Songs for the Struggling Artist
Songs for the StrugglingArtist
I blogcast about Artist stuff. And Arts Related stuff. Also feminism.
- 13 minutes 3 secondsThe Tedium Scale
The slide of a Hogarth etching in the Power Point presentation made me think about how incredibly tedious it must have been to do all that cross-hatching in the background. I imagine that it would have been fun to draw all those laughing faces but then – to do all those straight lines behind them? Tedium. Absolute monotony.
This made me think about the point where I gave up on working through Lynda Barry’s Making Comics book.
To keep reading The Tedium Scale visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 452
Song: Everything Is Boring
Image of The Laughing Audience by William Hogarth is from the 1730s
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Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
16 June 2025, 4:44 am - 17 minutes 9 secondsGen X Podcasts
On the Gen X subreddit, someone wrote a post titled “Anyone else hate podcasts?” and asked if anyone else felt like they were the wrong generation for podcasts. The OP (on Reddit, the person who posts is called OP for Original Poster) says they can’t stand all the chatting by Millennials on podcasts, so they hate podcasts. They received a lot of support for this post. It has over four thousand upvotes and the comments are full of my generational peers piling on about how much they hate podcasts and how dumb they are and how full of annoying younger people they are.
To keep reading Gen X Podcasts visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 451
Song: Soft Serve
Image of my podcast stats for The Dragoning from a few years ago.
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
10 June 2025, 2:35 am - 12 minutes 34 secondsAn Obdurate Donkey
Recently, it occurred to me that part of the reason that I remain in the arts, despite very little obvious success is that I am really just a stubborn cuss. I will not give up, no matter how much it would make sense to. I will not yield. I will not surrender. It’s not that I won’t face reality; I am well aware of how bootless this seems, how steep the odds are. I just refuse to give up. I hear all the stories about the old timers plugging away and, in my youth, I remember laughing at them, thinking, “Wow, they just can’t get a clue, huh?” And now that I am an old timer, I know I have a lot of clues – and I am just choosing to ignore them. Stubborn-ness is maybe necessary in this field.
To keep reading An Obdurate Donkey visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 450
Song: Donkey
Image by Dawn Tree via Unsplash
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
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Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
2 June 2025, 11:56 pm - 13 minutes 37 secondsTwenty Smiles a Day
A doctor I heard on a podcast said he prescribes all his patients to smile twenty times a day. It sounded very convincing on the podcast and I thought, I can do that! Then I hesitated. For women, it can be a little loaded to be told to smile more. I don’t LOVE this for that reason but I do understand the benefits and the rationale. Smiling is good for you! And then I thought about how dramatically my relationship with smiling has changed over the years. As a girl, and then as a young woman, I smiled ALL THE TIME.
To keep reading Twenty Smiles a Day visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 449
Song: Sara Smile
Image by Kacey Anisa Stamats of Emily Rainbow Davis and Emily Hartford in Messenger Theatre Company's As We Like It
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
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Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
27 May 2025, 12:03 am - 15 minutes 41 secondsJohn Proctor Is the Villain Made Me Cry
I have this idea that I don’t cry in the theatre. Movies, yes, all the time. TV, yep. But I think I don’t really cry at plays. It’s not true, though. It just doesn’t happen very often. And pretty much every time it does, it’s such a remarkable piece of theatre that I feel like I have to write about it. It happened at Indecent. And at One Night Only. I have noticed that I only write about a show when it has either really made me mad or made me cry.
I don’t know what I want to tell you about John Proctor Is the Villain aside from how hard it made me cry and how it got me when I was least expecting it.
I don’t get to see a lot of explicitly feminist shows on Broadway (that’s because generally there aren’t any) so I felt it was absolutely my responsibility to go see this show.
To keep reading John Proctor Is the Villain visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 448
Song: Green Light
Image by Cornellrocky via Wikicommons
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
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Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
20 May 2025, 12:20 am - 22 minutes 44 secondsYes Of Course I Feel Bad About the NEA Stuff
It’s very possible I’m just becoming numb to the relentless cruelty and bad decisions happening in our country but the news about the National Endowment for the Arts didn’t bother me nearly as much as I would have thought. Maybe if it had happened first? Like, before USAID and before all the “deportations” that are really kidnappings and before all the privacy violations and before all the flagrant attacks on the First Amendment, maybe I’d be more upset. But when the news broke about the National Endowment for the Arts (The NEA) revoking funding it had previously granted, I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I felt I should. It is awful, of course. Many arts organizations were counting on that funding to do their shows, implement their programs, pay their artists, continue their missions. It is genuinely terrible, of course! That’s money the Federal government promised them and then pulled away like a governmental Lucy, yanking the football out from under Charlie Brown. There is nothing good about it.
