Cruel to be Kind and a Bald Soprano

“It’s all been done. It’s what you put in your particular stew.” – Nick Lowe

“The poet cannot invent new words every time, of course. He uses the words of the tribe. But the handling of the word, the accent, a new articulation, renew them.” - Eugene Ionesco

I love these quotes. Not sure what point to make about them, because it seems self-explanatory. Two quotes saying “there’s nothing new, it’s how you say it” in two totally different ways. And from two totally different artists, both pivotal and important in their respective genres. I’m not a geek about Nick Lowe or Ionesco, meaning, I’d be a bit out of my depth to go on about them. But the subjects of rock 'n' roll (or more specifically, rock 'n' roll theatre) and Absurdism are obsessive interests for me.  Plus, they tie into what I'm working on for the Coyote Commission Project.

This is from Wikipedia:

In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any. In this context absurd does not mean "logically impossible," but rather "humanly impossible." The universe and the human mind do not each separately cause the Absurd, but rather, the Absurd arises by the contradictory nature of the two existing simultaneously.

More Wikipedia (sorry), from the entry on Albert Camus’ philosophical essay on Absurdism, The Myth of Sisyphus:

“Thus, Camus arrives at three consequences from the full acknowledging of the absurd: revolt, freedom and passion.”

And this is a video from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (need to view the whole clip for full effect): WATCH THIS

Just ingredients... for a particular stew... Ha!  How corny is THAT?  Couldn't resist, though.  But I do love that image, the act of culling ingredients/influences etc., and making something that's yours out of it. 

I have a great deal of excitement and fear around writing this play.  A director I worked with once said, and this was during a particularly tense part of the rehearsal process, that his motto was to breathe and remain flexible.  Not my forté.  And I feel particularly clamped down around this lately, stuck in the writing of it.  So perhaps I need to adopt his motto, let go and trust the process.

Right?  Right.

- Christine Whitley