Barrett Holds Down the Fort While Je-C & Jenn Exchange Vows, Head Off on a Honeymoon
Due to the fact that I will be getting married this weekend, I have decided to take a couple weeks off from the Planner. I want to say
I Love You to my wife-to-be,
JENNIFER LYNN LOVE KAIZEN. YOU ARE MY HEART, MY SOUL, MY LIFE, and I WOULD BE LOST WITHOUT YOU. YOU ARE MY SANITY IN THIS INSANE WORLD.
Also, I would like to wish my dad a Happy Father’s Day, I just hope he cancelled his golf this weekend so he can be at the wedding, ’cause I know, GOLF is life! I love you!!
ARTIST EMPOWERMENT IN THE NEW MUSIC INDUSTRY
By Barrett Yeretsian
Defining the Artist
"So what do you do?" asks a beautiful woman staring at a young man in an
L.A. bar.
"I'm a musician," he answers pulling his perfectly cropped bangs behind his ears.
"Cool—what kind of music do you play? Are you on the radio,
MTV? Does your music sound like any of the bands I would know?"
With a condescending air, he retorts, "I can't and won't define my art. Would anyone ask
Picasso whose paintings his paintings resembled? My music is too deep for radio and MTV. I'm a musician, an artist."
"Wow, how mysterious," she replies, as she inches closer with an intrigued twinkle in her eye.
We'll start our journey by defining the artist as the artist sees himself or herself, stripped of the mystery and without the trimmed bangs. Today we will go over the more obvious assumptions. The type of art we will be focusing on is music, so I will be using the words "artist" and "musician" interchangeably. The generic definition of an artist, "someone who does art" is correct but only in a one-dimensional way. It is of little use to us here for an artist's self-perception is often laden with a plethora of underlying assumptions, hopes, expectations and fears that this definition doesn't shed light on. Defining these psychological undercurrents reveals the most, helping us explain why most musicians don't achieve their goals and why their music is unheard, lost in the clutter of modern-day human life. Today we will define the obvious goals, and in the coming weeks we will explore an artist's more hidden, often buried assumptions.
Musicians who take their art and craft seriously generally have an overarching goal of sharing their music with others. With this goal of sharing comes an intense desire for acceptance. Some want to share their music with and be accepted by the world at large while others want acceptance from a limited, select group of people. The vampire Goth band that dresses in tight black velvet jumpsuits with Dracula fangs spewing fake blood all over the crowd as they sing the chorus "Let the Lord shed thy red tears upon us all" may have a goal of reaching like-minded Goth fans while the aspiring pop diva wants to reach every single household in the world. The goal is the same; it is merely a question of scale.
Another assumption I will take for granted is the fact that the serious musician wants to make a living doing music. Whether the goal is to make millions of dollars or to merely cover one's expenses, making money creating or performing music is definitely a shared goal among serious musicians. Again, it is only a question of scale. Musicians often fight with this reality and pretend that money isn't an important factor in their equation.
Yet another goal shared by many musicians is the perpetuation of the artist's mystique. Most musicians feel an insatiable need to remind the world that they are mysterious, creative artists and want to be identified as such. Though a stage persona is completely different than the reality of a functioning adult in society, more often than not, artists blur the distinction and try very hard to live and justify a full-time "rock star" life.
As we can see, even the most obvious assumptions and goals of an artist are in conflict. The desire to live a "rock star" life and the reality of making a living are polar opposites that sabotage the objective of sharing art. Without understanding how and why our goals, assumptions and self-perceptions are in conflict, we cannot take positive, proactive steps toward empowering ourselves. A proper balance has to be achieved in order for an artist to excel in today’s music industry.
Many of the deeper, more hidden characteristics I will be revealing in the coming weeks are related to and produce a similar kind of conflict. What intrigues me most is how many artists create self-imposed internal conflicts, as if life doesn't deal them enough conflict and hardship. Next week's column will be titled "The Victim and the Agent”—our first dive into deeper waters.
Barrett is currently producing several very talented artists, composing for film and television, performing with and writing songs for several of his own projects and teaching the drums at all levels. He welcomes and encourages any and all feedback relating to his column. You can email him at [email protected].
JE-C’S ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Here’s a recap of the bands I’ve featured so far:
Digital Summer: www.myspace.com/digitalsummer
Lennex: www.myspace.com/lennex
Captiol Risk: www.myspace.com/capitolrisk
Judge Jackson: www.myspace.com/judgejackson
Also, check out
Earl Greyhound, who just a played a sold out show at
Bowery Ballroom and has all of New York Buzzin’.
http://www.earlgreyhound.com/