Saturday, July 07, 2007
7/7/07
A fortuitous day, numbers-wise, seven being considered so lucky and all, although I'm not quite sure why. I do know that there were lots of weddings planned for today. I figured it was so that couples could easily remember their wedding day. That's the only reason I'd ever plan a wedding for this day anyway.
It was also Live Earth day. We've been half-watching the concert most of the day, really concentrating when someone interesting to us comes on. It doesn't seem to have much of the flavor of other cause concerts, perhaps because they're not raising any money, but I think it goes deeper than that. Maybe people are burned out by all these mass concerts and they just don't have the effect they once had. Not too many fire-and-brimstone preachers among the performers either. In my opinion, the only one who captured the essence of the cause was Melissa Etheridge. When that woman spoke, I really wanted to do something.
Al Gore came on directly after Melissa and quickly ran down the Live Earth pledge. I'm not holding out any hope that Kanye West is going to live up to that pledge. Something about that Gold Digger song might just be affecting my judgment, though.
Madonna performed in London, looking quite matronly in her black dress with all the British school children singing with her dressed in their school uniforms. During her performance of Ray of Light, she played the electric guitar in an uncomfortable fashion. It's obvious that she hasn't had that much practice with the instrument, although her action in the matter is understandable. From what I've heard, she likes to have total control over her performances and is a stickler for perfection. She has a personality that will insist that she try the guitar.
We saw Duran Duran this morning, playing from London. Very good form, that group. They played a couple of oldies - from my day oldies - Planet Earth and Girls on Film. I was surprised to see Simon LeBon chewing gum. In fact, there were a few other singers that were also chewing gum. Does this help keep the mouth moist?
Kelly Clarkson did a great set. She seems so natural and down-to-earth, as did her back-up singers. Solid performance.
Two great little surprises were Blue Man Group, with their funny earth-is-an-airplane-on-a-collision-course video, and Nanatuk, the group of scientists on Antarctica who got together to play specifically for Live Earth. They did a great job, although we wondered if they pre-taped their session. There were no cords leading from their instruments to any power source that we could see. They played outside, so doing a non-plugged-in version is understandable (unless they buried their cords under the snow?).
The band I was waiting for was Dave Matthews Band. They played One Sweet World, Don't Drink the Water (one of my personal favorites) and Too Much. Quite fitting, actually. We were all a little worried about Dave's voice on Don't Drink the Water, at the point where he does this scream-yell. My daughter said, "Get that man a cough drop." That, or a piece of gum. Really, it was that serious. I'm not sure how any of these singers get up night after night to perform without getting permanent laryngitis. I do three school tours in a row at work and I'm frogging up like mad. I have every confidence that the Dave Matthews Band, along with Melissa Etheridge, will live up to the Live Earth pledge, as they are already doing so to a great extent. Dave even said something along the lines of hoping that everyone would walk home from the concert. Nice touch.
It remains to be seen how all this shakes out. But, hey, it's 7/7/07. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?
Correction (7/8/07): Well, then . . . it seems I've spelled the Antarctic group's name wrong. According to a Reuters article, it's Nunatak. Whoops. Sorry.
It was also Live Earth day. We've been half-watching the concert most of the day, really concentrating when someone interesting to us comes on. It doesn't seem to have much of the flavor of other cause concerts, perhaps because they're not raising any money, but I think it goes deeper than that. Maybe people are burned out by all these mass concerts and they just don't have the effect they once had. Not too many fire-and-brimstone preachers among the performers either. In my opinion, the only one who captured the essence of the cause was Melissa Etheridge. When that woman spoke, I really wanted to do something.
Al Gore came on directly after Melissa and quickly ran down the Live Earth pledge. I'm not holding out any hope that Kanye West is going to live up to that pledge. Something about that Gold Digger song might just be affecting my judgment, though.
Madonna performed in London, looking quite matronly in her black dress with all the British school children singing with her dressed in their school uniforms. During her performance of Ray of Light, she played the electric guitar in an uncomfortable fashion. It's obvious that she hasn't had that much practice with the instrument, although her action in the matter is understandable. From what I've heard, she likes to have total control over her performances and is a stickler for perfection. She has a personality that will insist that she try the guitar.
We saw Duran Duran this morning, playing from London. Very good form, that group. They played a couple of oldies - from my day oldies - Planet Earth and Girls on Film. I was surprised to see Simon LeBon chewing gum. In fact, there were a few other singers that were also chewing gum. Does this help keep the mouth moist?
Kelly Clarkson did a great set. She seems so natural and down-to-earth, as did her back-up singers. Solid performance.
Two great little surprises were Blue Man Group, with their funny earth-is-an-airplane-on-a-collision-course video, and Nanatuk, the group of scientists on Antarctica who got together to play specifically for Live Earth. They did a great job, although we wondered if they pre-taped their session. There were no cords leading from their instruments to any power source that we could see. They played outside, so doing a non-plugged-in version is understandable (unless they buried their cords under the snow?).
