BOB LEFSETZ on being an ARTIST

When Bob Lefsetz' muse in turned on, there's nobody better than him. A few days back he wrote a post called 'Artists'. Here are some key points.

"As a result of crass commercialism, primarily MTV and now the Silicon Valley rush to riches, our vision of art has been skewed. Money comes first. It’s readily available to he who succeeds, and there are short cuts to ubiquity. But most people employing these short cuts are not art."

"So there are two camps.

One camp is peopled by aggressive individuals who want in. This is the reality television crowd. How can I make myself into a character, push ahead of so many others and get screen time? Remember the art kids in high school? They never grubbed for grades, they never fought to get ahead, they questioned this herd mentality/behavior, they hung back."

"So we have a world where the aggressive, normal people and the desperate poor will do anything to make it, get plastic surgery, change their soul and their sound to fit the desires of the man, of the system.

Ain’t that what "American Idol", "The Voice" and "X Factor" are? Do it my way, I’m an expert. The judge/advisor is no different from the principal, and if you think the art kids listened to the principal, you were home-schooled and have no clue."

"But don’t confuse commercialism with artistry. Most people are just passing through. Their stardom is brief, they’re puppets whose strings are pulled. When their moment is through, they get desultory day jobs or go back to college and move up the corporate ladder. An artist can’t do this. He can go to college to prepare himself to be an artist, but not a doctor, lawyer or manager. And he continues to create irrelevant of success, it’s in him."

"With the crumbling of old institutions, the time of the artist has returned. With less money in music, only the artists persevere, because they’re not in it for the money. There’s a reason why Joni Mitchell is an icon and Vanilla Ice is a joke."

Make sure you read the whole thing here.

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Putting The Hours In

"I never write anything terrible, I'm too many miles in."

-Bob Lefsetz

Every single person you meet has an idea. Almost as many have talent. What I know is that all the successes I've had come not from some magical place of talent, but from working hard. When you're still writing three hours after you stopped writing, when you're rehearsing three weeks before rehearsals start and nine minutes before the first day of shooting, when you're writing ideas, or filming ideas, rather than telling people about them; that's when it comes together. Every time you share an idea in a pub, or coffee house, or on Facebook chat; ask yourself if your time could be better spent elsewhere. 

I wanted to be a professional footballer. But I hated being on the pitch every rainy-and-cold Sunday morning. David Beckham hated the cold too, but he loved the way it felt when his right-foot connected perfectly with the ball. He loved it so much he never left the training ground. He never noticed it raining. He moved to L.A. and married the pop star and won all the trophies, not because he was good looking or because he was a celebrity but because he stayed out in the rain every Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday. He still does now. If you're not out there in the pissing down rain on a freezing cold night, every single day of your life, then you're not going to make it. 

"My secret is practice."

-David Beckham

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