To keep reading Yes, Of Course I Feel Bad About the NEA visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 447
Song: Party in the USA
Image by Nomad369 via Pixabay
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: 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
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
13 May 2025, 1:10 am - 20 minutes 5 secondsThis Forwardness Makes Our Hopes Fair
I think a lot about this dinner I had with my clown teacher many years ago. I was in my late 20s and I was recounting my plans to put on a show. I don’t think it was far enough along yet to have been a plan for starting the theatre company – but it could have been, because that is what it ultimately became. This was the show that led to the company. In any case, I enthusiastically laid out my many hopes and dreams and plans to this beloved teacher of mine and she smiled and said something rueful about the gifts of being young and having such faith in our plans. I don’t remember the words – just the sense of it.
To keep reading This Forwardness Makes Our Hopes Fair visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 446
Song: Love Is a Battlefield
Image of me, Emily Rainbow Davis, directing The Golden Apple many years ago.
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: 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
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
Instagram and Pinterest
Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
6 May 2025, 1:09 am - 15 minutes 56 secondsKill Your First Born
If you’ve spent time in writing circles or writing workshops or writing advice threads, at some point you will have run into the concept of killing your darlings. This is the idea that sometimes you have to cut the parts of your text that you love for the greater good of your piece. Some people take this idea so seriously that they cut their darlings unilaterally – just “Do I love it? It’s got to go.” Personally, I think this is going too far. It’s possible your darling is the heart of your piece. You’ve got to evaluate it as a whole to really know if that particular darling needs to be killed.
I recently realized, though, that one of the darlings I often have to kill is the first one.
To keep reading Kill Your First Born visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 445
Song: First Born
Image by Jen Theodore via Unsplash
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
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Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
29 April 2025, 1:08 am - 17 minutes 8 secondsI'm Worried About the Coffee
And here’s the thing that’s really freaking me out. It’s set in Marseille in France in 1940. The US hasn’t even entered the war yet. And everywhere they go, there is only terrible coffee. Over and over, the main character drinks undrinkable coffee or brown water standing in for coffee. And I know this is not nearly as bad as the bombings and the arrests and the people being ripped from their families but even the rich people in this book have to drink terrible coffee.
To keep reading I'm Worried About the Coffee visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 444
Song: Java Jive
Image by Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: 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
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
Instagram and Pinterest
Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
21 April 2025, 11:40 am - 17 minutes 50 secondsArts and Charity
In the last handful of years, NYC has been doing something called Participatory Budgeting, which allows us to vote for which projects we’d like to see funded in our district. It’s mostly small budget proposals for schools or parks or community groups. It’s a nice idea, though I’m not sure how well it works in getting things funded. I got an email for this round of projects recently and in looking at the choices, I noticed there were some arts projects included this time. And I also noticed that my first inclination was not to vote for them. But if I don’t vote for kids to have a theatre program, who will?
To keep reading Arts and Charity visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 443
Song: Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Image by Jocelyn Wu via Unsplash
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist
Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
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Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
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Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
15 April 2025, 1:23 am - 16 minutes 19 secondsFederal Arts Funding
In the midst of all the chaos and my friends losing (or preparing to lose) their federal jobs, several of them have asked, “But what about you? Are you losing funding?” And it’s so sweet. It’s so kind of them to check on me and I am grateful that people in such despair are thinking of me too but a part of me laughs very hard at the notion of my tiny theatre company losing federal funds. I don’t think I even know anyone who has ever had any federal funds.
The fact is, we have virtually no federal support of the arts at all in this country and have not had it in most of my lifetime.
To keep reading Federal Arts Funding visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.
This is Episode 442
Song: Federal Funding
Image by Diliara Garifullina via Unsplash
To support this podcast:
Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!
Rate it wherever you listen or via: 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
Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd
Me on Mastodon - @[email protected]
Me on Blue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social
Me on Hive - @erainbowd
Instagram and Pinterest
Tell a friend!
Listen to The Dragoning here and The Defense here. You can support them via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany
As ever, I am yours,
Emily Rainbow Davis
8 April 2025, 1:43 am - More Episodes? Get the App