One of the most annoying generalizations of an ADHD diagnosis is, to me, listening to music or mixes on repeat. Music and mixes are fun, only in 2025 would we pervert that pleasure into pathology!
Great piece, Jamie! I love this paragraph so much (and, having also gone to art school, it relates deeply!):
"In art school, I thought this was so enlightening, but now after years of bleeding so much of my available energy back into the veins of the artworld™ heart that keeps up this systematic pipeline of art students into art laborers, I think I’m back to just appreciating art that I simply find interesting to look at or listen to."
Having just been to Vancouver and seeing the 'Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s' exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, I think your playlist would have been a great soundtrack, as many of the artists were saying similar things that Really Red was on "Too Political." Substitute, however, some of Really Red's lyrical details with the Eastern Bloc artists' protests aimed at state-sanctioned control, surveillance, and fear, and the similarities are scarily present.
Ultimately, we all just want justice, equality, and to be able to live our fucking lives in peace without fear or oppression (or having to fork out obscene amounts of money to a college so we can wrack our brains over whatever Judith Butler is trying to say!).
The unlearning period after art school is a funny thing.
One thing I love about Really Red, other than that they are Houston legends, is that their politics weren't comical. This from an interview from It's Psychedelic Baby magazine's website:
"The lyrics are another thing. Ronnie wrote it like he saw it as a self-styled business partner and working-class soldier. There was so much wrong with what was happening in the world. He had a gift and made it clear how he felt about life and its inequities. It’s easy to see things that need to be fixed. It’s another thing to be able to make a community move together in the right direction without a lot of whining and hollering."
Inequity, injustice, no whining. It's funny you mention the Eastern Bloc artists' focus in relation, Really Red's first album was titled, "Teaching You the Fear", and they had great songs like, "Crowd Control" which has incredible lyrics, especially for 1979. They were smarter than most, but didn't flaunt it.
The unlearning and the coming to peace with "I shouldn't feel bad, nor question my creative self or my abilities just because I can't make art every day." That sense of guilt and snobbery that was/is instilled in students is both damaging and toxic.
To leave school with a lot of debt and having to survive in a capitalist society is a reality that many of us don't think about when we are in the college environment and have the privilege and ability to paint or create every day.
One of the most annoying generalizations of an ADHD diagnosis is, to me, listening to music or mixes on repeat. Music and mixes are fun, only in 2025 would we pervert that pleasure into pathology!
If you're not repeat listening, then it must not be very good.
Great piece, Jamie! I love this paragraph so much (and, having also gone to art school, it relates deeply!):
"In art school, I thought this was so enlightening, but now after years of bleeding so much of my available energy back into the veins of the artworld™ heart that keeps up this systematic pipeline of art students into art laborers, I think I’m back to just appreciating art that I simply find interesting to look at or listen to."
Having just been to Vancouver and seeing the 'Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s' exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, I think your playlist would have been a great soundtrack, as many of the artists were saying similar things that Really Red was on "Too Political." Substitute, however, some of Really Red's lyrical details with the Eastern Bloc artists' protests aimed at state-sanctioned control, surveillance, and fear, and the similarities are scarily present.
Ultimately, we all just want justice, equality, and to be able to live our fucking lives in peace without fear or oppression (or having to fork out obscene amounts of money to a college so we can wrack our brains over whatever Judith Butler is trying to say!).
The unlearning period after art school is a funny thing.
One thing I love about Really Red, other than that they are Houston legends, is that their politics weren't comical. This from an interview from It's Psychedelic Baby magazine's website:
"The lyrics are another thing. Ronnie wrote it like he saw it as a self-styled business partner and working-class soldier. There was so much wrong with what was happening in the world. He had a gift and made it clear how he felt about life and its inequities. It’s easy to see things that need to be fixed. It’s another thing to be able to make a community move together in the right direction without a lot of whining and hollering."
Inequity, injustice, no whining. It's funny you mention the Eastern Bloc artists' focus in relation, Really Red's first album was titled, "Teaching You the Fear", and they had great songs like, "Crowd Control" which has incredible lyrics, especially for 1979. They were smarter than most, but didn't flaunt it.
I love Really Red, truly a standout band.
The unlearning and the coming to peace with "I shouldn't feel bad, nor question my creative self or my abilities just because I can't make art every day." That sense of guilt and snobbery that was/is instilled in students is both damaging and toxic.
To leave school with a lot of debt and having to survive in a capitalist society is a reality that many of us don't think about when we are in the college environment and have the privilege and ability to paint or create every day.
It took me years not to feel that guilt!