The band I was waiting for was Dave Matthews Band. They played One Sweet World, Don't Drink the Water (one of my personal favorites) and Too Much. Quite fitting, actually. We were all a little worried about Dave's voice on Don't Drink the Water, at the point where he does this scream-yell. My daughter said, "Get that man a cough drop." That, or a piece of gum. Really, it was that serious. I'm not sure how any of these singers get up night after night to perform without getting permanent laryngitis. I do three school tours in a row at work and I'm frogging up like mad. I have every confidence that the Dave Matthews Band, along with Melissa Etheridge, will live up to the Live Earth pledge, as they are already doing so to a great extent. Dave even said something along the lines of hoping that everyone would walk home from the concert. Nice touch.
It remains to be seen how all this shakes out. But, hey, it's 7/7/07. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?
Correction (7/8/07): Well, then . . . it seems I've spelled the Antarctic group's name wrong. According to a Reuters article, it's Nunatak. Whoops. Sorry.
Labels: al gore, blue man group, dave matthews band, duran duran, global warming, guitar, kanye west, kelly clarkson, live earth, luck, madonna, melissa etheridge, music, nunatak, wedding
Friday, April 20, 2007
Inspiration
Something dawned on me recently that quite surprised me. Before I get to that, I'd like to talk about inspiration. As an artist and writer, I take inspiration from many, many things. Science, the woo-woo mysteries of life, birds, flowers, children, historical events, small human behaviors, technology, the interesting juxtaposition of words and the sounds of words, and, of course, the creations of others, be they books, art, movies and music. I'm never sure how all of these things will come together, or what the result will be. My latest realization came to me while listening to a U2 CD. As I was listening, the music translated into images in my mind. This has happened before with U2 music. It has also happened with the music of Duran Duran and Ultravox. The result is that I'm inspired to create visual art with the songs of U2 et. al. The surprise about this is that I've been listening to the music of Dave Matthews Band a lot these past couple of years and it makes me want to write stories. It wasn't until I re-listened to U2 that I saw the difference. U2's music doesn't have the story-writing effect on me, not in the least. U2 inspires visual art, DMB inspires literary art. I don't know why this is, but there it is.
So, now, what inspires you to fits of creativity? Feel free to be more specific than I was. (Science, sheesh! That about covers everything, doesn't it?)
So, now, what inspires you to fits of creativity? Feel free to be more specific than I was. (Science, sheesh! That about covers everything, doesn't it?)
Labels: album art, children, creativity, dave matthews band, duran duran, inspiration, music, rocket science, technology, u2, ultravox, writing
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Squidoo & Dave Matthews Band
He talked me into it, that Seth Godin. He recently posted about Squidoo and how the site had reached 50,000 lenses. Sounds like gibberish, I know, but I'll try to explain. Squidoo is a site on which "lensmasters" can build "lenses" around their favorite topics. You know how Google brings back a gazillion results, many of which have poor content or aren't quite what you're looking for? Squidoo is a response to that. In essence, anyone who signs up for Squidoo can be a lensmaster and build a webpage around any sort of topic they know something about. The closest I can come to describing this is that Squidoo pages, or lenses, are like annotated bibliographies - or webliographies, if you prefer. Because someone has taken the time to sift through all the dross, Squidoo's lenses are supposed to make finding relevant information easier.
After seeing Seth's post, in which he urged people to go to the site and build a lens, I surfed on over and looked around. Out of curiosity, I searched for lenses on a few topics - Duran Duran, tea, Neil Gaiman, writers - all had lenses (more than one). Then, I tried searching for Dave Matthews Band. There was no lens! For shame! How could this band have missed out? I decided to fix that, even though I'm no real expert on the band, and I built a Dave Matthews Band lens today. It's a lot longer than I expected and I'm not quite done with it, but at least the band is represented on Squidoo.
After seeing Seth's post, in which he urged people to go to the site and build a lens, I surfed on over and looked around. Out of curiosity, I searched for lenses on a few topics - Duran Duran, tea, Neil Gaiman, writers - all had lenses (more than one). Then, I tried searching for Dave Matthews Band. There was no lens! For shame! How could this band have missed out? I decided to fix that, even though I'm no real expert on the band, and I built a Dave Matthews Band lens today. It's a lot longer than I expected and I'm not quite done with it, but at least the band is represented on Squidoo.
Labels: dave matthews band, dmb, duran duran, neil gaiman, seth godin, squidoo
Friday, November 10, 2006
Kids These Days
I'm going to sound like a grousey old person for a moment.
My youngest son came to me the other day - bored. Ho hum. He wants something interesting to do. He's tired of being entertained with the computer, the TV, the video game consoles. This is a kid who's fascinated with all sorts of stuff - Japanese culture, Norse myths, Green Day, just to name a few, so it's rather odd to hear that he's bored. I told him he needs a hobby and started running through the things I used to do as a kid, back in the "good old days," when we didn't have so much electronic distraction. My electronic distractions were record & cassette players, radio & TV. I was a teenager when MTV came on the air. I listened to Duran Duran (Duran-squared for die-hard fans) and Ultravox incessently.
