(Finding the Celery: The Final Component Of "THE HOLY TRINITY")
Going back in time to find the purity of concept was initially like trying to find buried treasure without a map.
But through repeated dives, by this point a methodology started to emerge, that at least at the surface, was paying pretty large dividends. The more I dedicated myself to the goal of building a solid armature of conceptual elements, the better I got at knowing where to look to find them.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. As I circled around the central point of building that armature, the harvested concepts and ideas kept tightening the circle. At the onset, getting to the true heart of the point of discovery required a time machine worthy of H.G. Wells, but by this point, quantum traveling from any point of the circumference to the center was like walking to the corner store.
Patterns in this chaotic process started to emerge. Subconscious drivers and actual methods materialized.
The Shuffling Hungarians were to be, in the end, a band. A presentation of music, to state the obvious. But by opening myself up to the absolute randomness of the process and to find the real and true answers to the questions I posed to myself, one of those patterns was that I was finding those answers in very unorthodox mediums, that had very little to do with the process of making music.
Maybe I instinctively knew that in trying to create an entity that was unique to its arena, that I needed to pull ideas and be influenced by works of art that had nothing to do with music.
Perhaps that had something to do with how I learned about rock and roll. If you dig The Stones, that sets you on a path of discovery of who they were listening to to arrive at the end product. The same with the Beatles. In fact both groups early recordings were peppered liberally with material to point the way. They were exposing their own journeys of discovery.
To get inside the minds of Lennon and McCartney, you had to absorb the complete ouvres of Motown, Brill Building Pop, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Elvis, The Isley Brothers, Fats Domino, British Dancehall Music and Broadway Show Tunes. The covers gave you a map to understand the artists. If in fact you are what you eat, its a good idea to study the diet of others.
Being very familiar with that process, in very gut-brained fashion I went in the opposite direction. By searching for that one pure moment of discovery, and casting the net wider without any preconceived controls, I started creating a list of "future influence" that wasn't actually operating in the realm of music, or music making. I aimed for the first and last time that I ever felt safe and truly loved.
Then I found the influence and sources of inspiration.
One of my main objectives was again "The Test Of Time". What stood the test of time? What works elevated themselves through time to iconic status?
Beethoven wrote thousands of pieces of music to arrive at the opening four notes of his Fifth Symphony. Out of the whole cannon of Piano Sonatas, why are "The Pathetique" or "The Moonlight" the ones that automatically trigger the collective consciousness?
Van Gough's out put was pretty prodigious, and yet when you think of his work, why do "Sunflowers" or "Starry Night" pop up first? Why does "The David" define the sculptural output of Michelangelo first?
The Sistine Chapel's Ceiling has many images, but God touching his finger tip to Adam's is the first one that pops up.
I was in search of the "Iconic", and I didn't realize it in real time in the multiple journeys of trying to make those discoveries. Really the goal was pretty purely motivated. I just wanted to make the best work that I could with the resources available to me at the time.
I was alone, isolated, bi-polar crazy, clinically depressed and dead broke. The only resource available for conceptual purposes was my own very broken brain, heart, will and spirit. If I could pull off a personal ressurection, than the ressurection would be "televised". My life's story and very public humiliation had been writ large on bathroom walls and shit house stalls, and if I made a public statement, I expected no different of an outcome.
I knew that if I "aimed big", that failure was pretty much a foregone conclusion. But I also knew that in aiming big, I was going to end up with something of much more lasting import than if I stood two feet away from the target and aimed for the middle.
Professional and personal failure was all around me. This did not discourage me, in fact it fueled me. If failure was a foregone conclusion, than I was going to fail in epic proportions. It was the "Daffy Duck" finale. You can only do it once. Accepting that responsibility was a key factor in dedicating myself to the process.
I posted this clip in Dose #60. Watch again, because this was me. I was in search of the creative equivalent of a ".. generous portion of gasoline and nitro-glycereeeen....".
While sewing a Devil's Suit to wear in perpetuity, all I needed was the proverbial "Lit Match" to set it all off. That, dear readers and world wide peep-a-roos, was the "Celery", and I already knew where to find it.
(Stay Tuned For Part 9)
Suggested Reading:
Gary Frenay: A Testimony:
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/05/gary-frenay-testimony.html
033.) "On Rhetorical Devices, Influences, and Making Art "Popular": The use of rhetoric as a velvet rope and associative strategy 1981-2011
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/06/daily-dose-33-062911.html
055.) "Exploring Creative Processes: Part 1": An Introduction
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-55-072211.html
056.) "Exploring Creative Processes: Part 2": What's In Your Gumbo?
