Art Is Alive and Well

and its spirit thrives within Melody Gardot.

"I gravitate towards scat because I forget the words. And, you know, I'm a lover of nonsense, so scat is the secondary nature of my language."

Thanks Jeff. Thanks Kurt (Trust him.)

How many people in the pseudo-reality of a corporation also are lovers of nonsense? How many there would not understand the concept in the first place?

I once had this insight and it might just apply here and now:

You can't control soul. That's why corporate America has so little of it.

Being a so-called OD practitioner, and not just that, but being me, I found myself extremely frustrated that, at least at my last place, it appeared that good ideas, maybe transformational ideas - as far as products, services, processes, customer service, etc. were never just allowed to "come out of nowhere." The atmosphere was such that if there was something new or innovative, especially if even it came from someone down in the netherworld of the place, it inevitably was required to take a circuitous route through the various levels up and ultimately "come from the top."

And when it did come from the top it was always watered-down, corporatized, programized... blah blah blah and the fun was gone. The spirit was eliminated, and the soul of the idea was lost (a lost soul?) And usually no credit was given to an originator. And by that point the "originator" or the innovative group were more or less fine with that considering how things ended up.

So when you hear someone like Melody Gardot, pay attention to what she says, as well as her music. How she is. What others say about her. She's got something special that gets drummed out of most people at a very early age. She's making her spirit, her soul manifest to the world and that is a treat indeed.

Poor corporations. Most of them are big dead dummies. But there may be some life in the blood and the parts. Seeking that from within a company could be well worth while.

This reminds me of a true story that may be related. I was leaving my ship after 3 years and heading to shore duty. My replacement as the ship's admin/personnel officer was a new man aboard the ship, Ens. Joe Granelli (if memory serves.) He was red-blood and hot-fired and more than pissed that he had been given this assignment. He was in the Navy to be anywhere but in, as he called it, an "Admin Drone" position. Not a happy camper. I bring him up because he had passion, ideas, originality, ambition, (and probably a bit of actual craziness, as I think back now.) Call it spirit or soul if you will and he was going to be like a caged animal in the office where he would come to work every day, while in port or out at sea. Wonder how that worked out for him and the ship. I'll have to find someone who knows.

Story about ENS. JG may not be related, but you'll have to make it work since this is an eclectic blog and all things mean something.

Ha! In post about art, no less. Go figure.

Related: A great book for people like me. Orbiting the Giant Hairball by the late great Gordon MacKenzie. Get it if you don't have it. And more importantly get it if you don't have It.