

THE GOLDEN PALACE, gee whiz what a whopper of a bop. this is a very goodgoodgood song from the musical now. here. this and it is jaaaam packed full of meaningfullness lemme tell ya.
now here this is a musical by four people and its sort of like four autobiographies?? the premise is that its four people walking through the natural history museum travelling through time but there isnt really a plot, theyll like come across a chameleon exhibit and someone will be singing a song about 'dazzle camoflauge(which is a really good song too, check it oouuuuut) but most of the songs are individual or mainly talking about one of the actors lives/ moments from their lives.
So the golden palace is about one of the female actors lives. she tells the story of how when her dad grew up he couldnt read but he was a really good mimic so no one noticed. she then goes on to explain what the golden palace is. the golden palace is located just over the horizon, just out of reach. it is where all the great artists make great works of art. it illustrates the idea that art is an intangible thing that is not for normal, ordinary people like us but for the 'beautiful, stunning, clean, priveliged people'
it continues, her father is now an adult. working at a factory writing poems on the back of an unemployment form. skipping forward a bit and shes in college and going to graduate at the same time as her dad. she finds his old poem and encourages him, saying 'you can really write' to which he says 'i cant' she talks about the golden palace again 'its all going down in the golden palace', 'there is no room in the golden palace for girls like me, girls who come from what i come from'
she then breaks the frikin fourth wall and starts talking about herself writing that song, seeing her hands resting on the keyboard of her lap top, looking out of her window thinking about her paid for artists residence, becomes overwhelmed with the calliber of art that has come from the place 'i try to relax myhands, my finger, to write', 'i cant'
still in the artists colony, writing the song, she chacks her facebook and someone has updated their feed with the quote from john adams '
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.' hbd
she concludes, there
is a golden palace, and it is anywhere we make it, it is anywhere we make anything. it is not out of reach, it is not over the horizon.
to me this message is invaluable. it gives me inspiration to create art and the courage to keep doing it. its like the quote from neil gaiman when he talks about the solution to every problem is to make good art , on the good days and the bad ones
later potater