I like to have a little music for breakfast and wash it down with a pot or two of coffee. This morning is no exception, I'm about to brew pot number two and I've been listening to the video at the bottom of this post on repeat.
I started off my breakfast with Brandi Carlile's cover of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock. It's a badass cover of a hell of a song but watching it I discovered that Brandi Carlile didn't look anything like what I thought she did. For reasons that I am unable to explain, my brain had decided to picture Norah Jones instead. Don't ask...
Naturally I had to listen to a little Norah Jones next. I opted for her rendition of Chris Cornell and Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. If you're at all fond of that song and haven't heard her doing it you've gotta give it a listen. She performed it five days after Cornell's suicide, in the same venue as his last performance and if it doesn't give you goosebumps I'm not sure if we can be friends.
While searching for that video I came across the one I'm including in this post. I promise I'll get to the point eventually. The title of this post comes from a comment John Mellencamp makes in the video, one that made me think of hive. Mellencamp was saying that in reference to hearing Elvis Costello's first album but I've thought the same thing many times browsing the hive.
I was lured in initially by the size of the payouts on the trending posts, thought 'I can do better than that' and decided to give it a shot. I gave it a shot, then another, then a few more. >Insert sound of gunshots and then crickets chirping> Seems there was more to all this than I'd initially thought.
It didn't take long to discover the Great Bidbot Plague and it's effects but I also found lots of amazing photography. It just wasn't on the trending page... In the time since I've had the same thought as Mellencamp many times.
For me, that thought (and hive in general) challenges and inspires me and my photography is better for it. Still, I don't know if I would have stuck around if it hadn't been for @photofeed. When they featured (thanks y'all!) a photo of mine it was the first time I had a post go much of anywhere and was just the thing to make me think maybe I'll stick with this a bit more and see where it goes. Years later and y'all still have to put up with me 😎
The video reminded me how much artists interacting can help to influence and inspire. I feel like I've got a lot of work to do in this department as well, I have a bad tendency to not get out much here aside from a few familiar haunts. To remedy this and give a little back I'm going to try and seek out new and underappreciated accounts and give them a bit of support. Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing anyway? Probably, but more never hurts...
I've rambled on quite enough I think, if any of y'all have any ideas on how to support up and coming hivers, lay it on me. Photos are in chronological order, with three years separating each from the one before. 1. Bridge and barge on the Ohio River (12th photo I ever took with a DSLR) 2. Maroon Bells outside of Aspen, CO 3. Activist in McPherson Square before March On For Voting Rights commenced
Now for the video I keep talking about, it's 21 minutes from some show with Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Norah Jones, John Mellencamp, and Elvis Costello singing and telling stories.
Essay Questions For The Class
#1. How has hive affected you and/or your art/craft/hobby?
#2. What accounts on hive challenge or inspire you?
#3. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?