Bruce Cockburn and random notes

Comments from Thanksgiving 2009 on Facebook

This is an awesome song, I heard him do it live the first time 1978
in a small club in Chicago called The Quiet Knight.
We hung out with him backstage in this tiny room the whole time. The Lord Of The Starfields on YouTube, check it out.

If Bruce Cockburn was not such a personal friend having a huge impact on my career as an Artist, I would not be mentioning this, but the fact is he came along at a time when I had to make the final decision to step it up once and for all. And what did it for me was Bruce's dedication to his Art regardless of acclaim, fame or fortune. We both know he was kept out of the BIG Music Biz in America, but that is exactly what I needed to inspire me in my career as an Artist, to do it for the Art if that were all I got out of it....... Bruce's example of suffering through the business to get to the Music, and his personal way with people, made a lasting impression on me and my art. After spending two days with him in 1978, I was off to the Races as they say. I just put the head phones on and started drawing, inking, designing while listening to this amazingly gifted Artist/Musician from Canada.....Bruce Cockburn. Somehow, the pain disappeared, the doubts dissolved, the stumbling blocks were removed and I ran free to do the art for the sake of doing it.

But seven years later, Robert Crumb challenged me again to do it for the sake of the Art in a phone interview. Funny thing about that was the perception by some "well meaning friends" who were under the assumption back in the early 80's that Robert was making tons of money from his comics......?????

I never argued with those "well meaning friends" but found out from Mr. Crumb that that was not exactly the case at the time........He proved that to me and others in 1988 when he charged only $50 for a two page comic of his, we reprinted. Since those two witnesses, Bruce Cockburn and R. Crumb have so clearly laid out the path, I suggest if you are aspiring to be an Artist do it for the Art or dont do it.

If by chance and a lot of Luck, you can earn a living from your work, then more Power to you. But that may never happen, so I suggest you find someone to mentor you along, someone who is able to point you in the right direction. Happy Holidays