Thanks, Dave Grohl.  Your new video, "What Drives Us", has hit a nerve.

Essentially, it's a rock and roll documentary, jumping off from the premise of doing the time, the hard way, to make it as a band.  Get in the van and do what only young people can do...I've never been in a band, never been in a van trying to make a living, but this odyssey of pursuing a creative urge, a necessity to convey a message to an audience, spans far more than getting your garage band to the world stage.  It addresses the essential ember of the creative - the absolute necessity of getting what is in you out, and finding someone who needs that message to live their life more fully.

This motivation, and the requirements to follow thru, are expertly explained.  And, it is expansive in its application beyond musicians.  Whoever wants to change the world has to endure the meat grinder which awaits them, built to tear them down and not to lift them up.  

Yesterday, while stuck in Chattanooga traffic, a given if you travel interstate thru the city, Richard Winham was doing his usual magic on WUTC, 88.1 FM.  He was talking with a musician whose name I can't remember, listening to some material recorded live for the show.  When I first tuned in, I thought, "Oh shit!  That's Col. Bruce Hampton on my radio!!"  Apparently, the interviewee was an apostle of the Col., a blues musician with some excellent licks.  

I'm a huge fan of Col. Bruce Hampton.  In recounting shows seen, he is in my top 5 most seen musicians.  All of his shows were monumental experiences.  He never got out of the van.  He was a grinder, and left his fingerprints on modern rock and roll.

Then, the conversation began, and the interview explored the idea of not playing music, but conveying one's soul thru one's performance.  The question was something to the effect of how long how you been playing before you were truly expressing yourself thru your instrument?  The answer took awhile in coming.  The interviewee, a guitarist, stumbled before saying a decade or more.  Their discussion of how some artists can connect an existential drive through their work really put me in deep think mode.  

That's the ticket, I thought.  It isn't the sounds you're making, the motions, the form, it's a matter of getting it out of your head to others.  That is goal number one.  Goal number two is connecting with someone, even one person, and having an audience no matter how small.  If you can connect with one person, improve their day or change their life, you have succeeded, no matter your medium. 

Back to Dave's film - The gist of it is, to succeed, you have to get in the van.  You don't do this thinking it's the path to stardom, but because you have to.  You have to connect with an audience to get whatever it is out of your soul and into the world.  To accomplish that, you are willing to travel thousands of miles under ridiculously bad conditions for the sake of the mission.

Back to me - If there is any medium thru which I can express my creativity it is writing.  If I am to satisfy that itch, I have to write.  Write to empty rooms.  Write to my deceased dog.  Write to the lover that left me for good reasons I didn't understand at the time.  Write to the experiences which shaped me, which might allow others some comfort knowing they aren't alone.

The greatest joy I have ever known is having an audience which appreciates my effort, based on my unique take on a situation.  I know, that's pretty esoteric.  But what it means to me today is pretty important.  Basically, I have to get in that van, and beat it out.  Keep going.  Do those gigs.  Just write and put it out there.  If it sticks, it sticks.  90% of it won't, but if its not done, I'll never know.