The Creative Gypsies

Creative people are notorious for their gypsy natures...staying for only so long before they depart and move on. Perhaps it's because they need to experience the new and exciting, seeking an elusive rapture. Maybe it's because of a secret need to be understood, and a knowing that this is perhaps not possible, creating a type of "running-away" to miss the enevitable misunderstanding and failure.

Creative minds are often fragile ones, but it's this hyper-sensitivity which enables them to express the subtlties of life's experiences. They are the observers of the small and seemingly insignificant as much as they are the voice of the communitiy. They shed light on the hidden worlds of our innermost thoughts, as much as represent the changes in movement of a people.

If you are lucky enough to be born an artist, there is little you can do to fight the urge, to win the inner battle with the self, or to resist the need to express. These things are often what makes things pour out of you...like a sealed vessel which needs to crack to release it's contents. Artists have never before had such opportunities to connect with other artists and share their souls. Sites such as Redbubble provide playgrounds for artists to find communities and a likemindedness, to share their works and their aspirations and to connect.

So much we can be thankful for.

System Meltown

my first real recordings were made on an old Teac 4-track reel-to-reel. Yep, they be those actual spinning reels with 1/4 inch tape. Ha! That was how i learned the joy of small-studio recording, learning to bounce-down tracks, cue up exactly using the play heads, and create effects using some rather cool workings of the room i was in.

Now, in the midst of an almost 2 week computer meltdown, i am beginning to look fondly back on that time. Sure, i didn't really know what i was doing, but it was simple in my head...create a pleasing sound, then press record and do it again. No fancy mics or effects racks, no software or buses or khz, mhz or gigbtz. press go. take care of tape. now or never.

i love being able to do more now. I love the time saving...when it doesn't shift into time-wasting, that is. Technology can make things so much easier, aswell as so much harder. Gone are the days...those were the days...

Now hurry up and load, you great big heap of.....

Winter's Creative Spirit

As the cold air in the morning struggles to warm itself in it's sunshine bathe, i feel myself slide into a familiar, and somewhat retrospective mindset. Autumn is like that. Time seems to slow, and so does everything around me.

Where i live there is no snow. Our's is a mild winter by many standards, but the change of the season is as if someone is playing with your mind more than obvious changes. Sure, trees become leaf-barren, and the mercury drops, but the most obvious change to me is the sinking feeling that creeps up, until you suddenly become aware that you're in it.

I wrote a poem called "Winter Solstice". That best describes the creative shift that i feel coming into this season.

Still, a few more weeks before i am kissed by her.

Creative Tension

...that's what my friend Clare calls it. I'm refering to the stalling tactics i use on myself to avoid doing the very thing i love doing most of all...writing music.

I can go for weeks doing everything BUT working on my music. There's plenty of distractions...and i tell myself i know what i SHOULD be doing. But i don't go there. I keep promising myself i will, but can always find the perfect avoidance tactic at the perfect moment.

Apparently i'm not alone. It's something that a lot of creative people i know experience. It's an angel-on-the-shoulder experience for some, knowing full well that you would be far more productive getting that project out of your head and started already!

"You need creative tension to release the beast", says Clare. maybe she's right. It's gets to the point where it becomes almost unbearable, and i finally give in. THEN, the rapture! The momentum! Everything just pours out, and i envelop myself in it's bliss. It seems to come from everywhere all at one, and magically spills out of me.

"Maybe if you didn't experience it, you wouldn't have such powerful outpourings," says Clare. Maybe she's right.

So for now, i will just explore it's possibilities. Easy to say that when it's pouring out of you. But i have written this to remind me, and anyone else who needs reminding, that maybe she's right. Maybe it's a good thing after all.