Five Thoughts

I
Social media is eating my soul. I’ve decided to take a break. Well rather I’ve decided to disappear and see if anyone notices… thus far it seems no one has. Oh well.

II
I have an unfortunate tendency towards attaching myself to anyone who is nice and takes an interest in anything I do. I’m lonely, I confess. And it can be gratifying (and ego-building) when someone provides you with that much attention. But it also smacks of settling and desperation. There is a profound difference between finding comfort in whatever shows up and actively seeking out that which you desire. I just need a little more faith that I can achieve the latter.

III
I’ve been reading this great book lately by Les Edgerton, Finding Your Voice: How To Put Personality In Your Writing. It is refreshingly frank and I’ll probably write more about it on another site shortly. He writes about the importance of finding your voice rather than giving into the temptation to emulate other (more celebrated) authors. He talks about the inferiorty complex many unpublished authors have and the God-like status attributed to literary heroes by teachers and other authority figures. He writes about experts and rules; and this is the part that has captured my imagination. He suggests you try doing this or that – unless it isn’t you, then do your own thing. He tells you to “be yourself.” Though the thing people are always reluctant to admit is that nobody can tell you how to be yourself. Some things will work for you and some just won’t. As in all areas of life it all comes down to experimentation. Our ‘expert culture‘ has failed us again.

IV
I’ve never understood musical artists who play songs exactly as they sound on their albums. In my opinion a song is but a melody and a lyric. It can exist in infinite variations. Perhaps the best example of this notion is to take a look at jazz standards. Consider how differently the same song may be performed by an array of different artists. How differently Ella Fitzgerald’s Imagination is to Chet Baker’s. Or how little Dinah Washington’s Trouble In Mind resembles Nina Simone’s version. People criticise Madonna’s live performances, claiming that they barely recognise her classic pop tunes after they’ve been so wildly remixed and reinterpreted. But to me these new variations breathe new life into songs that have been bouncing around inside people’s heads for 20 years. That’s the power of the collaborative web too. People are going to see things in your work that you never saw, they’re going to superimpose and remix and juxtapose. There is a real art to this. Yet it is an art few people really understand just yet.

V
I’m updating my resume. And by “updating” I mean starting from scratch. I’ve never liked the formal nature of the resume and I’ve never really entertained it either. I want something that tells you something about me in a way that is refreshing and unique. If I send you this document I don’t want you to put it in the pile. I want you to take one look at it and go, “This is the guy!” Actually I don’t particularly care if I am “the guy” I just want to be memorable. I trust that you’ll know what you want in an applicant and be able to make that determination yourself. But I trust this document will showcase my talents and my genius.

Tagged as: music, resume, social media, Songs, Twitter, Voice