tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post2878985512769596339..comments2023-10-21T07:14:37.880-07:00Comments on Jazz: The Music of Unemployment: Your pork is my baconAndrew Durkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-10072702910082186282009-02-09T13:54:00.000-08:002009-02-09T13:54:00.000-08:00thanks -- and maybe apropos to this, NuVoid posted...thanks -- and maybe apropos to this, NuVoid posted <A HREF="http://nuvoid.blogspot.com/2009/02/anthony-braxton-interview.html" REL="nofollow">this Braxton interview video</A> where he addresses that very need for external validation, and concludes that he just couldn't wait for it (even though, as Max Roach had predicted, it did eventually come to him), but had it been what he needed to <I>'know'</I> he was on the right track, Anthony Braxton would have quit a long time ago.mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-79366385111287278452009-02-08T23:49:00.000-08:002009-02-08T23:49:00.000-08:00No worries, I getcha!I do think that even the most...No worries, I getcha!<BR/><BR/>I do think that even the most self-assured, internally-driven, doing-it-because-it-has-to-be-done sort of artist has an underlying psychic need for some kind of external "validation" -- especially in music, which after all is one of the more social art forms. Yes, I think, deep down, even Milton Babbitt wanted his audience. And we know how labor-intensive and exhausting it is to get one of <I>those</I> -- not to mention getting a living wage that allows you to make the music in the first place. So to have the possibility of government funding (which is another kind of audience) dangled in front of you and then yanked away -- I get why that would sting. I have felt that sting! (Which is not to suggest that it's <I>only</I> the artist's ego at work here... I think most artists are genuinely interested in the survival of the arts as a whole, just as much as they are in their own careers...)<BR/><BR/>But yeah, in a time of many bad things, this development is not necessarily the worst thing. I think the educational cuts and failure to fully invest in green tech are probably gonna hurt more, for instance. And, as you say, the money swirls around. Ideally. As a bandleader on a mission, I'd much rather fight against cultural ignorance (which is a battle I think I can win) than against audience poverty (which is a battle I know I can't).Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-81436716589829691362009-02-08T21:24:00.000-08:002009-02-08T21:24:00.000-08:00btw ... re: "But c'mon: spending is spending. And ...btw ... re: <I>"But c'mon: spending is spending. And it's always stimulative somehow."</I> I just wanted to tell you that I've wanted to shout that at all the players out there moaning no-fair on the no-arts clause of the deal.<BR/><BR/>But I don't because, well, would it do any good? Still, it's true. I live in a land where most every 'working' (sic) artist lines up for dole in the form of some grant or another, if not directly then indirectly through the festival and venue grants used to hire them, and while sure I've claimed my share of the prize too, <I>I don't sit at home on Saturday night waiting for the Canada Council to call me</I> -- why can't these folks just do what they do for the sake of doing it, because it has to be done, because it is vital and urgent to their own sanity and survival to be doing it, and if it so happens to strike a chord with others who want them to keep doing it, then <I>that's fine too</I>, but it's not the point.<BR/><BR/>I mean, <I>what would Sun Ra do?</I> Sit waiting for The Man to give him recognition, or continue spreading joy everywhere? Coltrane played in halls where there wasn't electricity because, truth be known, <I>the 'hall' was a closed condemned building that HAD no electricity to turn on</I> -- the whole East Village scene was only seen because <I>nobody</I> had any money and living there in 1962 was the cheapest place in America. Did lack of Daddy Warbucks funding stop Sun Ra? Did it stop Coltrane, or Albert Ayler or Charles Mingus?<BR/><BR/>Yeah I don't like them giving money to the auto-makers when there's already a total madness in car-buying, or to the computer makers when there's already total madness in this computing orgy, and sure I'd <I>love</I> if they even only just gave the money to essential arts infrastructure like Archive.org or the schools, <I>but they didn't</I> and so there's not much use crying, life goes on, music goes on, and as you very rightly said, the money injected into the economy swirls around, <I>that's the whole point</I> and maybe it doesn't really matter so much <I>where</I> it got injected just so long as it didn't sit there in the Treasury (or the Treasury's Imagination) doing nothing.<BR/><BR/>A local chinese restaurant asked me for advice. They thought the economy being bad was affecting their business, they'd planned to lower their prices, they were going to do a campaign on it. I said sure, but just keep it upbeat, and call it their own Economic Stimulus Package -- if those who do get the breaks see their responsibility to spread the joy, if everyone plays together, how could it <I>not</I> succeed?<BR/><BR/>Sorry. Had to get that off my chest :)mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-34444623847233741882009-02-06T19:56:00.000-08:002009-02-06T19:56:00.000-08:00Call me crazy, but I think that was awesome.Call me crazy, but I think that was awesome.Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-76714362780142161712009-02-06T19:12:00.000-08:002009-02-06T19:12:00.000-08:00Bacon, eh? Your wish is my command ... sorry.Bacon, eh? Your wish is <A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/b8pq4a" REL="nofollow">my command</A> ... sorry.mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.com