a true genius. who can be said to be/have been a true genius? who is more of a genius, VanGogh or Einstein? given the close line between madness and genius, can it be said that the two are linked? are all geniuses, to a degree, mad? if so, then is the madness a result of the genius's depth of intellect, or is the intellect a result of the ability to look maddeningly deep into the mind?
why are artists generally the outcasts of their time, yet masters of the future? do they have an insight into the future that the average being lacks, or is it just a coincidence that starving artists only gain fame postmortem?
what allows some people to create and others to appreciate? why are most members of society completely out of the loop? is creation simply a product of the ability to be completely honest with the self?
take music, for example: why can some people understand why Hendrix was so amazing, yet others only like him because it is cool to like him, as if he is baseball card or brand-name? one person might hear one of his songs for the first and only time, and be so moved and touched by it, but not know it to be a popular song, yet other people can own a copy of every Hendrix song ever recorded for the sake of having an extensive collection, but never listen to the songs, and never feel the soul-altering melancholy in each guitar solo?
will every generation listen to and love nirvana? or will they eventually fade out? what truth is there in "smells like teen spirit" that touches whole generations. young children who cant understand the lyrics, have never seen the video, and have no idea what a mullato is, but still feel the frustration and energy of the music?
how can people study art their entire lives, and never make anything worth notice, but others can pick up a paintbrush for the first time and create a masterpiece? does everyone have the potential to create, or is it an innate ability that some select, lucky people are born with, and that some may never realize.
are people born with a talent lucky? is it actually a pain? does art come from pain and profound sadness? can art come from happines without being contrite and forced?
where is the line between technical ability and soul? and how do i cross it?
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, November 14, 2008
hello, blog
I'll skip the excuses for being a poor blogger and just get right to business....
1. The United States just elected its first black president, and I feel that I should at least say something about it, so bear with me:
I will not say who I voted for or what I believe, in an attempt to avoid random angry comments from people. I will say, however, that for the first time in a long while, I have hope. I am so tired of hearing how horrible our government is, and hearing that things need to change, and I am just happy to finally hear that change is coming. Even bad change is change, and anything that changes has a chance to make something better. I wish The future President all the best, and I hope that he may be numbered among the great in our History.
2. I have a job. after what seems like ages of joblessness and searching and interviewing, I have landed the perfect job as a Graphic Designer. I am so excited to have finally reached the point in life where I will no longer have to wait on tables or hold temporary jobs just to make money for gas. This job comes with an arsenal of fantastic benefits and perks, and I could not be happier.
3. Troy bought me a flickr pro account today. randomly. So that means that I have something to keep me occupied until I start my new job, and I will be scanning in my moleskine paintings. I also no longer have to delete pictures just to add more. so keep an eye out for flickr updates.
4. Troy and I have been re-thinking the marriage thing. I mean, the marriage is still on, its just the Wedding that is up in the air. There is alot to consider, but I think that, once we make the big decisions (venue, food, day) things will be fun, and much more easy. and, FYI, i do not want to hear wedding horror stories. I wont say that mine will be different, because I know it wont, but I refuse to allow fear to run my wedding.
Now, if I could just afford the dress I want. Believe it or not, it is part of the Disney's Princess collection. It is beautiful, but I am afraid of the price tag.
5. We have begun working on our future home. Its a complicated narrative, so I'll save it for a later day.
6. I have finished my first moleskine book. I'm addicted, and I'm glad. The motivation and creative outlet is good for me.
7. Maryland might get its first snow flurries this weekend. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm not really ready for it.
8. "If All Goes Wrong" just came out, and of course Troy bought it that day. If you are a Smashing Pumpkins fan, or just a fan of music and the artistic struggle behind good music, you should see the interview with Pete Townshend and the documentary. Genius. BIlly Corgan always has a way of taking my own personal beliefs and putting them into words.
9. The Pour House closed down. The Pour House is a local coffee shop in my town, and, while it was always packed with obnoxious teens and the prices were pretty high, it was still a local business beloved by the community. I spent the better part of my highschool and early college years there, and now I cannot believe it is gone. I have been going less and less in the past few years, but it felt good to know that the place would be there if ever I needed it. NOt to mention, now, that is one less local business. some person's savings and dreams, devoured by the economy. As much as I love starbucks coffee, I would rather see the local starbcks shut its doors, at least starbucks has a chance to come back. a local business, however, cannot just bounce back, it sucks up every resourse the owner has, and then thats it. I try my best to patronize local business as often as possible because they have more integrity and sincerity toward customers than a giant corporate chain. But, alas, the pour house is no more.
10. Gas is currently 1.97 in my home town. How crazy is that? I do not even know what else to say about it. lets just leave it at this: I hope it stays that way.
