January 3rds

1/3/1903 (Harry Kessler Diary)

"Sentimentality = conventional, phony feelings. It is a sign that no genuine feelings are at hand. Art needs feeling, consists of intellect and feeling. If the second element is not available then conventional feelings have to serve as a surrogate. Sentimentality therefore should not be confused with strength of feeling; it is a symptom of the exact opposite." 

[It’s rather, if the first element is not available you resort to default reactions. If you don’t know what the ideas are behind a piece of work, you’ll react how you usually do].    

1/3/2023

Boomers were “radio natives” just as there are now social media natives. I listened to top-40 radio in the 70s as did everyone because it was almost a binary choice. I (we) used to buy all the Elton John records and sat around singing along with them.

[1/3/2025: We now have AI natives, people old enough to get in on the ground floor of something technical which will change the world just as much as Bill Gates did in the 1970s. It’s easy to see a zeitgeist and harder to see its shadow].    

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When I’m working on art I refer to them as being “resolved”. When I’m working on music it’s just basically “finished”. I don’t know why I make this distinction. Art tends to incubate in the background in a different way. I’ll do something to it and it’ll just sit there for days or weeks and as I’m looking at it I think about what I need to do next. Whereas music has to be played—it’s hidden until you activate it.