This past week flew by, and was spent tagging the wall at the Brooklyn Art Museum graffiti exhibit, watching Yo La Tengo and octopi at Prospect Park with Paris and AO, jumping off of chairs at frog karaoke night, celebrating Maia's birthday and learning how to cook with Chef Jinsoo.
And now for a pretty insane little story. Last week, a music producer called after seeing an OKSMM video on YouTube. He presented a respectable opportunity to head out to the west coast to work on a demo and pursue a music career. I say respectable because he's credited as the actual writer and producer behind one of the songs I've covered on video.
We had a great conversation; talking about the music industry, his past work, and creativity in general. It was not a hard sell at all, but rather a realistic look at the risks and difficulties that a successful music career would entail. We ended with the understanding that if I ever wanted to seriously pursue music, this was a possible open door. It certainly forced me to stop and think. Songwriting and performing have always been things I've done only for fun. Never a serious career decision. It's one of several creative outlets that seem to be in constant rotation, like illustration and film...but music and video work particularly well together. The typical length and progression of a song fits nicely into a bite-sized format for an online video audience.
Of course, I'm very happy with how things are going in New York, and the correct and responsible decision for now is definitely to continue down this path. I'd like to think it's not design vs. music, only limited to one choice. Original music really hasn't been a focus since doing those Linden Gilliaert songs back when Portfolio Center started, but I still pick up the guitar pretty much every day (rocking some acoustic Gnarls Barkley mixed in with Shakira this weekend...ha ha ha, bless your soul cuz' your hips don't lie...that sort of thing).
At the very least, it was incredibly cool and inspirational to talk with the guy responsible for creating one of my favorite songs. Okay Samurai started with music, and in some form or another, music will always continue to play a significant part in future creative projects. Shakira, shakira, does that make me craaaaaaaazy?
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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