Silent Crossing– At Principle Gallery
All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations. But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours.
― James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues
I wasn’t going to write anything this morning. I am feeling a little distracted by other things plus I am just super busy here in the studio. But there was a convergence of elements that changed my mind.
First, while listening to music right after I came into the studio, Little Girl Blue from Janis Joplin came on. I’ve written a bit here in recent times about finding catharsis of some sort in my work and, for me, few singers create that feeling of catharsis with their work like Janis Joplin.
Her performances often remind me so much of the passage above from James Baldwin, which is in itself a triumph. You don’t hear her music– you feel it. And that’s because, like Baldwin writes, she is dealing with something pulled from the void, something terrible and painful, and transforming it into a gift for those who can feel it.
That is indeed a triumph of catharsis.
And that’s what I needed this morning. That’s all I got. Give a listen then let yourself out. And don’t slam the damn door.
Redtree Times 