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Archive for July, 2011

Different Sultans

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on July 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I wanted to show a performance of a song today to illustrate how hearing a song done differently makes it feel new again, in the way I feel about changing how a picture is painted changes my perception of that same composition.  I have talked about this before here, where a composition that may seem very familiar when done in color takes on a different gravity when done in the grays or sepias I have used in the recent past.

Here’s a version of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits’  Sultans of Swing, a song that came out back in 1978 ( has it really been that long!) and has become a classic bit of rock, one of those songs that keeps rolling long past its own generation.  It’s done here on Spanish guitar by Pedro Javier Gonzalez and while it maintains its form, it feels newly revived.  Give a listen.

The painting at the top, by the way, is a small piece from my upcoming West End Gallery show.  I call it Audience.  I guess it fits here.

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Enigmatic Family Pictures

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged on July 5, 2011| 1 Comment »

I’m in the last few days of preparation before the delivery of my new show, Avatars, to the West End Gallery in Corning, which opens on July 15, next Friday,with an opening that starts at 5 PM.  This is one of the paintings from that show, an 11″ by 11″  piece that I call Family Pictures. 

 It’s a continuation of the work that started primarily as black and gray work and has slowly evolved into more of a sepiatone with dashes of color.  The sepia adds to the feeling of old family photos that gives this piece its name.  I see the red chair and the self-referencing picture hanging in this scene as the basis for this painting.  As the title of the show implies, they are both avatars for the living, in this case descending generations of a family.

At least that’s what I think it might mean.

I was intrigued by this piece from the moment it was done and find myself going back to it over and over.  I can’t really put a finger on it but there’s something here that draws me in personally, that poses questions that I can’t yet answer.  Actually, the questions themself are enigmatic and hard to discern.  But I keep looking with the hope that questions and answers will reveal themselves at some point.  But while I’m waiting the simple geometry of the composition is somehow soothing and protective and the red of the chair and the picture pulse like a heartbeat in that sepia room, creating a rhythm that soon blends with my own.

Like looking at family pictures.

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The Great American Fourth of July

Posted in Favorite Things, Television, Video, tagged on July 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I grew up reading the humor of Jean Shepherd, the man behind the movie, A Christmas Story, now a holiday staple around Christmas.  I remember seeing his books in the library when I was just a teen and being pulled in by the titles, like Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. 

Many of Shepherd’s stories about growing up in a small midwestern city were put together for a film in the early 1980’s.  Called The Great American Fourth of July (and Other Disasters), it was shown on PBS and starred Matt Dillon as Shepeherd’s alter ego, Ralphie.  If you’ve seen A Christmas Story the characters will be very familiar.  It opens with Shepherd driving down I-95 approaching that iconic tourist trap, South of the Border in South Carolina, as an introduction to his 4th of July saga.  Anyone who has ever made the trip north or south on 95 has witnessed the seemingly neverending barrage of billboards for Pedro’s paradise.

All in all, it was a very funny film and a great view of Americana but unfortunately is not on DVD and is seldom seen.  You can see it on Youtube in six 10 minute clips.  It’s not the greatest way to see something but if you enjoy the humor of Jean Shepherd it’s worth the effort.  Here’s the first part:

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Another Tour

Posted in Favorite Things, tagged on July 2, 2011| 3 Comments »

Well, it’s the first weekend in July which means  we’ll be eating breakfast with the Tour de France, which kicks off this morning,  in our house for the next few weeks.  My wife is a huge fan of the fabled bike race and avidly keeps up with the standings, although I suspect it is the stunning scenery of some of the climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees that are the real attraction. 

It’s going to be a different Tour this year.  Lance Armstrong has retired and is under constant attack for purported use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).  Three time champion Alberto Contador is under close scrutiny following a positive result for PEDs in last year’s tour, one that he blamed on steroids in Spanish steaks.  He was booed loudly at the team introductions and has taken over as the most reviled rider in the Tour.  Andy Schleck seems poised to finally win the Tour.  He came in second in last year’s Tour, his margin of defeat exactly matching the time he lost in an incident where his chain came off on a climb– 39  seconds.

As far as I know, Schleck has no PEDs rumors hovering around him. 

I believe that PEDs have been part of the Tour for many years now.  I don’t doubt that Lance Armstrong used them just as I don’t doubt that every team competing has at least two or three riders, most likely their best, who are doing exactly the same thing.  It is a very competitive sport with pretty high stakes for those who race near the front and that usually means that whatever it takes to be first when they cross the finish line will be done, even if it skirts the rules.  This is a race over 19 days that stretches for around 2000 miles, over peaks that are ridiculously steep and  high, in heat that is often extreme with the top riders often finisihing mere seconds apart.  You would be naive to think that riders aren’t trying to achieve some sort of edge over their competitors. 

I tend to believe they all are.  This way I can simply watch the race and enjoy that gorgeous scenery and the struggles of my favorite riders.  Go, Andy!

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Summer Jam 1973

Posted in Video, tagged , , , , on July 1, 2011| 5 Comments »

There’s a three day concert that starts today in Watkins Glen, not too far from where I live, featuring three shows from the band Phish.  They have a large and faithful following and they’re expecting around 40 -50,000  folks to hear their jams at the racetrack there.  Watkins Glen is used to serious influxes of people into their little village tucked into the glens at the base of Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes.  The track has a rich history of hosting Grand Prix and NASCAR races, with crowds often reaching 150,000.  The narrow two-laned roads leading to Watkins Glen are packed tight at these times.

But none of these crowds rivaled the one that came to the Glen back in July of 1973.   Organizers put on a concert featuring the Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and The Band and sold about 150,000 tickets.  Little did they know but 600,000 fans turned out.  All roads were impassable and people were parking on Rt. 17, around 15 miles from the track, and heading out on foot.  My brother and a friend took bikes and were able to make their way to the show on two wheels.  It was considered the largest crowd for a concert for some time.  One stat showed that one out of every 350 US citizens at the time were in attendance.

Of course, the organizers were not prepared for such a crowd, almost four times their largest estimate.  Food was scarce as were bathrooms.  There were several overdoses and a skydiver was killed when the flares he was holding set his jumpsuit ablaze as he descended.  People  were trying to recapture the magic of  Woodstock that had taken place a few years before but never quite succeeded, this show never attaining anything near that same aura of myth.

But for a couple of days, our local hills were filled with music of these three iconic bands.  Here’s a little taste of the Allman Brothers to put you in the mood of the time:

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