A few things.
1) My computer has been in surgery at the Apple Store for the past week, so I haven't been able to do much "work" at home re: posting, editing, researching. Hopefully I get it back today. My keyboard and trackpad were deciding to randomly stop responding, usually while in the middle of some important task or another. The gentleman who helped me was very nice and laughed at my description of the problem: "Trying to show you what's wrong with my computer is like having a little sister who is a bitch but your parents never catch her being one."
2) I have been in contact with a musician who is interested in the documentary project. It'll be great to get a pro's musical perspective on her composition, melodies, arrangements, tonal changes, eeriness, syncopation, metronomeyness, rhythm, beats, fluidity, or whatever the hell it is you "technical" people talk about. All I know is how music makes me feel. More updates to come as it progresses.
3) A week ago I thought of an interesting angle I haven't thought about before. It seems that people find themselves to be Connie fans via hearing her stuff on the Internet/technology either by seeing a blog post or listening to streaming radio. It also seems that Connie fans find each other over the Internet, too. I have been contacted by a couple of fans who Googled, and I can't forget that I got a hold of Phil and the record company all via the Internet. It makes you wonder about the state of creativity and performing arts in our time vs. hers. Would she have been commercially successful back then if she had a wider audience? What prevented her from being successful? How is technology changing the way we share our creative selves? Connie would've written a mean blog. She probably would have had a hell of a niche audience, if nothing else. Could she have disappeared so easily? There are dozens of us, though, who felt the need to take that extra step and do something about how wonderful Connie was. There's a group of people out there looking to make a musical, another group out there looking to write a play, and of course we had Lau Derette, a record company founded for the sole purpose of releasing her album. I will be meeting with the record company guy next week, hopefully. I think it would be great to try and find everyone who has been moved to do something about her. I think this would have a lot more of a narrative push than just "boo hoo how sad her story is and I relate to it."Would she have been happier if she DID gain some kind of success? Or, as my bro-in-law pointed out, would she be disappointed that her YouTube video only got 10 million hits as opposed to Rebecca Black's 148, 403, 627 (and rising) views?
4) I'm going to start taking drum lessons! I've dabbled in piano, I've dabbled in guitar, and I am "ok" at them but pretty lackluster if I do say so myself. Sure, I can strum through a handful of Wilco songs and Johnny Cash's "Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart," as well as tickle the ivories for "In The Mood" and "The Battly Hym of the Republic," but it doesn't leave me super-jazzed. However, I have wanted to play the drums since I was 3. Now I am finally paying attention to my life-long inclination for percussion.
That is all.
