Subway Violinist: Part 2 (Not Really)

As a Musician, I feel Priviledged when a Listener listens to my music.

The following idea is from Livingston Taylor. It is my interpretation of my recollection of a lecture from his Stage Performance Techniques class at Berklee College of Music somewhere back in the Fall of 2006:

We each live in our own reality. The Listener very much suspends their reality for the time spent listening to our music.

I think that as artists we need to respect the rights of the Consumer to consumer our art as they damn well please. Respect the fact they are consuming it at all.

As a listener, when "Bad" music is happening, I usually leave.

Therefore as an Artist, even if my audience is not Captive, I still try my best to respect the fact they are Present. Even if they are talking. Laughing. LOUDLY. Drunkenly. Whatever.

Don't get me wrong, my Ideal Audience is not loudly conversing amongst themselves.

However, I don't think they are captively listening either. I think they are Dancing.

Subway Violinist

Musicians are uniting together, online, to share the tale of a violinist

whom a newspaper sets up in a subway station

and this cat plays fancy tunes on a fancy violin, to be ultimately ignored.

The same cat plays Carnegie Hall, or some such fancy theatre, maybe the very next day, and the show is a sellout and massive success. Or whatever.

If my summary seems quick, crass and careless, it is meant to be. This story is Bullshit.

Many musicians (in my small circle) have posted, reposted, commented tearfully, exclaimed their devastation, and basically swallowed this story whole. Hook, line & sinker.

This isn't a story about Art or Appreciation, it is a story about Time.

People in a fancy theatre have ALREADY ALLOTTED their time, for that specific event.

People in a subway are trying to get places, in a timely manner.

End of story.

Love, Hate and Apathy

I do not know who should be cited with one of my favorite quote-slash-ideas,

that Hate is not the opposite of Love,

that Apathy is.

Leo Buscaglia? Rollo May? Elie Wiesel?

I am not certain, however I am glad that my love for this quote allowed me to discover fascinating people, like Leo Buscaglia, Rollo May and Elie Wiesel.

It makes sense. Love takes a lot of passion & energy. Hate requires the same. Apathy is the true absence of that passion and energy.

Only you can prevent forest fires.

Thank Heaven

I like to joke that,

"When I die and go to hell..."

fill in the blank with something comically horrible.

For example, contemporary country music on an infinite loop whilst sitting in the dentist's chair for a teeth-cleaning that never ends...

The truth is, I don't like the idea of Heaven or Hell...

that we should be rewarded for being a Good Person, or punished for being Bad.

*also because Good or Bad are relative and therefore do not actually exist, although we will assume for just another moment that they do:

I don't need a reward to be a Good person. It feels good when you live and act Good and that's good enough for me.

I've done bad things but I'm not scared of any punishment after I'm dead. Why? Because I'll be dead.

In that case, why not do Bad things all the time?

Because that feels bad. And I prefer to feel good.

Forever 27

I'm turning 27 this year. The idea of the '27 Club' fascinated me for a long time. Even if it wasn't a phenomenon, and just a coincidence, it caught my attention for years.

Off the top of my head: Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Amy...

And then I read a blurb from one of my new favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman. Seven lousy sentences that blew my mind, destroying the whole concept...

*It is worth noting that the following blurb was within an article about the Football Hall of Fame... that the bastard/genius seems to simply stumble across the concept, spit it out, and then tie it in and return to his original argument...

"Amy Winehouse died after making just two albums, which is bad news for Amy Winehouse and all the people who love her music (and for music is general). But she died at the age of 27, which is a meaningful detail to anyone who decided to set up a posthumous Google alert for the word "Winehouse." People will never stop talking about the handful of musicians who died at age 27, and she will forever be part of that class. Otis Redding died at 26 and Bradley Nowell died at 28, so they won't be mentioned the next time some bozo writes a story about "The Curse of 27." Yet Winehouse will appear in those paragraphs. For this reason, we will be continually reminded of Amy Winehouse's death far more often than the death of Jeff Buckley or Bob Marley or Shannon Hoon, and that will tangentially promote the post-life profile of Back to Black. Had she hung on another three months, this would not be the case. And that's fucked up, but it's what happens whenever media becomes the overwhelming force in a society. Cultural memory is now dictated by identifiable news pegs."

Youth Vote

I often wonder why "young people"

(under 30, abbreviated YP henceforth)

do not vote?

According to pictures and charts I found briefly searching The Internet,

the percentage of YP voting since 1976 has been as low as 40% (in 1996 and 2000)

and no higher than 50% (1976, 1980 & 1984, then back again 2004 & 2008)

What I remembered to be a HUGE youth presence in the 08 Obama campaign turned out a 5-6% increase from 2004.

Which seems "sorta" Huge to me,

however...

I wonder what % of YP are registered on Facebook. I'm willing to wager it's more than 50%. We're interested in the well being of Society, just on a more personal, gossipy, high school level.

***

My friends & mentors knitting at the bar once told me that if I didn't vote then my opinion didn't really matter in any political discussions. They recommended submitting a blank ballot as the Proper Way of expressing your disinterest in the system.

Please Vote this year Young People. Even if you hate everything, submit a blank ballot.

Reality Programming

Our recent trip reminded me,

there is a wonderful reality program on Every night,

never a repeat,

and although formulaic,

always ends uniquely,

in a tragic & sad way,

which ultimately turns inspiring & insightful.

The main character is fiery & passionate,

otherworldly in a sense.

I could not remember the last time I sat down to watch an entire Sunset before this,

but we did many times in California,

from our magnificent perch in the Palisades.