January 8, 2008
Back where I belong
I’m most comfortable as seen above, peering through driftwood on a brisk day, red nose and clear eyes gazing slightly past the camera to the exquisite coastline of the Canadian islands directly in front of me:
But I have just returned from that chamber music conference in Manhattan, where I spent several days standing proudly by my offerings (51 scores, 16 CDs, 5 rubber duckies, 4 shells from my beach, 2 listening stations, 1 rubber snake).
…listen
…about the musicOnward and upward.
I had a terrific time. Saw oodles of dear friends and colleagues, did a really enjoyable interview with the completely delightful John Clare for his WITF-FM radio show, Composing Thoughts, and drummed up lots and lots of business from the helm of my exhibit table at the Westin Times Square. In my line of work, there tends to be a thin line between the business and the social, so the whole shebang is a ton of fun. But this former Manhattanite is exceedingly happy to be home on another island on what seems like, after 16 hours of travel, the other side of the world. In so many ways!
Glenn Buttkus said,
January 9, 2008 @ 6:03 am
So nice to have you home! And what terrific news that you drummed up some business. Sometimes, for some folks, the costs of participating in such a conference are not balanced out with “business”. Didn’t realize that you had lived in the Big Apple. And then years in Malibu; hitting the two behemoths for artists. Now you are tucked in on your special island, and the swirl of the megaopolis can ebb, can ooze out of your pores.
Your piece of music seemed to be a stirring, and “moving” piece, something to travel by; seeing you walking fast, talking fast, merging into the masses; as well as the long flights to and from, the flying inside and outside the plane. Onward and upward, yes, and now 2008 is properly launched, and you have things to keep you focused, work to be done, sales to count up.
It must be pleasant for a people-person such as yourself to find it necessary to socialize and smooze, as well as sell your wares. One of the things that holds back some artists is their reluctance to realize that they also need to put themselves out there with their art; that the two things, the artist and art, are a package deal.
Glenn
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz said,
January 9, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Welcome back! Now tell about the real fun! The parties! The late nights
Dennis
Glenn Buttkus said,
January 10, 2008 @ 6:00 am
Back Where I Belong
i’m most comfortable
as seen above,
peering through driftwood
on a brisk day,
red nose
and clear eyes gazing
slightly past
the camera
to the exquisite coastline
of the Canadian islands
directly in front
of me.
Onward and upward
comes the clarion voice,
renewed by the smell
of the beach,
the cry of the gulls,
the gray skies,
the gray-brown-green of
hurclean piles of driftwood,
that I wander in,
and create a portrait
of myself
with the salt water soaked wood
as my most natural frame;
for there is no place
like home,
snug by the fire,
both cats at my feet,
with new music pulsating
behind my ears,
bursting to rise,
to be written,
to be heard.
It starts with the native drums;
can you hear them.
Alex Shapiro January 2008
(Glenn Buttkus, ersatz muse and neophyte Kelphisto)
Alex Shapiro said,
January 10, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Hi guys,
Dennis: if I told you about all the fun, you’d kick yourself that you weren’t there this year. Besides, my reputation might be ruined…! Discretion is the better part of velour. And the softer part, too 😉
Glenn, my sweet Kelphisto: your poetry far exceeds mine. Stanza two: all his, folks. Visit Glenn’s wonderful blog, Feel Free To Read for more, and more, and more…
http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/
Wait! It looks like more Shapiro! How boring! Poke through the menu and enjoy Glenn’s varied offerings.
Thanks, Buttkus, for the kind link and postscript. I’m touched.
As for the last point you make in your initial comment: you’re right– it’s ideal for artists to be able to fully communicate on many levels with those they seek to share their work. And yet, it really boils down to a DNA personality thing. I was blessed with a big fat dollop of Happy Brain Chemical # 63 that makes my life very easy and affords me a lot of positive contact with people. Not everyone is so fortunate (our dear e-pal Lane Savant is in quite a funk these days…. right Doug?). It’s his right to be funkified, and there’s nothing I can say that will make a funkified person un-funked, no matter how happy I want them to be.
I lecture a lot these days on various panels about ways for artists to use the internet and other tools to promote themselves. I’m an absolute cheerleader (sans pom-poms, sadly), wanting all my peers to do wonderfully and egging them on with as much info as I can find. A follow-up article to the one you posted will be published in NewMusicBox this spring, and it’s all about the very direct topic of, “ok, now that you feel so good about your wares, how do you create an actual income stream from your web presence?”.
But having spoken to and with hundreds of colleagues, I’m very aware that the techniques that work for me won’t necessarily suit everyone. That DNA thing. So I’m trying to think even more broadly about ways for an artist who is not the loquacious ham that I am to still be able to garner a fan base. I have a huge panel coming up in June where I’m the speaker and moderator at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver on a long session geared around arts and the internet, and I think we’ll be having a very wide-ranging discussion about this.
I may even bring pom-poms.
Glenn Buttkus said,
January 11, 2008 @ 7:42 am
Alex:
How kind of you to give me that blog plug. Yes, there are “hundreds” of pieces, narratives, poems, reviews, essays, and biographical meandering on that blog. You are listed, per Doug’s set up, as a contributer; did you notice? I do love to post your stuff too, because I see the merit in it, and having one more avenue to make your points can’t hurt. Maybe that one person out there who needs to see it, to read it, will interface with it, and it will change their attitude, and thus their artistic life.
My grandfather, Earl “Sky” Carpenter, was a talented landscape artist. He could paint skies to die for; thus his nickname. In his liftetime, he painted hundreds of huge paintings. There were a couple of galleries who would dabble in his paintings, and he always sold a few; like for 500 bucks or so. Even as a kid I felt that if he could bring himself to market himself, he could have been a Northwest sensation. He passed away in 1987 at 89 years old, and he never felt comfortable with the marketing side of Art. I offered to get involved, to contact potential galleries, to set up showings; but it was all too personal for what was a shy man; gregarious to a fault when you got to know him, but reticent to “go public”. It always made me sad that he did not get more notoriety, but such is life. Disappointment is part of the package.
Yes, old Lane Savant, my high school pal, Doug, is in a bit of a funk these days; a kind of creative slump–but other than supporting him emotionally there is not much more to be done. He is a wild and crazy guy beneath the funk, and I have always been both in awe of him and yet felt he could be more, do more, accomplish more, if he put his mind to it. That, of course, is pure projection on my part. I am just grateful that between blogs like his and yours I am given some cyber moments to exorcise my demons, and state my views.
Glenn