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BEING OUT OF SHAPE IS BULLSHIT.
Apr. 27th, 2008 09:31 pm( Rant that r entirely too rambly )
Anyway...while in Maine, I had the pleasure of some nice conversations with my cousin Eric. He asked about music. Somehow, he got me to admit to having a Youtube account, and he insisted upon watching ALL the videos I have uploaded there while I curled up in the corner of his room and died of embarrassment.
Eric is a great musician. He has integrity in that he plays the sort of music that he himself respects and enjoys most of all, and if he can't, then he works on it. I'm not like that...I play stuff cause it's easy and fun, and because I get a kick out of it--I'm not a musician, and I don't even really consider myself to be able to play the guitar.
So that's why it was so horrifying to me that he'd watch my videos and see how untalented I am, musically. But it's also why it meant a lot when he actually seemed legitimately impressed. He said he enjoyed them. He said he found them inspiring...and that's just, such a novel concept to me, that someone that *I* respect as a musician would not at all begrudge my lack of skill...that someone as talented as he is would have the ability to look beyond mere talent and reaffirm that enjoying oneself is much more important than making an impressive technical video.
It was just...really touching, having a real artist look at my work and tell me, earnestly, that he thought I should be up on a stage somewhere, singing for people--that he thought that I'd found a little musical niche that was good enough and that people would actually enjoy it. This from an incredible jazz guitarist. I was just so dazzled, because y'know, I actually did believe him.
I dunno, it just seems like Eric has always had this integrity to him, like he's a really simple guy who does what he does really well and is able and willing to give an unadulterated, simple opinion that seems to shoot my tendency to overthink things right out of the water.
It made me happy.
Anyway...while in Maine, I had the pleasure of some nice conversations with my cousin Eric. He asked about music. Somehow, he got me to admit to having a Youtube account, and he insisted upon watching ALL the videos I have uploaded there while I curled up in the corner of his room and died of embarrassment.
Eric is a great musician. He has integrity in that he plays the sort of music that he himself respects and enjoys most of all, and if he can't, then he works on it. I'm not like that...I play stuff cause it's easy and fun, and because I get a kick out of it--I'm not a musician, and I don't even really consider myself to be able to play the guitar.
So that's why it was so horrifying to me that he'd watch my videos and see how untalented I am, musically. But it's also why it meant a lot when he actually seemed legitimately impressed. He said he enjoyed them. He said he found them inspiring...and that's just, such a novel concept to me, that someone that *I* respect as a musician would not at all begrudge my lack of skill...that someone as talented as he is would have the ability to look beyond mere talent and reaffirm that enjoying oneself is much more important than making an impressive technical video.
It was just...really touching, having a real artist look at my work and tell me, earnestly, that he thought I should be up on a stage somewhere, singing for people--that he thought that I'd found a little musical niche that was good enough and that people would actually enjoy it. This from an incredible jazz guitarist. I was just so dazzled, because y'know, I actually did believe him.
I dunno, it just seems like Eric has always had this integrity to him, like he's a really simple guy who does what he does really well and is able and willing to give an unadulterated, simple opinion that seems to shoot my tendency to overthink things right out of the water.
It made me happy.
