Make It Habit. Make It Happen.

Will Powers Adventures in Success

I was reading something on the Holy Ghost blog that mentioned Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra the other day, which reminded me of photographer Lynn Goldsmith's Will Powers project in the early 80's. I mentally place this whole project on the same shelf as monologist Spalding Grey, certain projects David Byrne was involved with, Laurie Anderson and other downtown New York video types, and you can see why from the above video. Collaborators on this project include Carly Simon, Jacob Brackman (who wrote one of my favourite films, King of Marvin Gardens), Nile Rodgers (of Chic), Steve Winwood, Todd Rundgren and Sting. (Uh...)

This is just me talking about a world I really have no idea about, but it seems that in Reaganite America, there was an actual skepticism towards self-help that seems conspicuously missing when artists at a similar level in their career (as the people involved with Will Powers) and beyond, like Beck, are now all knee-deep in the management theory mysticism of Scientology. As for projects like Will Powers, sure, there's Yacht, but while I can't deny certain sonic similarities, the conceptual art and theoretical elements of Yacht are the least appealing to me and feel strikingly dated.

It's you. only you.
It's you. only you.
It's you. only you.

You are an important person. A rare individual. A unique creature. There has never been anyone just like you and never will be. You have talents and abilities no one else has. In some ways you're superior to any other living person. The power to do anything you can imagine is within you when you discover your real self by practicing a few simple laws of success.

First law of success. Take inventory of your assets. Don't be modest or critical. Be open and objective. Get a pencil and paper. Write down every good thing about yourself you can think of.

It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.

Second law of success. Write a description of the person you'd like to be. Describe your personal dress, your home, your automobile, your desired occupation and income. Be honest. Now, go even deeper. Describe the inner person you'd like to be. Let your mind run wild. Assume you can become anything that you desire. The fact is, you will become the person you honestly describe. You can't avoid it.

It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.

Third law of success. Concentrate on a mental image of the person you'd like to be. Paint a picture in your imagination of who you want to become. Constantly hold this visual in your mind's eye. See yourself performing and responding like a champion. Feel the confidence and courage that radiate from this type of person.

It's you. only you.
It's you. only you.
It's you. only you.

These three laws are powerful and effective in changing lives. They'll work for you without fail if you're persistent in applying them.

Make it habit. make it happen. make it habit.
Make it happen. make it habit. make it happen.
Make it habit. make it happen.

It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.
It's you. make it habit. make it happen. only you.

Something Wild

The Feelies Crazy Rhythms

Jonathan Demme's 1986 film, Something Wild, starring Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith and an unhinged Ray Liotta, also features The Feelies covering David Bowie's Fame. The bassist seems to be particularly camera-shy, and the group is called The Willies in the film. Check out those white bucks that Daniels is soft-shoeing it on the dancefloor with! This film's arguably in the same genre as Martin Scorsese's After Hours - yuppie gets more twilight Gothamic adventures than he bargains for when he meets a wild girl. The soundtrack's pretty spectacular - New Order's Temptation, a bunch of Feelies songs, the Fine Young Cannibals covering the Buzzcocks, Laurie Anderson*, David Byrne**, and X, amongst many others.

A couple of years after this film, and after Swimming To Cambodia, doing a New Order music video, and, for the sake of argument, Married to the Mob, Mr. Demme would eventually give himself fully over to the pursuit of cinematic boredom, with such armchair snoozers as Philadelphia, an adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved, and other treacle borne out of the unholy union of white liberal guilt and the Oscar pursuit.

Despite the fact that, like a later group also from New Jersey Yo La Tengo, the Feelies are about as nerdy a group that have ever formed a rock group (excepting the unbearable They Might Be Giants and The Decembrists), I've always loved 'em since I picked up The Good Earth in Victoria so many years ago.

* Last year I had a strange afternoon where I thought that Big Science was about the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. The feeling quickly passed and has yet to return.
** Actually, the David Byrne song on the soundtrack is pretty much unbearable, as if David Byrne was mostly moved by a recent Miami Sound Machine performance.