nomoreundead asked: I'm glad you like it! I do love my collective radio.
I have to say, I'm so interested in what you're doing - what a great concept.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you get into this? (Even as I'm sure you've been asked this many times before.) I'm a big Eggers fan myself.
- Jiordan
Ha, well, it was a combination of things, really.
As an exit requirement for my school’s Honors program, I have to do a graduate-level thesis, and rather than writing some long and useless paper, I proposed doing the same amount of work on an album. They loved the idea and happily approved, but I wanted to make it something somewhat academic for the purposes of better fulfilling the expectations of the Honors council.
In order to achieve this, I decided to write about something beyond myself, something inspirational that would require analysis and force me to write about new things. I toyed with photographers, painters, authors, and film, and decided that I was most interested in the idea of writing for literature simply because I’d never really heard it done before.
A very close friend of mine recommended Dave to me and then read me aloud “About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her.” By the time he finished, I was sold. Everything about the writing was just so beautiful: its simplicity, its language, its depth. I knew that with such richness in each story, I’d be able to create a song for each.
Once I was decided on the book, I really dug into a lot of Dave’s work, and was just continually impressed and reaffirmed. As I read into everything he’s achieved, I saw that he had started 826 Valencia. The concept of that group—authors volunteering to teach children to write and think creatively—is something that I love most about what Dave has accomplished through his writing, so after some communication with him, I’ve arranged to use a portion of the profit from this album in support of that cause.
Haha, sorry if that’s more than you bargained for, but I think about summarizes the process.
Aaron.
