Art music and work thoughts

I woke up this morning with a song from Warren Zevon in my head:

Every day I get up in the morning and go to work
And do my job-whatever
I need some
Sentimental Hygiene

Some days, I really feel like that. Do my job.  Whatever.  I am at the point of thinking more and more about retirement  and I have days when I wonder just what the heck I am doing there.  It's only normal.  I have been there almost 30 years ( I will hit THAT mark in October)  I had a job interview a while ago and NEVER heard back from them.  I think that's rude.  I could have at least gotten a "thanks for applying" letter, you know.  I certainly hope they are not doing a background check on me before offering me the job.  THAT would be a waste of time and energy as I decided I do not want the job.  There are a number of reasons, but they are mine alone.  I felt I would not be a good fit for the position.

 I love the music of Warren Zevon,.  I never met him and am somewhat thankful for that.  Apparently he could be a real jerk.  I prefer to think of the music he created and how it made and still makes me think and feel.  He was a genius,and apparently had little regard for those of us with average intelligence. While it might have been interesting to have a conversation with him, I think it would have changed my regard for his art.  As Joan Baez said, "Idols are best when they're made of stone" and while I did not idolize him, I think meeting and knowing him might have changed MY regard for his art.  It happened once, when I met an author whose work I admired.  He turned out to be an "anatomically specific posterior reference" to his fans.  I stopped reading him after that encounter.

I drove past a local fire station the other day and really noticed the public art on the property.  It's a large metal tree that looks like a tree that a child might imagine. It appears to be a rusted color and I can't remember for the life of me if it has always been that color.  I found myself wondering why anyone would try to sit in the 'shade" of the tree, it's a metal tree and I think it would be hotter than  cooler in the "shade" of a metal structure. It reminded me of a vaguely dystopian world, where all the green growing things have been replaced with metal objects and we are might be taught to forget living plants

I know why they have art projects at public buildings.  A percentage of all municipal building projects must contain a component for public art; kind of a cool idea actually, but some of the art is just god-awful (I'm talking about YOU , weird installation at the Sherman Way off-ramp on the Hollywood Freeway)  Some of it just leaves me cold and wondering just HOW much the artist was paid for THAT monstrosity and what the rest of the projects that came in looked like if THAT is the best they could do.  Ah well, art IS subjective and not all art appeals to all people.  I really HATE when people insist you must love a piece because it is done by a great artist or some other reason.  Art moves you in your soul or it does not.  For me, I find I love the more traditional representational art and 'modern art" leaves me cold.  I had a friend who was a well respected modern artist but I never quiet knew what to say when she showed me her new pieces.  I took to asking her about the creation aspect, what sort of paint or canvas she used or how long it took to create it, rather than oohing and aahing  about how much I loved it.  I was and am interested in the process.  I can't make a stick figure look accurate.  My grandmother's family were artists, but THAT gene seems to have been swallowed up somewhere.

As I go about my day, I will try today to appreciate the art of the natural world, the delicate beauty in flower and plants, the patterns clouds make when the wind scatters them in the sky, the color of the sunset.  I will also remember to look at art created by those talented souls who produce it to share because they must create and try to, at the very least, appreciate the effort.