Songs For The Struggling Artist

My improviser friend used to talk about his craft being toilet paper – that you pulled off a square and then threw it away. It was impermanent and that was its appeal. It was a uniquely disposable craft. In our new toilet paper obsessed society, I’m not sure this analogy works anymore. No one is hoarding improvisers. They’re stuck at home like the rest of us – their skills going wanting. If you'd like to read more of Toilet Paper and Art, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 197 Song: Ocean Song by Emily Rainbow Davis  Image by Katharina Kanns via Pixabay Indiegogo campaign to make The Dragoning is here. To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on

CW: Sexual Assault and Rape It’s not often that I listen to Alec Baldwin’s podcast but something compelled me to listen to his interview with Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. I suppose, after listening to Ronan Farrow’s podcast about breaking his Weinstein story, I was hungry to hear about their experience. I suppose I knew that Alec Baldwin would fumble this particular ball a little. After all, he’s a part of this Hollywood world they were talking about and surely his hands are not entirely clean. I expected it to get uncomfortable at times. But I did not expect him to recognize his own fumbles. It is actually weirdly refreshing to hear a celebrity say that he’s fumbled the ball spectacularly. And he did. But his struggle on this topic was actually fascinating. To read more of Holding Contradictory Truths Is the Work visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 196 Song: Any Major Dude by Steely Dan Image by Ramdlon via Pixabay Indiegogo campaign to make The Dragoning is here. To support the

The brand new audio drama podcast written by me and produced by my theatre company. (In other words, also produced by me.) You can follow and like it on Spotify. Other platforms soon to follow.  This episode features Ned Massey as Ray - with sound design by Ned Massey. If you'd like to hear more episodes, please support the Indiegogo campaign. We've raised enough to make one more episode at this point. In order to make more, we'll need some more support! Donors hear the new episode first and there's some donor swag, as well. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-dragoning-podcast/x/8511953#/ Image by Shannon Harvey To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.co

Have you all read Station Eleven? I mean, don’t, if you haven’t. Even the author recommends waiting a few months to read it. It’s a little too relevant right now. It hits a little too close to home. It begins with a pandemic that leads to the radical upending of civilization. You can see why you might want to wait a minute to get into it. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot this week – not just because of the pandemic – but because of what happens after the pandemic. The heart of the story is a traveling Shakespeare company that tours the devastated country. When nothing is left, we have the arts. To read more of Performing Arts Going Dark visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 195 Song: Dragon Ate My Boyfriend - Dragon Radio - Side Project of The Dragoning Image by Mauricio Kell via Pixabay Indiegogo campaign to make The Dragoning is here.  To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://rate

You may remember that I owe a debt of gratitude to the show Charmed. When I last wrote about it, the new Charmed, the reboot, had not yet come out. I had no idea if I would like it or hate it or if it would make me miss the old one too much. Turns out. I love it. Is it great TV? Nope. Just like the old Charmed, there’s a soapy quality that prevents it from being really great. It’s on the CW and it feels like the network sort of automatically layers everything with a teen soap opera varnish, much like the WB tended to do back in the day. But I love it. I don’t know if I love it in spite of the varnish or because of it but I love it. To read more of Charmed Again visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 194 Song: Charm School by Elvis Costello  Photo of the Charmed Ones by ColliderVideo – ‘Charmed’: Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery and Madeleine Mantock on The CW Reboot via WikiCommons To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you lis

The morning after Super Tuesday, I woke up with a song in my head. It’s a song I put on my feminist playlist a while ago and every time it comes around I think, “What is this? And what is it doing on this playlist?” Then the line about the glass ceiling comes along and I understand why it’s there but then I have to see who it is. Many times I have said, “Miley Cyrus? Really?!” But now, I know “Bad Mood” so well, I will never forget again. I’ve been listening to it on solid repeat and I’ve been crying. I feel ridiculous about it but I am in a bad mood and feeling very discouraged about the possibility of any glass ceilings ever breaking. Miley Cyrus is, weirdly, helping me through it. To read more of A Bereft, Heartbroken, Furious, Hopeless, Bad Mood visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist This is Episode 193 Song: "Bad Mood" by Miley Cyrus Image via WikiCommons by the Warren campaign To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: http

