SLAY Don't Wait

the online process of Matt Slaybaugh

What friends do

Hypnosis by Gan Khoon Lay from the Noun ProjectI need therapy, apparently. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Therapy, or a coach. I need someone to talk to who doesn’t care how things come out. Who doesn’t have a stake in the outcome.

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Interview no. 1

Welcome! What would you like to talk about?

First, let me just say, thanks so much for this interview. Most artists, I think, just want to be taken seriously, to be given some real consideration and thought. Attention must be paid and all that. So it's a real privilege to get the opportunity to share some of the thought behind my work.

Should we start at the beginning? The Absurdity of Writing Poetry, in 2006. I've heard you refer to that as a manifesto for Available Light.

That was certainly true. If you wanted a one-hour mission statement, that was it, for the company, and for me. It's shamelessly direct sometimes, right there in the end, I just list out my reasons for making art, plain and kinda simple. The show is dumb in that it's just me putting all my issues front and center with very little artifice.

Where did that show come from?

I had left my first grand venture, BlueForms Theatre Group and wandered out into the wilderness of Iowa City, where I hung out with the only dude I knew who was a big a nerd for theatre and rap music as I was, Sean Christopher Lewis. Sean and I were working on his first one-man opus, I Will Make You Orphans, and getting to know each other's ambitions. He had a friend, Jennifer Fawcett, also a playwright, who also had a one-person show. (They're married now. She might even have been his girlfriend then, I don't know.) I spent a week there making work and hanging out in the library and visiting the art museum and wondering what the hell I was going to do with myself.

I was inspired, to say the least, by their willingness to put their own stories onstage and to put themselves on stage. I hadn't really been willing to do that. I was also re-reading a lot of Anne Bogart stuff. Anne had been my mentor, had given me a big push into Starting BlueForms, and the end of her first book (A Director Prepares) gave me another big push. "Don't wait," she says, until you have the right people, the right platform, the right space, the money even until you know what you're doing. I took that very literally.

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I love and miss Prince

Prince

I love Prince so much. I bought all his records, even the shitty ones. They weren’t really shitty. If anyone else had made them, we’d call them amazing.

If Prince left one great lesson, though, it’s this: “Get back in the studio.” He just never stopped. Remember his big beef with Warner Bros? One of the key parts of that fight was that he wanted to release MORE music MORE often. Wow.

So, I’m gonna back in the studio. How bout you?

Thanks, PRINCE.

Winter reading update

bookshelf-march2

Despite the fact that it’s only 40-some degrees here in beautiful Columbus, Ohio, I’m pretty sure that the winter is over. So, let’s check back in on that reading list, shall we?

I finished these books from the list:
H is for Hawk – Helen MacDonald
Creativity, Inc. – Ed Catmull

I’m on the verge of finishing these:
What We See When We Read – Peter Mendelsund
Satin Island – Tom McCarthy
Rebel Bookseller – Andrew Laties

I made real progress in these:
Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corey
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS – Joby Warrick

I also read these, which were not on the list:
Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm – Thich Nhat Hahn
Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown – Pema Chodron
Alien Hearts – Guy de Maupassant (trans. Richard Howard)

Conclusions? I’m not good at sticking to the list, cause I’m impulsive. Also, the winter reading list should be good through April.

Winter Reading List

Winter Reading

Here’s a list of books I’m hoping to read before spring arrives. So between now and, say, the Ides of March. Most of these I’ve already started, actually. Maybe this shows how easily distracted I am? I just want to learn everything.

Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades – Clinton Heylin
The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss
Hir – Taylor Mac
Clarice Lispector: Complete Stories
Madness, Rack, and Honey – Mary Ruefle
What We See When We Read – Peter Mendelsund
A Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Collected Frank Stanford
H is for Hawk – Helen MacDonald
Satin Island – Tom McCarthy
The Man Who Sold the World – Peter Doggett
One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway – Asne Seierstad
A Guide to the Good Life – William B. Irvine
The Sports Gene – David Epstein
The Secret History of Star Wars – Michael Kaminski
Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corey
Creativity, Inc. – Ed Catmull
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude – Ross Gay
Rebel Bookseller – Andrew Laties
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS – Joby Warrick

Having listed them here, maybe I’ll be more inclined to finish them all, or at least resist starting others. I’ll check back in on March 15.

Stop Hiding

Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers says “Get Famous.” It’s his first directive. It seems kind of stupid until he elaborates.

Do everything in public, and for the public. The more people you reach the more useful you are. The opposite is hiding. Which is of no use to anyone.

Whoa. So, how bout this? No more hiding.