three or four chords, don't have any deep meaning and are, frankly, quite stupid.
So why did people even notice? I was surrounded by people more talented than myself at every turn, but, for some reason, people noticed my crap.
The one good thing, I guess, is that if I ever become famous for one of my crappy songs, I'll never be accused of "selling out." It's the same crap I always did, my thoughtful songs weren't pushed to the wayside when I realized that I could make people laugh. I never had any thoughtful songs.
Here's the deal, I've never considered myself a good songwriter. If you asked people in the RC music scene, when I was in it, to name good songwriters, the best I would have done was a mention of "oh yeah, and that guy who wrote that song about condoms." I'm fine with that, I don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Mike or SMB or Willy Grigg or any of the fine songwriters who I've met. I'm just a jokester.
Here's hoping artists, people who do what they do to the highest level get what they deserve, and don't get accused of selling out when they do so.
In Cheyenne BlogRing news, check out This Living Sh*t Will Kill Ya!!! (her censoring, not mine, I'd have used the word "shit"). Good stuff and updated regularly. She claims to have 3 readers, let's add to that total.
BOJ
I hung out with artists way too much when I was in college, and got to know painters and sculptors on a personal level, married a fine art photographer who moved on to government work, leaving the art world behind to concentrate on architectural preservation. I saw how the artists turned on her, belittling what she did, thinking she'd sold out for (heaven forbid) making a living.
It's an odd world even if you "make it" as a serious artist. There's jealousy and resentment when someone sells a piece, almost as if making a living doing your chosen vocation means that you've "sold out."
While listening I read SMB's Blog. For the uninitiated, SMB fronts a fantastic band in the RC called Abby SomeOne. Shawn is easily the most talented person I know, far and away the best songwriter. He's also a far more accomplished writer of prose than anyone you probably know.
ASO struggles despite their talent, despite how close they've come to making it at various times in the band's history. Shawn remains one of the most upbeat and positive people I've ever met despite it all. I've seen it very closely. I've seen people sing their praises, and yet some of those people would undoubtedly accuse them of "selling out" if, for example, one of their songs made it into something as banal as a daytime drama, you know, a soap opera.
In the same music scene, I played with Mike Reardon, another excellent songwriter. Mike recorded an excellent album of original material. It was generally acoustic with lush vocal harmonies and interesting instrumentation. Mike and I started playing together because I could handle most of the harmonies and I could mimic, for example, a flute, on the harmonica.
It was amazing to watch Mike work on arrangements, analyzing our weaknesses, knowing what two people could and couldn't do live, pushing that constantly, trying to bring his vision of his music to people in a live setting. Wanting people to hear his poignant and thought provoking lyrics as he intended.
Cut to one "Blind Orange" Julius (notably and quite capably accompanied by "Twelve String" Andy Welvrig) who, while trying to write a poignant and thought provoking song about how all of the advances that we've made as a society aren't necessarily a good thing, accidentally writes a song about a skanky former girlfriend. The same guy who writes a Christmas song about Martha Stewart, a song about masturbation, and a song about taking a date to Wall Drug. Generally my songs involve three or four chords, don't have any deep meaning and are, frankly, quite stupid.
So why did people even notice? I was surrounded by people more talented than myself at every turn, but, for some reason, people noticed my crap.
The one good thing, I guess, is that if I ever become famous for one of my crappy songs, I'll never be accused of "selling out." It's the same crap I always did, my thoughtful songs weren't pushed to the wayside when I realized that I could make people laugh. I never had any thoughtful songs.
Here's the deal, I've never considered myself a good songwriter. If you asked people in the RC music scene, when I was in it, to name good songwriters, the best I would have done was a mention of "oh yeah, and that guy who wrote that song about condoms." I'm fine with that, I don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Mike or SMB or Willy Grigg or any of the fine songwriters who I've met. I'm just a jokester.
Here's hoping artists, people who do what they do to the highest level get what they deserve, and don't get accused of selling out when they do so.
In Cheyenne BlogRing news, check out This Living Sh*t Will Kill Ya!!! (her censoring, not mine, I'd have used the word "shit"). Good stuff and updated regularly. She claims to have 3 readers, let's add to that total.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 11:28 AM 
