Thursday 22nd February, 2024
He’s never not a day late…
Where do I begin… it’s like everytime I carve out a moment to write to you, my mind falls silent in the chaos of life. To be fair to myself today, I’m super sleepy, running late to a class, on a noisy bus, & surrounded by chatty folks with loud music in my ears. So a little distracted is acceptable, right? Ah, you don’t mind.
So what’s new in the life of this boy? This neveraging boy… this walking Peter Pan analogy…
Two things: I’ve begun my thesis project (kinda) & I’ve started rehearsing a new show!
My thesis…
is something I’ve explained a few times here, but in case you missed out… it’s basically using Carl Jung’s archetype theory to develop a system for analysing, developing, & marketing artists based on associations between them & other people/characters in popular culture. That is probably the most concise I’ve ever been with that explanation. What I’ve started doing is giving out a survey to people around me, & getting them to give another survey to people that don’t know me. They include simple enough questions like: “what fictional character do you associate with Nathan Mac?”, etc, etc… I’m excited to read through the responses when they come in. I’ll probably video myself reading them out & make a little youtube thing for it. Cause I’m expecting some very fun, silly, & personally offensive answers.
The New Show…
is kind of two things wrapped up into one. I really want to return to social media & live performing. I’ve been away for soooooo long. Coming back feels like a ‘moment’ that will need to be both justified & capitalised on. So the filming of a tiny desk style show will be that thing. In this new set up we have a lil gang of musicians to play with: Grim on drums, Ian on keys/bass, Éilis & Caela on vocals, & me of course. To kill two birds with one stone we’re also gonna be able to perform this little set live, & will most likely get the chance to in June this year. So that might be the moment I come back for both the stage & social media.
The weird feeling with all of this is the absolute naval-gazing that I have to engage in. Not only making myself the focus of my thesis, but pulling together four people to work around & with me. Deciding on when to sing, how to sing, what the focus of the project is… it all has to return to the question: “What makes Nathan Mac look best?” I feel like a kind of cult leader or dictator, cementing my own ideology & mythology through carefully constructed & considered images. Luckily for me, I’m aware of the silliness of it all & the importance of it all… so is the band. We all know that ‘Nathan Mac’ as a character, is the point of it all. It just feels weird to be the centre of something bigger. Even the film wasn’t really about ‘Nathan’. It was more about the film itself.
Anyways, it’s Friday now… cause I just couldn’t get this finished yesterday. So I guess he’s never not two days late.
Chat to you soon. <3
Nathan