11. finally, a word about football: HURRAY RAVENS. lets just keep moving forward and I'll be happy.
thats it for now. good day to you, my random reader.
1. The United States just elected its first black president, and I feel that I should at least say something about it, so bear with me:
I will not say who I voted for or what I believe, in an attempt to avoid random angry comments from people. I will say, however, that for the first time in a long while, I have hope. I am so tired of hearing how horrible our government is, and hearing that things need to change, and I am just happy to finally hear that change is coming. Even bad change is change, and anything that changes has a chance to make something better. I wish The future President all the best, and I hope that he may be numbered among the great in our History.
2. I have a job. after what seems like ages of joblessness and searching and interviewing, I have landed the perfect job as a Graphic Designer. I am so excited to have finally reached the point in life where I will no longer have to wait on tables or hold temporary jobs just to make money for gas. This job comes with an arsenal of fantastic benefits and perks, and I could not be happier.
3. Troy bought me a flickr pro account today. randomly. So that means that I have something to keep me occupied until I start my new job, and I will be scanning in my moleskine paintings. I also no longer have to delete pictures just to add more. so keep an eye out for flickr updates.
4. Troy and I have been re-thinking the marriage thing. I mean, the marriage is still on, its just the Wedding that is up in the air. There is alot to consider, but I think that, once we make the big decisions (venue, food, day) things will be fun, and much more easy. and, FYI, i do not want to hear wedding horror stories. I wont say that mine will be different, because I know it wont, but I refuse to allow fear to run my wedding.
Now, if I could just afford the dress I want. Believe it or not, it is part of the Disney's Princess collection. It is beautiful, but I am afraid of the price tag.
5. We have begun working on our future home. Its a complicated narrative, so I'll save it for a later day.
6. I have finished my first moleskine book. I'm addicted, and I'm glad. The motivation and creative outlet is good for me.
7. Maryland might get its first snow flurries this weekend. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm not really ready for it.
8. "If All Goes Wrong" just came out, and of course Troy bought it that day. If you are a Smashing Pumpkins fan, or just a fan of music and the artistic struggle behind good music, you should see the interview with Pete Townshend and the documentary. Genius. BIlly Corgan always has a way of taking my own personal beliefs and putting them into words.
9. The Pour House closed down. The Pour House is a local coffee shop in my town, and, while it was always packed with obnoxious teens and the prices were pretty high, it was still a local business beloved by the community. I spent the better part of my highschool and early college years there, and now I cannot believe it is gone. I have been going less and less in the past few years, but it felt good to know that the place would be there if ever I needed it. NOt to mention, now, that is one less local business. some person's savings and dreams, devoured by the economy. As much as I love starbucks coffee, I would rather see the local starbcks shut its doors, at least starbucks has a chance to come back. a local business, however, cannot just bounce back, it sucks up every resourse the owner has, and then thats it. I try my best to patronize local business as often as possible because they have more integrity and sincerity toward customers than a giant corporate chain. But, alas, the pour house is no more.
10. Gas is currently 1.97 in my home town. How crazy is that? I do not even know what else to say about it. lets just leave it at this: I hope it stays that way.
11. finally, a word about football: HURRAY RAVENS. lets just keep moving forward and I'll be happy.
thats it for now. good day to you, my random reader.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My Chemical Obsession with something i know nothing about.
I used to think my father and mother were stupid because they were out of the popular music loop. My mother didn’t know about Metallica, and my father had never heard of Staind. Later, neither of them could stand the sound of Avenged Sevenfold or Converge. These bands were important to me. Everyone else knew who they were and how awesome they were and how important they were to the grand scheme of…I don’t know…life?
I had never stopped to think that maybe they were uninterested in my music because the music fromt their generation was 50 times better. I wouldn’t realize that until my 20’s when I developed a healthy love for Jefferson Airplane.
In the mean time I felt superior. I would argue in favor of my favorite bands, and I knew how amazing Nirvana was and how bad off the world was now that Cobain was dead. I knew all the names of all the important bands, and if I didn’t know about them, they must not be worth my time.
I watch so many kids go through this. My brother has finally gotten out of it, and is harkening back to the days before he was thought of, by obsessing over bands full of dead or really old people. He knows whats what because he knows that Freddie Mercury was the front man of Queen. He collects vinyl records and hangs them on his wall, and wont let my sister listen to them on her record player (a luxury that he neither has nor wants) because she “doesn’t even know anything about them.” Coincidentally, he tells my dad the same thing. My dad who probably, as a young adult, went through the same routine of knowing everything about every band on my brother’s wall.
Why is it so important for people to feel an affinity with the bands that they know about? Why do kids go through the cult phase of feeling superior to other people because of their style of music. A kid that listens to heavy metal feels superior to the kid that listens to rap because the rap kid has never heard of this Metal band or that singer.
