Creativity is the act of not stopping yourself from creating
..was my thought as I woke up this morning. I haven’t been stopping myself lately, no siree. Random funbits –
I just added the lyrics to Bennie Got A Boat on the Bandcamp page. I had to type them out, because my original copy is long gone – perhaps eaten by seals or dolphins. In any case, there they are! Where lies the land to which the ship will go? We don’t know, Petunia.
Dears! I am locked out of Facebook. It’s amusing because I have tried to quit FB a number of times, and always returned to the well before very long because, well, a bunch of my friends and fam and fans and colleagues and cats and doggies are there, so.. Well I am glad I posted about my latest album there before being summarily banished by the F-Brainz. Oddly they didn’t say I did anything wrong, just that they can’t confirm my identity. So I’m going through their hoops to retrieve my profile there, and yet, at the same time, I don’t miss the “place” and life seems less hectic without it. Paradoxes pile on, these days, don’t they?
Hopefully more of my pals will subscribe to the Berkeley Cat Records mewsletter and podcats (sic and sic) and engage with me that way, oh, and Bluesky, I’m there too – seems there are some “signs of life” there, as my dad would say.
Trivia question! For my single It Is Now Safe To Turn Off Your Computer, I made a loop from part of the drum tracks on one of my ska songs! Which song was it? A hint: I sped the track up a bit. Another hint: The original tracks were recorded by Thomas White, founding drummer in The UpTones. One more hint: The original source track is on Poppin’ the Ska. “Now Safe To..” was a fun experiment, and I wasn’t at all sure how it would go, but I am pleased with the result. Unusual for me, it’s just drums and vocals – nothing else on the track. Spoken/rapped as such, yet when I sing a melody near the end, on these lines –
The lunatics have taken over Main Street
And we’re hiding in the asylum
Listen to the bells fall down from the tower
Corruption is just Tuesday now
As it ever was
– the implied chord changes seem very apparent to me, just from the single vocal and drum tones. It was tempting for a minute to add those chords on guitar or keyboard, but I rejected the notion. I really like the sound just raw like that. It matches the feeling of the text. So I mixed it as-is, it was a quickie! Gosh, one of the things I’ve learned in this journey of producing my own records is that knowing when to stop working on a thing, is crucial. Perfectionism can be a creativity-killer, and yet, one strives for excellence by one’s own standards, right? So one breathes in and out and tries to follow as a thing unfolds, and be aware of the moment. I’ve gotten better, at this, I’m happy to say. Taking chances, going for it, trying things I’m not sure of, to find out.. What if..? ..is part of the joy of life for me. Always was, but, safe to say I sometimes let things stop me more easily, in the past. My own doubts, or others’ opinions, or my perceptions or worries about what people might think.. These all can derail the creativity train. Mine’s been roaring along, lately, and it’s fun.
Wow, it’s December the 31st. I recorded Rabbitus Maximus on January the first of this year, and that was a packed 364 days and bears oh my, was it not? The amazing human story plays out, we’re in it, and we get to choose, to a large extent, our attitudes and behaviors. I say these obvious points out loud, to remind myself.
Chuckle. I’m going to quote a song from RUSH now, chilluns, take cover.
You won’t get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
Neil Peart at his finest, IMO. Full context here.
That song had a big impact on me when I was 13 or 14, discovering prog rock and metal. I dove headlong into RUSH, YES, and pretty much anything with dragons and odd time signatures that I could find. Those roads led to the Dixie Dregs, for me, and my all-time greatest guitar hero, Steve Morse. I gained a lot of creative courage from them. They just did whatever they wanted to, for most of their run. They experimented. And what is Experimental Music? One experiments! And what happens when one experiments? Well, we don’t know. Until an experiment is run, you may predict the outcome, but you can’t be sure of it. And indeed, the Dregs had an album, called What if
Looking back as we enter the last year of the first quarter of the first century of the millenium, I’m glad I tried some things. Went on creative limbs to see which would carry my weight or bend or break, to find out, what if. I’m humbly grateful that my muse, for lack of a better term, perked up and responded with marvelous surprises, over and over, each time so differently. I expect I will ask her some more questions as the days proceed.
Wishing a huge HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! And a great big huge THANK YOU for your pre-orders for Poppin’ the Ska! It really makes my day and I appreciate it.
Try some things. Enjoy the discoveries. Ignore the voice that says you can’t.
