Art and Melancholia (B. Cockburn content)

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Interesting piece.

Don't Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

SARAH HAMPSON

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 11:39AM EDT

Last updated Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 11:41AM EDT

Bruce Cockburn once confessed that he was in love with sadness. I was talking with the award-winning singer-songwriter about his work and life, and at one point, he looked quietly out into the concrete wasteland of Toronto’s deep downtown. “I’m very attached to melancholy,†he said through his granny glasses. “I’m kind of a melancholy addict.â€

Melancholia as muse is not uncommon. Many artists will point to its role in their creative lives. Still, the acknowledgment of sadness is rare. We live in a society that promotes the eradication of – or isolation from – negative emotions as the ultimate goal. In the relentless focus on happiness, the value of sadness, in particular, has been disregarded. It has become a modern taboo.

This is not about depression, but rather the normal sort of sadness that can be triggered by events and even sometimes by nothing at all. But when someone asks you how you are, and you’re feeling a little blue for no obvious reason, you don’t answer, “Well, actually, I feel a little sad today.†You smile. You say, “Great, thanks.â€

The admission of sadness suggests a weakness – that you’re not with the program, slower than the rest of us worker bees, not a productive member of society, too self-indulgent.

But are we overlooking the value of sadness?

“Think of it as pain. Sadness is not pleasant, not wanted and not sought, but it is engineered to give us a signal as to when things we value are not going well. It allows us to withdraw and focus on how our overall goals are going,†says Jerome Wakefield, professor of social work and psychology at New York University and co-author of The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder. In the 2007 book, he and Allan Horwitz, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, wrote about the “overpathologizing†of sadness under the influence of pharmaceutical companies. “Depression has been confused with normal sadness,†he says. “There has been a blurring of the lines.â€

Sadness can be healthy. “It’s a complex emotion that causes us to rethink our own system and how we relate to the world,†Dr. Wakefield says. Major life stressors, such as the loss of a job, divorce or the death of a loved one, result in normal bereavement, which plays a part in healing. “The sadness helps them by promoting a reprocessing of how they’re going to carry forward,†he says.

There’s even some speculation about the evolutionary biology of sadness and its role in survival. A period of withdrawn rumination is “a way of conserving reserves, not rushing into risky endeavours,†Dr. Horwitz says. “It can also be useful for people who don’t have much power.†Primates in the jungle who don’t win the dominant struggle and slink off to considered submission survive better, he suggests. They don’t pick nasty, life-threatening fights.

Sadness can also be an effective call for help. “It can attract support from other people,†Dr. Horwitz adds.

No one wants to diminish the significance of depression. But should we nip all and any sadness in the bud? “The question is this: Do we want to live in a world that tolerates the full range of human emotions or do we want to use the scientific know-how we have at our disposal to reduce that range of emotion?†Dr. Wakefield says.

Call it romantic claptrap, but I think someone should write a book called The Beauty of Sadness, and in it, one could describe how it invites a broader perspective on life.

It’s like postcard-perfect places. A beach with white sand and a gently swaying palm tree against an azure sky would get boring after a while. It’s best for a holiday, a designated period of time, and then you can get back to the other, darker, stormier landscapes. It’s the variation that makes you appreciate every possibility when it comes into view.

The beauty of sadness can be seen – or rather heard – in Franz Schubert’s last three piano sonatas, written in the final years before his death. They speak of contrasting psychological states, fast and slow, from despair to contentment, from reality to dream. And the eventual homecoming or resolution is richer as a result of that unpredictable journey.

“I like to take a realistic view of what we’re capable of in any direction, from human suffering and cruelty to incredible courage and loyalty,†Mr. Cockburn told me that day I interviewed him in 2002. “It’s a big, fluid jigsaw puzzle and being part of that is endlessly interesting in itself.â€

I have thought of what Mr. Cockburn said many times over the years. It takes courage to be sad, to own up to it, to sit with it and acknowledge it when it settles on your sofa for a visit. But there was something else he said that resonated too. “There is beauty happening all around you all the time,†he observed. “You can choose to notice it or not.†What I took him to mean is that the world is not all bad or all good, and the trick is recognizing that both dark and light are present at the same time.

[bradm]

agrees.

Aloha,

Brad

[edger]

Hmmm...thanks for that.

SARAH HAMPSON

It’s like postcard-perfect places. A beach with white sand and a gently swaying palm tree against an azure sky would get boring after a while. It’s best for a holiday, a designated period of time, and then you can get back to the other, darker, stormier landscapes. It’s the variation that makes you appreciate every possibility when it comes into view.

I suppose this rings true.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

And then - crap .

Bruce Cockburn cancels tour due to pneumonia, collapsed lung

He's supposed to make a full recovery, fwiw.

[Velvet]

In related news:

(Tix are on sale now and most seats are still available. For example, 2nd row floor dead centre are still up for grabs for $59 while the front row centre balcony tix are still there in abundance for $39. Today I purchased two tickets in box #26 [$49], the other two tickets in that box are still available if you want to sit behind me and phorbesie. REMEMBERFUCKTICKETBASTARD: tix purchased in person at the NAC box office have no service charges; $49 tickets cost $49 - what a concept)

NAC Presents-Bruce Cockburn

Friday, April 15, 2011, 8:00 pm

Southam Hall

$39/$49/$59

Bruce Cockburn returns to the NAC! He will be presenting his latest album Slice O Life.

Recorded last spring over a series of dates in the northeastern United States and one in Quebec, ‘Slice O Life’ is a double CD that showcases a cross-section of Cockburn’s finest songs and some of his most dazzling guitar work. The album, produced by longtime associate Colin Linden, also includes one new song, ‘City is Hungry,’ three tracks recorded at sound checks on the tour and some between-song banter that shows Cockburn to be both a quick wit and an engaging storyteller.

‘Slice O Life’ features such hits as Cockburn’s controversial ‘If I Had a Rocket Launcher,’ his classic ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ and his breakthrough ‘Wondering Where the Lions Are,’ which he rightly quips may be the only song ever to make the Billboard chart that includes the word ‘petroglyph.’ Originally recorded with a full band, these and other songs like ‘World of Wonders’ have been rearranged and performed on acoustic guitar—often with stunning results. In particular, the polyrhythmic solo on ‘Rocket Launcher,’ full of complex, cascading notes, is especially mesmerizing.

As a songwriter, Cockburn is revered by fans and musicians alike. His songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Elbow, Jimmy Buffett, Judy Collins, the Skydiggers, Anne Murray, Third World, Chet Atkins, k.d. lang, Barenaked Ladies, Maria Muldaur and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. As a guitarist, he is considered among the world’s best. ‘The New York Times’ called Cockburn a "virtuoso on guitar," while ‘Acoustic Guitar’ magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell and Django Reinhardt. With ‘Slice O Life’, all of Cockburn’s formidable gifts are on full display.

http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/whatson/event.cfm?ID=6426

[edger]

His last show in Hamilton was SOOOO unbelievably good. Do yourself a favour and go...

But dam...does this mean the whole melancholy thing festers away and gets the best of us afterall? Dispense xanax?

[Kanada Kev]

The Massey Hall show is a long way away too Plenty of recovery time for Bruce. Get well man!

Haven't heard much Bruce lately. Think that will be part of my soundtrack at work tomorrow