Back Atlas: Still I Rise

I am delighted to report that I was comissioned for a second piece for the Black Atlas talkbacks.

This new up-tempo gospel flavoured song is based on an extract from Maya Angelou's Still I Rise, a poem about the struggle of oppressed peoples prior to and during the Civil Rights movement.

This song will feature at every performance along the tour schedule along with the other song I co-wrote, Give Me Back.

FULL TOUR SCHEDULE

Arts Cambridge
February 18

John Moore Theatre Worcester
February 20

Glasshouse Arts Centre Stourbridge
February 21

Drum Birmingham
February 22-23

Arena Wolverhampton
February 24

Taliesin Arts Centre Swansea
February 25

Hawth Crawley
February 28

Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre Taunton
March 2

Arts Centre Bridgwater
March 2

Kuumba Bristol
March 3

Riverfront Newport
March 5

Theatre Royal, Egg Bath
March 6

Forest Coleford
March 7

Chipping Norton Theatre Chipping Norton
March 8

Uppingham Theatre Oakham
March 9

Arts Centre King's Lynn
March 10

Pomegranate Chesterfield
March 13

Playhouse Norwich
March 15

Stahl Oundle
March 16

South Holland Centre Spalding
March 17

West Wing Slough
March 19

Drill Hall Lincoln
March 20

Guildhall Arts Centre Grantham
March 21

Assembly Rooms Derby
March 22

Unity Liverpool
March 24

Hull Truck Hull
March 28

Arts Centre Pocklington
March 29

Customs House South Shields
March 30

Maltings Berwick Upon Tweed
March 31

Grand Theatre Lancaster
April 2

Met Bury
April 3

Stephen Joseph Scarborough
April 4

Contemplating Affluenza

Today in the paper I was reading about this new concept (well new to me anyway) of Affluenza. Concrete enough to have it's own .org on the web, I am intrigued about what it means to society and rather egocentrically, what it means to me.

Affluenza is described as the:

1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses.

2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream.

3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.

Sufferers of the condition include Hotel tycoons who spend their entire waking moments dedicated the pursuit of making money while having little or no social life.

Fair enough, I'm tempted to say - if it makes you happy, then that's your choice. We've all come across those painful decisions about career vs personal life and who am I to criticise some one's own remedy to that dilemma?

The problem is though, that this condition invariable leads to loss of function in other important areas of one's life and if you're not lucky enough to achieve these capitalist or consumerist dreams, depression and anxiety. Affluenza is most often found in artistic circles apparently and can lead to addictive behaviour (drugs, alcohol etc), depression and paranoia at worst. Generally affluenza in the creative industries is linked with mental and emotional instability.

Troubling.

I can certainly relate to that. I am constantly wanting to move faster, be better, achieve acclaim, become top of my field and become noted but I always put that under the heading of "rage to master" - the concept of being determined and driven to succeed. While I think that's a good thing (nobody got nowhere doin nuffink) I also experience the flip side of the coin - affluenza. I constantly berate myself that I am not where I want to be right now, things aren't moving fast enough or that people aren't paying enough attention.True you can feed on those feelings, but they can also be harmful because the result is, you spend 80% of the time being unsatisfied at having 40%, 50% or even 60% satisfaction in pursuit of 100% happiness. That doesn't seem an appropriate balance.

The article I read today also talked about how consumerism has driven us to think that we "need" things when actually we just "want" them. The psychiatrist used the example of how we say things like "I need a new car" when really we're just saying "I'd like to have a new car". This makes me ponder how much I really need to fulfill my goals. Do I really need to see my music performed? Perhaps I could be equally happy if I did something else, or perhaps I would be more comfortable if I said "It would be nice if my music gets performed". But doesn't that need also imply a purpose? When I say "I need to be a successful composer", what I am really saying is "It is my life goal to become a composer" or "I think the reason I am here is to write music". Surely I can't dismiss that innate feeling of being driven towards my destiny (to use a hopelessly dramatic word)? Or perhaps that is just a consumerist illusion.

