GEARING UP...

Some people seem to get utterly caught up in having the right gear, equipment, training, whatever BEFORE they’ll make any art.

Oft-times it’s really just an excuse not to start.

If you can lay your mitts on an acoustic guitar and it’s got all—or even most—of its strings, then you can start making music. Right now. Today.

Then you can get pretty good at playing the guitar, and pretty good at making music, while you save up to buy all the amps and speakers and cables and digital jib-jabs available to contemporary musicians.

Think of the head start you’ll have on your Musical Dreams if go down this road less-traveled…rather than focusing on the gear and stuff first and waiting for Godot to show up before actually doing something with your talents?!

Shit, when I made my first independent feature—the comic mockumentary, THE PERFECT MAN CONTEST—I had a little money to buy some equipment. I decided to spend most of it on lights and, especially, the best microphone, boom and attendant audio gear I could afford. However, this didn’t leave me with enough money to afford one rather important piece of equipment: the digital video camera with which to shoot the picture.

Sooooooo, I let that stop me and never made THE PERFECT MAN CONTEST.

Just kidding, natch!

Actually, not having a Camera stopped me for about a day, then I found a fellow artist here in Austin, TX who had a (then) state-of-the-art Canon XL-1. I made a deal with him where he let me use his camera in exchange for borrowing my sweet lights and audio-recording gear whenever he was doing HIS productions. Everybody came out ahead.

Don’t let NOTHING stop you from making your art! Please!