Well here we are.  Thanks for taking the time for reading my first foray into the blogosphere.  My intention of this blog is pretty much exactly what the title says.  It is the State of the Art.  My art and the art I experience around me. What this entails is musings on art and process, sketches of work in progress, reviews of shows/exhibits (not in a snooty way, mainly I just want to talk about what inspires/impacts me), commentary, dialogue, chronicling…  All the miscellany of being a working artist.

Being a musician is an unusual profession.   The continual search for work, the interactions with many people who have varying perceptions and notions of what you do, talking about yourself in the 3rd person for press materials, the drunk uncles at weddings (God bless you.  You are a well-spring of entertainment).  I get to meet all sorts of people, play in all sorts of random, fancy, scenic, cool, scary, dive-y, and weird places (Once, I had to play a piano that was put on top of a huge table and surrounded by a buffet. In a Santa suit.).  So I can have some pretty entertaining stories.   And yes it can be done. You can make a living as a musician.

On a more serious note: I wrestle with what it means to be a composer in our post-modern era.  As I understand it, post-modern thought says that there are no more original ideas.  Today’s creative ideas are just re-interpretations, re-combination of what came before.  Is this true? Is musical exploration still possible (not one’s own personal exploration of music, but exploration of new musical horizons in a movement sense, i.e. Baroque to Classical to Romantic, etc)?  If it is possible, is it my responsibility to search for the proverbial “lost chord?”  Is it a composition when I put a group of incredible musicians in a room and tell them to improvise a certain thing?  Where is the trend  of musical hybridization heading (this is a big one for me, because it is a lot of what I do)? Does “serious” music have a responsibility to entertain? There are many answers to all these questions and the answers will certainly raise more questions.

Also no blog can be complete without segments and guest bloggers.   My first recurring segment will be Metal Guy Jazz Reviews. Every week or so my friend Metal Guy will review a jazz record.  Metal Guy is a black metal guitar player in Hammerfest, Norway.  I met him about  11 years ago at a Dimmu Borgir concert near Nuremburg, Germany. We have kept a correspondence over the years. He sends me the latest European Death Metal and I send him the jazz. Metal Guy is quite an astute listener, prolific writer, the voice of his generation, and has some very keen observations of the great American art form.  Stay tuned.

So please leave a comment, suggest a topic, provoke philosophical arguments, and send me dirty jokes. Let’s dish!  If I can make you think or piss you off, I have done my job.  Please do the same for me.  And for the record, I believe Comedy and Satire to be some of the highest forms of communication.  Keep that in mind and this will go swimmingly.  Thanks for reading!

- Michael Owcharuk