Everyone knows that ____insert name____ is the best drummer to ever live. Who cares what rolling stone says: they don’t know what they’re talking about. (like saying that the Ford Focus is the greatest car ever made…regardless of what Car and Driver or even the Kelly Blue Book says)
Those of us who are lucky fall out of this phase like a kid falling off of a swing…with just a scraped knee and no psychological damage.
Some of us realize that music is as diverse as the colors in one of those really big Crayola boxes. Red isn’t just red, but a whole host of hues and shades that look like red.
After years of teenager hood, my need to impress friends with my CD collection ended a few years ago. Now, I take pride in knowing as few bands and songs on the radio as possible. The music I like is rather obscure and strange. I like it that way. I run a very small risk of finding someone who has heard of the bands I like, or of someone gushing over them and making me list my favorite songs or exchanging “I heard they…” stories.
I try to convert people to my music if and only if I think they would fully appreciate the music. I tell people about bands because I love them, not because everyone should know about them. I recognize that the majority of the country would not enjoy my music.
If they did, I wouldn’t like it anymore.
Bands I LOVE that many people have never heard of:
1. Animal Collective
2. (and consequently) Panda Bear
3. Sigur Ros
4. Devandra Banhart
5. Do Make Say Think
6. Islands
7. Mum
8. Storsveit Nix Noltes
9. Squirrel Nut Zippers
10. Air
11. The Album Leaf
These are all bands that I listen to regularly. Yes, I have Troy to thank for introducing me to them, but they have become my bands: what makes a bad day better, my inspiration, my companion through the grueling semesters, my relaxation time. I love them, and I don’t care if anyone else does. As a matter of fact, If you are one of those hateful “I like bands because other people like bands and I’ll probably ruin good music for you” kind of people, I’d rather you just go back to your Nsync and My Chemical Romance.
I had never stopped to think that maybe they were uninterested in my music because the music fromt their generation was 50 times better. I wouldn’t realize that until my 20’s when I developed a healthy love for Jefferson Airplane.
In the mean time I felt superior. I would argue in favor of my favorite bands, and I knew how amazing Nirvana was and how bad off the world was now that Cobain was dead. I knew all the names of all the important bands, and if I didn’t know about them, they must not be worth my time.
I watch so many kids go through this. My brother has finally gotten out of it, and is harkening back to the days before he was thought of, by obsessing over bands full of dead or really old people. He knows whats what because he knows that Freddie Mercury was the front man of Queen. He collects vinyl records and hangs them on his wall, and wont let my sister listen to them on her record player (a luxury that he neither has nor wants) because she “doesn’t even know anything about them.” Coincidentally, he tells my dad the same thing. My dad who probably, as a young adult, went through the same routine of knowing everything about every band on my brother’s wall.
Why is it so important for people to feel an affinity with the bands that they know about? Why do kids go through the cult phase of feeling superior to other people because of their style of music. A kid that listens to heavy metal feels superior to the kid that listens to rap because the rap kid has never heard of this Metal band or that singer.
Everyone knows that ____insert name____ is the best drummer to ever live. Who cares what rolling stone says: they don’t know what they’re talking about. (like saying that the Ford Focus is the greatest car ever made…regardless of what Car and Driver or even the Kelly Blue Book says)
Those of us who are lucky fall out of this phase like a kid falling off of a swing…with just a scraped knee and no psychological damage.
Some of us realize that music is as diverse as the colors in one of those really big Crayola boxes. Red isn’t just red, but a whole host of hues and shades that look like red.
After years of teenager hood, my need to impress friends with my CD collection ended a few years ago. Now, I take pride in knowing as few bands and songs on the radio as possible. The music I like is rather obscure and strange. I like it that way. I run a very small risk of finding someone who has heard of the bands I like, or of someone gushing over them and making me list my favorite songs or exchanging “I heard they…” stories.
I try to convert people to my music if and only if I think they would fully appreciate the music. I tell people about bands because I love them, not because everyone should know about them. I recognize that the majority of the country would not enjoy my music.
If they did, I wouldn’t like it anymore.
Bands I LOVE that many people have never heard of:
1. Animal Collective
2. (and consequently) Panda Bear
3. Sigur Ros
4. Devandra Banhart
5. Do Make Say Think
6. Islands
7. Mum
8. Storsveit Nix Noltes
9. Squirrel Nut Zippers
10. Air
11. The Album Leaf
These are all bands that I listen to regularly. Yes, I have Troy to thank for introducing me to them, but they have become my bands: what makes a bad day better, my inspiration, my companion through the grueling semesters, my relaxation time. I love them, and I don’t care if anyone else does. As a matter of fact, If you are one of those hateful “I like bands because other people like bands and I’ll probably ruin good music for you” kind of people, I’d rather you just go back to your Nsync and My Chemical Romance.
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