Well, today, I want to reflect on my on-going collaboration with my soul mate, my muse and my always "pushing the envelope," co-conspirator, the Lovely Carla. Let me set up a little dichotomy - Perfectionism/Go with the Flow. On that spectrum let's put the Lovely Carla strongly in the perfectionist camp, and let's put sunnyjimmy (no dumps included here) as a supreme practitioner of flow. When our collaboration in music, in theater, hell, in life too, is working at it's best, there's a true melding of these two strains that makes everything fly.
Sometimes this can be a frustrating process, but we've been through it together so many times now what with our plays, and lately our music, that we know there is a bigger game afoot, and well, we both benefit from the collaboration. I am a big advocate of the "group energy," of creating something bigger than one individual. I don't think it's a fluke that for instance some of the best music came from people who worked together, inspired each other and complemented each other too. Think Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Sonny & Cher, Steve & Edie, Martin & Lewis(?!).
The movies too are a great example. Even with a strong director, movie-making is an incredible collective creative effort that melds sometimes hundreds of people. Any major motion picture you can name was made by an army of creative people dedicated to a vision. The process of inclusion, when it works, makes for a greater whole.
So anyway, I was struggling mightily with my latest piece. I mean I've been writing all kinds of scenes and monologues, but none of it really gelled. But yesterday the Lovely Carla made a suggestion that just blew the door wide open for me. Now I think of our latest piece in a totally new way, and well I think this changes everything. I'm not sure if I could have had the breakthrough without her input and well, it's so very cool. And well I love her for it. It's a real kick in the pants. And then the process begins again, how do we make the text come alive on stage and film (?) and the battle between the Perfectionist and the Flowmeister goes to the next round. There's a strange alchemey at work here...and it's amazing what comes out of it all.
