In the spirit of High Fidelity, my fall plan is to offer you a Top 5 every other Tuesday, A little roadmap of the things I have been loving so that you can check them out too. There will be a mix of books, music, art, interviews and all the things that inspire me to live a more creative life, and hopefully, they will inspire you to do the same. Feel free to let me know what resonates with you, what you would like to see more of, or how I can help you realize that the things you love are worth sharing. So instead of Barry’s (Jack Black’s character) Top 5 songs about death, my Top 5 are as follows:
Margaret Atwood’s novel, Hag-Seed
On the home page of my website, I always include a link and blurb to the book I’m currently reading. This week I have been knee-deep in Atwood’s retelling of The Tempest. I am a completer when it comes to Atwood. I want to read ALL of her novels, poetry and short stories, so there are still a few of her titles on my nightstand’s teetering TBR pile. What amazes me consistently when it comes to Atwood is how quickly she can get to the story and how quickly she can elevate plot to metaphor. Of course, when one is working with arguably the most metaphorical of Shakespeare’s plays, the elements are at your fingertips. But when a master meets a master, just sit back and enjoy the creative storm.
Full disclosure: I am married to a drummer (you can follow Dave Hill Jr. and all of his many creative endeavors here). So did I watch this interview of my own volition? Some would argue, no. I would say, when you are in partnership with another artist, you know that inspiration does not discriminate when it comes to the mode of creativity. You feed each other with poetry, song, stories to propel you forward in your quest to stay full. So I watch Rick Beato, and love him, and in this interview, I remembered why I always liked Stewart more than Sting. There is a brashness and joy to him that I so appreciate. He knows who he is and he knows what he has yet to learn, and he remains curious. He laughs, a lot. Some of the very same attributes I see in my husband (maybe it is a drummer thing). And watching this interview reminded me once again: Take your art, and not yourself, seriously.
The movie, not Tom Wolfe’s book. I love the book, don’t get me wrong. But I watched this three hour epic next to my 15 year old son over the weekend. So the first reason I love this movie is because it allowed me three uninterrupted hours with my child where he wasn’t on the phone, and by hour two, you are so steeped in the world that you can talk about the movie as it is playing, especially if you are like me and the rest of the world and only watch television with the closed captioning in place. The second reason I love this movie is the duality of Sam Shepard playing Chuck Yeager. I love the sheer rugged individualism of it all: the maverick playwright/actor and the maverick pilot/daredevil. And the final reason for loving this movie, these lines:
Alan Shepard: Dear Lord, please don't let me f*** up.
Gordon Cooper: I didn't quite copy that. Say again, please.Alan Shepard: I said everything's A-OK.
Remember: How you talk to yourself matters.
Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager You should be following Danny Gregory’s work if you are not already. Every week he goes live on YouTube on Thursdays for an hour to encourage you to get your sketchbook out and challenge yourself to draw with a variety of prompts, mediums, and a dry wit that only encourages you to do more and make more. His book, Everyday Matters, is a testament to artistic strength and developing skills by simply doing something everyday and recording the ordinariness of life through the eyes of an artist while coping with the unimaginable tragedy of his wife’s paraplegia. His weekly essays are also impactful nuggets of truth which help anyone of us struggling to make art or begin new creative enterprises in middle age.
A page from Danny’s book: Everyday Matters 5. This David Hockney Painting
I have been captivated by this 1972 painting Portrait of An Artist (Pool with Two Figures) this summer. I used it as a jumping off point in a workshop I co-hosted this August with Tania Walsh for Yoga Farm Ithaca to talk about Creativity and Intention. I wanted people to see how Hockney confronts the freedom of the swimmer while his buttoned up self looks down longingly. What would happen if you set yourself free? The artist must exist in two planes all the time, he must be both the swimmer who feels the water and the deep and the man who must wear the clothes of normalcy and walk the edges of the artist life to sustain his living.
Hockney 1972 Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) If you want to read about more things I love, here are some older posts for you:
Stewart was my first drumming hero, and he never disappoints. I love that his rebel spirit is immeshed with his ability to write operas, and classical music and then pound the crap out of his drums just ahead of the actual tempo. His teenage angst never quite went away and I love him for that. I love that Rick Beato interview.