Someone Else’s Shoes
When was the last time someone walked a mile in your shoes? While our general pessimism will tell us otherwise, it’s actually a much more common practice than you’d expect! Now if you are someone who’s had the joy of experiencing someone walking a mile in your shoes, despite the fact that you’ve likely just had your shoes stolen, consider all the good they are now doing for expanding their perspective. Which is something I think leads to a better community, and someday a better world.
-L.U.D.
Vacuums Suck
Beautiful Idiots Proverb No7: “Vacuums suck.”
There are countless ways to approach a problem. Everyone has their own process that works for them. I tend to like to keep to myself when I work - it’s easier for me to shut myself in and think about what I’m trying to accomplish for a really long time and then eventually just plow through it from start to finish, all on my own if possible. The isolation allows me an opportunity to fully realize my vision without distraction and I usually take pride in trying to make something that feels pure, something that came from nothing.
Here’s the catch. The things I really love to do - play music with people, make movies, tell jokes and stories, entertain - they’re all collaborative arts. They’re almost always made better by involving more people. I think this is because involving other people in your creative process means bringing in new perspectives. When you have more to pull from, you can create something much more interesting. It’s like having more colors to paint with. On top of that, I’ve found it usually feels better to accomplish something with a team. You have people you can share your joy with, and who doesn’t want that!
Now take that collaboration a step further, from a business perspective. Having more people involved means having more people that feel ownership of the thing you made, which means having more people that invested in the success of that thing. I think I’ve said this here before, but if I make a song by myself and I share it, I’m only sharing it to my circle. If I make a song with five other people, all six of us will most likely share it with all the people we know… six times as many circles.
I say all this to say the result of working in a vacuum is probably going to be you presenting your finished work to… you. Unless you really truly are only doing this for yourself (in which case, more power to you) you might end up disappointed playing to empty rooms. It could really do you a lot of good to involve yourself in a community. You start to establish an exchange of energy - you give of yourself and you get back when people appreciate your efforts - which could help you sustain and continue to create. So, I’m not saying vacuums don’t get the job done, I’m just saying it’s good to remember that vacuums suck.
-J.P.
It’s Bad
I had a roommate named Griffin who used to say “it’s baaaaaaaad” in a funny voice all the time and all of us that we’re living in the house kind of adopted the phrase and it became a sort of slogan for that era of our lives. Well, it’s baaaaaaaad.
Seriously, I have to find a way to get this music to people who will appreciate it. We’ve had very little to no success growing our social accounts or our followings on music platforms up to this point in the year. There are some options we are going to try soon but it’s definitely wearing on me. All of this music is going largely unheard, and if we end up at the end of the runway without enough to momentum to lift off, we’re never going to get that chance to fly. That’d be a shame.
There has to be a way to connect. I’m getting desperate.
-J.P.
Blog Problems
I’m feeling meta today. You know what problem I’ve been having while writing these posts? Usually the first idea I’ll get is a long-winded exploration of my psyche relative to an item I come across or news I read or something I think about that day. So I think about the form of the post for a while but in doing that I realize how long it would take to write that and I begin to exhaust myself, even before I put the first words down. I abandon the idea and think of something I can do more quickly so I can get on with my day, but that leaves me feeling like I shorted myself a bit, not to mention any of you who keep up with me here. I’d like to get back the energy I had for this at the beginning of the year… get more creative and tell better stories. I think I’ll try to get back to that this coming week. Today though, I’m hungry, so this is all I’ve got. Hope you had a nice Sunday.
-J.P.
April 22
One day I’ll figure out how to change the settings to Pacific Time so this post reads as posted on the 22nd and not the 23rd. Today’s not that day. I kept remembering to write this post today and then kept getting pulled away before I sat down to do it. What happened today?
I walked the dog with Bryana. We sat outside and had coffee and did the crossword puzzle. I took some photos on my camera. I should do that more. We saw some green parrots in the loquat trees. Tanner came over and played a Stan Getz record he got on Selma on his way over - it was a really nice vibe. Then the guys went to the bouldering competition at the gym and I watched some basketball. Redacted. Redacted. Redacted. Bryana took a nap and I talked to Larry for a while. Understanding went on the boat with his cousin. Alex and Paloma had poke. I got the wrong Joe P.’s dinner and then got a free cheesecake when I took it back to get the right one. Now I’m gonna watch a movie and go to sleep.
Full day. Thought, smiled, laughed. Hope you did, too.
-J.P.
Boom
Today is our third release day in April here at Beautiful Idiots LLC. “Boom”, the fourth single from Roe’s Garden is available everywhere. It’s definitely got a little more pop to it than the rest of the Roe’s Garden singles, but I think this song is a whole lotta fun.
This song may have released today, but it’s actually a lot older than you might think. I believe the original demo dates back to 2018 or 19. Zane (of The New Hippies) had given it to me to write to after we finished the Variety Pack EP so we could start working on a follow up. Then, as I’ve mentioned multiple times, the Wu-Tang show opportunity took us off our expected path, and no new music came out for a very long time. Every now and then though, Understanding and I found ourselves with some downtime at the studio, so we would go through our hard drive and find ideas to write to. Boom took shape on one of those days at RZA’s studio. We cut up Zane’s demo and I wrote a verse and a hook and then we put it away again for a while.
Eventually, when Erica got her first show in LA, she asked us to play with her as her band. She had three originals at the time and we had written “Gotta Have It” and “Invincible” so we had some material but we needed more to fill time. I suggested she sing Boom, and we ended up doing it as a duet and adding it to the set. There was no second verse yet so I did an old verse that was already in “Who Knew” by The New Hippies. After we played it live a few times we decided to release it through Roe’s Garden and so Un and I each tried a verse to fill the empty space. We went with mine and that’s the song you can hear now. Hope you enjoy!
-J.P.
Big Dreams
Big dreams require big risks. Big risks require big balls. Big balls require parachute pants. Parachutes help you land. This is gonna work out fine.
-J.P.
Relatable
Left to my own thoughts for too long, you will find me in a trance. Likely with the lights still off from when the light from the sun provided sufficient visibility hours before. Paralyzed by the impossible task of defining the human experience and thus, attempting to interpret and predict casual interaction through countless simulation of possibilities and outcomes. Should you find me in this state, worry not. Simply call my name and i will quickly snap into the moment and return to my usual comical innuendoes and fart jokes.
Who can relate?
-L.U.D.
