5 questions - w/ Peter Tork
I was recently granted the honor of asking Peter a few questions and I wanna share the questions and answers with all of you.
Lucy: Peter,
First of all, I want to thank you for agreeing to answer a few
questions. I'm very honored that you'd take a few minutes out of your hectic schedule for us.
PT: You can thank Therra, too, you know; it's through her good offices that I can do this, which of course I'm glad to do.
Q: You've done so many things in your career (acting, teaching, performing music)...which one do you find the most rewarding personally?
PT: For personal reward, for me, so far nothing has beaten the blues. There's a place, a psychic place artists go to when their art is working, that any one of them will tell you is fantastic to the point of transcendence. There is some discussion about whether it's better than sex, which some say it is, but I say that sex is the same as art this way; the best sex is very good indeed, and almost any sex is pretty good, but certainly the great art moments are easily as good as all but the very best sex.
Teaching had a lot of rewards, to be sure, but as it turns out, I wasn't well enough trained to be as good a teacher as I could have been, so that cut into my satisfaction quotient. And acting has been rewarding only rarely, actually, so that leaves music, and the blues in particular.
Q: I'd never really gotten into blues music until I started listening to the Shoe Suede Blues CDs. I've come to enjoy them very much! What would you like people to "get" from your music?
PT: Hmmm, good question. When the blues is right, which sadly I don't hear very much out there, but when it does, it feels like God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. For me, I'm reminded that I'm not alone with the trials and tribulations of the day, that I'm just another person doing the best he can to get along without getting or giving hassle. In other words, I feel welcomed back into humanity. Now, if I could be there when that happens for someone else, that would make me very happy.
Q: Some songwriters set aside time to write and some just have to have the lyrics and music come to them. Can you tell me a little about your creative process?
PT: Songs no longer come to me out of the blue in unexpected ways. I do get lyric ideas when I'm about to go to sleep, or when I'm just idly thinking sometimes. But the actual songwriting process as a whole doesn't happen except when I sit down to do it. I have to carve out time and sit there with the "program" of doing nothing else. If I allow myself to wash the dishes or watch TV, I simply don't write, so it's write or do nothing, not even daydream, for whatever time I allot.
Q: I know you spend quite a bit of time on the road, but what are some of the things that you like to do in your "down time"?
PT: Normally performing on the road takes a lot out of me, but when I have time to do anything I want, I like to explore wherever I am. Maybe I'll set out on a 2-mile walk for a Starbucks, or, if there's country, I'll just go see the sights. I also like to play guitar. I keep a small amp with me and play in the hotel room.
Q: One last question - what makes you happy?
PT: Amazingly, that's kind of a tough one. There are a lot of things that make me happy, like playing the blues, which certainly ranks very high. (Incidentally, I want to emphasize that I've worked very hard to be able to play the blues in public.) I've been lucky enough to be called upon for help in ways I was able to deliver, and there's enormous satisfaction in that. In general, though, I believe that happiness is something that grows through right behavior. That is to say, I am just about dead certain that seeking happiness per se is a poor way to get happy. Happiness is the general result of doing the right things. What are those? Well, that's another question, and one that we don't have space for here, but quickly: not lying or cheating in any way, work that has satisfactions and furthers the world's well-being, not escaping much into drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, bad eating, etc., these kinds of things tend to leave happiness in their wake. It's not guaranteed, but it certainly raises the odds enormously.
Thanks for asking.
Best wishes, and good luck to you,
Peter
Lucy: Peter,
First of all, I want to thank you for agreeing to answer a few
questions. I'm very honored that you'd take a few minutes out of your hectic schedule for us.
PT: You can thank Therra, too, you know; it's through her good offices that I can do this, which of course I'm glad to do.
Q: You've done so many things in your career (acting, teaching, performing music)...which one do you find the most rewarding personally?
PT: For personal reward, for me, so far nothing has beaten the blues. There's a place, a psychic place artists go to when their art is working, that any one of them will tell you is fantastic to the point of transcendence. There is some discussion about whether it's better than sex, which some say it is, but I say that sex is the same as art this way; the best sex is very good indeed, and almost any sex is pretty good, but certainly the great art moments are easily as good as all but the very best sex.
Teaching had a lot of rewards, to be sure, but as it turns out, I wasn't well enough trained to be as good a teacher as I could have been, so that cut into my satisfaction quotient. And acting has been rewarding only rarely, actually, so that leaves music, and the blues in particular.
Q: I'd never really gotten into blues music until I started listening to the Shoe Suede Blues CDs. I've come to enjoy them very much! What would you like people to "get" from your music?
PT: Hmmm, good question. When the blues is right, which sadly I don't hear very much out there, but when it does, it feels like God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. For me, I'm reminded that I'm not alone with the trials and tribulations of the day, that I'm just another person doing the best he can to get along without getting or giving hassle. In other words, I feel welcomed back into humanity. Now, if I could be there when that happens for someone else, that would make me very happy.
Q: Some songwriters set aside time to write and some just have to have the lyrics and music come to them. Can you tell me a little about your creative process?
PT: Songs no longer come to me out of the blue in unexpected ways. I do get lyric ideas when I'm about to go to sleep, or when I'm just idly thinking sometimes. But the actual songwriting process as a whole doesn't happen except when I sit down to do it. I have to carve out time and sit there with the "program" of doing nothing else. If I allow myself to wash the dishes or watch TV, I simply don't write, so it's write or do nothing, not even daydream, for whatever time I allot.
Q: I know you spend quite a bit of time on the road, but what are some of the things that you like to do in your "down time"?
PT: Normally performing on the road takes a lot out of me, but when I have time to do anything I want, I like to explore wherever I am. Maybe I'll set out on a 2-mile walk for a Starbucks, or, if there's country, I'll just go see the sights. I also like to play guitar. I keep a small amp with me and play in the hotel room.
Q: One last question - what makes you happy?
PT: Amazingly, that's kind of a tough one. There are a lot of things that make me happy, like playing the blues, which certainly ranks very high. (Incidentally, I want to emphasize that I've worked very hard to be able to play the blues in public.) I've been lucky enough to be called upon for help in ways I was able to deliver, and there's enormous satisfaction in that. In general, though, I believe that happiness is something that grows through right behavior. That is to say, I am just about dead certain that seeking happiness per se is a poor way to get happy. Happiness is the general result of doing the right things. What are those? Well, that's another question, and one that we don't have space for here, but quickly: not lying or cheating in any way, work that has satisfactions and furthers the world's well-being, not escaping much into drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, bad eating, etc., these kinds of things tend to leave happiness in their wake. It's not guaranteed, but it certainly raises the odds enormously.
Thanks for asking.
Best wishes, and good luck to you,
Peter
Love,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's not how we do it in Monkey Land,
in Monkey Landwe rub our bottoms together."
~~Brendan Fraser (who else?) - MonkeyBone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's not how we do it in Monkey Land,
in Monkey Landwe rub our bottoms together."
~~Brendan Fraser (who else?) - MonkeyBone
(that's one for each of you) 
(that one's just for him!)
