Monday 11 January 2016

THE BYRDS: The Gifts of Innovators: Six to Watch, Listen and Learn from in 2016…starting with Roger McGuinn



In our current era of corporatized innovation, and obsession with Silicon Valley’s unicorns, there’s a certain kind of person that I’m drawn to in the extreme - the artist as innovator who uncompromisingly runs their own creative enterprise, on their own steam. I don’t know about you but I require massive amounts of inspiration to keep my engines humming. As one year ends and another begins I am thinking about six of my favorite places to reliably seek and find inspiration that doesn’t quit. They come bearing serious gifts. They are each artists first, performers with singular voices and business models, historical observers and teachers, generous archivists, all at once. Each uniquely represents a doorway they have constructed in and out of a whole tradition. They’re tech-literate enough to build their own distinct distribution platforms and over decades have created whole worlds — bodies of work that spill out from those platforms onto YouTube, iTunes and myriad channels into the Zeitgeist. Which will make it very easy to share their work with you. Where do they get their energy? My guess is that they don’t have a choice — they love to work. In fact it’s closer to passion then work, but make no mistake, it is hard work to do what each of these artists do. Their work is their gift. Despite the very significant ups and downs of the creative journey, they allow us in. In their honor, I want to make sure you don’t miss the chance to participate, starting with…


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £7.99

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