The experience of being back onstage after many years away has not been quite what I expected. I’m not getting the major highs or the “Do they like me?” lows. The major feeling is a sense of being built for it. In performing again, I feel a sense of relief at doing what I’m built for. It’s a strange feeling actually, because I have largely set acting aside to focus on other lanes of theatre, as well as other arts – and to suddenly realize how much I am still made for performing is disruptive. To read more of What I'm Built For visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 192 Song: Judy Schmooder by Emily Rainbow Davis Image by Efraimstochter via Pixabay Record a title for The Dragoning - https://www.speakpipe.com/TheDragoning To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.co

We were watching a streaming show wherein one of the heroes wore glasses. He looked like a model but they dressed him like a nerdy bad boy, in dark framed glasses. We cracked up every time his glasses came off. “Who’s that hunk? Where did that hunk come from? There was a nerd there a minute ago!” And then he’d put the glasses on and we’d say, “There he is! He’s back! But where did that hunk go all of a sudden?” To keep reading Beautiful People Wearing Glasses visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  Episode 191 Song: "Beautiful People" by Ed Sheeran Image via Pixabay Listen Up, Brooklyn is on March 14th at 7pm at Brooklyn Central Library To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a co

About a month ago, I saw a tweet that made me sob for much longer than I expected a tweet could. The tweet featured a photo of a little plastic action figure nestled into a child’s bed. It reads, in part: I found my 5yo daughter’s Elizabeth Warren action figure in her bed when I was making it this morning. When I asked her why, she said “I was scared and she makes me feel brave”. Because the thing of it is, Elizabeth Warren makes me feel brave, too. I am in solid agreement with this small child. I haven’t felt brave in such a long time but something about Warren gives me hope and strength and a sense that safety could come again. To keep reading Something About Warren visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 190 Song: Listen to Me Now by Emily Rainbow Davis Image by DirtyDucko via Twitter To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or through: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emi

When I write a new play, I’ll usually gather a group of friends together, give them wine and snacks and we’ll read it. It’s a great way for me to hear what’s on the page and for us all to see one another. Every time, someone says, “We should do this more often.” Because a large portion of my network has largely left town to go raise their kids or whatever, I am always trying to add new people. Those people will go on to be the people I recommend when asked for actors. They’ll become the people I ask to join me if/when I get stuck into a bigger project. Fundamentally, it’s a way to get to know one another in a low stakes, pleasant, creative atmosphere – which is, of course, the way I like to work. It’s not a financial transaction. I make it clear I can’t pay anyone and people self select for the experience. To read more of The Other Currency in Theatre Economics visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 189 Song: Chariot by Gavin DeGraw Image by Capri23Auto via Pixabay. To support t

A few months ago, a friend sent me an article about Gen X and the presidency that was in the Financial Times. (Write a whole series on Gen X, people will send you Gen X articles.) In the article – the millennial writer expresses his admiration for Generation X while simultaneously declaring that we are about to miss our shot to have one of our own become president. I started to write something about it but then I let it go. It seemed to just be a fleeting inconsequential opinion piece in the Financial Times. I can’t catch every single bit of silly Gen X-ery that floats by! To keep reading There Will Never Be a Gen X President?!? visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 188 Song: Every State Line by ani difranco Image by Alexander Wende via Unsplash To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.

Even as I wrote the piece that shortly follows, I knew it was going to be true only for the moment. I knew that whatever happened before, I would feel differently after. I just didn’t know how. I wrote this about a month ago before a reading of my work and you can be in the future with me and know that it went as well as it could go. I saw very clearly what needed to change, as well as what format it should probably take and this story has a happy ending. But I thought it would still be worth sharing for those of you who might be standing at that precipice I was standing on when I wrote this. * To read more of Charting the Journey of a Creative Ship visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 187 Song: All at Sea by Jamie Cullum Image by Kranich17 via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patre

