I just had a very bad experience at the Art Bar Reading Series.
On the night of September 6 I went there with my guitar like I have many times. Like I did at least fifty times on the open stage before I was invited to do a feature fifteen years ago. In this case I was doing it for the first time in a year because I ride a bike and it's a hassle to carry a guitar to poetry readings except on special occasions.
The special occasion on this night was that I was not going to be back for a while since I was starting school again next week and so I announced on the open stage that I was going to finish my visits with a song. I did a three minute presentation of a poem in song form.
Afterwards the host for this night, Rudy Fearon is his name, came up to the mike and said basically "I want to make it clear that we don't want people to come with guitars and play on the open stage like Christian just did."
I said "You don't think song lyrics are poetry?"
He didn't quite answer my question, but rather reaffirmed that what I did was "against the rules" and that it I have a tendency to break the rules and that such behaviour was not welcome.
I felt both insulted for myself and on behalf of poetry, which before the printing press was mostly all sung. I responded by saying "Go fuck yourself!"
He made some threat about barring me from the Art Bar Reading Series.
I have seen features even recently bring musical instruments into their performance. Robert Priest usually brings his guitar and does at least one song. Plenty of people sing acapela on the open stage, Aton Crouton has brought a track to rap to, and Allen Sutterfield, the founder of the Art Bar Reading Series performed with musical accompaniment a few months ago when he featured there. As I said before, I used to bring my guitar every week when the Art Bar Reading Series was at Csardas and the Imperial Pub. I got the opposite of complaints from the hosts about it, and when I was invited to do a feature by Pierre Labbé I'm sure he knew I would bring my guitar that night as well. The night of my feature I performed one fifteen minute song and one five minute song with my guitar. I was also accompanied by my band-mate Brian Haddon on the recorder.
Have the rules changed? Are there even clear cut rules about this? I'm confused.
If everyone in charge is in agreement that guitars are not welcome then I can simply accept that I don't want to be around such a restrictive definition of poetry imposed on people who perform for free.
If on the other hand this is just about Rudy, and he's misrepresented the rules, then I need to get a public apology from him, into the microphone. Because really, the audience also needs an apology for this.
Christian, it is not about the rules. They just do not like you or your singing, or both! Time to move to friendlier universe.
ReplyDeleteSo if we experience unfair treatment from people, the solution is not to demand fairness, but rather to move on? I have no problem with leaving the Art Bar behind if they reveal themselves clearly to be a hopeless case, but I'm giving them an opportunity to redeem themselves.
ReplyDeleteMaryna, you of all people know the value of standing up for your rights. I saw the pictures of you protesting at Queens Park about lack of help for autistic children and I was very proud of you.
The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.
ReplyDeleteAlbert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
I believe that thoughts and beliefs create our individual experiences and realities. You get what you concentrate upon.
I suggested move more in mental and not geographical sense.
But again Christian, we are all free to choose.
It's a surprisingly common belief that we get what we deserve. There are plenty of negative people out there to whom nothing bad happens.
ReplyDeleteThat night I brought my guitar feeling very positive. I sang my poem "God Goes to My Head". People liked it as far as I could tell. I did nothing to cause the host to get up and announce to everyone that by playing my guitar I was deliberately breaking the rules. I was effectively declared to be an asshole.
Unless you're talking about karma. Another popular belief with no evidence to back it up. You don't really think that everything negative that's happened to you and your son are yours and his fault do you? If so, why even bother to protest?
I did not say that I believe that we get what we deserve. I do not believe in karma either. I choose to believe that we get what we concentrate upon. If we think that world is full of injustices universe will deliver plenty of those to prove us right.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what happened to us it can be looked at as great misfortune, or a big blessing. Person who believes in one might think that the other one is purely mad. They both might be right at the same time.
I have a choice to live in place that is hostile to me and my son, and spend rest of my life in despair and indignant rage, or..... get happy. NOW.
That we get what we concentrate on is something that could easily be proven in research if it were true. Many studies have been done on that subject with very little result.
ReplyDeleteBut you know, it is possible to recognize that someone has done you wrong, address the issue, be pissed off even, and still be contented about your life.
Of course we try to make the best of our situations. There's nothing magical about that. But I also think that happiness is highly overrated. I agree that we can "decide" that we are happy at any point in our lives, but the minute we do so we cease to grow. Growth needs to be accompanied by some degree of dissatisfaction in order for it to occur.
Personal beliefs are cultivated regardless scientific validations. They are beliefs. ( but by the way what studies are you talking about?)
ReplyDeleteThe opinion that happiness stunts or eradicates ones personal growth, is an example of personal belief. I do not share it, and although I do not think that happiness ceases growth (I think contrary is the truth; babies grow better when they happy, adults are just grown up babies)
Yet, if it were the truth, you should thank all the jerks that make your life miserable. They make you grow a lot.
There are hundreds of studies that go on at universities and medical schools around the world all the time relating to value of positive thinking. Some studies show a gain, some show nothing, some even show that the result of trying to think positive can be even more stress. The main point is that there are not enough peer reviewed results confirming a direct correlation between visualization and achievement for it to be recognized as a fact.
ReplyDeleteChildren go through growing pains on every level. Teenagers feel it especially on emotional and mental levels. It's internal struggle that causes the growth. We may grow around external forces and we tend to call people that have done so interesting. But it is not the jerks that make life miserable that cause the growth. A baby's not going to grow taller if you cut it off at the knees.
I'm not saying that what you're arguing isn't true. I'm just saying that there's still not a lot of evidence. I've also observed that people tend to believe this to be true very readily before any real evidence has presented itself. Also the spirit with which you argue your point suggests that you are trying to convince yourself by convincing somebody else. It is a popular belief though, like the concept of "letting Jesus into your heart."
I would say that it's better to be interested and open minded than to be happy.
This is link to one of the studies that say that happy and optimistic people live longer and are healthier:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-happiness-health-lengthens-life.html
I challenge you to find one that contradicts it.
Belief from definition does not require evidence. That is why it is a personal and individual choice what we believe in. I think it is beneficial to recognize that it is an internal process rather than external determination. That realization sets individual free. It did it for me. Now I can choose: Be happy or not to be happy. And it is not even a question anymore.
I'm aware of some of the studies in your link. We learned about the nun study in Psychology class. I've always thought that one seemed a little strange. Who knows, maybe the one's with the positive attitudes were masturbating and the others were repressing their urges. I mean nuns are all fucked up by definition.
ReplyDeleteNo, belief doesn't require evidence. It doesn't require studies. Belief is magical thinking. If your side of the discussion is grounded in belief then there isn't much to discuss. If you require belief in something to be happy then even if I had the power to take that away from you I would need to put something else for you to believe in its place. My argument has been to present you with facts and logic. I certainly don't want you to believe what I'm saying. It helps that you were raised Catholic. That gives a person big believing muscles.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1910979,00.html