Ed Tajchman Spoken Word with Electronic Music

I reworked this track a little bit, it is called "Specter Fragment." The first of I hope many experimental, surreal spoken word and electronic music pieces I will be making featuring my prose. It has actually been a long time in coming and I have never had more fun. Writing has always been a vital creative process for me and working with my written words in a spoken and visceral way really transforms the pieces into something new. I really like it and I like the strangeness of it, . . . . In the vein of the music of David Lynch, inspired by other sounds like Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 band "Gray".

On Michael Jackson's Death: An Important Overlooked Aspect of His Life

I haven't written in forever, sorry about that loyal readers. So it may seem a little odd that the current events topic that pulls me out of my blog-sabbatical is the death of pop-icon Michael Jackson. The reason I write this post though is to discuss something that seems to have been overlooked in the non-stop media craze since Mr. Jackson died on Friday afternoon, June 26th.

But before I go there, let me say this: Michael Jackson absolutely was in a lot of ways, a Jackie Robinson type figure for pop/R&B music. I mean I remember being a small child when Jackson was hitting his stride with Thriller and whatnot, he was everywhere. I was into like the Beach Boys and REM a little bit but here was this R&B style singer who everyone liked. I mean Michael Jackson in the 80's was like apple pie and the Yankees. I didn't think of him as a black music performer, he was just Micheal Jackson, incredible dancer/singer/performer. MTV played the hell out of the Thriller video, (still the number one album of all-time) and the color of Jackson's skin was irrelevant to everyone around the world (except himself) who adored his music.

Okay the obvious being said, let me get back to my original point. I saw a documentary once on Mr. Jackson, (this wasn't a tell-all media craze Entertainment Tonight thing, it was a serious look at his life from interviews from the people close to him that really knew him - not hangers-on/exploiters like Donald Trump or whoever). The underlying theme that kept reappearing in all of these interviews, was that it was obvious during Jackson's adolescence, that he was fairly effeminate and maybe enjoyed the company of boys better than girls, i.e. - he was gay. But his dad of course, who Jackson said beat him, would never let his son come out of the closet and be openly gay. I don't think there was even any slight rational outlet for him to explore this part of himself.

Of course there is nothing wrong with being gay, and that's the point of this post. This kind of oppressive stay in the closet mentality is just that - oppressive, and it breeds negative emotions and stunted growth for the self. A lot of this is conjecture I know, but a lot of it's not, you can see it for yourself looking at the man's life. I mean look what he was reaching for with his 'ideal' self (the skin issue aside even) it was a very effeminate female with long luxurious hair. There was nothing remotely masculine about him at this time and until he died. Michael Jackson in the 90's and 2000's looked and acted much more like a female than a male.

I myself am not gay so I am not gonna sit here on some soap box and preach about how people shouldn't hide their true selves, because I have no idea what that kind of intense, trapped feeling might be like. I just wanted to point out something that's seeming to be overlooked in the wake of his death. I think it's important that this aspect of his life not get overlooked, if only for the sake of anyone out there who might be experiencing the same kind of scared to let their family know who they truly are mentality.

The Striving Artist

Striving or struggling can free us from our ego, which I know in my case can get out of control if not checked at the door sometimes. Let me give an example of this idea though. Take the career of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, who as a young man went to New York City to play his music. Then of course embarking on a long and eventually extremely successful music career. Writing some of the most influential and revolutionary poetry and songs America and the world had or has ever seen. Also let's take a look at a quote from Albert Einstein:

"Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest."


-Einstein

Now contrast this with his son Jakob's and his band The Wallflower's musical career. They are really good, fantastic even. His songs are well-written and have a lot of voice. But is it revolutionary music? - No. Is it extremely original or unique? - Not really. Does the factor that Jakob didn't maybe strive quite as much or struggle like his father did as a young man play a role in this? - Absolutely. And thus in a completely unscientific and roundabout way, with things that have maybe nothing to do with each other, I prove my point. Good Day.

Songwriter and Singer Roger Miller

I consider Roger Miller one of the more under-sung heroes of 20th century culture. He acquired 11 Grammy awards, and won Broadway's Tony award for writing the music and lyrics for Big River, which won a total of 7 Tonys including best musical in 1985. A prolific songwriter, he had 21 top-twenty hits on the country charts, including 5 of which that were also in the top-5 overall in the US charts. He wrote three songs for Disney's original animated Robin Hood. (which is where I first heard him, as the rooster Alan-a-dale.) Check out the Official Roger Miller Site where I found the quote.

