Land Of Hope and Dreams

I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies 

In my lover's bed

With a wide open country in my eyes

And these romantic dreams in my head

In case you had any doubt, let me tell you: I love Bruce Springsteen. 

Every single thing I've been through, for better or worse, I can tell you the Bruce Springsteen song that carried me through it. He was there when I was on road trips, he was there when people I love passed away, he's here right now, he's here all the time. Without the sound of The Boss, my life means next to nothing. His music, his words, his voice; the meaning permeates through everything he does and in turn, informs everything I do. This might sound insane or obsessive but hey--- I talk the same way about Chaplin and Wilder, this is why I do what I do. This is why I've blogged manically for three years, it's why I write, direct, and breath. If you're not gonna love something to the very limit of how much it can be loved, then what's the friggin' point? That's why people who don't commit to relationships suck, because they're not willing to go on the full journey and see where they land. 

Springsteen's new album has just been released - and of course, I'm loving it. And yes, I'm biased. Bruce is like God if you're religious, or the love of your life if you can't get over her, he's everything and everywhere. It's good just to hear him again, to see him continuing the dialogue he's been having with his fans for over 40 years.

But Clarence Clemons died. 

If you know anything about Bruce Springsteen you know exactly what that means. That's why we love Bruce, because he's a true artist. He didn't just release a bunch of songs and get famous. Instead, he stuck around for the long haul. He sang our lives, our sorrows, our dreams ("Born To Run," "The River"), and he guided us through September 11th ("The Rising",) and the Iraq War ("Devils & Dust"). He doesn't leave us alone. He didn't take the money from "Born In The USA" and become a celebrity, instead he kept focus and remained an ARTIST. 

There's a Springsteen song I have always LOVED called "Land of Hope and Dreams". It was debuted during the reunion tour in 1999. Later on he'd do heartbreaking solo acoustic versions during the "Devils and Dust" tour. But he never cut an album version. 

Until now. 

The new album version is a celebration. I don't know how to describe it. It's part gospel, part rock 'n roll, part something else I can't even describe. Like so much of Springsteen's work, it feels like an ongoing part of the journey. I quoted the song in a 2009 article I wrote called "It's Now Or Never". Little did I know that three years later, Clarence would be dead and there'd finally be an album version. 

Here's where your heart breaks. 

When you hear the saxophone. Clarence is on the record. 

He passed away, we thought it was over, but here he is. We hear him. And wow. It's unmistakable. The thing about Clarence Clemons on sax is that it's a distinct VOICE. You hear HIM. Who he was, who he IS, and what he means to us. The legacy he left behind lives on. Literally, LIVES ON. You listen to this track and when you hear the saxophone your spirit soars and your mind flies and you hear that same sound that has been carrying you excitedly and determinedly through life this whole entire time. 

That's what it is to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. That's why we crave it. That's why we pack out the stadiums. 

The great thing about "Land of Hopes and Dreams" is how it includes EVERYBODY. 

This train
Carries saints and sinners

This train

Carries losers and winners

This Train

Carries whores and gamblers

This Train

Carries lost souls

This Train

Dreams will not be thwarted

This Train

Faith will be rewarded

This Train

Hear the steel wheels singin'

This Train

Bells of freedom ringin'

This Train

Carries broken-hearted

This Train

Thieves and sweet souls departed

This Train

Carries fools and kings

This Train

All aboard

The new version has a beautiful refrain of "People Get Ready" at the end. A perfect ending. That's the sad thing about the artists, things end. The band as we knew it, is forever changed; Clarence is gone. But do things ever really end? Bruce Springsteen has kept the story going. 

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The Friendly Pencil - A Short Collaborative Story.

Let's watch creativity happen right in front of our eyes! I am going to provide the first and final sentence of a short story, and the rest will be created by people in the blogosphere. 

Each person nominated will write one sentence, and then pass the baton on to a different blogger. The 9th person will finally link back to here, where we will have a complete story. I have chosen Jayne at Surburban Solioquy to write part 2, then she will nominate someone to do part 3, and so on, and till we return to this page again!

1. Angela was convinced that her pencil was the friendliest pencil in the whole entire world. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. "That's why I'm the friendliest pencil in the world," screamed Pencil, the pencil.

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The Creativity Discipline

To function optimally, you need to shut out distractions. Turn off your phone, stay away from Facebook and do your creative work. Brain research has shown that it takes twenty five minutes to fully regain focus after giving in to a distraction.

Make your creative work your priority. It needs to be more important than the phone bleep or vibration.

You need to focus entirely on the work at hand. This applies to all creative disciplines.

PARADOXICALLY----

Most 'hunches' and 'insights' come when you're busy doing trivial tasks.

When you've been pounding away at the keyboard for six hours, or when the scene you're acting  in is on take 37 and you're not improving, chances are you need a break. You need to text a friend, or get some fresh air, or kick a ball around.

When you focus too hard, for too long, you get stuck in a rigid way of thinking. Fresh insight, literally, needs fresh air.

