Danny

I'm truly inspired by all things creative. This inspiration breeds passion which pretty much acts as a compass for all things I pursue in life. It's allowed me to become a creative professional, to pursue a freelance career in photography, and hone my etch a sketch skills. I think the next area of my creative muscle I'm going to try and flex will be in the area of music. Not because I want to become a musician, but to act as an outlet for all the damn passion I have for music! I used to stab some vicious keys on the piano. OK, maybe not vicious...but hey, I thought Chopin's Nocturne in E was a moving set of notes :)

Let me quickly mention what creativity means to me. Because it will help you understand why I have such a thirst for variety in my life. I believe the ingredients for my creativity depend on the store of ideas I have available for recombination. If I have a limited domain of knowledge, I will have fewer resources to draw from in forming new ideas. This is why intellectual curiosity and a wide knowledge base are central to enhancing my creativity. If one has in one's possession more concepts, theories and experience to choose from...then the potential for deep and meaningul creativity increase accordingly. This is also why I find it so important to consult others when I'm faced with the challenges life presents.

As far as my social life, I'm not really the type to surround myself with quantity at the expense of quality. I've got a group of close friends I enjoy spending my time with. Primarily because they possess the ability to have deep and intellectual conversations. You know, about topics such as recent episodes of Family Guy, Curb your Enthusiasm or The Office :) But seriously, it's unfortunate a majority of the casual acquaintances I have seem to be sheeple at heart. That's not a direct criticism, it's just the way I identify people who have not found their own voice, and are not true wtih themselves (and consequently others). Sheeple are always looking to validate themselves through their reflection and through the amount of friends they have. Along that circular path the become completely disconnected with themselves and in turn everyone around them. I'm not judgmental, but I am critical of those whom I choose to allow into my life.

I mentioned I have a passion for music, let me elaborate. For the past couple years I've spent a lot of time basking in the joy of house music. Let me attempt to share with you why this is. First let me say my musical tastes reach pretty far and wide, growing up my mom always had classic rock playing so I learned to enjoy Zepplin, Credence Clear Water, Jimi Hendrix...I was big into underground hip hop (not that rap / hip POP crap you hear on the radio or MTV), I enjoy listening classical music (mainly piano), and I like some alternative acoustically oriented artists (think interpol, coldplay, metric to name a few). I mention this because it's important to put my joy of house music into perspective. I feel music is the expression, or rather physical representation, of a human emotion. To most of you this is pretty obvious and nothing insightful on my part, but it's important to state.

So...if music is a representation of an emotion, then our tastes in music might not be as much a cerebral decision as we would like to believe they are. I believe music acts as a magnet, a type of magnet that attracts certain types of people. What makes this idea interesting to me is that certain people have quite a varied taste in music, while others have complete tunnel vision when it comes to their taste. Nothing wrong with either, but think about what is says about the person. One type potentially representing an open minded individual, while the other representing a close minded individual. Then again a vast majority seem to be just trendwhores whose taste changes in lock step with TRL.

So to bring us back on topic, why do I love house music? Primarily because it triggers such a visceral response from me. It's not in the business of story telling, it's not talking about how much life sucks or spewing mindless drivel for the sake of a catchy chorus. It's simply tugging at those primitive heart strings in all of us...those same strings that made our ancient ancestors dance to tribal beats around a fire. House music has many subgenres that really do attract distinctly different personality types. I am particularly fond of the soulful, funky and deep brand of house. It is these core sounds that spawned the birth of house, and for good reason. This flavor of house is not electronic, it is not devoid of musical artistry as some from the outside view "electronic" music. No, this flavor of house is so much more about the fusion of a powerful drum rhythm, the funk of a bass guitar, the joy of a screamin sax, and the soul of progressing chords on a piano. Put these all in a blender and place a passionate individual in charge of the tools necessary to combine the ingredients, and you're in store for a potentially very moving experience.

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