"I've always been 2o minutes ahead of my time"

-Roger Miller (1936 - 1992)

The basic idea here, for me anyways, is that one of the entrapment's of the artist is to get too caught up in what the world thinks of what he or she produces. Instead of just getting on with their art and what makes one happy and therefore their art good hopefully, some artists get caught up in the game of celebrity and perception.

Giuseppe Verdi on Emotion and Art

The creative process can be a wonderful thing. Have you heard Paul Potts sing? He's the opera singer who won the Britain's Got Talent show recently, and brought the audience to a standing ovation every time he sang. Music is a very direct and abstract, mystical, intangible thing. See this Evelyn Underhill Quote. Wether it's the visual arts, music, theater or any kind of art, it has the power to touch people in a significant way.

“I adore art...when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.”

-Giuseppe Verdi, Italian Opera composer 1813-1901

I was browsing a forum topic on another website just now, where the question was asked - "Is Art Useless?" Reading the responses I was amazed that so many people were so quick to downplay the role of art in society. Especially as I noticed all of their avatars were pieces of art that were originated from a work of art by an artist, has well of the design of the entire website! Oxymorons! Art is everywhere, and is everything.

Music, Art, and Mysticism

The following quotes are from Evelyn Underhill's book Mysticism published in 1911. (Considered a classic by many in the realm of the study of spiritual consciousness.) What's interesting, is that in 1910 Wassily Kandinsky wrote his theoretical study, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, in which he examines the psychological effects of color with analogies between music and art. Music was a strong influence in his art, having learned piano and cello at an early age.

"The Earthly artist, because perception brings with it the imperative longing for expression, tries to give us in colour, sound or words a hint of his ecstasy, his glimpse of truth. Only those who have tried, know how small a fraction of his vision he can, under the most favourable circumstance, contrive to represent. The mystic too, tries very hard to tell an unwilling world his secret. But in his case, the difficulties are enormously increased. First, there is the huge disparity between his mind and the mind of the world. His audience must be bewitched as well as addressed, caught up to something of his state, before they can be made to understand."

(-Evelyn Underhill, p. 76 - Mysticism, London: Methuen, 1911.)

Another paragraph and a half down the page she goes on to say -

"Yet of all the arts music alone shares with great mystical literature the power of waking in us a response to the life-movement of the universe: brings us - we know not how - news of its exultant passions and its incomparable peace."

To Underhill, music was the closest form of expression to mystical literature, so it makes sense that Kandinsky, a painter heavily influenced by music, created the first formal nonrepresentational painting. (The same year he wrote his aforementioned study.)

My point is that abstract expressionism is a valuable form of mystical expression, more closely in tune with musical expression than classic painting depicting physical reality. Had Evelyn Underhill wrote her book a few decades later has abstract expressionism really begins to take root, I feel she would be inclined to agree with me.

Jimi Hendrix on the Message of His Music

This is an important statement from Hendrix, for it helps reveal what I think is a sometimes overlooked aspect of the legendary rock artist. Of course he helped revolutionize electric guitar, but at the core of Jimi was an amazing poetic soul, a visionary artist who truly believed in and spread his message that 'with the power of soul - anything is possible.'

"The background of our music is a spiritual-blues thing... we're making our music into electric church music - a new kind of Bible you carry in your hearts, one that will give you a physical feeling. We try to make our music so loose and hard-hitting so it hits your soul hard enough to make it open. [Rock] is more than music, it's like church, like a foundation for the lost or potentially lost,...we're trying to save the kids , to create a buffer between young and old. Our music is shock therapy to help them realize a little more of what their goals should be. We want them to realize that our music is just as spiritual as going to church. The soul must rule, not money or drugs. You should rule yourself and give God a chance...."

(-Jimi Hendrix 1968, p.201 Crosstown Traffic, Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop)

The quote above truly embraces what is at the core of Hendrix's music. Rock 'n' roll was merely his chosen medium, not the core of what his message was about. He wanted to reach especially young people in a significant way with his ideas of strong spirituality and freedom of the soul.