Each week I will feature one song and accompanying painting from my project, Peace or Drama, A Journey Through Music And Art.
In the spotlight this week is What’s Inside.
Did anyone see the movie, Little Children? People usually tell me they didn’t like it too much. I guess because the adult characters act, well, like children.
I’m drawn to this sort of dark comedy, though; the unsavoriness is what makes it seem more real, more human. Just like in my favorite show, Mad Men. Each character is both despicable and lovable. This is how we’d all be seen if the movie camera was allowed inside our heads.
So for some reason Little Children is entwined in my song, even though there’s no direct correlation. When I sing What’s Inside, it inevitably brings me back to that final scene in the park late at night. This is where empathy kicks into high gear. It’s heartbreaking and grotesque, and yet amidst the ugliness there is salvation.
We all deserve love, despite our darkest flaws. And most of all we deserve to love ourselves, which at times can be the hardest thing to do.
“There’s a ticker-tape parade
Waiting for me in the park
Here’s the kicker, I can’t stay
I’m afraid of getting dark
Mood swings coming down
I’m alive
But I can’t see you now
‘Cause I afraid of what’s inside”
(verse from What’s Inside)
Song by Eve Fleishman. Image by Rich Gallego (Palmdale CA). Read more about What’s Inside in the exhibition book. You can also bid on the painting, with proceeds to benefit PeaceTones.
Here’s a video from one of my recent shows: