Karl & Iris

Ten years ago I worked on a very low-budget Bollywood film shooting here in Los Angeles. I quit after three days due to the awful conditions, but in the process made friends with the German sound mixer Karl and his quirky boom operator wife, Iris. They invited my assistant and I over to their place for wine and cheese and told us their story... how they had recently wound up in Hollywood and what they were doing there.

They told us of buying a ramshackle place in the south of France and moving there to fix it up and live for a few years. After that they moved on. They were following their dreams.

Iris sang songs and painted and acted and made hats and weird animations. Karl played guitar and made films.

They recorded sound on low-budget movies and documentaries to make money.

They were so European.

And yet they were a lot like us too. Except they didn't give up. I suppose the only way they could fail would be to stop creating. And they will always be successful because success means getting a chance to make stuff.

Who cares what the rest of us think?

I have been on their mailing list for years. Every six months or so they send me an update. Iris landed the starring role in a commercial or Karl did something notable. Or they made a homemade music video. Or Iris was having a fashion show. Sometimes I don't hear from them for awhile and sometimes I feel deluged. Once I was tempted to mail them with the subject line "Unsubscribe," but I'm glad I never went that far.

They should be celebrated, not discouraged. They don't make a lot of money, but they live for art! How many of us can truly say this?

How many of us would actually want to?

Now they have an album out and they are touring Japan as Leafy Satori Risk.

Say what?

So let's raise a glass for the Renaissance Folks of the world, especially Karl & Iris, who remind me that it's just a matter of not quitting, isn't it? Stop being a lazy whiner, they seem to be saying. Just keep making stuff.

You can do it.

Anybody can.