Humility and Work Ethic

[ LiB ]

A lot of successful independent artists think like humble rock stars. (Yes, there is such a thing.) This is a model worthy of emulation.

Jimi Hendrix said "Find yourself, then your art." George Clinton said, "Free your ass and your mind will follow." Here's some tough love: You need to know who you are, or at least be on the way, before you can "make it" as an artist. Of course, this is a task that takes a whole lifetime. But the trip can start now. Right now. Right where you're sitting.

When I started doing touring with my movie last year, I was suddenly treated like a low-rent rockstar for the first time in 10 years (10 years ago was when I actually was a low-rent rock star). People were again suddenly hanging on my every word, wanting to meet me, girls wanted to sleep with me, boys wanted to be me (and vice versa on both counts). And I got kinda cocky with it. I lost a friend of 12 years over it.

The lesson I immediately deduced (that I was too young/drunk/selfish to learn the first time around) was: It's okay for me to be treated like a rock star, but it's not okay for me to act like a rock star.

Do art for the love of the art. I've been doing art all my life. I did a monochromatic watercolor when I was three years old, called "Thunder and Lightning" and my mother, God rest her pretty soul, bought an antique frame at a yard sale, framed my humble art, and hung it on the wall. That's why I make art.

Another inspiration for me was my father, who chose to run his own company and work 80 hours a week for a salary he could have earned working 40 hours a week for someone else. He's 83 and still very physically active and busy with several cool projects.

I recently said to him, "Hey, Dad, I tell everyone I got my D.I.Y ethic from you."

He says "You couldn't have, because I still have mine!"

I was also totally influenced by the D.C. punk scene. I lived in D.C. in the early 80s, when Minor Threat was still together. I gave up college scholarships and the promise of good schools to run away from home at 19 and live in an abandoned building and sing in a band because that seemed more real to me.

I loved the teen-run D.C. record labels, the no- nonsense attitude, and idea of everyone in the band shouting backup on the chorus in true egalitarian spirit. They were pulling rabbit after rabbit out of all their hats and working their asses off ^[6.] (at art and usually also at some crappy day job). They were creating something from nothing and having a blast doing it. It wasn't about money: It was bigger than that.

^[6.] Dischord even answers my e-mail on holidays. Still. I love that. The same way that to me a birthday is just another day, and even better if I'm working my ass off. I don't party on my birthday. I just work. That's my party and my devotion to life. Labor Day? A day for me to labor. Christmas? Just an irritation because the banks and post office are closed.

[ LiB ]