National Tell An Artist You Love Them Day- Proposal
I came to the end of another disappointing year... I'm not fishing for pity here, just keeping it real.
I spent a lot of time wanting to know and discovered why it is I do this. It may even seem to be a selfish reason, but I make music because I feel alone. I discovered early on that when I make someone else, by my songs, feel LESS alone, I feel less alone. And I don't need an award, or my name plastered on a magazine, but I do need that part of the equation to show itself
During the holidays and over new years I noticed something I hadn't really thought about which will be quite obvious to others. Christmas is just all about music... it's just going 24 hours a day, Christmas music.. then so is New Years–bands performing on TV and then seeing that everyone went to a performance show and shook their booties till midnight, or had a songwriter bring them into a contemplative new year with their acoustic guitar. I even consume a lot of movies during the holiday season, and the one I watched last night got me thinking about the artist. I was watching one of my favorite movies, that no one seems to have heard of or interested (my circles at least) in watching, and I thought... I enjoy this so much, but the dude or dude'et that wrote it doesn't even know that I'm sitting here admiring their work.
I'm writing to the reader today proposing that you go, right now, and tell an artist how much you love their work, or them if you know them. Doesn't matter if their a big-ta-do or your neighborhood garage band that you love. Maybe even make a little fan page for them and send it to them. I'm going to do it with this article... and here's why I think it's a really good use of your time on this January 2nd of the new year.
when's the last time you hugged an artist–online
If you are a mad, insane, crazy artist (you are one of these if you're trying to do your original work for a full-time income) then you know some years, well MANY years, come to a disappointing end; even when you have accomplished some big things, like I have this last year, there is often a deflating feeling looking out on a new year, a new project, a new challenge. That deflation is the result of a realization of how much energy it took JUST to do what you did the year before, and the year before that; massive amounts of energy and how little it seemed to yield at times.
'How much longer can I keep this up!' – the artist asks herself this often. She looks out on the 'normal' world, and see's all the 'normal' things she has given up .. for what? The 'What,' will be determined in time, but what it can feel like that 'what' is, is a bunch of shit no one cares about. She may feel she is literally shaving years off her life, depriving her family of time and ipads and good insurance so that she can make this thing that's in her brain, which she doesn't even fully understand and most the world could give two hoots about.
The Artist life inherently Madding
It can be madding. Even for the 'Pro,' it's madding. If you ever wondered why the industry has all these awards they give (in all creative industries) I think it's so the artist doesn't go completely mad and rip their hair out and tell the world to go f^&k themselves ( .. oh wait they still do that ;).
The Walker
I can only really speak as a musician.. but I'd rather speak about a movie I watched last night and an Idea I had for a 'National Tell an artist you love them' holiday.
I was watching my favorite movie of late, called 'The Walker,' with Woody Harreison. I don't know why I love this movie so much, but I do. I actually put it on when I'm depressed. Something about the mood, the lighting, seeing Lauren Becall who I have been in love with since my youthful discovery of Bogart OR it could be the music that's used in the movie... I'm not sure. It's a story about a man trying to live up to, or live down his father's past glory, and I certainly have felt that.. my dad's a bad ass artist. But, whatever it is, it centers me, it makes me feel okay for a few hours. And, it's not the point to review a film :)
Isn't that what true art is? Something that we don't completely understand; being presented before us in a way we can explore the parts of us we don't understand. The parts of us we can't access alone, without the help of that song, or that movie or that poem.
[The Artist Shaman]
The Artist Shaman
like the ancient Shaman who would venture out in the astral spirit world and return with images and wisdom beyond our earthly awareness, things only he could know because he was the one willing to GO and to come back and share with those who can not go. Is that Shaman like the writer who toils in a dark room night after night, with nothing but lonelyness and isolation to shelter him as he goes deeper and deeper into realms of deeper and deeper insecurities for beauties and truths that he can only understand if he goes; if he is willing to get lost, even to lose; to lose a month, a year, to lose a chance at a career, a social life, a nice home, respect, or even love, to loose himself for god only knows what... a story... a song.. a painting a jam we shake our booty to on new years eve. It can seem so illogical at times.
