Re: Creative doldrums and compressors

[angel@matisse.pet.upenn.edu (Emmanuel Angel)]

>Re: Creative doldrums
>
>Personally, I would much rather hear someone play the 12-bar blues on
>acoustic guitar that really loves it rather than some guy with an arsenal 
>of
>gear and all the looping savvy in the world who sounds like he doesn't 
>love
>anything but himself.

Amen.


>I think self-examination s very important for anyone, but it's very easy 
>to
>fall into a trap of self-obsession.   In many ways, I think it's a 
>fallacy to
>"look" for your individuality.  You already have it, just as you have a 
>sense
>of community also.  I think the key is to get out of the way and allow 
>them
>both to do what they need to do.  And what do we "do" in the meantime?  I
>dunno...maybe, try to appreciate what we love and forgive what we don't.

Kind of sounds like the "wanting to go home" dilemma played out so clearly
in the Wizard of Oz.  Ultimately, we have the power to go where we need to.
If we can stop running from ourselves, we can cultivate the Wizard Within,
so to speak.  We can see the parlor tricks (e.g. "arsenal of gear") for 
what
they are, and discover our own ... well, I don't need to take the metaphor
any further: you get the idea.

Nice insights Ken, ringing true to me.  Check out "Care of the Soul" by
Thomas Moore.  Ironically, paradoxically, it is the narcissist who is
stuck on the external (e.g. "obsess about not sounding like Fripp") who
cannot get enough of themselves.  We've all seen it, and most of us
musician types, I would wager, have more than our share of those
narcissist/obsessive qualities.

Some good wisdom emerging from this dialogue ... enjoying this forum.

Mickey

____________________________________________________________________________

Emmanuel Angel
Nuclear Medicine Physics and Instrumentation Group
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
19104

angel@matisse.pet.upenn.edu