Musician appreciations

From the amount of hours I have slept today (moderately ill/sad), I highly doubt I'll be sleeping for a while...so what's better than writing a new post :')

I'm actually half way through writing my new "belonging" composition for HSC English based on the musician: Elliott Smith (it's kind of an abstract, last interview that's taken place just before his death). I've definitely been connecting to a lot of his music recently, I think there's something really special about the way he makes his music and the justifications he has about what it means to be a singer/song-writer. Possibly my favourite quote of his would be from this Swedish Interview in 2006 where he says:

“The thing that’s kind of a drag about singer/songwriter – the whole tag – is that it has this connotation of being super sentimental, really manipulative lyrically, as if the person singing is trying to get everybody to feel just like them. There’s a big difference between describing…I mean you can take a picture of New York and one person looking at it will think it’s really depressing…frightening. And someone else will look at it and think of all the fun things you can do in New York – and I think songs are kind of like that”.

I think this quote is true about any of the arts. I mean don't different forms of art and writing and film define sentimentality and manipulate the onlooker? I think this is definitely the case in art...there's an essence of inescapably in art from being manipulated to feel a certain way. I mean sure, not everyone feels this way.

It's interesting because I've actually never considered Smith to be in my top 10 artists until recently. I don't know what it is about his music but his gentle vocals and guitar playing is something I probably won't tire from. There is this set I was watching earlier tonight from one of his latter concerts and fuck, he seemed like the most broken man. At one point this person calls out "get a backbone" and I literally cringe every time I hear it and wait for Smith's reaction of: "I can't be more fucking for real". It's such a raw performance.

Basically if you've kept up with me about my ramblings then I congratulate you and hope you don't feel like you've wasted maybe 2-3 mins of your life if you're a slow reader. BASICALLY, thank you to my Brother, Jack and I'm pretty sure Lachlan for showing me his music. Well I think it was them, otherwise I have no idea how I came about it because my best-friend (we have VERY similar tastes) doesn't even know who he is.

Stay gold,

Nina!

Hihi

Hihi friends,

This is probably the epitome of worst times to start a blog because of the events of these next few weeks, i.e. my major work (for art) being due on Friday and my trial HSC exams in less then a week...but what better way to release any extra thoughts and stay positive under all the stress this final year may bring? I mean sure, swimming, running and hanging with my friends is great but writing is something I think that helps. I did actually start this blog a few years ago but it never really hit off, well - I didn't really make an effort. I think this time will be different though. I'm not sure who I'll really be aiming these posts at but it's nice to know that maybe someone will arrive upon these.

So maybe you want to know a little about the blogger that is I? Well, I'm Nina and I'm into arts, languages (especialement le francais), music, writing and swimming. Often on the weekends you'll see me juggling between having new rad memories with friends and family, training (for swimming), working, studying and painting. I've set half of my garage up to be a studio and I have a few easels and paints lying around with this old stereo system...and though it's freezing in Winter - it's probably one of my favourite places. And to top it off, I write up some album reviews and eventually the best reviews are the cd's that I end up putting on repeat while painting.

I think that I should bring this post to an end, and as I leave, I give you this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7rRfKIHxU

Stay Gold,

Nina :)

p.s. If you were wondering the significance of "The Cunks"...it was my cousin's band when he was younger. I'm not sure how to change the url now!