all art is story

Do you ever get fixated on stuff?  I do, mostly art.

Last night I saw Under a Blood Red Sky again. I'd just seen them Wednesday, but we're friends with the drummer (we met as me being a mostly drunken fangrrl, but we've gotten to be friends on account of our having a lot in common, same age kids, same interests...) and he asked us to come as his guests. How could we turn that down? 

Anyway, I spent a lot of time watching Ted (who plays The Edge, and manohman does he play and look like The Edge) playing his guitars.  I've never really done that, really watched all the finger chords and picking going on for several songs in a row.  He caught me watching him, but I was beer-ed up to dampen any inhibitions.  Well, he walks off stage sometimes, and joins the crowd, and he was nice enough to come down and stand right in front of me and let me watch him play a song. Cool thing is, I was watching over his right elbow, so I got almost a players-eye-view of it.

I'm no guitar player and I have no aspirations to be, but watching people make their art is fascinating.  What I noticed most about Ted is the concentration he puts in.  He's not up there "making love" to his guitar or any of that shit. He's working.  I can identify with that. I expect I've had the same expression on my face lately.  I had a frustrating slog with my storyboard yesterday, and I anticipate another today, and in my jammies, too. There goes the hugely romantic life people think writers lead.

I've always wondered why I identify so closely with music, beyond the obvious fun of it, since I don't play.  I'm purely a fan, and yet, something about the actual making of it speaks to me as a writer, as an artist. And really, it's always been live music in particular that grabs me, ever since I was a kid. I think I figured it out last night watching Ted play. There's a couple of reasons.

1. In the end, writing is performance art, too.

2. I simply love to watch stories unfold, and music is just another story form.

Actually, I think all art is story.

What art besides writing inspires you?