The best work doesn't come under stress or anxiety. So don't force ideas, let things go and take a walk.

SO YOU'RE SAYING FOCUS ABSOLUTELY, BUT ALSO THE OPPOSITE?

Strangely, yes.

The problem most of the time is that we don't reach the stage where our minds can be creative, because instead we focus on the incoming text message, or we convince ourselves that the washing up must be done immediately.

Creativity must be the priority, it needs to become a strong habit, just like checking your phone. Habits get hard-wired in the brain. They become second nature. Creativity is a habit which must be nurtured, supported and prioritized.

Yet compulsive, obsessive thinking will kill your creative drive. We get hooked on instant ideas. Ever been busy doing the work when suddenly your brain flashes up a much better idea? You switch ideas, but then soon lose interest. By the time you return to the original work your attention is gone, and you opt instead for coffee and Twitter. The problem is that we get obsessed with ideas and plans and success, and even with our passions themselves; writing, directing, acting, etc.

THE WAY FORWARD

Is to focus on your creative work and do it when you say you'll do it. Commit to the work and see it through.

But also, find the time to step away, to do other things, to be an explorer. Life is to be lived, and you need to be able to look at a tree as a tree, without wondering if there's a way you can write the tree into your screenplay.

If you can truly TRULY let go of your compulsive creativity, then a more organic creativity will rise within you. You just need to trust it.

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THE WOMAN IN BLACK Script Pitch Meeting

The WOMEN IN BLACK pitch meeting.

WRITER

I have an idea.

EXEC

Fire away.

WRITER

A man walks around a haunted house.

EXEC

Okay...

WRITER

What do you think?

EXEC

I like it. Carry on.

WRITER

What do you mean?

EXEC

Continue your pitch.

WRITER

That's it. A man walks around a haunted house.

EXEC

Will anything else happen?

WRITER

No.

EXEC

You want us to make a piece of pointless garbage?

WRITER

How is that different to usual?

EXEC

We cover it up by attaching stars.

WRITER

You could use the Harry Potter guy.

EXEC

He's about 15.

WRITER

We can make him look a little bit older.

EXEC

How?

WRITER

Give him a tiny bit of facial hair.

EXEC

I'm not sure he's capable of that. I'll call the special effects guys.

WRITER

We could also give him a kid.

EXEC

I'd rather just pay him money like usual.

WRITER

I mean his character could have a kid, it will make him seem older.

EXEC

This totally changes your idea.

WRITER

How's this: a manboy has a child. He goes to a haunted house and walks around for a while. The End.

EXEC

I'm greenlighting this. 

PLEASE NOTE: This dialogue is of course fictional, and the film is actually an adaptation of a book, where I assume a character who looked a lot like Harry Potter walked around a haunted house for 300 pages or so and then it ended.

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Dancing Queen

There I was, heading towards the platform at Tottenham Court Road, and I could hear the sound of a busker playing "Dancing Queen" on saxophone.

A feeling rises up in me, I don't even know what it is. Maybe it's the memory of hearing it at my Aunt's wedding when I was 8 or maybe it's just the pure fun and joy of the song itself. Anyways, I crave it like crazy 'cos what this guy is doing sounds so much like LIFE! Isn't that why we love art? Isn't this why we continually want to find music that resonates? I'm making my way home after seeing 'The Woman In Black', and it sucked so bad! Such an awful movie. I thought I'd get all filled up on a movie but it turns out I'd get my fix from a busker doing an ABBA tune.

And then his next track: "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. Hell yeah! That's one of those songs you really hate but really love. And it reminds me of Dito's movie "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" and it reminds me of every time me and my friends have played air-sax to the tune.

The tube train rolled into the station, but I didn't board it! I ran upstairs to get closer to the music. Music can really suck sometimes, just turn on the radio and you'll see. We get our fixes in different places. There are three drunk girls opposite me on the train right now, they're being obnoxious and loud, singing some song (I think they're Brazilian, hard to tell). As much as they're pissing me off, I can't help but enjoy it a little, because they're singing and finding their fix. Music that means something to them, it's come from their culture. Or maybe they're singing gibberish and are high on cocaine, who knows! But it sounds to me like they're loving it.

Once upon a time they invented the camera and the radio (I don't mean the drunk Brazilian girls), and humans craved it, and they trusted that they'd be entertained, they'd get their natural highs from the novelty, from the artists. But then big business took over, it was all about singles sales and box office receipts. You had to please everybody to get seen by anybody, or you went underground and played a different game to the system.

Now it's blown right open. People don't even know where to rent a movie or download a track anymore - the whole thing is in chaos. We go to the cinema, we listen to the radio, we see the stars being interviewed on TV, but how often do we stumble upon magic? How often does it resonate through to our very core? Hardly ever. Don't look to the old safe bets, don't expect the chart music to give you what you need. You have to go to different places, you have to be open, you have to go underground, just as I did, literally, tonight.

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