Mitchell Freedman and Stephen Foster.

Although Mitchell Freedman asserts the necessity of education and information in writing a novel, I will assert that the most inspiring art by my personal standards is the artless kind: Simple, mostly ripped off, but with its characteristic quirks.

This may not make for a good living, but it is necessary, I think, for every true artist to at one point jump off the cliff upon which the fortification that is "public opinion" is built, loving the fall.

Stephen Foster died broke, John told me today. The lead singer of the Melvins tried once, for comedic effect, to buy a mansion of off street cred, using a lunchbox that contained a newspaper clipping citing Kurt Cobain's indebtedness to the Melvins. He failed with spectacular miserableness.

Tom Waits made a living off of being a "bum", or at least impersonating one for decades.

I admire poverty like the Taoists did. The scholar learns something new everyday; the wise man unlearns something.

And Kurt ripped off a lot of bands. Including Stephen Foster.

dm.A.A.