I learned to take famous and successful people off the



pedestal I had them on (or if you prefer, elevate myself

and everyone else, to their level) in part from a fellow

writer, one who's work I have admired and love for years.

His name is Jonny Lang and he is better known for his

bluesie voice than his writing, but he writes at least

most of his own songs.

I love music by artists. It seems like most music on the

radio is by performers who's primary interest is selling

you something. The words are bland and clich?. They sound

as if a computer working off Gallup Polls wrote them. This

music is like pornography; it can deliver some small

pleasure without demanding any input. John Stuart Mill

said people should be educated to enjoy the higher pleasures.

Music by artists is one of the higher pleasures, and demands

some input (education). Retail music is barbarian in its

simplicity. When the Visigoths were listening to Hits

106 radio, the Greeks were going to small outdoor concerts

to hear artists. Jonny Lang is an artist and fittingly I

saw him at a small outdoor concert in Austin. The concert

was incredible but that's not where I leaned about

successful people.

That was after the concert. We stood inline to meet

the band and get autographs. Now Jonny Lang is not

a huge name. He is not the Rolling Stones, and I know

that, but he was a thousand or so miles from home and

a thousand or so people paid money to see him play. He

has a big nice tour bus, one that you would not be

surprised to see Mic Jagger step out of, so he is a

successful musician. My party was at the end of the line

so when we got to him there was no pressure for us to

move on. He was a normal person physically, this did not

surprise me,flesh and blood, but he was really a normal guy.

He was the kind of guy that I could have had a class with

or met at church or the gym. We visited for 10 or 15 minutes.

He ask if we enjoyed the concert and we said we did.

We visited about music and told him he was very bold

to be so open with his Christian faith in a largely secular

arena. We visited about Austin and explained the rivalry

between the University of Texas and Texas A&M. We ask him

if he wanted to get a cup of coffee but he said he needed

to hit the road (he was opening for Steve Miller the next

day) so we said by and left. It wasn't that strange to ask

him if he wanted to get a cup of coffee and I would not have

been surprised if he had accepted. I don't know any of these

guys personally. For all I now C. S. Lewis might have broken

out in hives the day The Screwtape Letters was published, for

fear of rejection. The difference between them and me isn't

that they are demigods. Its that they didn't let the fact that

they weren't demigods keep them from their work. Hemmingway

and Lewis published their books and Lang has recorded 5 albums

to date. The Truth is I don't answer to Stranger and if he

doesn't understand my metaphors its his loss, and that's why

I'm sitting on my keister writing now.

Article written by Joseph Kraft.