Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Butt heads with the artist bio

Can we get something besides a resume from musicians?

www.jasonsavagephotography.com
www.jasonsavagephotography.com
Video:

John Williams, Itzhak Perlman - Schindler's List

Itzhak Perlman shares something beyond his bio.

Itzhak Perlman shares something beyond his bio.

I’ve mentioned the asinine quality of the artist bio a few times in the past but it’s time to take this thing on like bighorn sheep butting heads during the spring rut. That is to say — head on.

Here are bios of five public figures in vastly different fields. Yet they have one thing in common — their bios are almost identical.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman. CEO Jack Welch. Actress/Female Actor Sandra Bullock. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Wildlife photographer Jason Savage.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Of these bios, the most revealing is that of Gavin Newsom, the politician, because his policies tell us something about his convictions. The rest of them are nothing more than gussied-up resumes.

Take a look at Tom Waits’s website. There is no bio or “about me” section. There is a “Wit and Wisdom” section. The very first line reads, “I didn’t just marry a beautiful woman, I married a record collection.”

That one line tells tells us more about Tom Waits than all the “artist” bios we see at classical music concerts.

Hey musicians, it’s time to stop giving us your resume and start giving us your bio. Either that or give us nothing at all. It’s insulting. Imagine speaking to someone and all they talked about was where they had worked and how strangers thought that they were great.

“Hey there, musician. What’s new? How are you doing?”

“I played Rachmaninoff’s second in Sarasota.”

“Really? How was Sarasota? I’ve never been there.”

“I went to Juilliard.”

“Cool. New York is incredible but I’ve heard living there makes you want to scratch your face off.”

“According to critics, I triumphed in Moscow, Idaho.”

“I thought the Roman Senate was the only body able to grant a triumph.”

“I made my European debut with the Bratislava Philharmonic.”

“Remember the ‘Two wild and crazy guys’ from Saturday Night Live back in the day? Weren’t those guys from Bratislava?”

“I made a recording for Koch International.”

“I hate the Koch brothers. F those guys.”

It makes no sense. Stop sticking to the facts and get dirty with some convictions.

Is this is a job interview and we’re weighing your work experience and education against that of other applicants? Maybe we should require musicians to include references.

Get as far away from the traditional bio as you can. Start creating culture with the way you communicate who you are at every opportunity. The traditional bio is the skeleton of decaying 20th century conventions and it stinks.

Stop being "professional" and start expressing the fire, the conviction, the emotion that makes you the artist that you are, even in something as basic as your program bio.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
www.jasonsavagephotography.com
www.jasonsavagephotography.com
Video:

John Williams, Itzhak Perlman - Schindler's List

Itzhak Perlman shares something beyond his bio.

Itzhak Perlman shares something beyond his bio.

I’ve mentioned the asinine quality of the artist bio a few times in the past but it’s time to take this thing on like bighorn sheep butting heads during the spring rut. That is to say — head on.

Here are bios of five public figures in vastly different fields. Yet they have one thing in common — their bios are almost identical.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman. CEO Jack Welch. Actress/Female Actor Sandra Bullock. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Wildlife photographer Jason Savage.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Of these bios, the most revealing is that of Gavin Newsom, the politician, because his policies tell us something about his convictions. The rest of them are nothing more than gussied-up resumes.

Take a look at Tom Waits’s website. There is no bio or “about me” section. There is a “Wit and Wisdom” section. The very first line reads, “I didn’t just marry a beautiful woman, I married a record collection.”

That one line tells tells us more about Tom Waits than all the “artist” bios we see at classical music concerts.

Hey musicians, it’s time to stop giving us your resume and start giving us your bio. Either that or give us nothing at all. It’s insulting. Imagine speaking to someone and all they talked about was where they had worked and how strangers thought that they were great.

“Hey there, musician. What’s new? How are you doing?”

“I played Rachmaninoff’s second in Sarasota.”

“Really? How was Sarasota? I’ve never been there.”

“I went to Juilliard.”

“Cool. New York is incredible but I’ve heard living there makes you want to scratch your face off.”

“According to critics, I triumphed in Moscow, Idaho.”

“I thought the Roman Senate was the only body able to grant a triumph.”

“I made my European debut with the Bratislava Philharmonic.”

“Remember the ‘Two wild and crazy guys’ from Saturday Night Live back in the day? Weren’t those guys from Bratislava?”

“I made a recording for Koch International.”

“I hate the Koch brothers. F those guys.”

It makes no sense. Stop sticking to the facts and get dirty with some convictions.

Is this is a job interview and we’re weighing your work experience and education against that of other applicants? Maybe we should require musicians to include references.

Get as far away from the traditional bio as you can. Start creating culture with the way you communicate who you are at every opportunity. The traditional bio is the skeleton of decaying 20th century conventions and it stinks.

Stop being "professional" and start expressing the fire, the conviction, the emotion that makes you the artist that you are, even in something as basic as your program bio.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Half Hour Late lives up to their name at the Template

Deadhead-inflected band right at home in Ocean Beach
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.