I think about fame a lot. It seems we live in a celebrity culture, where we value fame but not the famous - or rather that we value fame for fame's sake. I've thought long and hard about whether I want fame? I'd like acclaim in my field and I'd like to be relatively famous in my discipline. Do I want my face splashed all over the media and photographers at my door? Hell no. I think it was Tim Rice or Andrew Lloyd Webber who once said words to the effect of "The great thing about being a writer is that you can walk down Broadway where your show is play and no one will recognise you". I'm not sure that is particularly true of either of those individuals, but I'd be quite happy with that status-quo. I wouldn't mind the odd interruption in a bar or restaurant or even on the street of a fan or theatre-lover who recognised me... but other than that I don't particularly want fame.

I have also come to the conclusion that glitzy famous-face bashes wouldn't be me either. I'm pretty shy I guess and I'm not sure my attitudes would fit into the celebrity studded world. I think I'd happily enjoy my money in the quiet of my own social life rather than frequenting pretentious West End clubs.... but then again I guess you get to know famous people as "real people" and as friends so it's just like going to your local in the end. I'm not sure I could even penetrate those kinds of circles though!

Anyway I think that last paragraph has shown that I am definitely a sufferer of affluenza. Such a shame the doctor didn't say anything about what happens post diagnosis.

Going Pro

I am pleased to announce that Give Me Back, a song that I composed set to a verse poem by Darren Raymond, will feature in the tour of Black Atlas.

Celebrating the historic Bi-centennial of the signing of the Act of Abolition from Slavery in the British Empire (1807), Black Atlas tells the historical tale of two slaves (one from America; another from Africa) who fate throws together in Regency England. One is taught to read; the other (Tom Molineaux, the first Black Prize Fighter in England) isn’t. The differences become plain for all to see. Spanning three continents in 80 minutes Black Atlas depicts key historical (Molineaux, George III, Bill Richmond, Beau Brummel, Pierce Egan, etc.) as well as fictional characters, and features an original score by Tim Williams. Produced by the London Shakespeare Workout (LSW) Black Atlas is performed by a mixture of professional performers and ex-offenders.

You can find out more about London Shakespeare Workout by clicking here and about Black Atlas here.

The director, Dr Bruce Wall originally put an advert out on one of the forums I regularly contribute to saying "I'd love to give the opportunity for the composition to a musical composer young in their career for whom such an enterprise could be meaningful". Bruce said he was looking to "would like to have this piece set to music - sort of a musical anthem - an 11 O'Clock number if you will - which could be included in the roster of material that might be included as part of the Talkback on the BA tour".

So I got in touch and said I'd write some music if he'd listen to it. He said he would and so in about 2 hours or so I wrote a draft of the setting. The lyrics really spoke to me - they were incredibly melodic and incredibly theatrical which made it pretty easy to write in the musical theatre medium. I got the impression that the song wouldn't work if it was written in a modern populist musical theatre. It's a play after all and moreover, is a studio piece. Certainly a conversation with Bruce a couple of days later confirmed my impressions about how the organisation and the play's creators viewed "my kind of musical theatre". For this reason, I had written the piano accompaniment (there is only a piano and cello in the show) in a more modern impressionist style with a distict American flavour given the theme of the play. It still had to be pretty anthemic though so a few cheesy suspensions and resolutions with ground-rumbling left hand octaves completed the mix.

Anyway this seemed to work and the song is going to feature in the "talkback" post show discussion type section of the work and the company was so impressed that they offered me money - so I got paid!

For details of the tour schedule click here . Apparently the work is going to be produced off-Broadway in 2008 but I'm not sure if my music will make the jump across the Atlantic when things will probably be rewritten. Still, I'm hopeful.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll get a recording of the song being performed by one of the artists from the show which I'll post here and on my new website. I'm going to a rehearsal soon so will report back on that particular experience.

I guess this means that I'll have to have a creative resume now...