Creative Life: Music, Politics, People, and Machines

by Bob Ostertag

In this eloquent and passionate volume, Bob Ostertag explores the common ground and points of friction among music, creativity, politics, culture, and technology. In terrain ranging from the guerrilla underground in El Salvador's civil war to the drag queen underground in San Francisco and New York, these essays combine journalism and autobiography to explore fundamental questions of what art is and what role it can occupy in a violent and fragmented world, a world in which daily events compromise the universality toward which art strives. Drawing on his intimate engagement with political conflict in Latin America and the Balkans, Ostertag identifies an art of "insurgent politics" that struggles to expand the parameters of the physical and social world. He also discusses his innovative collaborations with major modern performers, filmmakers, and artists around the world. Part memoir, part journalism, and part aesthetic manifesto, Creative Life is a dazzling set of writings from a musical artist who has worked on the cutting edge of new music for thirty years.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

194 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2009

Reviews

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pulling together of essays and program notes that delineate the creative life of Bob Ostertag. The thoughtfulness of his writing and his ability to express himself through text is astounding. The ideas he puts forward are compelling and even his political stance finds strong resonance with this reader. It has always been a puzzle to me why I haven't felt a similar connection to his music. After reading this collection, I've determined that this is my problem and not his. I retain a curious ear for his work and hope that even one fraction of this passion and honesty leaks through.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ostertag presents the most lucid definition of "art" as any I have yet read.