I believe for people to be truly creative, or at least have the motivation to
express that creativity, they would have been missing something in their life --
be it money, family, friends, recognition, respect, love, sex, certain
experiences, etc. It varies from person to person.
I grew up middle-class in a multiethnic neighborhood in Los Angeles. We couldn't
have everything I wanted in life, but at the same time there never was a time
when my family really had to suffer financially; we always found a way. I fell
into this music-making thing during my pre-teen/early teen years. It was
something I liked, and it made me happy, and I got a real joy out of the fact
that I can create something where there was silence before.
So if you say I have no business making music because I didn't grow up in
poverty, then I'll kill you. (Okay, I won't kill you, but I'll brutally beat
you, and I'm not a normally violent person, so you know I'll make the beating
worth my while...) But yes I lack certain things in my life - which I won't go
into detail here - and making music makes me deal with them. Also, the fact that
there aren't very many people of my ethnicity out there making music, much less
writing *their own* music, makes me feel that it's important to make a
contribution. Music is not necessarily a means for attaining fame or fortune,
but a duty and responsibility. I realize for most people who are content with
the black-white music world, that sentiment might sound ridiculous, but not
everyone's black or white...
Elson
- 30 -
:. elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
:. elson@westworld.com
:. www.westworld.com/~elson
"Ever notice no one uses the term 'Information Superhighway' anymore"?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 22 2000 - 21:44:30 MET DST