the art of the art

“write what you know,” and I did. “do this,” and I did. and it was good. it was a “damn good job” to some. and to others, it was just a stepping stone to the next accomplishment.

finding my path wasn’t even the point of all of it; every step i took simply elongated the path i had started myself, with other footprints crossing, circling back to, and paralleling mine. realizing to some I may be a world, from others I might realize mine. a light guides it all, while shadows move against in perpetuity as I walk toward? with? the light i follow.

sometimes i have no light, sometimes it is kept from me. sometimes i choose the dark, sometimes i am kept in it. but i always choose to want to find it. others do not see the light, or they follow their own. this is no problem. however, peace does not exist, and the paths of all aforementioned weave along a line that separates war from peace. the path ain’t not a garden.

this is my path. follow, share, watch, guide, invest, do, or don’t do. but it’s mine for now. and you are more than welcome to join me whenever you desire.

my name is Scally. i am a storyteller, a musician, a yapper, a feeler, a feeling. i get lost, and i find. and it truly is a pleasure to be here.

i once read about the distinction between inspiration and desperation as a result of one’s environment and all that is contained within it.

this project, specifically its music, was built out of both.

inspiration.

to be inspired by what came before insists upon realization of one’s past and present. as i produce and release, i hope to take you on a journey from my piano lessons in second grade through high school, my high school musical theater (and glee viewing) showtune repertoire, to a love for all things stomp and holler, to a newfound love of the american roots of jazz and blues. (almost as if while my body and soul moved forward in time, my musical journey moved backward.)

all of this, wrapped within a project conceived in my living room. music that all started with a rhyme in the shower, an acoustic guitar riff, or a simple bridal procession of Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

then come the feelings that stemmed from the music, from all music. to really enter in to a project, not just press play before a workout or a roadtrip, but to ask yourself “why.” why are you pressing play on this song, specifically? how will it influence your actions, your reactions?

art is meant to influence. it is meant to stimulate something within you. my goal with the art that i create is to stimulate. i create so that you may be given the chance to create yourself. your own emotions, reactions, feelings. i see now the ways that art has influenced me, be it music, murals, literature, or the screen. i understand that it has led me to certain actions, certain beliefs, certain loves, certain disdains.

one thing that i am certain through it all, though, is the fact that uncertainty will always exist. and for me, that makes art consumption and creation extremely exhilarating, exhausting, and expansive.

my hope is for you find the same within mine.

desperation.

to be desperate in times of uncertainty would suggest that irrational decisions were made. these decisions may be directed either inward or outward, a dichotomy that creates tension between that which has happened, and that which will. the road ahead is scary, the feelings now are blue, the world is acting crazy, but my life belongs—

to build something out of desperation, in the case of art, would require a delicate balance of not oversharing, overthinking, or overproducing. too much noise is just that - noise. sometimes art must be restrained in order to be beautiful. the despair that helped form the creation of this project is and was a combination of the internal and the external, the spiritual and the circumstantial.

the creation of this art is not a reflection of said desperation, simply a result of it. we all get inspired, and we all have feelings of despair. i found myself forming two questions as a result, and having to choose only one of them to answer:

1. where does this leave me? or

2. where does this lead me?

i chose the second.