"Don't Be Frightened to Display Your Talents"

is an oblique strategy by Brian Eno. The Evangenitals recording engineer Tracy Chisholm has a deck of these in the studio. The Evangenitals, the Los Angeles band I play drums for, spent the whole weekend in the recording studio.

Because it was so ridiculously exciting and inspiring I thought I would share with you a revelation that I had about the recording process. When I thought about it deeper it really has to do with the creative process as a whole. Natalie Goldberg says in her incredible book WRITING DOWN THE BONES,

"First thoughts have tremendous energy. It is the way the mind first flashes on something. The internal censor usually squelches them, so we live in the realm of second and third thoughts, thoughts on thought, twice and three times removed from the direct connection of the first fresh flash."

I remember hearing that Kerouac frowned upon revision and I found this in his biography at biblio.com:

"Kerouac's method was heavily influenced by the prolific explosion of Jazz, especially the Bebop genre established by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and others. Later, Kerouac would include ideas he developed in his Buddhist studies. He called this style Spontaneous Prose, a literary technique akin to stream of consciousness. Kerouac's motto was 'first-thought=best thought'"

The power of first thought energy is absolutely crucial in EVERY ART FORM. My revelation was that fearless resilience is needed to go from, WHEN THE RECORDING LIGHT IS ON, being free, in fearless first thought rapture of the timeless zone to, WHEN YOU ARE HEARING PLAYBACK OF THE RECORDING, being brutally honest, objective and analytic.  Then being able to switch between modes effortlessly and quickly with a SILENT EGO.

Many people develop a negative relationship with recording (making art) because they remain in their critical, analytic brain while they are creating. The critical brain annihilates first thought energy and the spontaneous joy of invention and cosmic mischief.

It is essential to be able to return to that PRIMAL and INNOCENT state when in the act of creation. This will free you from the fear of radiating your true and authentic self and the utterly terrifying depths of your latent talent.

The Freedom to Create: Having a setup

David Lynch wrote a book called "CATCHING THE BIG FISH." It's Lynch's equivalent to THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS. There is a chapter called "HAVING A SETUP." This chapter talks about how crucial it is for an artist to have a studio, a place that is prepared with the tools and square footage to put your ideas into the ACTION and CREATION. He says,

It's crucial to have a setup, so that, at any given moment, when you get an idea, you have the place and the tools to make it happen.

I'm posting this quote today out of pride, because my band, the Evangenitals, just put money down on a lockout studio in Silver lake. In addition to being able to rehearse 24/7, I will also be able to teach drums and tabla there. Most importantly I/WE will have a setup, a place to execute ART. (double meaning?)

One thing about drummers is that their "PROCESS" can be insanely annoying to neighbors who don't understand why you would want to practice straight eighth notes on a snare drum for one hour straight :) The crux of my mission statement is through music to facilitate "THE EXPANSION OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS IN EVERY LIVING BEING." Coltrane himself said it's about UPLIFTING PEOPLE.

That was my heartache about the drums; "out of context" when you are trying to rope a complex pattern into music, the process can be ugly, loud, and hard on the listener. Now that I have a studio with 24 hour access 7 days a week I can play as loud as I need and experiment with every possible dynamic and idea (screaming into megaphones etc :)) without the danger of invading someone's sanctity. That is a beautiful thing. That is freedom. The freedom to create. FIND IT!