Friday Feed
Some suggestions to satisfy your reading, viewing and listening appetite throughout the weekend…
STARVING ARTISTS | At the height of the economic downturn, as the mainstream media bandied about the word “crisis” more than Howard Stern drops the F-Bomb on his satellite radio channel, I couldn’t help but be both amused and disturbed by the coverage. Sure, the economy was in real trouble, but the fear-mongering—a seemingly maniacal desire to induce panic (echoed recently by its coverage of the swine flu)—struck me as, well, ridiculous. But I also found myself thinking, “Recession? Welcome to my world.” Throughout the last decade of my life, since I embarked on a career as a writer, the economy might as well have been in recession. My bank account, then and now, could attest to that. I knew I wasn’t alone in this thought. Countless other writers and artists of all kinds across the country, I assumed, could surely relate.
The rewards of life as an artist are more valuable than money.
While a minute percentage of artists become rich and famous, most toil in obscurity hoping to earn enough money, through their art or another job or some combination of both, to keep creating. Not that I’m complaining, and you won’t likely hear many artists grumble either (at least not to anyone other than themselves, close friends or spouses). See, most true artists don’t do want they do to make money. Though “some money would be nice,” as Jeff Bebe (the lead singer of the band in Almost Famous, played by Jason Lee) put it, we pursue our art not necessarily because we want to but because we have to. To paraphrase Bukowski: we do not choose it; it chooses us.
So when the New York Times’ ArtsBeat blog put out a call last month to artists, writers, actors, and musicians for their stories about the effects of the economy on their life and work, I had a feeling that my assumption—the economy of most artists is nearly always in recession (though obviously not the kind worthy of apocalyptic gloom-and-doom reportage)—would be confirmed.
Based largely on the responses submitted to and comments posted on ArtsBeat, an article by Robin Pogrebin on Tuesday begins: “Even in the best of times Sony Holland had to hustle.” Browsing the 200-plus comments originally posted on the “Attention, Artists!” entry (a fairly interesting forum of sorts), that sentiment formed the thesis for many who chimed in, like these example excerpts:
- ”Well, I must be honest…Things haven’t changed much. Reason being, the sacrifices that I’ve chosen to make over the years as an artist have always kept me in the lower rung of economic reward.”
- “Since I didn’t have any money in the first place I haven’t lost any money….In short, nothing has changed asides from what the media reports.”
- “I think that downturns like this may well weed out some individuals whose motives for making art might be weighed somewhat unevenly by financial/commercial considerations.”
Recession? Just another year as a member of the creative class.
That’s not to say many artists are especially struggling now, with funding for arts institutions decreasing, traditional media outlets disappearing, the buying of art declining, publishers scaling back their catalogues, “day jobs” becoming more difficult to find, and so on. While the past couple of years have been more difficult than normal, artists are perhaps more equipped than just about anyone else to handle and survive tough economic times. As Pogrebin highlights, many artists “were defiantly upbeat despite grim circumstances…testifying that the recession had strengthened their commitment to their work or allowed them to concentrate on their art—since the time spent on side jobs had diminished—or had even been a source of creative inspiration.”
Another assessment that can be drawn from the responses to ArtsBeat, which wants artists to continue sharing their thoughts, stories and experiences: Starving artist, you are not alone.
But in the end, artists know how to deal with tough times; they have a bit of experience with poor economic conditions, after all—”recession” or not.
MOVIE MUSIC | In a recent issue of Empire magazine, Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Cameron Crowe shares his top ten list of great music moments in film. Crowe, a prolific teenage rock journalist in the 1970s whose filmmaking later in life has revealed a penchant and prowess for setting scenes to song, is the appropriate authority to consult on such a topic. For anyone who has ever jotted down, thought up or exchanged in conversation a top ten list of anything, there are a few inevitables: a) what makes the cut can, and most likely will, change on a daily basis; b) no two people’s lists are ever the same; and c) a top ten list typically balloons to at least twice the intended number in order to include ties and the oh-so-close honorable mentions.
Crowe acknowledges the first point in his brief introduction: “The first thing to remember about any top ten list is that it is not to be trusted. A top ten list is almost invariably subject to the whims of the day.” The comments posted by readers proves the second, and his top ten list, of course, is more like a top 30 list. His selections are great (particularly, to my mind, “Jump Into The Fire” in Goodfellas, “Falling Slowly” in Once, “Rise” in Into the Wild, along with many others, but I don’t want to give away all his picks) but, as with any such list, stimulate debate. Some of those notable film scenes set to and enhanced by music that failed to make Crowe’s list—well, there are plenty, according to the comments: “The End” in Apocalypse Now, “Mad World” in Donnie Darko, Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” in Platoon, “Just Dropped In” and “Hotel California” in The Big Lebowski, and many more.
The most egregious omission from his list, a result of too much modesty on the part of Crowe, is the “Tiny Dancer” tour bus scene in Almost Famous. Not only should this scene be on the list, it should be number one on the list. In a movie chock full of great scenes—enough to comprise the greatest-music-moments-in-film list all by itself—the “Tiny Dancer” scene is remarkable on so many levels. First, I love the way in which Crowe makes it seem like, for the first several lines of the song, that we (the audience) are the only ones hearing the tune. Second, it reinforces one of the themes of the movie—the power of music—as a simple song uplifts a band at rock bottom. Third, the song choice, coupled with the members of the band and entourage singing along, could not have been any better. And the exchange between William Miller (Patrick Fugit) and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) adds another rich layer of meaning and emotion. As Crowe said in his introduction:
A great movie doesn’t need music to exist, and a wonderful song is already a perfect movie in your imagination. But sometimes the marriage works, and the result is an explosion, a memorable body rush that enhances both and rocks your soul along the way.
The “Tiny Dancer” scene from Almost Famous, along with many others from Crowe’s remarkable masterpiece, certainly meets that criteria. It belongs, without doubt, on this list—and any other list involving greatest scenes in cinema history.
P.S.—Almost Famous is based on Crowe’s experiences as young rock journalist during the 1970s; read his Rolling Stone cover stories, along with his work for other periodicals, that eventually led to the creation of his “love letter to music,” as he called the movie during his Academy Award acceptance speech.
AUDIO/VIDEO TECHNOLOGY | Check out “In Bb 2.0″—a novel, hypnotic audio/video collage put together by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, who solicited and collected dozens of YouTube videos from people singing or playing an instrument in B flat major. Then he selected and arranged 19 of them on a single Web page to be played simultaneously, or in various combinations, at equal or varying volume levels, forming an sonic wonder that works in every instance, almost magically, to produce an atmospheric, entrancing and strangely seductive high-tech pseudo-symphony.
