Tag Archive for 'advice'

The Shining Path Towards The Golden Way, A.K.A. The Burden Of Art -


“How will I ever deal with this narcissisism, this preoccupation with death, religion and sex, these hemmorhoids, these fixations, this incessant masturbation, depression, despair, hopelessness, and shame?”

Well, if you were a real man, which you’re not, you’d carry it with a little class and style, maybe not talk about it so much, but I understand, for you and I are one, just a couple of struggling artists trying to make it in this crazy world. The key to balance, young Padwan, is imbalance, if you’re too balanced, too even, then you’re just flat, and that’s fine for a lawyer, but not you, nonono that won’t do at all. That’s why even your Mom winks at you every once in a while and gives you tacit permission to raise hell and declare war on your brain. It makes sense when you think about it. It makes even more sense when you don’t think about it. It makes sense not to think about it at all. That’s my advice to you. Leave all the heavy thinking to me.

Come on Grazzhoppa, lets get stupid, lets go down that road where Burroughs, Jimi, and all those dope sick Jazz cats found their inspiration. We’re not going to simply get fucked up, we’re going to sodomize our cerebellums, tit-fuck our brains to within an inch of sanity. How does that sound? Yes, it’s amazing how creative you can be when you’re doing this. The problem is you’ll never remember what it was that made so much sense the night before this Godforsaken morning after. And then when you want to create again you can’t because your hung over and you don’t want to do any creating. What you’ll want to do is remain curled up in bed, fetal positioned for victory, waiting for the beer shit to fall out of your sphincter. So instead of forging along that Golden Path what you do is spend all of Sunday in bed, nursing that hangover, and that post-hangover with Aleve, Preparation-H Wet Wipes, and Skinemax On Demand. You drag yourself to your soul crushing job Monday morning and forget about your creative process until Thursday, when maybe your brain will finally be able to produce a clear thought again. Probably not an idea though, who knows where the hell those come from. All you can do is wait for one with pure heart and spirit, axe in hand, ready to dictate whatever the god of inspiration whispers into your black heart. It’s an exhausting process, I know, but what other options does the artist really have?

Okay, maybe that was a little complex, I don’t really understand it myself. Here’s a humble suggestion, take it a little bit at a time. Don’t try and do too much. Have confidence in your abilities (unless you lack talent, and that’s a whole other, not-completely-insurmountable problem that I’ll address shortly). The muse, like all women, hates desperation and can smell it a mile away. So be easy (as the kids say), let it flow, let her come to you. You’re not gonna find your next big idea in a bag of weed. God help you if you ever do chance upon something good under the influence. You’ll probably spend the rest of your life getting fucked up, until finally, at the bottom of your proverbial bottle, the last of your cosmic stash, you find yourself desperately giving blowjobs in the Port Authority bathroom for a pittance, reflecting on the good old days when you didn’t have any good ideas or any cocks in your mouth.

God speed.

Time To Get Your Shit Together?

Then I suggest you do that shit, jackass. Life is SHORT. Seems like only yesterday I was a little dude lighting G.I. Joe action figures on fire,  walking down the waterline to the Delaware Plaza to shoplift Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from Woolworths. Next thing you know I’m dead ending my way through corporate America without any destination and no direction home (apologies to Bobby Z).  Yeah, I had dreams of being a superstar drummer, and yeah I failed at that shit. Truth be told, I didn’t have that much talent to begin with. But at least I put my balls on the table and pushed that shit as far as it would go.

Listen to me, Goddamnit, I don’t say this stuff just to hear myself speak (well, maybe a little). The artists path is a hardcore and crooked one, indeed, it’s lined with the bloody detritus of those who have gone before and failed, epically. The journey of a thousand miles, you peasants, begins with one power chord.

You know why you can’t get your shit together? Of course you don’t, you’re completely self-unaware. It’s because you’re smoking too much weed. You’re spending far too much time on the couch, buddy, mouth wrapped around that devil’s cock you call a bong, watching  Adult Swim (what kind of man watches cartoons?), and not enough time in the basement working on your  chops,  arranging  practice schedules, and  booking studio time. You know why else you can’t get your shit together, yup, your girlfriend. She’s holding you back, man. Your friends are all talking about it, but they don’t have the guts to tell you to your face. Listen to your old uncle Kev  - meet, cheat, dump, repeat - that’s the rokkers creed.

Okay, so now that we have you clear of mind and heart, the next thing we gotta do is get you to focus on your craft. You’re going to need material to bring to the band my friend. That means creativity. Here’s my fail-proof song writing technique. Follow your non-sense to it’s most illogical ends, then work yourself into a creative fervor (you should be speaking in tongues), spin around in a circle 50 times, stop everything, sit on a hard surface and punch yourself in the balls with such force that you puke, then hit record on your tape deck, and play whatever the hell comes out of your axe. You’re playing for Jesus now, Christ-light will shine the way. Now, whatever it is coming out of your axe, you really gotta commit to it, no half-stepping or noodling about looking for something. This ain’t a Phish show, this is THE PATH. Once you’re done, and you’ve smoothed out all the changes with the guy in your band who has the talent (but you’ve got the focus, remember that), record and upload that shit onto poddymouth, and watch the money, poon-tang, and glory roll in.

That’s it you cretins. You’re welcome.