The Mind of an Artist

 You Will NEVER Understand The Mind Of An Artist

    The complexity of a mind that moves in the world of the abstract is unfathomable. People who see patterns that no one else can see, and can point out those patterns to others are rare. Sometimes their vision doesn’t become clear until long after their death, and the rest of us catch up to the plateau their mind was on all the time. Some call them crazy, and maybe they are. Many go unnoticed their entire lives, and even after, and are never recognized. Quick recognition is dangerous, too. People swept into the public eye by production machines who have really nothing to offer come and go all the time. The flavor of the beans has nothing to do with the can. Mass media machines can make a pretty can, but when opened the first time people find no beans worth eating. The problem these days is that people will eat any bean that comes along no matter how tasteless. Most of you will drive right past a mom and pop grill on our way to McDonald’s. The true artist is rare. You get one Tupak, and a thousand empty cans of beans that try to imitate him. 

    This is why you get perverts and drug addicts who have “hits” and then, as their real personality comes forth the world sees what is really there it stands back shocked and amazed. What happened? Nothing. The truth just came out, that’s all. I’ve never heard a Brittany Spears song because I don’t think there’s anything there. However, there are people out there who hang on her every song, just like that Cyrus girl. I have watched Hannah Montana because I'm an old pervert, but I really wasn’t impressed by the musical content. These two are not artists! They are the product of a corporate structure designed to grind out “product” and wouldn’t  know real talent if it ran up and pissed on their legs. 

    Now for the real artists. Hank Williams. When he came along Acuff/Rose was just figuring out how to sell records from an old church in downtown Nashville. Hank had talent, drive, style and a drinking habit that would make a modern psychologist faint! He also had a marriage that was rockier than the shores of Maine. He “crossed over” to pop when his “Cold Cold Heart” was recorded by a mainstream singer. With all respect to the rap artists out there let’s all come back in fifty years and see how many people are still recording YOUR songs! 

    Real artists are like super novas. Super novas have two things you should be aware of. If you get too close you get burned, and they eventually go out with a bang! Real artists almost always do that. The fire burns so hot that it invariably burns friends and family and in the end the muse leaves and then they leave. Please note Robin Williams. 

    Not all of these people get their fifteen minutes of fame.  Most live lives of obscurity only appreciated by family and a few friends. They still burn brightly and burn out, but leave no public trail and the muse simply moves somewhere else. Inspiration is a spirit. Have you ever heard of simultaneous  inspiration? That’s where two artists come up with practically the same idea at the same time. Amazing, isn’t it? And the idea seems to just “pop” into their heads. This is because we really don’t understand where inspiration comes from. The complexity of the brain is beyond medical science no matter what your doctor tells you.  As a songwriter I can tell you that everything I hear or see goes into a great file somewhere in my head and I can access that file any time I want. But the initial idea for anything just comes out of nowhere, and that’s the part we will never understand. 

    My daughter in law, Jackie was a super nova. I watched her over her life develop from a clumsy little girl to a fairly consummate YouTube artist. I will not bore you will details but I will say I stood too close, got burned, and she burned out. She got cross ways with the Child Protective Services and what you got was what happens when you put an organization with no imagination with someone who was all imagination. She was never recognized for her talent but her behind the scenes efforts are still rippling today. Her ideas were revolutionary. One day I’ll tell you some of those ideas because you won’t believe me right now. 

    You will never understand the mind of the artist. It is impossible. You can only understand what they explain to you. You will never know where it comes from. Just eat the beans.  If they’re good, you’ll know, but you’ll never know why. Jackie’s spirit lives. You can see it when we all get together and her name comes up.  People who didn’t know her just sit there, and those of us who stood close to the nova just let them taters pass by.