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Interview: Doug YorkJuly 20, 2005
1. How long have you been a resident in Siskiyou County?
About six years.
What brought you here?
Friends and community brought me here. I came here to celebrate the life of Ethan Crosby in a memorial service and when I came here I played music with my friends and I realized that this community is where my friends are and where my musician buddies are and where my heart is. So, I decided I would move here so I could have an artful life.
2. Can you give a short explanation of your specialty or your artistic medium?
I teach music to kids and adults. Also I am an actor. I write material for myself so that I have a vehicle for my talents. I write funny things because I am kind of funny… funny looking… funny smelling. I produce shows to have the opportunity to present this original programming for people to enjoy. I produce live events that feature original writing and acting while I direct. I also direct and produce instructional videos for a choreographer, John Jacobson and those are distributed internationally. I am a producer, writer, director, actor, musician, and teacher.
3. How long have you been making art (professionally and unprofessionally)?
I have always been a very creative lad throughout my life. I started to get paid to play music in junior high school. I have been a professional musician since eighth grade I guess. I have run bands and have won awards for writing stage plays or stories for acting. I started teaching music to other students when I was a sophomore in high school. That is also part of my art is to give back to the art community by teaching expressive, performing arts.
4. Is art your full time career?
Yes it is. It is very fulfilling and also a roller coaster ride. My income is not steady which can sometimes cause a lot of stress. I travel with my work because there is not enough paying work in our community. It’s exciting and lonely, frightening and exhilarating. It feels good to live a soulful life.
5. How have you learned your art? Have you had any formal art education?
I was involved in writing programs and drama programs all offered to me through conventional public school. Then I went on to study in college. I took music classes and writing classes. I studied privately with a professional drummer right out of high school. I was 18 and 19 when I studied with Mel Brown who was a musician for Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations. He was a Motown drummer so I learned how to play Motown. Other then that I am kind of self taught. My producing is an artful career as well and I don’t have formal training in that. I did take college classes in management and marketing so all that comes in handy for producing. Producing kind of marries the art with the business.
6. Can you talk a little about your experience as an artist in Siskiyou County? (In other words, what is unique about being an artist in this area?) (Pros and Cons) (economic, cultural, physical/geographic)
Because I am so active and I have chosen this as a full time job I have kind of become a big fish in a small pond here. I am quite well known and in the public eye a lot. The good news is I have a lot of people who show up at my shows because they know the quality of entertainment they are going to get. The bad news is people don’t like to pay a lot for their shows so I have to keep the price affordable which causes problems in getting other talent to join me because it’s hard to pay people properly. I have been recognized gratefully by the S.A.C for my music and drama programs. Also, MC TV 15, a local public access television station has been very generous in creating opportunities for people like me. I have created and hosted television shows there. Since I am so active in the community, a lot of people are very generous with supporting me and helping me with my art. This is unique about living in a small community. If I were to move out of the area to make more money, let’s say to LA, I become a very small fish in a big pond. There’s a lot a talent there, everyone is a writer, director, or actor. I think I own a niche here that I have created for myself.
7. Do you feel like living in Siskiyou County has influenced your art? What aspects have you drawn inspiration from?
My record breathe was inspired by living in this community. The shooting stars inspired a song called shooting star. The beautiful mountain and the fresh, clean air and all that… yeah, I think it does create a sense of wonder and enchantment with nature that translates to the artist’s muse. Also, since I have such a presence in the community I think I get a lot of encouragement from the community to do more art. I get random compliments from people that I meet from happenstance. People are always wondering what I am going to do next. That gives me encouragement to do more art and to do it here.
8. Do you feel like art in Siskiyou County has any prominent trends or patterns? If so, how do you see your own art in relation to these?
Mt. Shasta has a culture that not all of Siskiyou County has. Mt. Shasta is becoming very gentrified. We are seeing an influx of a more affluent neighbor who has a higher cultural demand than the ranchers and loggers who were here in previous generations. People who can’t afford to live in Mt. Shasta are having to move out of Mt. Shasta into the other communities. Part of what I am seeing is that we have to take the art out to the people who don’t have the advantage to live here. I am in favor of the Siskiyou County’s attempt to have the art bus and take art out into other communities. I like knowing that people like Ra-El and the Flying Lotus people are reaching out to the school districts to put on assemblies, taking the artistic opportunities into the schools and showing the kids that other things are available, not just the school programs. I also see a trend of more tourism so there are more venues today then there was two years ago when I produced my performing arts festival. Now we have the Stage Door, the Blue Sky Room and Rare Images Gallery as a venue. I appreciate seeing that happen and awaken.
9. If you had to describe your style in a few words how would you do this?
I think I’m a professional wacko. A professional goof ball. I love to laugh and make other people laugh. I love to dance and to make other people dance. I feel like my particular style is to bring light to the world through music and theater. I think it’s a spiritual quest for me to apply the gifts that I have been given to a world that I see struggling a lot. I see a lot of people struggling. This kind of brings a counter balance to all the terror that we see in the media.
10. What is it about making art and the creative process that you find most interesting or are most passionate about?
I think it’s a challenge to have an inner landscape, a vivid imagination and to somehow connect to the material world to manifest the feeling through an art medium. There is a technical craft of being able to take a creative impulse or an emotion and actually craft a performance that inspires, amuses, entertains or educates; that connects the dots between two people or a large group of people. I find that to be really challenging. I am also quite insecure about it. I never know if I am really funny, if my music really touches someone’s heart, or if I’m really keeping the beat. You know, you go in and out of the inner world where it all makes sense to the outer world where you are hoping it makes sense and you need that feedback from your audience. It takes a lot of privacy to make art the way I do. It’s a very intimate experience and I get incredibly vulnerable and interruptions can mean death to my stories or to my songs. Making art is very fragile and I respect that process.
11. Is there any way you would like to see your county arts organization better assist you?
I would really like to see another venue created. I saw that, with the Solid Oak Ale House that turned into the arts council home a few years ago, “if you build it they will come” and I saw artists really rally behind it. The S.A.C could also do a better job helping the artist with self promotions because artists aren’t good at self promotion a lot of the time.
12. Because of current trends in funding for art programs, all SAC involvement is done through volunteers. Is there anything that the SAC is doing that interests you and that you would like to help us with in the future?
I am always available to do emcee work. If they are throwing events, I like to stand up and be the master of ceremonies.