Now Playing: Sick Puppies – You’re Going Down
(I dig the aggressiveness in the chorus and there’s a cool guitar riff from 2:16-2:27 that makes me happy)
I’ve had a major writer’s block lately, which you can probably tell from the lack of posts. So instead, I’ve been reading a lot. Not books (sorry Linds and Les!), but interviews upon interviews with artists of all types – some actors, some musicians, some writers, some directors. I figured if I can’t come up with my own material, I might gain some inspiration by learning about what others are doing and how they did it. I’m particularly interested in those who have come from what most people would term “out of nowhere” or from unconventional beginnings. Some of my favorite stories come from the tales of the creative processes that produce unexpected, against-all-odds hits.
Matt & Kim have one of those stories. They didn’t pick up their instruments until after graduation from art school and a friend forced them into playing their first show just months after starting. Five years of almost non-stop touring and two albums later, their hard work paid off. The self-produced Grand sold 64,000 copies and they’ve picked up an MTV awards for the gutsy “Lessons Learned” video.
Love her or hate her, Stephenie Meyer has another one of those stories. The Twilight-teller was a stay-at-home mom who didn’t even dream about becoming an author until struck with inspiration in a dream for the vampire tale. She spent night after night pounding it out on her keyboard, and submitted it to several publishing companies at the behest of her sister. Six years after the story came to her, her books have sold over 85 million copies and she has reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list twice.
Katy Perry started her journey when she was fifteen years old. She worked ten years, suffering a failed release and getting dropped by three labels, before finding her footing in the music industry. She’s now a platinum-selling artist and has headlined a sold-out worldwide tour.
I could go on – the stories are everywhere. In all my reading, there’s one big theme that stands out to me: very few people get anywhere without putting in loads of hard work. Sure, there are your “Hills” debutantes, your manufactured pop acts, and your heirs (and heiresses) to the already-established kingdoms of their parents. And sometimes it does seem as though that’s the type of luck one has to have if they expect to have any success, but it’s simply not true. Passion for the craft, perseverance, and hard work ultimately win out.
But there’s something else I learned. For every one person who’s met with great success, there are thousands of others who don’t have their names written in blogs and news articles. They live in your town, acting in community theaters, playing in bars, and posting their short films on YouTube. I’ve met quite a few of these types. While they may aspire to larger venues with bigger crowds, ask them about the show they were in the previous night or the new song their band is working on. Their eyes will light up as they launch into a detailed description of their current project and how their role in its creation makes them feel. Spend any length of time with these artists, and it quickly becomes clear that it is their love for what they do that keeps them going. And that’s enough.
As much as I love the rags-to-riches stories, I think I’m more inspired by the unknown artists who use their talents to provide their communities with music and art scenes. Their efforts provide us with hometown heroes to cheer and real-life, tangible examples for young, fledgling artists to follow. Without them, our culture would be lacking our storytellers, missing the songs and paintings that future generations will look back on to find out what life was like in our time.
Thanks to them, I think I’ve gotten my writing mojo back. Though it remains to be proven and the next few weeks will be telling, I’d like to tell the stories of some of these artists – as many as I can meet and talk to. So if there is an artist in your community that you think deserves some recognition, please let me know about them.
Posted: January 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized - No Comments.
Tags: community theater, Grand, Katy Perry, local art scene, local music scene, Matt and Kim, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight
^Robin Thicke – Sex Therapy ^
