Ash Wednesday! Fake It Until You Can Stage It: The Audience and The Artist

​Fake It Until You Can Stage It: The Audience and The Artist 
Written By: Ash Catcher  

Coheed and Cambria

I love a good show, whether it is a stage show,  a good tv series, a movie, a concert, or even a hauntingly precise  reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware river on Christmas in the dead of winter, entertainment is just there to make this unbearable existence we have dared to call life just a tad bit more interesting. Good god was that a run on…. This week I wanted to talk about the dynamic between the audience, and the artist. Now is there a grey area? That is what I would like to find out, at what point does someone in the audience snap out of their primordial slumber and get this wackadoo idea in their head that they too can be an artist, and should start performing all their hopes and dreams? 

The Drums

     Creativity and Cycles: Like the cycles of the past few moons, you best believe personally for me my creative cycles depend on a few things: my schedule I work a fuck ton. I am not even exaggerating. I am trying to build an empire and I don't have time to hang out with you most of the time. I cannot see much benefit aside from having a human moment or two, which can most of the time be overrated. The way I create is on a pretty strict schedule. Every Monday I write, I write till my fingers fall off essentially and then Tuesday I draft up AT content to be posted on Wednesday. Everything is on a Wednesday I have curated everything so that smack dab in the middle of the work week people can hopefully find a bit of solace and entertainment to break up from the work week, or if your like me you’re most likely working weekends as well, and forgot the other day was Saturday. I both envy and pity people with a 9-5 weekend warrior lifestyle, go you. Clap Clap. I make sure if I have an idea for something I write it down in my note app on my phone, it is freaking chaos in there full blown moon in Scorpio anarchy. This loops on a weekly basis until I eventually give up, or hire an assistant to help me organize my life because I am too busy doing it for other people. 


      The Audience, and The Artist Intermingling: Just like almost everything I make at work, lots of ingredients go into a vortex and you add heat and something sweet you can make just about anything and charge 6.50 for it…. .75 extra for Oat milk- hey I don't make the rules. I love to romanticize things, I don't know why, and I am unbelievably forgiving and empathic towards inanimate objects, and people who do not deserve second chances. But man oh man do I love seeing the dynamic of an audience. A collective hive of individuals, most of the time that seem to be vibrating in unison over whelp it could be just about anything I mean even watching GOT finale back in 2019 with a group of friends could constitute for an audience. But like that ending still fucking sucked. The thing I really like is when audience members seem to almost have an “OH SHIT” moment where I think a few things are going on in their heads: 1) I think I can do this too, I want to express myself in some sort of art outlet, and 2) Sheesh I need to pee but I don't want to use the bathroom and risk missing anything. There are two types of people in this world: People who want fame, the need and drive to express themselves, and everyone who is too timid to do anything, deer in the headlight, What IF I make an idiot of myself kinda people. They are better off watching, I would love to go to a show again, I just feel fucking agitated all the time when the thought ever occurs. I want to be left alone, and just create things like a maniac. Embrace the mania. But absolutely, the lights, all the people, your senses are all on fire and then the mindless and numbing starts to ensue, and like a drug you will want to go to a show 3 or 4 times a week- you'll spend way too much money, get crazy migraines, occasionally drink to much- or get drugged a bunch like i kept finding. Certain things tend to take away from the actual appreciation for the creation, and it just becomes a socially acceptable way or event to lose all logic, throwing it against the wall and watching it slowly bleed out. 

Pure Bathing Culture

  Homogenized Creativity: Feeding off of other’s creative endeavors to inspire your own, I know I have friends who get mad when other people come out with things similar to their own, I am actually really flattered and lately when people tell me that I have inspired them to write again- that shit gets me feeling all warm and fuzzy- I keep it high vibe, and it's really a shame life is so short who gives a shit if someone wants to be you- be humble it's flattering when someone acknowledges your creative errors and endeavors. I love when musicians get inspired from one another, otherwise how else would you have all of these genres and styles of music, it didn't all just come from a primordial G chord. 


I am done ranting for this week, see ya next Wednesday 


-Ash