March 2010
1 post
Is it the framed out house that makes me love this...
February 2010
2 posts
Getting it unblocked
25 professional creative folks describe how to get it moving.
2. Don’t all sit in a meeting and somehow expect that something will pop into your collective conscious. Don’t read the design press, don’t go to google images or youtube. Don’t force it – get out of the studio. Go to the theatre, go to gigs, go to museums, take time off work, go for a walk, stop looking at your computer, turn off...
The Rolling Stones listen to the Rolling Stones
I have nothing further to add.
January 2010
1 post
December 2009
5 posts
Why is James Franco on General Hospital?
Because he wants to be!
I have been obsessed with performance art for over a decade-ever since the Mexican performance artist Guillermo Gomez-Pena came to visit my class at Cal Arts summer school. I finally took the plunge and experimented with the form myself when I signed on to appear on 20 episodes of “General Hospital” as the bad-boy artist “Franco, just Franco.” I...
IS THERE ENOUGH MAGIC?
The public radio story that made my wife cry this morning was Euan Kerr’s interview with Jason Reitman on Minnesota Public Radio.
Especially this part:
He’s the son of Ivan Reitman, who’s produced and directed a slew of hit movies, including “Animal House” and “Ghostbusters.” As a youngster Jason was interested in film, but he knew as the son of a famous...
Oh my. Look! People came to the party!
Welcome. Dip is over there. We also have Fresca.
And if there is information you wish to share about the creative process, you can email it to me at johnmoe@hotmail.com.
And thank you.
Malkmus as non-singer
I was walking in to work and Stephen Malkmus’s “Jenny and the Ess-Dog” came up on shuffle. Why, I wondered, is there such a unique and forceful quality to Malkmus’s vocals? Here’s an excerpt from a New York rock blog interview circa 1999:
**
Malkmus: (Laughs) I don’t even think my voice is really good. NY Rock: That’s an odd statement coming from a...
November 2009
10 posts
The A-11 Offense
Creativity in high school football as told by reporter/genius Roman Mars on my old radio show, Weekend America. See, this is what creativity is: you have a situation, you have limitations, you have resources, you have brains and heart.
David Hockney has an iPhone
It’s always there in my pocket, there’s no thrashing about, scrambling for the right color. One can set to work immediately, there’s this wonderful impromptu quality, this freshness, to the activity; and when it’s over, best of all, there’s no mess, no clean-up. You just turn off the machine. Or, even better, you hit Send, and your little cohort of friends around...
Bjork in film →
How "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came together
(from Wikipedia)
Cobain did not begin to write “Smells Like Teen Spirit” until a few weeks before recording started on Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, in 1991. When he first presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the main riff and the chorus vocal melody,which bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed at the time as “ridiculous.” In response, Cobain made...
WatchA movie that is intentionally old-fashioned looking relied on some pretty sophisticated computer networking to be made. How can one not love the “Live to Wes” box that you can click?
(via kottke)
The Postal Service
One of my favorite bands is barely a band at all. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello who performs and records as Dntel formed The Postal Service after the former recorded some vocals for the latter’s record in 2001. They barely knew each other and lived in different cities but thought there was something going on creatively between them. So what they did was record...
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas, and Me (well, Neil...
Inspired by the Neil Young song, “Pocahontas”.
Pocahontas - Neil Young
It’s one of two songs I can play on guitar. Not well. It’s a fanciful bit of a song with Native American themes and Neil daydreaming and toward the end he sings about hanging out with Pocahontas and Marlon Brando.
Artist John Transue took those lyrics and illustrated them using the Disney...
Conan on comedy and music
“Music and comedy are so linked,” O’Brien said earlier, as he walked up and down the halls of his offices, playing one of his many guitars. “The rhythm of comedy is connected to the rhythm of music. They’re both about creating tension and knowing when to let it go. I’m always surprised when somebody funny is not musical.” O’Brien smiled. “And, you know, Johnny loved to play the drums.” - NYT
Graham Parker talks about getting his band to...
He said I can’t do anything with these people. They got so much ego. That’s what he said, they, you know, it’s all about them. It’s not about the song. I said but you know you’ve worked with the, the Stones, Jack. You, you know, what are you talking about? He said the Stones have no ego. It blew my mind. I was working with these guys you know. We’re not exactly...