I’m digging back into this piece – at 10 PM
Which is, for those of you keeping score at home, bad form. Write in the morning. Use that first burst of energy to do the work you care about most. And by energy I do mean caffeine. Save the bills, chores, Finale entry and associated drudgery for when you’re exhausted, your juices have run out,...
About what Rachel Said
My friend Rachel Fershleiser, newly of tumblr, said this: Think piece I don’t have the energy to write but maybe you do: Internet memes seem to be moving towards the smallest sub-cultural groups possible and catching on that way. - I made Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich as a joke on how there was starting to be...
Always Carry Drums
I have a rule about this. It has broader implications, but for me it starts from putting on shows. And it’s this: Always Carry Drums. Here’s what I mean. If you’re putting on a show, and you’re not a drummer, at some point you’re going to be standing around, having totally finished “your bit” of...
It isn’t favors, it’s awesomeness
I got it wrong about the favors. In my last post I talked about exchanging favors, and owed debts for previous non-monetary transactions. I wanted to connect it to stuff previously done with money, and I mistakenly thought about it as an exchange of value in far too concrete a sense. It’s been haunting me...
The Favor Economy
This morning, Diane Ragsdale linked a great TED talk from 2005 in her brilliant-as-usual post on institutions supporting artists at her ArtsJournal blog, Jumper. Diane’s post is great, but I want to react mainly to the TED talk. Yes, it’s six years old. That’s why the video’s so SD looking and the speaker, Clay Shirky...
Louis CK Inspires a Thought Experiment
You’ve probably already heard about this. Hilarious and vulgar-but-never-mean comedian Louis CK directed, edited, and published his own stand-up special without a big production company. Sold it just online. $5, no restrictions. Much cheaper than the $20 region-restricted DVD a big publisher would have released. We’re three days from release now and he’s already made...
More things Amanda Palmer is doing right
I wanted to tell you guys about this brilliant piece of practice session/marketing/bringing in the audience that Amanda Palmer did, and I thought I’d try out storify to help with the whole embedding-a-ton-of-tweets thing. Let me know how it works! Also, how much do you love the phrase “party on the internet” for these live...
May I revise and extend my prior remarks?
My last post, about the weird prejudice in technical fields that the arts are easy and artists lacking intelligence, got a great response. It’s a difficult issue to talk about, and I’m glad that what I wrote hit home with some people. If I’m very lucky it’ll make it a little easier for a few...
Why does everyone think we suck?
Artists have a terrible reputation. I find it kind of insulting, but on the other hand I can understand where it comes from. Almost my entire family and most of my friends are deeply technical, scientific, quantitative people. And I’m an artist. These people don’t think less of me for my choice of field, but...
Wow is the internet beating up on Michael Kaiser today.
I think the backlash is a little harsh, but I also think the piece in question does really miss the mark. (Do I actually need to link it? Here ya go. As Amanda Ameer pointed out, it’s ironic that it’s on HuffPo.) It looks to me like he’s decrying the demise of arts criticism jobs,...
Amanda Palmer is so far ahead of us
Ukulele Anthem by Amanda Palmer So. Most importantly, this song is great. It’s just so mad and joyful. It jumps up and down on you and tells you why creativity is awesome while you giggle and roll around on the floor. Fantastic. How is that relevant? But why am I blogging about it? Because at...
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