Somebody Cool.
Leon Santiago
artist.
www.tainoleon.com
leoquix.blogspot.com
myspace.com/tainoleon
I’ve got one of his paintings on my wall, and I quote him all the
time. He’s a fantastic electric and acoustic guitarist, and he laid
down some wicked percussion on some tracks we did a while back for a project
called Blood. And for all that, perhaps his greatest gift is his voice.
Or not. He’s probably a math genius, as well. Leon Santiago is one
of those rare souls, rarer and rarer these days. He is an artist. The
real deal.
His musical ensemble, Thinkhorse Rebellion, is always coming up with the goods, and always worth checking out, whether it’s at an outdoor festival, or on a recording. Leon also has a record of dance music coming out on a European label in the very near future. Check out his interview, and then check out his music via the links above.
Twenty Questions: LEON SANTIAGO
1. What do you like most about what you do?
What I do is sing and play guitar, mostly- sometimes drums. You show me a better window to Spirit and I'll tell you what I like about music.
2. What do you wish you could change about yourself?
"Argue for your limitations and they become yours." - Bach
3. Do you think others perceive you the way you perceive yourself?
Probably not.
4. If you could only have access to a total of 5 works of art, whether they be books, albums, movies, sculptures or paintings-- which 5 would you choose, and why?
Dig the desert island list. I'd forfeit access to cds and books as long as I could create my own while in this self-imposed æsthetic exile. Just give me a guitar and some writing and pressed paper and a handful of tubes of watercolor. I'm all set.
5. What, as opposed to who, has influenced you most?
My quasi-religious conviction that truth matters, and that somehow (¿and relatedly?) so does love.
6. Do you do your best work when you’re happy or not so happy? In other words, do you think there’s any validity to the old saw about an artist having to suffer in order to successfully create?
Hmm . . . . I think that pain brings you closer
to the realities of existence - what Hobbes called this "brutish
and short" life - than does the illusion of contentment, but I think
that a habit of being tuned in to the dirt can be developed without relying
on hair shirts or martyrdoms
as aides. That kind of indulgent penitence is just another kind of vanity.
Maybe. Like shining in reverse; you're just another squeaky wheel in the
end.
7. When you are not working, what do you do for fun?
I read historical non-fiction, hike the occasional hike, fly the occasional kite. I listen to lots of different musics. And learning languages. I started studying Japanese again and I’m enjoying it tremendously.
8. When you are working, describe a typical work day (or night)?
Hard to describe either the creative process or the process of hustling for gigs or the stress of organizing rehearsals and logistics and suchlike. So, I respectfully press the eject button on this one.
9. If you weren’t an iconoclast what would you
most certainly NOT have become?
A partisan.
10. Where do you see yourself two years from now?
I haven't the faintest. (look ma, no hands!)
11. If you were cloned, what would you want to write on the blank slate of your new self? Or put another way, if you had been your own parent, what would you have taught or exposed yourself to during the course of your upbringing that you were not?
¿Huh?
12. If you had the power to put together the greatest band of all time, who would the members of that band be?
Is this a band I'm putting together to back me up on stage? . . . . or just a band comprised of my own heroes? If comprised of my personal heroes: Bill Frisell, Jim Keltner, Charlie Haden, Zakir Hussain, Maria Kalialemi, Bismillah Khan, Carla Bley, I'll stop there lest this take all night.
13. Limited to these two choices, would you rather be the fastest runner in the world, or be able to run the longest distance?
"Slow and steady wins the race" - Æsop
14. What’s the best song you’ve heard so far, and why?
On the one hand, it could be "Baby It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser, because it speaks of a perennial mystery in an accessible, direct and unpretentious way. On the other hand, it could be David Bowie's "Ashes To Ashes" . .. . because of exactly the opposite reason.
15. What’s the worst pain in the world?
Bereavement.
16. What’s the best smell in the world?
Rain on the way.
17. What’s the saddest song of all time?
"I Never Knew You From The Sun" - by the innocence mission
18. What’s the greatest thing that’s happened to you so far?
Ask me again when it's all over, if you can.
19. What’s your LEAST favorite swear word?
Words only have as much power as our own psyches give them. It's all in our heads. That said - I am somewhat sensitive to racial epithets.
20. What should I have asked you?
"What's the difference between a spoon?"