“Mum! Dad! It’s evil! Don’t touch it!” This is the final line of one of my all time favorite movies, Time Bandits. I loved Time Bandits as a child and in the many subsequent viewings of it, as an adult, it has not diminished in my estimation. It is a delightful film made by one of my favorite filmmakers. And I didn’t just love Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits, no. I also admired his Brazil, The Fisher King, and even his relatively unknown and under-appreciated, Tideland. Tideland is a deep cut in the Gilliam oeuvre and I was a big fan. After reading his interview in The Independent, to say that I’m disappointed in him is a massive understatement. I’d heard he’d said some pigheaded garbage before but this was sustained pigheaded garbage. This was relentless pigheaded garbage. To read more of Terry Gilliam in the Toaster Oven, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 186 Song: "Dream Away" by George Harrison, theme from Time Bandits Image from Time Bandits To support the podcast: Give it 5 s

Due to having lived in London for a bit, I am on the mailing lists of many English theatres and arts organizations. On New Year’s Eve, I received an email from the Institute for Contemporary Art wishing me a Happy New Year with an animated drawing of a duck. And that was it. That was the whole message. They wished me a Happy New Year with a drawing of a duck. They didn’t let me know how many hours were left in the day to make their fundraising goals. Nope. They just sent me a fun drawing of a duck. To keep reading A Duck Message on New Year's Eve visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 185 Song: Rubber Duckie from Sesame Street Image by Daniel Brisbin via Unsplash To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavi

As I thumbed through the first draft of the zine that I make every year for my Patreon patrons, I thought “I actually wrote some good stuff this year.” In the same breath, I thought “That’s probably all I have. I’ve written all the best things. The well has run dry. I’ve just been coasting the last month and I don’t see how I could possibly get my mojo back. It was nice while it lasted but all I have left to write are sad documentary posts about the rejections I receive.” I’d worry that I was in the middle of writer’s block if I hadn’t felt this same way many times before. To read more of All the Times I Wrote My Last Thing visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 184  Song: It Ain't Over Til It's Over by Lenny Kravitz Image by Victoria Borodinova via Pixabay. To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Supp

While watching a much lauded play by a Millennial playwright, I found myself thinking I was watching a very Millennial play. I’ve had that feeling in theatres a lot lately and it made me wonder where all the Gen X plays were. What is – what was – the Gen X Theatre? Do we have one? Or did the theatre world just sort of skip us? To read more of Is There, Was There, a Gen X Theatre? visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 183  Song: Schadenfreude from Avenue Q Image by coltsfan via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for

Ever since I realized we were outnumbered, I have been keeping my eyes open for my generational peers. We are harder and harder to find – for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. (How can there only be one Gen X-er in EVERY office? Don’t some Gen X-ers work together? Where IS everyone?) But my sense is that we’re all doing this keeping our eyes open for each other now, to some degree. I’ve noticed a new thing happening – a sort of guarded acknowledgment of one another – it is the Gen X nod. To read more of the Gen X Nod visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 182 Song: Hello by Lionel Richie Image by Pexels via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Inst

As I slid into my café chair on Thanksgiving Eve, a woman in sunglasses leaned in and asked, “Are you cooking Thanksgiving dinner?” “Nope,” I said. I was not interested in having a chat. I was there to write. To read more of A Thanksgiving Visit from the Patriarchy visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 181 Song: If You Want to Sing Out Sing Out by Cat Stevens Image by Dana Marin via Unsplash To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support

For the podcast version of the blog, I try and find a song to pair it with – a song that speaks to the content of the piece. For my piece about screaming, I searched for songs on the subject. There are a fair amount of songs with the word “scream” or “yell” in the title but almost all of them, I found, were by white guys. I found this phenomenon curious. Why are there so many scream songs by white men? What do white guys have to scream about? EVERYONE LISTENS TO ME WHEN I TALK! PEOPLE CLEAR A PATH FOR ME WHEN I WALK DOWN THE STREET! WHEN WOMEN MAKE 70 CENTS, I MAKE A DOLLAR! I AM AT THE CENTER OF MOST STORIES! To read more of Screaming Songs for Men visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 180 Image by Wolfgang Eckert via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrd

Please put me in a show. You may know me more as a writer or director but I’m also a performer. I can act, sing, puppeteer, play guitar and ukulele or whatever you need. I would carry a spear like nobody’s business. I could also be a movement coach or dramaturg. Just. You know….ask me. To read more of Put Me In Your Show visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 179 Song: Trying by Emily Rainbow Davis Image is my headshot from six million years ago.  To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support