Making More Room for Creativity...

Before I went back to school to once-and-for-all finish my bachelor's degree, and continuing for the next 4 years or so, my life was full up with creative people.  I was living, at times, with my friends Kelsi and Nicole--a musician and an artist, and later moved in with another roommate, also a musician and founder of her own record label.  There were always musicians and artists hanging around or passing through our homes.


And much of that time, I was completely immersed in the English Department at SJSU, which had recently begun to offer an MFA in Creative Writing, so there was a great deal of writing going on there.  During those years I attended literary readings, plays, local artists' and musicians' shows, and open mics.  And surrounded by all those people's dedication to their respective arts, I found it pretty natural to remain, often, inspired myself.  It was a really nice period of my life and one I've missed from time to time.


There were also times when I convinced myself that the last thing I needed to do was to surround myself again with more dreamers like myself.  The thing about people who are drawn to the Arts and Humanities is that they really can talk a WHOLE lot of bullshit.  We could bullshit and dream and speculate and weave saucy tales all day long, live on subsistance salaries, pray/eek/grit our ways through every month's bills and stop so long to smell the roses, then talk/write/paint about the roses that we don't even notice when they've dried up and winter's come.


What I really needed was balance.  I needed to move forward with my adult life and career, yes.  But I took it a bit too far and decided to nix the creative elements (and people) from my life entirely.  In recent months, I've been happy for any opportunities to welcome inspiration back in.


Which is how I ended up at Rosie McCann's with Kelsi Monday night.  I learned (thank you, Facebook) that the band of an old acquaintance of ours from my carefree college years (who used to play at an open mic we frequented) was playing down there, and I thought going would be a nice way to close out the holiday celebrations.


So Timeless, Jonah Johnson's project, is nothing if not inspiring.  The group (a revolving kind of collective comprised of Jonah, his sister, and a gang of talented musicians including a brass section) is so full of positive, uplifting energy that even an overcrowded dance floor of people at snooty-ass Santana Row couldn't help but smile and be nice to each other.  It probably helps that most of those folks were lured there by So Timeless itself, which tends to attract other positive people, believers in what you put out there coming back to you.


It was really nice to be there with Kelsi, too.  I love going to hear music with her because we can dance and talk, but also just listen together, appreciating specific instruments or beats or whatever.  The highlight of the night as far as music goes may have been this hip-hop/jazz/soul/r&b group's take on The Cure's "I Will Always Love You," which I really wish I had a recording of.


The highlight of the night apart from the music was the simple act of remembering that creativity and inspiration are ALWAYS there when you are ready to embrace them.  I used to associate those days of readings and concerts and the open mic where we met Jonah and bullshitting about all of the above with my youth, time-capsuled off and traded in for more responsible endeavors.  But that thought itself is bullshit.  I want to live the rest of my life surrounded by inspiring people who aim to put something new out into the world.


We can't all be that way, for sure.  Some people were born to appreciate the art that's put into the world and not necessarily create it (sometimes I feel I belong in that category), but surrounding myself with creators enriches even the act of appreciating those creations.  When I see the people behind the efforts, learn about what inspires and drives them, and sometimes even get to witness the creating, I think I am more open, less critical; I see and hear things I may not have otherwise.


That also makes me more forgiving of my own efforts and more able to just start.  Just START something to see where it may go.  When I'm closed off and critical, I'm fearful of even the starting.


So I offer up a toast to Monday's outing, and Kelsi and I have pledged to do these sorts of things more often together--to take our minds off the concerns of parenting and (in her case) marriage for a spell and get back into the realm of creativity.  I'm beginning to believe that--if there is anything real about the concept of a Fountain of Youth, the realm of creativity is where it dwells...


Here's a really sweet So Timeless song as a parting gift (gotta wonder why the horns are here when I don't actually hear any in the song, but they are usually actually *playing*, hahaha) :)

The GGA Project -- Day #84 "We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do..."

My Dad works for one of those companies that buys season tickets to the home games of local teams and then, ostensibly, distributes them to customers as a way of sweetening deals or gently guiding on-the-fence decision makers in the desired direction.  If you work for or know anybody who works for such a company, you know that these tickets are not always used for the intended purposes, particularly when coveted, hard-to-otherwise-come-by tickets are up for grabs (Dodgers v. Giants anyone?).  So it is I came to be invited on the outing that would be

Today's New Activity: Attending a College Basketball Game

I went to college, sure.  But for some reason I was never interested, or was just too broke or busy to attend the games of my own school's teams.  But I've always enjoyed watching sports, and any time I can come upon free tickets I am happy to use them, especially when teams I like are involved.

Today the folks, the monkey and I went to see Cal vs. Stanford (big rivalry of course) in the last game of the season.  Neither team is very good this year, but according to their records they were pretty evenly matched. And since my Dad's company is one of Cal's sponsors (now that I think about it, maybe the season tickets were a thank you gift...hmmmm, not sure about that), the tickets always include entrance to a pre-game mini-banquet with hors d'oeuvre and an open bar.  Score!

I was rooting for Cal, not only because I've always kinda liked them, but at one point I daydreamed about going there for grad school.  I have friends who are alums of both schools, but definitely the deciding factor is the fact that my lawyer went to Berkeley...the lawyer who is helping me get divorced.  Yeah, so I'm kinda grateful to Cal.

Since this was my first college basketball game (in person anyway), I didn't know what to expect, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.  The energy inside the arena was purely electric.  I always forget until I'm in the situation what a life-affirming experience it is to be in a stadium full of fans when the home team is winning.

Cal was on fire today, all over defensive and offensive rebounds, stealing and dunking like nobody's business.  I even got to see an alley-oop.  And you haven't seen a stadium light up until you've seen a visiting team's play result in a stolen pass and alley-oop for the home team.  What a rush!

It was also entertaining to watch the Cal band/pep squad, which had this synchronized "shame shame" finger pointing thing they do whenever any Stanford player committed a foul.  Cute.

The cheer squads were fun to watch too, though Stanford's markedly less so.  They were a bit prissy for my taste, what with the white bows in their hair and white gloves and their blah choreography.  And maybe it's just me but I don't find a tree to be a very compelling mascot, even a dancing one.

I know that a lot of people get annoyed by the worship of youth culture that happens in this country, and I can understand that.  It's really lame that most female actors are out of work once their youthfulness has lapsed, and it's really lame that young people don't revere, respect, and honor the wisdom of the elderly as they should.

But those unfortunate elements aside, I think there is room for the "worship" of youth culture and the respect and admiration of the elderly.  To be in that arena, full of cheering young students (along with plenty of older alums) was to be reminded of all the good that is vibrant and alive in the youth.  I think we *should* look to the youth for inspiration.  I think we should feed off their energy, their hopefulness, their almost total lack of disillusionment and jadedness.  I'm not trying say that college students are naive, and certainly not the smarties that get into Berkeley, but I remember my college years, when I was on top of my academic game and every day studying the subjects I loved, to be a time full of the feeling of near-invincibility.  Nobody could have convinced me back then that I wasn't going to do amazing things and find all the success I ever dreamed of in life.

And it's a shame that I ever came to feel different about anything.  Those fresh young college kids are me and you, without all the years of bullshit that followed.  I, for one, am reclaiming that foothold on hope and dreaming big dreams and being unshakable in my determination to indulge in every last honey-laced droplet of joy this life has to offer.

Who new a Cal basketball game would give birth to such inspiration?

:)