Add "blogger" to David Byrne's repertoire

"If I were David Byrne, I'd go to galleries and not be too concerned
Well I would have a cup of coffee and find my surroundings quite amusing."
-Crash Test Dummies

Like most everyone else, I first became aware of David Byrne through his work in Talking Heads.  Unfortunately, it would take me until my adult years to appreciate that music.

Now, I am not only a fan of Talking Heads but of Byrne's collaborative work with Brian Eno.  I was blessed to receive Everything That Happens Will Happen Today as a Christmas gift last December.  The disc didn't leave my car's lackluster CD player for nearly a week.  In addition to being brilliant when it comes to music, art, and design, David Byrne is also a compelling blogger.  And why shouldn't he have a blog?  People give blogs to their cats, seems only fair that someone with intelligent things to say be given such a platform.  But all in all, this guy is beginning to make me feel like a floundering oaf.  I like him, anyway, though.

You can check out his blog on his web site.  Byrne's last blog post was December 2011.  The subject was "collective creation," a concept that Byrne paints a less than enthusiastic portrait of at times but is hopeful for just the same.  The blog post is not only as insightful as you'd imagine, it's lengthy.  Far larger in scope than most of mine.  He even makes an astute comparison between collective creation and the cut-up method of Burroughs and Gysin.  I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise seeing as how Byrne has used the same method himself on a occasion.  Observe his experiment with Consequences, a sort of pre-1918 sort of "Mad Libs:"

"Scary Bob met voluptuous Alice at the zoo. He said, "This is delicious.", she said, "Hit me baby one more time." He gave her a red rose, she gave him cholera. The consequence was that they eloped to Mexico. The world said, "the femme fatale will always win". "


See, look at that.  Tantalizing prose and he's not even really trying.
He goes on to discuss the "hive mind" notion and cites a case where scientists poured concrete into an ant hill and then dug out around the structure.  From that process you can see the amazing structures these creatures create all well beyond our eyes.  I encourage you to scroll down and take a look.

In addition to the music pages you might expect, you can find galleries of David Byrne's artwork on his site.  I sincerely advise anyone who is an artist of any kind of bent to look it over.  He's the kind of artist that just makes you want to do...well, better.   To dig deep and be as creative as you can possibly be and to not remit in your commitment to the work.  It's work like his that shakes me about and forces me to see just how far my blog has to go.



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