I just finished watching a documentary on the SciFi channel called "The Sci Fi Boys." It brought back quite a few memories. I had forgotten how, as a boy who was an avid scifi and horror fan, some of these people seemed like rock stars to me. Names like Forrest J. Ackerman, Ray Harryhausen, George Pal, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein seemed like household names to me, while most of my classmates did not know who these people were at all. I, however, was an avid reader of "Forry" Ackerman's magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland." "Jason and the Argonauts" and "The Time Machine" were probably my two favorite movies as a kid. By the time I was in high school, I had read most of Ray Bradbury's books, and I did indeed read every book ever written by Robert Heinlein!
The documentary was, of course, about how the early directors, writers, animators, makeup/effects artists, and one magazine publisher influenced the next generation of scifi/horror filmmakers. Interestingly, though, these people were also an influence on me, and I did not go into the film business. Of course, if I think about it, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Romita, Frank Miller, and many other Marvel Comics writers and artists from the 1960's-1980's held rock-star-like status for me, but I never went into the comic business. I chose to go into music. And yet, comics, scifi and horror were a big part of my life, so they must have had an influence on my later work, even though I went into a different creative field.
When you read an interview of a band, artist, or songwriter, they are usually asked about their musical influences. Just last night in my singer/songwriter class, I asked several songwriters who they listened to. However, you rarely hear musicians asked about what they read, what kind of movies they watch, or who their favorite (visual) artists are. So, I would like to ask any of my blog readers who are musicians right now: What are your non-musical influences? I want to hear from you!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
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3 comments:
I don't know that I necessarily even know how these people have influenced me, but I find their works to be beautiful, and I'm sure that has an impact on my own creative output in some way.
I love JRR Tolkien. Besides the obvious (Lord of the Rings/other Middle Earth stuff, which I do love—the books, that is), I'm quite fond of his translation of Pearl, an anonymous 14th century poem.
I love Ray Bradbury too, but I've only read Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes, so I'm probably missing a lot.
M. Night Shyamalan's films are all absolutely beautiful.
I fell in love with Firefly/Serenity last semester. I can't believe I haven't seen an episode in over a month. I didn't expect to run into a TV show that I considered to be worth my time, but Firefly/Serenity is just so awesome/cool/beautiful.
Looking at my bookshelf, I see that I need to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. I hardly remember anything besides the fact that I loved it.
CS Lewis and John Piper might belong on this list, too. Actually, CS Lewis certainly does, for The Great Divorce even if nothing else (I'm suddenly remembering a lot stuff that would put him on this list, actually). I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff, but this comment is pretty long already. I can't think of any visual artists at the moment for some reason.
Hmm...non-musical influences...
I guess the religious figures in my beliefs would be a start: Jesus, God, Paul, Job, etc. Second to that would probably be the past flames in my life, good and bad, there are three in particular that come to mind that have moved me to write many many songs both bitter and beautiful.
I find myself reading a lot of Brennan Manning and C.S. Lewis. Their lens over religion has helped me develop my own. I am a big fan of Margaret Cho both as a comedienne and author. Her stand-up cracks me up and reading her book "I'm the One that I Want" helps me feel more comfortable in my skin as an Asian-American trying to make it in an artistic vocation. Growing up, Margaret was the only Asian-American face I saw on TV that wasn't a background character on MASH. Then when I was older, I realized, that there are a lot of things that I don't agree with her about, but I looked up to her unapologetic realization of herself and confidence in who she was regardless of what networks and enemies would tell her.
In film, my favorite directors are Baz Luhrman and Michel Gondry. Both of those guys are very talented, but affirm the point that inspiration is often more valuable than talent. A secret admiration of mine is of the work of director Chris Cunningham, he's done most of the creepy commercials and music videos you've seen in the last few years. His videos for Squarepusher are cringe worthy and eerie, but very very inspired.
Writers: Philip K. Dick is first and foremost... J.G. Ballard is next... William S. Burroughs is in there too. Gary Snyder for the Buddhism/ecology thing...
painters, architects, filmmakers to come later...
ideas come in so many ways...
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