Sylvian - a rare type of person?

[Hawk]

I don't know people very well - only the famous characters we hear and read about, the figures walking up and down the street, and my work colleagues. And they all seem a particular 'type.' But Sylvian seems to be another 'type,' possibly a 'type' I feel more familiar and comfortable with... How come there are not more people like him? Is it I am just not looking hard enough or I'm too quick to judge? Or is he really such a rare breed of personality? I'm trying to think of how to describe it... maybe it's the introvert/extrovert thing... and I guess extreme introverts tend to keep themselves to themselves and don't go out very much... so you don't tend to see them. Or maybe it's his seriousness. Maybe I am in the wrong part of the country or the world? Or in the wrong time period? But even his looks are different... not so much his hair style or the clothes he wears as everyone can be different in that sense... more his face expression and posture... his natural androgyny... It bemuses me how I can usually link people up by saying so-and-so is like so-and-so is like so-and-so... but in all my years I can't think of a single person I can say is like David Sylvian... Does anyone else find this and why do you think it is? Where can I find more Sylvians (except here of course)??

[neonico]

I don't know people very well - only the famous characters we hear and read about, the figures walking up and down the street, and my work colleagues. And they all seem a particular 'type.' But Sylvian seems to be another 'type,' possibly a 'type' I feel more familiar and comfortable with... How come there are not more people like him? Is it I am just not looking hard enough or I'm too quick to judge? Or is he really such a rare breed of personality? I'm trying to think of how to describe it... maybe it's the introvert/extrovert thing... and I guess extreme introverts tend to keep themselves to themselves and don't go out very much... so you don't tend to see them. Or maybe it's his seriousness. Maybe I am in the wrong part of the country or the world? Or in the wrong time period? But even his looks are different... not so much his hair style or the clothes he wears as everyone can be different in that sense... more his face expression and posture... his natural androgyny... It bemuses me how I can usually link people up by saying so-and-so is like so-and-so is like so-and-so... but in all my years I can't think of a single person I can say is like David Sylvian... Does anyone else find this and why do you think it is? Where can I find more Sylvians (except here of course)??

i think there are a lot of people that are alike also people like david but in or own ways we are individual---

i found this topic special to me hawk....

thanks for bringing it up...

i wish i could put it better in to words .....

[Hawk]

Thank you neonico I am glad.

I guess we are all individuals who share certain characteristics, however small. In some ways I feel like David, or at least like David when he was around my age... 'Preparations for a Journey' is so reflective of my current state of mind it's chilling. I think maybe because I find it hard to relate to people around me those connections seem bigger somehow... I think maybe I am not searching for other people but I am actually searching for myself in a secondary form... and any subtle reflections draw me in like Narcissus staring into murky water. It's partly why I find Sylvian so fascinating (though, obviously, in many ways I am not like him at all). I also feel reflections in the ghosts of Kate Bush, David Bowie, Bjork... and yet they are all such completely unique people, I don't know what those similarities are exactly, or why I can't find them in people I see everyday... I suppose that's what makes a great artist - expressing things universal to the human condition so that those who cannot express them don't feel so alone. And artists who express things that aren't so universal are a treasure to alien souls...

Hmm maybe I'm just feeling a lack of artistic presence in the real world at the moment... Sylvian just exudes creativity, I want to absorb everything from him.

Great. Now it's Hawks therapy sessions. I'm gonna go listen to Manafon.

[Hawk]

An off-thought, I think David was very fortunate to start off in a band with people on similar wavelengths. Even if they grew apart eventually, it must have been an extremely valuable experience for someone who tends to prefer being and working alone to start off by collaborating at such a high level. I know he doesn't look back too fondly on Japan but I really envy that early development opportunity. To have friends...and to work with them to achieve a specific outcome... to create a united style and sound... Looking at the photographs, they must have had some great times together.

Sometimes I feel like a ghost of David in his mid-twenties having never been through the Japan experience and still trying to find my feet creatively...

I would love to talk to David about these things, or maybe listen to him, but I guess it's all in the music.

[neonico]

Thank you neonico I am glad.

I guess we are all individuals who share certain characteristics, however small. In some ways I feel like David, or at least like David when he was around my age... 'Preparations for a Journey' is so reflective of my current state of mind it's chilling. I think maybe because I find it hard to relate to people around me those connections seem bigger somehow... I think maybe I am not searching for other people but I am actually searching for myself in a secondary form... and any subtle reflections draw me in like Narcissus staring into murky water. It's partly why I find Sylvian so fascinating (though, obviously, in many ways I am not like him at all). I also feel reflections in the ghosts of Kate Bush, David Bowie, Bjork... and yet they are all such completely unique people, I don't know what those similarities are exactly, or why I can't find them in people I see everyday... I suppose that's what makes a great artist - expressing things universal to the human condition so that those who cannot express them don't feel so alone. And artists who express things that aren't so universal are a treasure to alien souls...
Great. Now it's Hawks therapy sessions. I'm gonna go listen to Manafon.