The Artist dark Room
In the normal days, I am so grateful to be making my own original music and art all the way into my middle life that you can literally see a shine of a child-like infatuation on my face. I really do love it. I don't think I could keep on unless it was such an obsessive love affair. But, it is the kind of love affair, though, that sometimes hurts, sometimes leaves you feeling insecure, neglected or jelous. I can look at stats and see many wake up and stream my music, buy it, share it.. that's cool you can see that. But again, as a low-level indie artist, it's pretty rare that anyone just says, hey man.. "I listened to your song with my wife on the way to a date and it reminded us of how much we love each other." Okay, that's silly, but what I guess I'm trying to convey is that artist spend massive amounts of time in isloation.. .like really massive. They have brief explosions of some applause or accolades when their project is done (and sometimes they don't), there probably still in shell shock during that explosion from sitting in a dark room alone for 8 months and don't even hear anything.
Back To That Movie I enjoyed
When the credits rolled I thought to look for the writer's name.. I never even thought to look for it. He was also the director, Paul Schrader, and no fuc&'n wonder I love this movie, he' s had a hand in most the movies I love like 'Affliction' and 'City Hall', So sure.. like I said above he's been congratulated probably a thousand times by his industry and critics etc.. But the Shaman do not go into the Astro plane to get noticed by the national Shaman guild of America, no. I know from experience, though I do enjoy 'industry-level' acceptance (SOMETIMES) it really has so little to do with the reason I make music that it doesn't really hit my heart at all–doesn't compute.
Hit an artist in the heart
What hits my heart is when the people I do make the music for, tell me, in their own words, what the song or album means to them. It's always a bit awkward for both of us.. but that's just how expressing feelings are done. It gives me just a little more steam in my engine to get back in that lonely writer's studio and do it again.
I could care less if this writer is the toast of the town and I'm just ignorant about movie makers, I'm going to make sure I put it out there, that this one little artist really is moved by his work. That it touches something unknowable, that needs to be known from time to time. and I don't even know what that is haha. That's what I'm doing now with this article.
A Conffesion
I'm really inspired to write this because I woke up today in a mad dash to once again glue this very clumsy and volatile music life I've created back together for another go! Another day! .. another long year, another project, another album... etc..
I was feeling exhausted, especially after spending nearly the entire holidays alone in a studio. I was in a gloomy lonely mood... a mood I'm used to, but I don't like it. I sat down after lunch to mix a song and saw that a fan had created a fan group for me. They put pictures in it and got other fans involved. Maybe no big deal to some, but it really moved me. Moved me to tears in fact.
why I make art.. or maybe why WE make art
I forget why I make music sometimes. I get so lost in trying to make it in the world, not so much the music business, just in the world, that I lose touch with the whole reason for my music, and now for the whole reason for half of my life. It's hard to know why we make art, but I do know more nowadays... I spent a lot of time wanting to know and discovered why it is I do this. It may even seem to be a selfish reason, but I make music because I feel alone. I discovered early on that when I make someone else, by my songs, feel LESS alone, I feel less alone. And I don't need an award, or my name plastered on a magazine, but I do need that part of the equation to show itself from time to time and really over the many years of this life, all it has taken to get me through another year is something like this girl did, just spending a little time beyond a simple LIKE to say something like 'I feel less alone..' I can get a year out of that.
Tell an artist in a real way that you love Him/Her today.
I'm a musician, writer and artist out of Dallas Texas Ezra Vancil follow my steem @ezravan
Reading this post, I thought - yes, this is what a lot of my recent posts have been about - 60 years of music that has made me sing, dance, laugh or cry; sharing my favourite moments of some of the artists that left us last year; even my post about the movies that have made me cry the most is a tribute to the movie as much as it is laughing at myself. And I want people to read those posts and listen to the music because I hope it will affect them too.
Closer to home, on Steemit, there are so many wonderful artists of various types that I can't follow them all - as it is, I don't get through my whole feed every day. But 99% of the time an upvote from me means I have actually read the post. I might not comment every time, but hopefully I do enough that the writers, musicians, artists I follow know how much I enjoy their work.
I was tempted to name some of them here. but I'm bound to forget others and don't want anyone left out!
I hope you already know you're one of them.
That's awsome..and I see that you have done that often. I really think it just helps when we think to honor something that has brought something into your life. it's not wasted time. And it helps others to keep making more of that beauiful stuff that makes life worth living.
And I (we) get the added of pleasure of revisiting an old, beloved friend