nightswimming

Hints of ideas and seeds of inspiration often come from unexpected places. It could be a quick glance at another driver on the interstate, an ominous looking water tower in a mill village, or a chihuahua running in circles that sets the mind in motion. Perhaps there is no more expected or obvious source of inspiration than music and therefore I hesitate to even mention it here.
..."This just in, apparently music inspires people!". So while we all exhale a collective "Duh", I'll continue to explain something you already know.
I listen to music constantly. Driving, drawing, sculpting, and sometimes even while watching TV. Much of the time, though, I'm not really listening. Very often I find myself at the end of an album or a song and realize that my mind has been somewhere else. Maybe it was a word or phrase but something in the music sent my mind on a detour that lead to another detour and another until I finally come back to realize I've missed my favorite part. It is often much later while I'm creating a drawing or a sculpture that I begin to put the clues back together and realize that the ideas and thoughts I'm working to communicate visually have roots that can be traced back...in a meandering path...to the lines of a song.
There is a vulnerable honesty in the music of Clem Snide and Eef Barzelay. Often cutting to the quick, it is an uncomfortable truth that enters the ear and kickstarts the brain. It provides more questions than answers. I have enjoyed "the Snide" for years and have even leaned heavily on a line from one of their songs for an exhibition title, but with the band's apparent demise this year, I focus my attention on Mr. Barzelay. Eef headed up the band with his writing, guitar, and vocals. Along the way he's released a solo album or two and now seems poised to release his first post-Clem Snide release in late 2007 or early 2008.

If you're tired of listening to your bad music, may I suggest you pick up some Clem Snide? Perhaps I could interest you in Eef's last solo release "Bitter Honey". And if you happen to own a record company maybe you could do your good deed for the year and spend some money to help put out and promote some of the more intelligent music being created right now.
And maybe, just maybe you could indirectly help inspire people who listen to good music.