Furious Seasons

September 21, 2006

Cat Power

OK, so I just had to say that, spurred by a Times article yesterday on the resurgence of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, a semi-talented weirdo indie rocker type who has always driven me straight up the wall. Maybe now that she's put down the hooch, gotten herself some psych help—like her shows weren't always a cry for help—and plugged her soul back together somewhat she can actually put on a coherent show. Which I'd be happy to pay to see next time she's in Seattle. Poor lady is having to take Seroquel to sleep, however. Let us pray.

The thing that's odd is that I think her depression and boozing point to this weird tendency in the American media to handle matters of madness in artists quite differently than they approach them in the rest of humanity. Which is to say the artists get handled with tongs and an odd deference, almost an acceptance of their state. For the rest of us, it's shut up and take your meds and stay out of society's way.

Which bring me to Peter Kramer's recent book, Against Depression. Kramer, you'll recall, is the auhtor of Listening to Prozac. His new book is essentially a deromanticization of the "depression is cool for creative people 'cuz it helps them create" mindset. His argument, to simplify, is that no one can create when they are depressed and that psych meds don't neuter creativity. It's an interesting thesis, one that could only have been written by a psychiatrist.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at September 21, 2006 12:03 AM

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Comments

"Only could have been written by a psychiatrist." Love it.

Posted by: John McManamy at September 21, 2006 05:38 AM

This is a great entry, thanks for the article link and insight.

Somethings one may do and not realize they helped another by doing so.

This article was a true eye-opener for me.

Posted by: Stephany at September 21, 2006 09:49 PM

Hmm. I just watched the video the NY Times has up and she's more alive + sober than I have seen her before. Looks good too.

What's great is she is disclosing her alcoholism, her recovery, her feelings of wellness and happiness without drinking. Good message which takes courage at her point in the continuum. Me? I'm dry as toast!

Ahh, plenty of people create with depression, without depression, with chemicals, without chemicals. Kramer sounds like a simplicity stretch of pop philosophy.

Posted by: Jason at September 24, 2006 07:54 PM

Well, my teacher just raised my grade. Now it's a solid A. It's funny -- I haven't gotten an A in like four years; at community college, I got mainly Cs. Ha! That's so ridiculous. Me getting Cs. So ridiculous. Ha, that reminds me: when I interned at the Seattle Weekly where Philip works, me and another intern teepeed Philip's cubicle -- totally made a gigantic white mess of it -- becuase we deemed Philip "ridiculous". K, do you, or do you not think Philip SO deserved that? It was SO funny!!! And then Chuck, his boss, walked past and was like, "what's everyone looking at?" and then he looked and then smiled. And George, another staff writer walked past was like "just charming". See, they all liked that cause they knew that Philip SO deserved it. It was SO funny!!! And then Philip walked in around 11:30, just as Nicole was putting the final touches on our masterpiece. It was really funny. See, I think Philip should post that picture of his teepeed cubilce on this site. That would be really funny. It was so funny!!! Ah, that summer was so much fun. And then, it was also really funny, Nicole was making all these jokes: Me and Nicole and Philip all had our cubicles on the same end of the hallway, and as I have schizophrenia, and Nicole and Philip have bipolar, Nicole was saying how our part of the building was the psychiatric ward of the Seattle Weekly!!! HOW FUNNY IS THAT!?!?! SO FUNNY!!! Ha! Ha! Ha! Nicole is just about the funniest person I've ever met. Really funny. Anyway life is fun.

Posted by: Gwen at September 24, 2006 10:34 PM