Two Apples and a Blood Orange
You know those nights where you eat too much food and then you wattle around the block like a penguin hoping that your body is going to make sense of everything you stuffed inside of it? I had one of those nights last night.
Big dinner followed by the excessive consumption of fruit. I try to limit myself to one apple a day but yesterday I had two apples and a blood orange. Popcorn and nacho chips later on into the night. Alternating between Superstore and Parks & Rec. Nothing like barreling out a few laughs at a TV set before nodding off into the night.
Sandviches
Every week I attempt to make a new track to grease the wheels of creativity. Lately they keep getting more and more aggressive. My theory is I’m trying to wake myself up or something.
This one’s a fast-paced jam. I know this is true because I was out of breath by the time it was finished. It sounds a bit like Krautrock.
Enjoy some sandviches, and get up and dance.
Four Track Snack Pack
A funny story about Django Reinhardt: My cousin Barry is a photographer of musicians and concerts so when I was younger he used to take me backstage wherever we could go. One time he took me along for a photoshoot of B.B. King shopping at Tower Records who at the time was my favourite musician.
The shoot happened after the store closed, and Barry told me to plant myself in an aisle and pretend I was shopping. The plan worked because there I was talking to B.B. King!
I asked him what he recommends for me, and he suggested this VHS video of Django Reinhardt in front of us, the master of gypsy jazz guitar. For some reason, I didn’t think it was important to actually buy the VHS tape, so I always wonder what was on it 😅. The lesson for future is if a blues legend recommends you buy something, you just buy the damn thing.
Brazil - Django Reinhardt
Plantas Falsas - Bruxus
TRR (Lawrence Remix) - Tracey
Schubert’s Ava Maria, D. 389 - Barbara Bonney
Or listen on YouTube.
I wrote a few posts this week:
Going Old School with Tascam (about recording)
Going Slow Before Going Fast
When To Go Fast
Use This Trick to Reach Your Daily Hydration Goals (LinkedIn)
Yet all of these methods ignore the flawed basic premise of creatordom: that all creativity should be monetizable and monetized. The creator economy leaves little room for the kinds of projects and practices that don’t fit its preexisting digital structures — in other words, anything that doesn’t come out on a daily or weekly basis; creators who aren’t personally charismatic or willing to be parasocial targets; or material that is too challenging or specific to net the immediate embrace of an enthusiastic audience. That is what the art-world system of dealers, galleries, and curators was designed to supply — artists are insulated and able to work alone in their studios because other people are working to contextualize, promote, and sell their work, however challenging it might be. The kind of art that takes decades to understand or become popular is not fit for the creator economy.
In the New Digital Economy, Are Artists Creators?
Enjoy your Sunday, hopefully with a bagel in hand, and I’ll see you soon.
Elliott “Sesame” Fienberg