Saturday Show #89: 21 Down by David Sedaris

Summary: You may think of David Sedaris as the smart, funny, gay writer that everyone seems to love. But he’s also something else entirely and it is *this* identity that holds the key to his phenomenal success. David Sedaris is an iconoclast.<br> What is an iconoclast, anyways? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclasm" title="wiki" target="_blank">Mr. Wikipedia sez</a>: “People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any individual who challenges “cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious”. Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an iconolater; in a Byzantine context, such a person is called an iconodule or iconophile.”<br> It’s interesting that since the dawn of time, civilizations eventually generate cultures which end up building institutions to support those cultures. The vast majority of the citizens then love those cultural institutions…until an iconoclast appears to attack them. This iconoclast, then, can gain a large following of “anti-” people. People who are against certain aspects of the culture and their institutions. I think of Socrates undermining the fabric of ancient Greek society with his dialogues and endless questioning, of Martin Luther and his 99 problems (and a bitch wasn’t one), and of counter-culture figures of modern times like Hunter S. Thompson, Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Pollock, David Foster Wallace, and especially David Sedaris.<br> The Austin Writing Workshop discussed this iconoclasm as it relates to irony in literature last Friday night. I recorded it, and you can listen to the discussion as a podcast by clicking PLAY on the audio player above. <br> But this idea of iconoclasm also got me thinking about artists and identity in general. In the world of hip-hop music, every artist has to have a unique identity to go along with his talents. I was watching a documentary about Eminem’s label, Shady Records, and that’s essentially what they look for before signing an artist to the label. In music, I had a discussion with the band Blues Traveler recently (really — see below)<br> about a news article labeling them as a “jam band.” Their attitude was that if you get recognized in any way as an artist, you will then become defined and confined in a certain role. They didn’t mind it so much, but they’re one of the few successful musical acts in a sea of failed artists. I thought, too, of Hemingway’s reputation as a “tough guy” writer, David Foster Wallace as a “people’s academic,” and Stephen King as a horror writing machine.<br> Human beings seem to need to label, and to taxonify everything so they can keep things sorted in their minds. This being the case, I’m going to re-brand myself as the knish-eating writer. (Just kidding. Although knishes are delicious.)<br> In a sense, all innovators and inventers — people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, the Google dudes, the founders of Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit, etc. — are iconoclasts. There’s even a new company with my friends @meggilliland and @tiffanymadison called <a href="http://www.creativedestructors.com/" title="cd" target="_blank">Creative Destructors</a> that celebrates this need to break apart the old and raise up something new. And when these new technologies start threatening traditional businesses, the trad-bizzes run to the government for more laws, more enforcement, more protection from innovation. In art, there’s less of this, since there will always be a segment of the “art market” anxiously awaiting the new new.<br> Of course, it sounds cool to be the rebel, the iconoclast, the lone ranger. But there’s a reason why most people don’t go that way. It’s dangerous.