
Being able to articulate something perfectly is a skill. And it's a wonderful moment when we hear it being done. You know the occasion; someone summarizes a person or thing in one word or a series of concise sentences and just nails it perfectly.
The interesting thing about perfect articulation is that it occurs only in two situations: spontaneousness or well-crafted thought. The former requires a perfect understanding of the subject at-hand usually gained from years of affiliation while the latter comes with lots of writing and re-writing in a focused amount of time. I liken this to writing the truest sentence possible as Hemingway always tried to do.
This month Pearl Jam Twenty releases. Directed by Cameron Crowe, it's a documentary about the career of Pearl Jam. As a fan of the band, proud member of Gen X and purveyor of all things Pacific Northwest, I'm excited to see it.
An article with Crowe in this month's Vanity Fair asked him about what Eddie Vedder brought to the band once he joined. His choice of words made me think about the skill of perfect articulation.
VF: Why did you go back to the band's beginnings as Mother Love Bone with their first lead singer, Andrew Wood?
Cameron Crowe: I wanted to tell that story of lightning striking twice. Nobody believed there was going to be a future for those guys after Andy Wood died, and it's kind of a rock miracle that Eddie Vedder--who was living in California at the time--sent an audition tape.
VF: What do you think Eddie brought to the band?
Cameron Crowe: He brought promise, and also a challenge to their Seattle, set-in-their-ways community. Eddie, as a guy, wants to fit in, but he also wants to tilt against the windmills. That combination of push and pull really helped them. Andy was ready to play arenas with no guilt, and I think Eddie wanted to stay close to fans and build it slowly. He was both an insider and an outsider.
[ Pictured above: Crowe and Vedder in Italy in '93. ]