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-56-072311.html
057.) "Exploring Creative Processes Part 3": The Hard Wiring Of The Really Little Georgie 1960-1964
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-57-072411.html
058.) "Party Time": A "Lake Boy" Tale
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-58-072511.html
059.) "Exploring Creative Processes Part 4": The Test Of Time
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-59-072611.html
060.) "Exploring Creative Processes Part 5": The Test Of Time
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-60-072711.html
061.) "Exploring Creative Processes Part 6": Finding the Second of Three "Trinity" Components: The Green Pepper
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-61-072811.html
062.) Exploring Creative Concepts Part 7: They Eat Green Bell Peppers in the Emerald City
http://littlegeorgiesblog-a-thon.blogspot.com/2011/07/daily-dose-61-072811.html
As always, if you are following The Dose regularly, its going to be increasingly more helpful if you have a roadmap and scorecard. An updated master index is sent out weekly that includes descriptions and direct hyperlinks to each archived blog: Its a lot easier than searching for archived material for cross referencing purposes than the blogger platform. Just shoot me your email address at:
piannaplunker88@gmail.com
You can opt out at anytime.
As of this writing, The Dose has received over 19,250 page views in 61 daily injections. All I have asked of the general readership is that if you enjoyed what you just read, hit that little share button on the top right column of this site, or copy the blog address down, paste it in an email, and give a friend a taste.
The Dose's original intent and design was for it to be passed along and shared; sort of hoping that we could form a bond and a shared sense of responsibility between the content and its users.
I'd like to continue to keep delivering this stuff, but we're rapidly reaching the point of diminishing returns.
Unfortunately, my personal assessment is that its starting to look like a failed experiment.
It isn't without its harvestable aspects in the face of failure, and I don't regret the amount of time I spent writing 62 consecutive posts at all. I have learned so much by disciplining myself to produce quality writing to the best of my ability for 62 conescutive days. I can look myself in the mirror and honestly say that I gave my all, every little last particle of me. I did not phone it in, or take whoever might be reading The Dose for granted in anyway. I stayed true to principle.
I'm truly grateful to those of you that have read, and perhaps even been inspired by the Blog-O-Thon's content and message. I'm also especially grateful to the folks that took it upon themselves to realize their implied responsibility by enjoying the content, and then taking the time to hip their friends and family to the Blog-O-Thon.
Circumstances beyond my control have led me to a place where I can no longer devote the time to producing a quality experience for you daily.
Those circumstances were the result of broken promises made to me, and the collateral damge is that I no longer can keep my promise to you... everything, IS connected.
That isn't an excuse though. We are what we eat, and we are the choices we make. I sincerely apologize for breaking my promise, and seeming unaccountable. In the end, all you are left with is your Integrity, and mine got compromised by not recognizing the lack of it in others that I openly trusted.
Those circumstances coupled with a rather tepid response of reader participation have led to this unfortunate resolution.
That's cool. I'm a big boy, and I can handle it. "I judge my forward progress and successes by the crushingly epic nature of my failures..."
If you are on facebook, I also started a page called "Little Georgie's Blog-O-Thon". Just search it, it will pop up. That will be the final publicly published Master Index for all of the past Dose Output, and any that might happen in the future.
The "Last Dispensary" as it were.
I love you all.
Easy,
Geo
"You may shoot for the stars and end up in a back alley behind Pluto, beaten and bloodied, but at least I dare to dream, and that’s better than being Earthbound, mired in the muck of mediocrity.
I judge my forward progress and success by the crushingly epic nature of my failures.
The more epic the crash, the more I’m convinced I must be doing something right"
AS ALWAYS: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, AND SHARE THIS BLOG ADDRESS VIA COPY AND PASTE IN AN EMAIL, THROUGH THE TWITTER OR FACEBOOK "SHARE" BUTTONS,WORD OF MOUTH, FILTHY WHISPERED GOSSIP, FALSE NARRATIVE, TIN CAN AND STRING CONFIGURATIONS, PONY EXPRESS, OR CARRIER PIGEON. WITHOUT FEEDBACK OR ACTIVE "SHARING", WHAT YOU JUST READ.... DOESN'T EXIST!COLONEL BEAUREGARD "IRON THIGHS" JEFFERSON, A.K.A. "THE MANAGEMENT"
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