On Rubbish
Hey how we doing out there today? Good? Summer just flying by like it always does? Hope you’re having some savory moments, those always seem to slow things down a little bit. We’re resting up here at home, licking our wounds some and fattening up for the biggest tour any of us have done (first international tour as well, thanks for the invite, Canada). Between the Summer tour coming up and the Fall tour to be announced soon, we’re looking at about three continuous months on the road. Lotta miles, lotta shows, lotta carbs. BUT, we’re really excited about it, and isn’t this artwork for our new tour poster just fabulous?:
It’s really cool that this is what we’re getting to do for a living, and after some years of effort we’re able to stay relatively busy at it… it’s never lost on us. Sure, hard work/lots of practice, tons of driving, yada yada yada, but it’s still an effing blessing. Not but a few days ago, I was attending Colonel Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade show out near Portland (pretty cool band this go ‘round- Sean Lennon, son of of John and Yoko just shredding guitars, and “tearin’ em’ a new one” as they say) and Les just stopped the right in the middle of a song, ambled to the mic and said with a drawl in that way only he can, “I’d, I’d just like to remind you that uhhh…I get paid to play bass for a living”. Pretty cool it ain’t lost on that guy either. Those savory moments really do slow down time.
A good pal of ours, and successful touring artist in his own right, recently summarized touring as “just making piles of garbage and sleeping next to them”. Not wrong. We’ve always kind of been a grisly lot, a motley crew by and large. The sleeping next to garbage thing may be more of a logistics problem than a spiritual or hygienic one. Since time immemorial, “artists” in general have tended to occupy a social strata somewhere between non-domesticated animal and village idiot. This lowly position would be especially cemented if one were to, God forbid, express oneself fully in a way that somehow winds up speaking truth to power. You might as well just start building your own guillotine at that point. I’m not complaining, I don’t want this to sound sad, sappy, or pessimistic, just trying to state stuff plainly with minimal judgement attached. Society by and large has never really known what to do with artists. We’re weird. We say and do weird shit. Like, all the time. Of course there have been some greats, that have achieved “success” in their lifetimes and who’s work was deemed accessible but still compelling enough to celebrate while they were still alive, and they weren’t too weird or “out there” to invite to some public social gathering. I say those are a rare breed. In fact, Wassily Kandinsky sort of alluded to the fact that the artist should really be shooting to make stuff that might be considered non-sensical and that contemporary society wouldn’t be ready for or even like at all. I think he was saying that those works were the ones most likely to stand the test of time. I don’t believe I or anyone I know save one or two people are on the Kandinsky level of genius or that in 200 years most people will know that any of us were ever here. To me, that just takes a ton of pressure off.
And anyway what’s the big deal? I mean, one could make the argument that plumbers are making a bigger impact on the humanity than artists (farmers are for sure). What we “do” doesn’t provide anything that satisfies Maslow’s hierarchy of needs per se, especially not physiological ones. We’re not building houses or growing food; but for me and I suspect for a lot of you, music and art is sustenance as much as any plate of grub. Somewhat related, I heard Rick Rubin talking recently on his excellent podcast Broken Record (required listening if ya ain’t already gone there) and he brought up a good point- nobody has done the study to see what happens to someone who spends their whole life without being exposed to music or art. Definitely not a study I’d want to be enrolled in. But still, it’s really hard to pin down exactly what artists “do” for humankind and what “rewarding” that looks like or should look like. Still, I know with 100% certainty that David Bowie had a bigger impact on my life than all of the burritos I’ve ever enjoyed, and I can’t rule out that I’d be alive at all had “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” never been made, so there ya go.
Another musician pal was recently kvetching to me about a certain “VIP” area at a certain music festival both of our bands were playing at. No musicians were allowed to hang in this VIP zone because that was designated for PEOPLE who had PAID to be there. Honestly, most of us musicians can’t be trusted if all-inclusive food or drinks are involved so I don’t blame the organizers but still it felt pretty hoity toity. My friend was flummoxed- ostensibly a “no musicians” zone at a music festival. I personally didn’t care at all but after some reflection it actually gave me some weird solace. It felt like the world was right side up, things as they’re supposed to be, and if things weren’t this way, it’d all be backward. I’d read somewhere that in ancient Egypt they’d bury people according to social strata. Pharaoh at the top, family below, politicians and military guard next, maybe next some merchants, below that farmers, maybe a beloved cat or two below all those folks, then way down there in the realm of dead peasants you’d prolly find some artists/artisans. Sleeping next to the garbage! An important lesson in not getting above one’s raisin’ or expecting too much. Bowie hob-nobbed with elites, was respected and beloved in his lifetime, and made compelling art in all facets. But I bet he still had to sleep next to his own garbage sometimes.
Anyway, it’s been good chatting with you, and as always…
Thank You for Being a Friend,
-NCD