Once again, Ann Althouse is celebrating a terrible artist (I got Amanda Palmer's groundbreaking album, which amounted to a groundbreaking single) but, still, Amanda Palmer is an artist:
Her TED talk, above, is about being willing to receive something for (what appears to be) nothing - which, in case you haven't noticed, is one thing artists do.
Music, for instance, is ephemeral - it's never lost on me after doing a show, say, that people just paid for something that's already gone. And, I guess, you have to be married (or something like it) to understand how little even financial success can appear when seen through the eyes of someone not in touch with their/our humanity - who isn't actively part of the exchange being described here.
I get pissed off when I see those bumper stickers that say "Real Artists Have Day Jobs" because, shit, it's a day job that usually keeps real artists from making what transcends - and thus creates - real wealth. For instance, I spent all this week putting up somebody's fence - while nursing an ulcer - but mostly thinking about the music I'm always desperate to get back to work on, if I can only find some time when I get home after 8+ hours, to face my other responsibilities. It can drain you:
Most people nowadays aren't capable of making dinner after only a day in an office.
Of course, I'm not exactly what you call the "social media type," so I'm working on something that'll be *a little more significant* than what "shallow" Amanda Palmer's delivered:
And that, my friends, will always be worth it.
Oh - and to those of you who have donated here, so far, and wonder what it's gotten? I've gone from a broken computer, in a tiny room, just like this one below (this was actually the room next to mine):
To now (after a trip to California to get my equipment) working on my album in this one:
[Click to enlarge]
It might not be a million dollars on Kickstarter, but - if that's not a visible, and real-world, improvement in my circumstance - I don't know what is:
And I Thank You with every fiber of my being.
Now, if you don't mind, let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming:
AKA Continuing to tell it like it is,...
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