Stampede - February 2013
Because of today’s world gone whacko… when asked about my HEARD CD cover art image & title: what does it mean? Is it intended to shock? First, there is the double meaning in the album title itself – as in "Have you HEARD... any must-hear music lately?” As for the image of the group jumping off the cliff... it's not an invitation to jump, but the opposite: a warning not to follow the "HEARD." Not to succumb to herd mentality, not to surrender to group-think, to think for oneself. And yes, a singularly striking image and idea meant to provoke and inspire -- the dual aims of art -- and the signal visual note to echo the thoughts of the book: "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," a history of popular folly by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book chronicles its subjects in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". The subjects of Mackay's debunking include, economic bubbles, crusades, witch-hunts, mass hysteria, and the lot.
Like today’s world gone whacko?! On one inside panel of my CD cover is the quote from Charles Mackay: "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
On the other inside panel is a headshot of me, and lyrics from “Overboard,” a song on the CD– “Overboard, this is not a drill, Overboard, your heart stood still. Man Overboard! Feel that chill. Save yourself first before anyone else will.” Truth be told...