recent sunrise looking out our living room window-- not very showy
but you gotta take what you can find when the weather is like this ;)
The documentary took the men in that band through their youth, as their art took form, to when they learned how to sell it, finally to where they were old, discussing what had been, and still playing their music for large crowds. There were interviews and videos from their shows as well as them goofing off or discussing the work from years back. The connections they had with so many other musicians of that time was fascinating to me. It really was a zeitgeist time for a certain type of music and Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, Linda Ronstadt were part of their story.
What got me about it was a kind of irony, a bit of personal serendipity. During the day I'd been talking to Ranch Boss about how I was feeling right now with my writing. It's an odd feeling to be in the midst of a book, not sure if you are writing crap, unsure if you've missed an important point, sometimes having to make yourself keep going. I had mentioned how I look back at those books I've written and sometimes wonder from where all of that came. They feel like-- of course, it had to be written that way, but at the time, it involved angst, uncertainty and yes, some eureka moments.
And then that night listening, as Glen Frey and the others in the band talked of their creative process, of how they got where they were, the breaks, the good things, the doubts, and all that goes with any creative process when it isn't about craft but about bringing something new into its own form of reality. I imagine any creative person, who has experienced a lifetime of creating, would feel the same things watching the documentary.
So my creative work has been the writing, then watching that show. My physical world involves gray days, occasional bursts of sunlight, lots of birds, ewes looking as though lambing will begin near to Imbolc, a back that is telling me-- get away from that computer, and smatterings, from the world beyond this valley, which come through reading or watching a bit of news (also two political debates).
4 comments:
Oh,the lambs, that should get you back into the rhythm of the world. I am a bit of an artist and I think our creative juices get a little cloggy sometimes. Listen to music, do some tough exercise and just clean out the channels for everything to flow again.
This will be the last book I set myself up to have out at a certain date or to write as part of a series. I don't generally do that but this is about three brothers, each with their own story. I committed to this one coming out originally early in February but that's not happening. I will be written before that but it'll need a lot of editing. I knew the last brother would be the toughest because he wasn't easy to get a handle on. When he was a secondary character, it didn't matter. Now it matters a lot. Today was not a bad day for progress though ;)
Politics are driving me nuts right now. I think I'll be writing about that later as it's definitely on my mind! argh!
The Eagles documentary was excellent. The world we came from is disappearing in more ways than one. I am constantly bugged by the thugs at the Malheur Refuge, like a sliver I can't quit get out. We had a sunny break today like yesterday and I went out for a walk again. Some trees are trying bud with the oddly warm spells we are getting. Still, just breathing and watching the lightly clouded blue skies raises my spirits. Tomorrow my two four year-old grands will be here for the afternoon and their concerns are about wanting to paint and whether or not I baked anything. Puts the day in perspective.
Ceilia, writing about them comes Saturday and the whole concept of the citizens, as a whole, owning some land.
I got a new link that was good on the Eagles. Glen Frey and what his death meant to a generation. I had read someone putting down the Eagles as not the band of their generation and just Barry Manilows (who I also liked,) and it irked me as what that critic valued was hard rocking music, not music that spoke to someone's own emotions. The Eagles did the speaking and not just to their generation. They created mental images that lasted. I can still listen to their songs and think-- now what did that line mean? That doesn't happen with a lot of those hard rocking bands where it's all about rhythm and hard-playing guitar.
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