I walked through Sheffield, England this morning drinking my cappuccino. After a great week of tattooing and painting, a great show at the London, Tattoo Convention, with the award for "best of show" for Friday and Saturday, and looking forward to an interview for a feature article with the number one selling Tattoo magazine in Europe. I sat down in the city center, and heard the sweetest sounding jazz guitar being played. It a was a guy playing for pocket change on a fender strat through a little practice amp. Here's the thing... I've been playing music for 17 years, I have six guitars, a drum set, a piano and two basses. I've worked at it and never got past mediocre. Here's a guy playing for pocket change... and he'd blow me out of the water, every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Playing for change. He was so good. and playing for change. The thought overwhhelmed me of the "definition of success." I often quote, " There is nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent." What is success?... Money? Recognition? Fame? Travel? Compliments and ass kissing?... Maybe a little... maybe... All I know is this guy was ten times more successful than I have ever been at playing the guitar. I love playing the guitar. I love writing songs. I have practiced and practiced, and I couldn't do what he was doing today.
Point being... True success can't be measured by the masses, but by that inner voice that says you have done all you can do to reach as far as you can, fulfilling your own full potential... That sounds like a life long journey, doesn't it?
Salvadore Dali said, "A true artist is NOT one who is inspired, but one who inspires others... I encountered a true artist today... playing for change, he changed my life with a few chords and a, "cheers" as I dropped my pocket change into his flimsy guitar case.
To the "jazz player"... thanks,
jeff
12 comments:
what a great read. just beautiful and thoughtful, thanks for keeping everyone posted. your words mean a lot.
im apologize for my bad english (i still learn).
since i remember i like to drawing but then suddenly i stoped. i saw you and your art-work on the london tattoo convention and i was realy impressed! ...and guess what - after that time i start drawing again.
thank you so much for the inspiration and for signed one of your picture for me. you are realy a great artist! regards
dominika
This is one of the best posts I've read online in awhile...
Thanks for taking the time to share.
ciao Jeff what I can say you menage to drop a lot of color in the ever grey England...thanks...I'm looking forward for my next session....you're really an amazing artist(francescoFatCatTa2 CA)
Man I ran into a guy last year in the Boston Subway. This guy ripped as well !
Such a passionate way of showing your respect for this musician. I think that you hit the nail on this one. Success goes much deeper then what we first think of when we hear the word.
I was just talking about this same subject the other day. I even brought up that Dali quote... weird. But you can go on Youtube and see these little 8 year olds that shred and the sad part is, most of these "aspiring artists" will never make it out of their bed room with the instrument. There is so much talent around us that we don't even know about. I'm sure there are some amazing artists out there that won't even show there work. Paintings we'll never see, songs we'll never hear. But can you call these people artists when they are too selfish to let their work inspire others? I'm rambling... sorry. Either way, i come across people like this every once in a while and I too, can appreciate a good artist working for change. Hell, I've been doing it all my life!
well thought out. i've come across situations like this before and it really is a brain twister. i find myself hoping upon hopes that the person that i encountered, that effected me so deeply 'makes it'. but like you said, what really is making it? they might be content right where they're at. and what that has told me is it's a reflection of my feelings, hopes and wants and that in a way i'm trying to push that off on them. but i'd like to think it's in a positive light. i just feel they deserve more than change for what they do, what they offer...and i would like them to be able to effect many others that would never see/hear them unless they happened to pass them on the particular street that they were on at the time. i just want the world to experience what i had just experience, and to be moved like i had.
The most complicated part of learning (be it in music or in art by my estimation; which may be worth nothing) is knowing how to learn. Or learning how to see. Or to hear. Or to discover what the small piece of knowledge is that you are missing. The little thing that makes everything else click together in order for progress to occur. Unfortunately the end result of this seems to be new gaps in my information..... But at least they are new.
Bukowski wrote "the less talent they have, the more sure they are of it"...
If that's true (and it seems true to me) then maybe talent isn't really talent at all. Maybe talent is just the ability to recognize what is excellent and what is not; coupled with the drive and determination to strive toward that excellence.
And in that light, since nothing is ever good enough in the eye of the artist, perhaps the artist has little desire to bring his/her art to more people than is necessary for that person to perform it. Not wanting to share what they perceive to be their faults.
Or perhaps they have no mind for ass kissing and pandering. For politics and people.
Maybe your jazz artist prefers to know first hand the people he brings his art to. I think who receives the art has an important role in the art itself. Especially with something as personal as music. Or tattoos for that matter. Where you are selling your personal relationship with the client and their experience as much as you are selling your art.
Couldnt agree with you more man...
love your thoughts, and your blog posting so much. <3
Had similar thoughts watching artists draw portraits at the "cheap cheap" mall in bkk, thailand. Ever been?
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