Enter Spring...exit mental anguish!

So what is an "artiste" without a little anxiety? Did that sound pretentious? "Artiste"? Really? Only another songwriter/musician or writer could possible identify with having a mental block. With painters or clothes designers you're often dealing with something tangible and while I'm almost certain that it can be just as difficult to suss out inspiration, the idea of actually being able to mold and shape something physically seems much easier and attractive to me than having to "hear" something and then try to convey that in whatever form it chooses to manifest itself as. I do not mean to say that painters, designers, sculptors have it easier, not by any means! It just "seems" like it to me that their result is much more immediate than that of a songwriter or singer. We often have to wait for things to be recorded, perfected and then mixed and then released. When I was young I was incredibly prolific and wrote and recorded basically every day, now it's a bit harder and I'm uncertain as to whether it's age or just my being too difficult to please that's gotten in the way as of late. I'm actually looking into the prospect of recycling songs from my past, which wouldn't be such a bad thing considering that no one, other than good friends, have heard these old songs.

When I was young I hadn't really "lived" so books and films were the tools I used as a basis for inspiration. As I've grown older I've sort of abandoned this process and used my own life as inspiration; the current problem is that nothing really interesting is happening in my life other than a few passing moments so there isn't much in the well to be tapped. I am, however, powering through, pulling out old score sketches and re-working past works into a few things; I am working on writing a ballet in 12 movements and also writing new material for the next album which has taken forever to take shape but the main source of inspiration so far has been Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo". I am excited to have "some" direction at this point and am proceeding accordingly and with caution.

Mental anguish take a hike, this puppy is digging a new hole in the backyard!

Woof!

Harry