more money, more money

In this Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES magazine there is a one-page interview with Tan Dun, the composer who wrote the score for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," among other things. He has been in the US for decades. He is very famous now. The interviewer asks him about money, since the movie score brought him great wealth. He replies that it really does not matter how much money one has. There is little difference between making 100K and one million dollars a year. He does note that there is a "difference for the poor." It kills me when rich artists claim that money makes no difference to them. In the same interview, when asked where he lives, he tells of his six-floor house in Chelsea. I am sure there is no difference to him between his six-floor house and a tiny studio. Yeah, right. At least my teacher, the first composer to ever win a MacArthur "Genius" award, acknowledged that it was a hell of a lot better to have money than to not have it. "At least you don't have to worry about how you are going to pay the rent or eat," he said. I am sure Tan Dun did not become a composer to get rich. Only a fool would. But be real. I don't believe for a minute that he is not happy to have his big house and his fancy clothes. Tell the truth!