It used to be so simple. Creativity and originality were nice little things that most of us could wrap our heads around. If you had some sort of talent — music, drawing, editing, writing, or whatever, it was relatively easy to impress … at least that’s the way I remember it. While the Interenet is one of my favorite things in the whole World, it has upped the ante in some amazing ways. The notions of art, music, editing, writing, storytelling, and everything else in the creative space has been blown wide open by the instant access to all things that standing out in the global crowd seems harder than ever.
Take for example the two person band who made this out of control original video for youtube, Pompalmoose. I actually remember when it was enough to just be able to sing, or play, or write, or edit, or anything else. If you watch this and some of their related videos I think you’ll get a similar feeling that I have — that the Internet and technology (in general) has turned creative expression into a much more complex thing. Maybe I am overstating the output, but these two have some heavy skills — skills I see more and more of our students showing up with. The idea related to what it takes to express oneself has been changed and that landscape continues to shift under our feet. Did I mention I love the Internet.
After reading and watching this, I just bought their album of covers from iTunes. I’ll probably get their other album eventually.
We sat and watched all their youtube videos tonight with the kids — even Max was all about it. Amazing that people can self publish, get noticed, and build potential wealth via our free platforms is simply amazing. There is no doubt one has to be really good to get noticed, but once noticed the social web can take over and make everything else fall into place. Crazy.
The first thing that strikes me is that I’m reminded how the song itself is still brilliant after all these years. EW&F had it going on. Second, regardless of the video work, these are talented musicians who do a very nice job with the song. Lastly, you can see the potential of grassroots video and editing in the hands of such talented and creative people. A video that 15 years ago would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. Very cool.
Now, I off to go listen to some EW&F. Perhaps some Brothers Johnson as well.