When the bat cracks and the ball’s moving towards Jeter, he doesn’t run through the fundamentals in his brain, hell, he doesn’t think at all, he just picks up the ball and throws it to first base, just like that.<\/p>\n
Well, not exactly.\u00c2\u00a0 You see he’s got decades of practice.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s just acting upon that foundation.<\/p>\n
But every ground ball is different, every play is unique in its own way, like a snowflake.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s different turf, weather, hitters, pitchers…but Jeter adjusts.<\/p>\n
Can you adjust?\u00c2\u00a0 As a musician, I mean.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you have so much history, so much practice under your belt that you can turn on a dime, create something great?<\/p>\n
Sure, there are technique issues.\u00c2\u00a0 Being able to change keys and tempos, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 But what about writing.\u00c2\u00a0 How many shitty songs do you have to write until you get a good one?<\/p>\n
Ah, the scourge of the professional.\u00c2\u00a0 You read all this b.s. about writing being painful.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s painful, you just haven’t done enough of it!<\/p>\n
I’m reading this book by Susie Essman, "What Would Susie Say?: Bullsh*t Wisdom About Love, Life and Comedy".\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, that Susie, Jeff’s wife, the one always busting Larry David on his sick behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 My bookstore owning friend gave it to me as a present.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m not sure I’m recommending it, but the points about making it as a comedian are fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 Susie wanted to host.\u00c2\u00a0 You know, like Belzer at Catch A Rising Star.\u00c2\u00a0 She finally convinced the owners to let her give it a try.\u00c2\u00a0 It took her 1000 PERFORMANCES before she was comfortable, before she had it nailed.<\/p>\n
In other words, by time you hit the stage, you should be able to do your act in your sleep, react to hecklers, perform requests, like the greats.<\/p>\n
Read this Steve Miller interview.\u00c2\u00a0 Fascinating on so many levels.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ll love the bits on the Beatles.\u00c2\u00a0 To excerpt the salient quote:<\/p>\n
"The way they recorded. They recorded so fast it was ridiculous."<\/p>\n
Steve goes on to delineate how fast the Beatles recorded "Get Back".\u00c2\u00a0 And how when he worked with Paul, it was always about the first take.<\/p>\n
Just like the first cut is the deepest in love, the first take in music is almost always the best.<\/p>\n
Let me be clear.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s different if you’re still writing the song, if you’re working out the parts.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you’ve got the elements down, everybody’s in the room and the song’s been written, when you all hit it for the first time, so often that’s the best creation.<\/p>\n
When you record to synthetic drums, so often the life’s squeezed out of the production.\u00c2\u00a0 And believe me, when done right, music should breathe, be alive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about getting it perfect, it’s about capturing lightning in a bottle.\u00c2\u00a0 Something elusive, that can never be seen or done again.\u00c2\u00a0 How many of our favorite records have mistakes?\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, listen closely to J. Frank Wilson’s "Last Kiss", you’ll hear the backup singer run out of breath and fall off.\u00c2\u00a0 The mistakes don’t ruin the record, they’re necessary elements of the whole, they’re what make the production human, just like you.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, ever know someone who’s had so much plastic surgery they’ve become generic?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, look at Jennifer Grey, she had a nose job and it ruined her career. Was her real nose perfect?\u00c2\u00a0 Far from it.\u00c2\u00a0 But it made her unique, it made her her.<\/p>\n
So, if you’ve done all the work, you can create upon inspiration<\/p>\n
Hell, if you’ve done all the work, you can create upon deadline, with a gun to your head.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe you need a bit of grease, need to work your fingers a bit, but within minutes, you’re in the groove.<\/p>\n
This is what greatness is about.\u00c2\u00a0 Having all that skill and ability and talent at your fingertips, to be evidenced at a moment’s notice.\u00c2\u00a0 Comedians are never great in the beginning, they hone their chops, why should musicians be any different?<\/p>\n
With the short cut of machines, with the focus on youth, with it being about rich and famous, we’ve done our best to eliminate all the work behind the scenes.\u00c2\u00a0 We never want a kid to show us his finger painting, we want to see the Picasso, before he’s graduated from high school.<\/p>\n
Doesn’t happen that way.<\/p>\n
The greats can teeter on the cutting edge and still get it right.\u00c2\u00a0 They wow us.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Jeff Beck.\u00c2\u00a0 A man without a hit who survives because his talent is so well-developed, because he makes his guitar come alive.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you do this?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you WANT to do this?<\/p>\n
If you don’t, please stop making music.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, if you continue to make it, please stop telling us to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re only interested in those who are dedicated, who are doing something we can’t, for the sheer joy of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the money’s just an afterthought.<\/p>\n
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