Winding down to the break is fun, crossing off things that need to be done to wrap up the gift of the year 2013! Have a great break.
So I’m looking forward to lying low, watching DVDs, eating chocolate and watching the grass grow. I’m a sucker for rock documentaries. Want to look at the best of them ‘Amazing Journey‘ again (story of the Who). Then there’s the earlier Who movie ‘The Kids are Alright’ which I haven’t seen. I’ve also got Murray Lerner’s 1967 ‘Festival’ waiting.
Essentially rock documentaries are rich and wonderful accounts of collaborations. They bring out all the qualities you have to get right. Leadership. Management of resources, creative and financial. A good understanding of personality dynamics. Ways of protecting the interests of all collaborators in joint work. Integrating new members into existing collaborations. The list goes on.
Did you catch ‘David Bowie, 5 years in the Making of an Icon’ on ABC TV in November? He was a genius at the openness and challenges of fresh collaborations. This fuelled projects like ‘Young Americans’ and amazing work with Luther Vandross and his back up singers.
Then there’s Joe Strummer of the Clash, plugging away on social justice, seating people in circles round campfires. The Band. There was social planning material in those guys. Pete Townshend had all the capacities for a Minister of Strategic Planning. But they all kept collaborating as musicians.
Their stories draw out all the dynamic life giving potential of collaboration. Anything in this genre I shouldn’t miss? Let me know!
