Every now and then we all need to be reminded to get back to the basics. That’s especially true of those of us in the arts.
A swirl of hype, marketing and manic promotion surrounds most of what we do. An endless drumbeat of what’s new, what’s the next big thing, what people are paying to see or will want next season.
You can easily be swept up in the faux excitement of trends and the need to be on the cutting edge.
In the process, it’s easy to forget that the original building blocks, the steps and stages of actual creation, are actually all you need.
That might be part of the reason so many heavily hyped Hollywood blockbusters are failing this summer. The overblown special effects and set pieces have begun to replicate the PR frenzy instead of being an integral part of the product.
One of the loves of my life is Country Music, something I embraced at a time when other kinds of music seemed more consumed by style than substance. Country was reinventing itself as well, but it hadn’t severed its connection to its basics, story and emotion.
The CMT Music Awards will broadcast this coming Wednesday, June 6th at 8:00 pm (7 Central) while also live streaming on www.cmt.com offering multiple examples of successfully touching an audience by keeping things simple.
Among the nominees for best video, is a duet by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood called “Remind Me” that’s about as simple as videos come, two characters, no set, no costume changes and maybe six set-ups in total.
Nothing gets in the way of the story, the emotion and the song.
Let it be a reminder of what’s really important.
And Enjoy Your Sunday.