Even with this incessant listening, I had time to draw, read, learn embroidery (not very well--ripping up the instruction book didn't help), teach myself how to make a marionette, read, crochet, plot astrology charts, read, take part in afterschool theater, go bike riding, hang with friends, make and collect bookmarks, and read. I messed with making "old" paper using tea bags and coffee grounds in the upstairs shower. I even burned the edges to give the paper a more distressed look. Then I used a sheet to write a poem in my fanciest handwriting. (I still have blank sheets of this paper, plus the one with the poem, which is called "The Tree Stands Alone.")
It dawned on me as I was relaying the story about making paper to my son that maybe he doesn't have enough hands-on, physical hobbies. There's something very satisfying about interacting with items in a physical way. How many kids these days, through their constant interaction with electronica, are missing this? How many will figure out that this is a fabulous solution for that doppy-headed feeling electronica induces? It's about balance.
I imagine that adults used to say that "kids these days" phrase about me and my cohorts when we were kids, so I'm sure kids these days will figure things out in their own time. But, we adults needn't be lax, either. We should be doing our part to introduce our children to a variety of activities - whatever it is we think they might be missing. I, for one, will be showing my son that old paper. I've also discovered an old calligraphy pen and some ink that he might like to experiment with. Maybe he can make that leather-bound book he so desires to have and overcome that boredom.
My youngest son came to me the other day - bored. Ho hum. He wants something interesting to do. He's tired of being entertained with the computer, the TV, the video game consoles. This is a kid who's fascinated with all sorts of stuff - Japanese culture, Norse myths, Green Day, just to name a few, so it's rather odd to hear that he's bored. I told him he needs a hobby and started running through the things I used to do as a kid, back in the "good old days," when we didn't have so much electronic distraction. My electronic distractions were record & cassette players, radio & TV. I was a teenager when MTV came on the air. I listened to Duran Duran (Duran-squared for die-hard fans) and Ultravox incessently.
Even with this incessant listening, I had time to draw, read, learn embroidery (not very well--ripping up the instruction book didn't help), teach myself how to make a marionette, read, crochet, plot astrology charts, read, take part in afterschool theater, go bike riding, hang with friends, make and collect bookmarks, and read. I messed with making "old" paper using tea bags and coffee grounds in the upstairs shower. I even burned the edges to give the paper a more distressed look. Then I used a sheet to write a poem in my fanciest handwriting. (I still have blank sheets of this paper, plus the one with the poem, which is called "The Tree Stands Alone.")
It dawned on me as I was relaying the story about making paper to my son that maybe he doesn't have enough hands-on, physical hobbies. There's something very satisfying about interacting with items in a physical way. How many kids these days, through their constant interaction with electronica, are missing this? How many will figure out that this is a fabulous solution for that doppy-headed feeling electronica induces? It's about balance.
I imagine that adults used to say that "kids these days" phrase about me and my cohorts when we were kids, so I'm sure kids these days will figure things out in their own time. But, we adults needn't be lax, either. We should be doing our part to introduce our children to a variety of activities - whatever it is we think they might be missing. I, for one, will be showing my son that old paper. I've also discovered an old calligraphy pen and some ink that he might like to experiment with. Maybe he can make that leather-bound book he so desires to have and overcome that boredom.
Labels: astrology, boredom, duran duran, green day, hobbies, kids, poetry, ultravox
Friday, October 20, 2006
Playing Favorites
I feel compelled to explain the Seth Godin jag I've been on lately. Whenever I'm impressed with a writer, an artist, a band or musician, I tend to snarfle down whatever I can find by said creative person. I've not gone off my rocker or slipped into some obsessive ga-ga world that I can't get out of, although that's the way it might appear to those living outside my cranium. When my aesthetic has been tickled, I binge with delight until the intensity wears off. And, it WILL wear off. The length of the binge depends upon how much material the artiste has created and how varied that material is. In the past, I've binged on Duran Duran, Ultravox, Enya, Neil Gaiman, Carol Bly, Christopher Moore, U2, Peter Mayer, Queen, INXS, Matchbox 20, Conversations with God, self-help books, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, unsolved mysteries, Alfred Hitchcock short stories, quilting, beading, ABBA, homeopathy, Depeche Mode, Dave Matthews Band, Moby, marketing, feng shui, astrology . . . the list goes on (and I see that I've also binged on topics, as well as artistes). Once the intensity of my interest subsides, I fast, sometimes deliberately avoiding said artiste or topic for a time. It's at this time that my brain seems to be deciding what I'm going to incorporate into my quirky worldview, and what I'm going to discard as pure bunk or clutter. However, the fondness for past favorites never goes away. When I return to one of them, my thrill returns, but not in its original technicolor splash. Instead, a soft pearlescent affection overcomes me.
Seth, too, shall pass.
Seth, too, shall pass.
Labels: astrology, creativity, dmb, duran duran, moby, music, seth godin, ultravox
