Is every successful artist a sellout?

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I first heard the term “sellout” while in art school during a discussion on the subject; I’m not entirely sure why we were having this discussion, but it seemed everyone was in agreement that the one thing that guaranteed sellout status was a shift in values that alienated anyone who admired you as an artist.When someone calls an artist a sellout, what they’re actually saying is, “I’m bitter and resentful that you’re gaining success and recognition and I’m not, so I’m going to try to make you feel bad in order to make myself feel better.” One might also refer to this as bullying, but I won’t for the sake of the argument. This is the definition I have more experience with.If we are expected to subscribe to this hogwash, then we’re expected to believe in the validity of this equation:ART + SUCCESS = “SELLING OUT”Remember this equation because you will need it later.If someone has ever called me a sellout I wouldn’t know it, because they don’t have the stones to say it to my face. From the very second I knew that I could be an artist, I wanted to make money at it—because if I want to do the things I love for the rest of my life then I have to make a living doing them or else I’ll have to survive by eating oil paints. The romantic notion of the starving artist living only on his inspiration is total B.S. and is completely unrealistic; poverty does not equal purity (another equation I would like you to remember). Because of this, wanting to make money as an artist is perfectly sensible.However, most people are well aware that art isn’t something you get into if you’re looking to strike it rich. Continue Reading

Is the Viking Bar ever going to reopen?

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For more than six years—since August 1, 2006, the Viking Bar at Riverside and 19th Avenue South has sat empty. For that same period the marquee over its blue door, the same marquee that once advertised shows featuring “Spider” John Koerner, the Front Porch Swingin’ Liquor Pigs, and Willie Murphy, has read “GONE FISHING.”Call the Viking’s phone—the same number that used to be picked up by Larry, George, or one of the brothers Nelson. 6-1-2-3-3-2-4-2-5-9. There will be one ring, then: Doo-doo-weep. “The number you have dialed is not in service or is assigned in a different area code. Continue Reading

At the intersection of the fiscal cliff, health and the Farm Bill

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It’s no secret that many economists believe the nation’s toxic mix of soon-to-expire tax cuts and automatically triggered, across-the-board federal spending cuts could send the economy off a precipice at the beginning of January and into another recession. If that happens, every American taxpayer and industry will be profoundly affected, and agriculture is no exception. Continue Reading

Go over the fiscal cliff

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I don’t take a decision to go over the fiscal cliff lightly. Economists think doing so will cause a recession. Since I’m advocating going over the cliff, I’d like to think the economists’ are, um, skewed— pardon the indulgence in a bit of post-election schadenfreude — but the case for the projections being wrong is that it would be convenient for me if they were wrong. Another recession would mean a drop in government revenues that makes the federal deficit and state shortfalls even worse, unemployment would presumably go up, and since real people will gt hurt, it’s just nothing to take lightly. Then why go over? Continue Reading