Recently, it was pointed out to me that my curriculum vitae is “eclectic.” The comment reminded me of a recent post at Explore blog that affirmed “creativity necessitates eclecticism.” The post can be found here, but it is also reproduced below:
-the beatles
-the beach boys
-madonna
-bach
-michael jackson
-cyndi lauper
-prince
-MTV in general, esp watching 120 minutes
-the cure
-the legendary pink dots
-nick cave
-my parents & step parents (all 5 or 6 of them)
-they might be giants
-john hughes’ movies
-chopin
-the wall (the film and the album)
-santa sangre (the film)
-the doors (the band, that is, not the things you use to separate rooms)
AND not so obvious (and less “credible”) things that influenced me:
-my parents copy of “the joy of sex”
-the brady bunch
-judy blume
-weird al yankovic
-the choir music i sang in the episcopal church (aged about 6-13)
-one single novel by jackie collins called “rock star” that i read when i was 12
-the woods outside the house i grew up in-
-my next door neighbor anthony
-my older brother karl’s record collection, which i dubbed almost in it’s entirety
-my older sister, HUGELY (for better or worse)
-the porn magazines i managed to get a hold of
-all radio and television commercials everywhere (this one freaks me out. i can sing TV commercial jingles that i –
-have memorized but haven’t heard since i was like 7, but i often forget the lyrics to MY OWN FUCKING SONGS).
-that weird shit on backs of cereal boxes
-the graffiti on the side of that abandoned house on the walk to school
and
-the boxes in the atticAmanda Palmer‘s influences – more proof that creativity necessitates eclecticism – from a Reddit Q&A about the record An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.
In her beautiful meditation on creativity as dot-connecting, Palmer said, “We can only connect the dots that we collect” – and what wonderfully diverse dots she has collected.
Cara Burnidge 