I love what I do. I love playing music. I love standing on stages. I love spoken word. I love speaking with people. I love sharing stories that many would not come across in casual conversations. However, speaking on a stage can easily be interpreted as a "go fix yourself while I revel in my own ways" kind of ordeal.
This is not my intention.
Something that I have failed time and time again to emphasize is where my writings come from. I'm just a normal dude who sits up late at night and tries to write something powerful. However, most of the things that come out of my head are simply for me. The words I speak on stages and type in blogs are all for me. Let's relate this to a book many people love: The Bible. The Bible is this set of books that weren't written to the audience that reads them today, but there are truths that can be pulled from the text and still applied to a contemporary audience. In the same way, the pieces I write and the messages that I speak on stages are, in my head, being reflected and told by myself to myself.
It's an idealism.
It's the way that I want to think. When I say something like, "go love one another," it's not just me saying to the listener, "Hey, love that guy always" while I go and act like an arrogant fool. It's me reminding myself that I have something that I need to go work on at all times. The revolutions and change that I speak of are not necessarily just for my audience, but they are also things that I want internally manifested in myself.
It's my dream for a utopia.
Words are powerful, but there is no way for me to clearly define what is for me and what is for my reader/listener.
It happens with music.
It happens with books.
It's the power of stories.
I hope this helps.
I have struggles of my own, and most of my writings come from this. I want to be the change. I want to love others more. And I want you to pull out truths from my writings and apply them to your lives.
Thank you for this chance.
I think it's just that you come off as pompous because you talk like whatever you're writing or saying will Revolutionize the Way People Think. Like you're gracing us with your genius and we are not worthy, yet we should be thankful. You know? I know you said you don't mean to come off that way and what you write is mainly for you -- a hope for a better you... but it still sounds like you think you're holier-than-thou and better than everyone else. I don't mean to hurt you, I'm just saying: that's what it seems and it can turn people off.
ReplyDeleteBut if that is just the way he comes off, why don't you push through your own misconceptions and hard feelings to see his heart? If you're going to read what he says here and just pick out what you want to hear and be stuck on what you THINK he is about then who really is the arrogant one? You say that he is acting holier than thou, yet you aren't searching for truth, you're just searching to be right.
ReplyDeleteI think Danny said it very plainly...he has a hard time communicating that part of his heart. He doesn't mean for his words to come off as authority or to be condescending. He expresses what's in his heart because he thinks others can benefit from his approach to love, and to the change he wants to see in his own life.
Thank you for your honesty. I know that a lot of things I write about aren't unique and they aren't thought provoking and they aren't revolutionizing anything, and you are right when you say this is not my intention. The entire purpose for the things that I write is to remind others that they are not alone. It's literally my mission statement. When I stood up on stage today and shared a message about a foster home and being alone, I didn't write that, and it's not my story. But the message underneath that is for everyone. There are people who have been in the same places in life, and the feelings that we experience are not simply unique to us. There are millions of people and many of them have felt exactly the same or in a similar manner. I hope this clarifies.
ReplyDeleteDanny... you have, and always will be, A STUD! Your work is awesome, and so is what you do! Your love and passion shine through your work and i am proud to know you!
ReplyDeleteDanny, I don't see you as arrogant. Many would say that artists have splinter complexes (worrying about the splinter in a neighbor's eye while ignoring the plank in their own). It would be very easy to slip into a mindset such as this, but I don't see any of it from you. I understand where your writing as come from, and I think most other artists would too. I've NEVER received a holier than thou vibe from you, but different messages and different mouths will affect different people; it will be impossible to get everyone to put your art into the same context that you write and understand it in.
ReplyDeleteI also need to commend you on yesterday's performance. It literally brought tears to my eyes and sent shivers down my spine. Spit in the Mud has a VERY unique message that the world needs to hear, and I'm excited to watch it grow from the beginning. :)
OKAY. That first comment is ridiculous. I will be honest when I say that I am alllways judging people when they do spoken word and artsy stuff because I usually think THEY think they're the shit. Danny, you dont act like that at all. In fact, I have always thought of you as being really transcendent in your performances, ESPECIALLY this last one. So, while I acknowledge that there will always be haters, I think it is absolute bullshit and people should grow up. ANNNND instead of hating on other people, THOSE haters should try creating something of their own.
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