i also feel like david but how he is now. sometimes lonley... sometimes isolated also the lost thread to my practice which is for me my the worst experience ever i found it funny that it happened by me first then by david thats why i can relate to manafon....

also sometimes im very meloncolish hope i spelt this right.

and my family says im too serious and dont smile enough...




i know i used to post really strange things but that came unfortunately from isolation.and fustration which was wrong

with also my social phobie that made me think that i could post what i wanted no one knows me anyway and no gives a d-amn its just a forum but that wasnt the case.



i also go through lots of self analysis.
and im extremly shy and always afraid of what people think about me does this sound stupid..perhaps

i never go out and hate crowds and lots of people

yes well im going to listen to manafon as well

thanks again for the tread









also i have a sleeping disorder thats hard to coe with....

[missouriman]

I think you both need cheering up. I would buy you special balloons. And insist you pet kittens. And stand in the sun for 30 minutes every day. And avoid coffee. Eat more ice cream. Go smell flowers. It doesn't have to feel bad. Life is too short to feel bad every day. Well wishes to you both.

[BobbyVey]

I don't think the David's type of person is that rare. They just don't propound themselves so u have to actually look for them. Unless they are public persons.
I think I'm pretty much a David's kind of person, a bit introvert, sober and self-contained...

[digimarsh]

i once read , many years ago (late eighties i think), that during the early Japan years Sylvian was quite one of the lads ,even a bit of a joker,behind the smouldering exterior. But has fame came along, he became insecure and isolated himself.He was said to have pushed people away and this led to his "darker days".What does this say about what type of person he is ,for example ,had he ended up a plumer, would he have been a cheery sort of bloke ,similar to how he was in the begining.

[BobbyVey]

On the contrary, I actually read that his major problem at the very beginnings of his career was his shyness. He barely managed to exit on stage because of his stage fright and was always hiding behind his long blond hair and heavy make-up.
Well, maybe he was a cheerful bloke, but still not extrovert...
People change while ageing, that's why there's always a huge gap between generations. Maybe the fame is something which triggered his change of character. I don't think he's ever loved being too popular....

[digimarsh]

On the contrary, I actually read that his major problem at the very beginnings of his career was his shyness. He barely managed to exit on stage because of his stage fright and was always hiding behind his long blond hair and heavy make-up.
Well, maybe he was a cheerful bloke, but still not extrovert...
People change while ageing, that's why there's always a huge gap between generations. Maybe the fame is something which triggered his change of character. I don't think he's ever loved being too popular....

yes ,i must say that the article i read was by people who were close to him, so around them he was maybe quite relaxed as to when in the public eye, basically i read that at that stage he was a different person to the one people thought he may be,
once you were in his confidence

[Adrian]

I have a different view of Sylvian-as-a-person - which is rather more negative. I absolutely love what he does for the world music wise, and I wish him well, as I do with most if not all people, but I don't think he's a saint or an angel - far from it. I psted a part of my feelings in the thread about Ingrid Chavez where everyone was assuming their marital breakup was her fault - which I disagreed with and still do.
Anyway - good cheer to everyone in this the loneliest of times.

[Hawk]

I think you both need cheering up. I would buy you special balloons. And insist you pet kittens. And stand in the sun for 30 minutes every day. And avoid coffee. Eat more ice cream. Go smell flowers. It doesn't have to feel bad. Life is too short to feel bad every day. Well wishes to you both.

Thank you what lovely things.

had he ended up a plumer, would he have been a cheery sort of bloke ,similar to how he was in the begining

Hehe *tries to picture David as a plumber*

It is true I guess there are two main sides to everyone - the private side and the public side. I know the private side of so few people, never mind Mr Sylvian, but I do enjoy caricaturing people's public images, and David has a very definite caricature, with the positive and negatives (judgmentally speaking), I am surprised it doesn't appear more often... Maybe its just teamed with his pursuit of originality as an artist... I wonder whether he always wanted to be an artist or whether he could, potentially, have been a plumber at one point??

[inkinthewell]

I wonder whether he always wanted to be an artist or whether he could, potentially, have been a plumber at one point??

I have heard some people describe 'Blemish' as if "there was a plumber banging on the pipes under my sink", so...

[neonico]

I wonder whether he always wanted to be an artist or whether he could, potentially, have been a plumber at one point??

I have heard some people describe 'Blemish' as if "there was a plumber banging on the pipes under my sink", so...

i think he wanted to be an astronaught when he didnt make it has a muscian....

david silently floating there ...

this would be his thing or a bowling expert this is also a quiet sport...

i would have liked to have been a planet observe i can stay at home an discover planets and no one disturbes me

just silence...

[Rain]

Hmm, this is an interesting discussion
I'm not sure really, I think everyone has different sides to them, but it just depends what side they want to show. Everyone can be introverted at times, and extrovert at others, it depends on the situation. I think if you look for someone to be like a person you admire, you'll never find it, as your expectations will be too high. Er, I'm not sure that any of this makes sense, it's just thoughts that were coming to me as I read through...