Other gods
January 29, 2006 10:44 PM EST
by Erik Rush

Whether one goes back to theater in ancient Greece, the days of Shakespeare, or various other eras, people in the arts have always tended to be eccentric and, well, freaky.

Maybe it’s a left-brain thing. Whether thespians, musicians, comedians, or those in the visual arts, they’ve often tended to lean toward the idiosyncratic and bohemian, libertine lifestyles. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, depending on their perceived social standing within a culture. Celebrity hasn’t always meant what it does today.

As I have mentioned, I was raised on the arts, and did spend some time in the entertainment industry. I even have a fairly close relative who is a gen-u-ine Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famer. I won’t disclose who this individual is, as I imagine they wouldn’t be any happier about this association becoming public than I would, since we embody antithetical lifestyles and points of view. The rest