How does one measure artistic achievement?
And what is a proper measurement?
Sales figures? Audience size? Personal satisfaction?
All of those questions are relevant to the subject at hand - musical expression.
In the spring of 1995, I traveled to Georgia to meet up with singer/songwriter Jack Logan and his bandmate/workmate, Kelly Keneipp. Jack’s amazing story includes all of the elements alluded to in the opening sentences of this essay - talent, perseverance, luck, fame, humility and acceptance.
(Jack Logan and Mike Leonard in NYC a year later)
It is one of my favorite stories. But before getting to it, there are some relevant asides to add.
If you walked into our den, day or night, this is what you would see.
My banjo.
Every evening after dinner, Cathy heads to our second floor family room to watch TV and knit yet another sweater, while I go to the downstairs den for yet another evening playing backup banjo to a Spotify song list too varied to describe.
I am not a good musician—can’t sing and don’t have any bandmates other than granddaughters June and Tess, who humor me by occasionally singing along to a rapt audience of one…their mother/our daughter Kerry.
(June, Mike & Tess. June is wearing a Halloween wig for some reason. Runs :57 seconds)
So why keep playing? Because it’s enjoyable and instructive, each session allowing me just enough progress to appreciate how great the great ones are.
And there are so many, the vast majority expressing their art in relative obscurity, hoping for some kind of lightning bolt of good fortune to illuminate their talent.
Which brings up Glen Hansard, the Irish musician of wondrous ability who began as a 13 year old Dublin street singer, “busking” the hours away for the few coins tossed into his guitar case.
He did it because he HAD to, not to make a living, but to release the music in his soul— music that came to him from the same mysterious place that pulses out rhythms, melodies and words to a world full of human vessels called musicians.
Glen eventually became the lead singer for an Irish rock band called The Frames. Its bass player, John Carney, turned to filmmaking and wrote a screenplay about a Dublin busker’s love affair with a female Eastern European street vendor and musician. Glen was asked to write the music, which he did with his friend Marketa Irglova, a 17 year old Czech piano player. Money was raised with a young Cillian Murphy slated to play the male lead.
Then, something happened. Cillian left the project, the funding dried up, but the concept kept burning in John Carney’s brain. Why not beg and borrow enough money to shoot the movie on the cheap? Inexpensive cameras. No artificial lighting. As for the leading man, what about Glen, the authentic street busker, the co-creator of the musical score, the man who knows the role?
They decided to go for it, offering the female lead role to Glen’s friend, Marketa, a teenager with no acting experience.
The movie, Once, was filmed in less than three weeks, and in 2007, won the Sundance World Audience Award. Picking up steam from there, it eventually grossed over twenty million dollars. Its theme song “Falling Slowly” was nominated for an Oscar, and the Broadway musical adaptation won 8 Tony Awards.
Here is a brief scene from the publicity trailer for Once. I will include the concert version of “Falling Slowly” below the pay line.
(Runs 1:05)
Later that year, my profile of Glen Hansard aired on the Today show. In this interview excerpt, Glen talks about the blessing of musical inspiration and the reverence it deserves from both the famous and the obscure.
(Runs 1:06)
And then another blessing, an Academy Award for Best Original Song - and an opportunity for Glen and Marketa to inform a global audience about the value of artistic expression. During their acceptance speech, a “music cue” prevented Marketa from speaking. After the commercial break, host John Stewart graciously allowed Marketa another chance to speak and she did, with great passion. Watch until the end.
(Runs 3:05)
Now we come to Jack Logan, the other side of the fame coin, but a great lesson in humility and gratitude for the opportunity to be creative.
(Runs 4:08)
Postscript: in the late 1980’s, Irish rock bands were increasingly getting mainstream airplay, boosted by U2’s growing popularity. One of the bands that seemed to have everything going for it was called The Word. Here is a brief clip from my 1989 story.
(Runs :10)
Below, you can view the entire story and learn of The Word’s fate. I have also posted the rest of my 2007 interview with Glen Hansard, a concert performance of Glen and Marketa’s Falling Slowly, as well as a 2nd NBC follow up story about Jack Logan.