Ross Farrar. Singer of the band Ceremony. Also a published author and poet.

Recorded. May 18th, 2018 at Syracuse University where Ross is pursuing his studies in the Department of English there.

What we talk about: 

Ross is actually French. 

We are in Syracuse in NY. 

Orange Men. 

Ross the Writer. 

Article in Nosey about Ranking of Ceremony’s records. 

Society Verse and the L shaped man books. 

Ross moved to San Francisco in 2005. 

Music really got Ross into writing.

Why poetry over creative writing? 

…wasn’t really like that. 

Was more short fiction at first. 

Ross applied to Joyce Carol Oates workshop. 

(I didn’t actually know who that was)

Writing lyrics and poems are totally different. 

Society Verse, published 2010. 

Scared people ep: really when the poetry started to flow in Ceremony. Direct lyrics. 

The importance of being concise in writing. 

The stigma of poetry as being too abstract. 

“Still nothing moves you” as trying too hard.

Is trying too hard a bad thing? 

Experimentation in the arts is difficult as you can loose your audience. 

Pollock and Rothko…anyone can paint that…but you didn’t. 

Andy Warhol as the anti-try hard and the importance

of nuance. 

“Learn Without” and the importance of being a witness. 

hallucinogenics and ego death. 

SEX

“If you get the message, hang up the phone”-Alan Watts

Take everything in moderation, including moderation. 

Rohert Park, open head, and the western muse. 

The spires of Syracuse and hyperboreans. 

New England, Robert Frost, and “the best way out is always through.” 

Christina’s world by Andrew Wyeth…strange and nuance at the same time.  Nuance is everything. 

“When you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it”- B.F. Skinner. 

Can you recite at least one poem from memory? Dan couldn’t

Henry’s Understanding by John Berryman and interrogating what you love. 

The L shaped man book and how writing lyrics is nearly nothing like writing poems.  Lyrics often don’t stand on their own as poems because poetry is a solitary art and lyrics are often with other musicians. 

Iggy Pop and 30 words or less. 

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned”- Paul Valery. 

Poetry: limiter vs. form. 

Why the Syracuse writing program? 

YOU and 4 by 4 structure. 

Why is “Rollercoaster” a good poem? Why narrative is important in evoking a mood. 

Ross and Dan don’t like Emily Dickinson. 

Why does Art need to make sense when Life itself doesn’t make sense? 

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”- Theodosius Dobzhansky…not Gould 

Big Bang. You can see the edge of the universe expanding, but people always want to know what is before that. 

“Theory” as a concept to a writer and as a concept to a science. 

A privilege to self destruct as a young man, its danger and beauty. 

Ross reads his poem: “Good bye forever”