loneliness

Spille’s Toolbox: New Narratives

Narratives are very powerful. They give meaning to our actions, they lead us. In the music business, we have a lot of powerful narratives that work in a destructive way for artists. One of them is, that artists have to suffer in order to be creative. Here it’s pretty obvious why it’s destructive, because it glorifies suffering. Artists are stimulated to endure suffering and to refuse help. Looking for help is associated with losing your creativity. Another destructive narrative is, […]

Fame hurts – 5 reasons why 5

In the last couple of years, I’ve asked myself frequently the question if it’s possible that fame hurts. Usually when I’ve heard of another musician who died on an overdose of painkillers, like Tom Petty, Prince and Michael Jackson. This week I read that Lady Gaga is cancelling at least 10 dates if her worldwide tour because of severe pain, just like she did last year September. Many famous musicians use heavy doses of painkillers on a regular basis, often […]

From reproduction through creativity and loneliness to leadership

When you look at animals, the success of a species is measured by its ability of reproduction. There are different strategies. Frogs produce thousands of offspring, but most of them got killed by predators (fishes) or by a harsh environment (drought). Elephants only have one calf and it takes almost 2 years before it’s born. Here the reproduction strategy is not quantity but care and longevity. The creative process of producing art is the reproduction that artists use. Different musicians […]

Christmas – a migration story

Last Saturday I was at a great show of Wendy McNeill. Her new album is full of migration stories: Sicilians coming to New Jersey, English orphanages coming to Canada, Curds running fro the poison gas attack. It kept me busy. And this morning I realized, that Christmas is about migration too! Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to get registered. They were not welcome, no one wanted to help them. One guy offered them a shed, used for […]