Oh delicate muse.
Posted on 12 Mar 2012
Bon Iver won two Grammys that he didn’t want. Awards for art are dumb he said. I agree with most of his views and what Nick Cave said here to the MTV Music Awards back in 1996. Of course I’d love to win a Grammy but right now I tell myself that awards are not helpful or appropriate or necessary and that I’m too dignified to compete for recognition from a bunch of stranger-peers. George C. Scott is one of only a few people to ever refuse an Oscar outright, he said that acting wasn’t a competition. It is not. I’m ok with top ten lists, I’m ok with art criticism. Maybe nominations and winners and important two-minute speeches are the problem. Just name your winners and quit horsing about with pomp and circumstance and making claims that your awards are bigger than the rest or that you got it right because democracy is true and Forest Gump is better than Pulp Fiction.
As Mr. Cave put it: “My relationship with my muse is a delicate one at the best of times and I feel that it is my duty to protect her from influences that may offend her fragile nature.”
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