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Archive for the ‘Favorite Things’ Category

In Case of Fire

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on July 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

In Case Of Fire/ Align the PlanetsI mentioned before that I once printed and sold a few rock T-shirts many years back.  The only real positive that came from the experience was a long distance friendship that formed and has lasted for over twenty five years with a man from  Northern Ireland.  Over the years, my friend, Tom Robinson, and I have exchanged music, gifts ( I have a spectacular collection of Northern Ireland soccer jerseys) and many of the details of our lives.  It’s always good to hear from Tom.

I realized today that I had not mentioned in this blog that Tom’s son-in-law, Steve,  is the lead singer and guitarist for a band that is on the fast track for success on the British music scene.  The band  is In Case of Fire and this is the cover to their recently released CD, Align the Planets, which the band is currently promoting as they tour the UK .

It’s been really interesting to follow them through Tom’s letters over the last few years, to see how they evolved to their present state and how their dedication and hard work was rewarded as they signed with a major label and had a major CD release.  The reviews for their CD and their live performances have been great.  I will be following their progress and can’t wait to see how they further evolve.  They are a very serious group of guys who really want their music to say something to their listeners,  to be more than just sonic impact .  Their music and the subjects of their songs reflect this.  There is a strong social conscience in their stuff all propelled with an edgy progressive rock sound.

Here’s The Cleansing from the CD:

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The Pounding In My Head

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged on July 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

9909-177 The Aspirant's RoadThe Tree


I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,

Knowing the truth of things unseen before;

Of Daphne and the laurel bow

And that god-feasting couple old

that grew elm-oak amid the wold.

‘Twas not until the gods had been

Kindly entreated, and been brought within

Unto the hearth of their heart’s home

That they might do this wonder thing;

Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood

And many a new thing understood

That was rank folly to my head before.

-Ezra Pound

 

I read the poem above by Ezra Pound years ago and put it away, not thinking too much about it.  I recently came across it again and saw so much more in it that pertained to my own view of the world, especially given my use of the tree as a symbol for the self and knowledge.  Interesting.

Here’s another Pound piece that I love for it’s use of language and its sheer thump and rhythm:

Ancient Music

Winter is icummen in, 
Lhude sing Goddamm. 
Raineth drop and staineth slop, 
And how the wind doth ramm! 
Sing: Goddamm. 

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, 
An ague hath my ham. 
Freezeth river, turneth liver, 
Damn you, sing: Goddamm. 

Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm, 
So ‘gainst the winter’s balm. 

Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm. 
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM. 

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They Will Rock You

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on July 3, 2009| 5 Comments »

piperThere’s something about the sound of bagpipes that really kicks in for me.  I understand how the sound might not move and may even grate on many people.  It’s not a subtle sound and it either connects with you or it doesn’t.  For me, it instantly has the hair on the back of my neck up and alert.  There’s a real visceral impact.

One of my favorite pipe moments came in Alexandria several years back.  We were at Pat Troy’s, a popular tavern drinking a pint or two.  As the night turned into morning, the musician who had been playing, a real troubadour who could play anything you yelled out, said he was taking a break and turning the joint over to some players from the City of Alexandria Pipe Band.  Several fellows on the other side of the room shuffled around a bit and six pipers and four drummers appeared.

If you’ve ever heard such a sound in a small space, you’ll understand the sonic impact I’m talking about.  It just swelled and filled every crack and crevice, a huge powerful drone accompanied by the drummers’ rat-a-tats that banged off your sternum.  For me, it was heaven.  I didn’t want it to stop.  I think my sister wanted the agony to end as soon as possible.  That’s how the pipes are.

Here’s a neat video of a large pipe band performing Queen‘s We Will Rock You at the Edinburgh Tattoo.  There’s something pretty cool in that sound and the pageantry of it all.  Enjoy (or not)…

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A Different World

Posted in Biographical, Favorite Things, tagged , , on July 2, 2009| 2 Comments »

ThingmakerThe world has certainly changed since I was growing up.  I was reminded of this when I came across a list of the 10 most dangerous toys of all time and several were recognizable from my childhood, including my favorite, the Thingmaker from Mattel.

The Thingmaker was a device that allowed kids to make plastic toys.  There were Creepy Crawlers which made bugs, worms and lizards and the Fright Factory that made things like shrunken heads, vampire fangs and the like. There was also Creeple Peeple which made little Troll-like folks and Mini-Dragons which are pretty self explanatory.

The Thingmaker was basically a series of metal molds into which the kid would squeeze a liquid substance called Plastigoop.  The molds were then placed into the Thingmaker oven which was really just a small open hot plate that reached temperatures in the range of 310 degrees.  Just what every 9 year old should have– toxic plastics and burning hot surfaces.

I really loved my Thingmaker and spent a lot of time making little doo-dads that were pretty cool at the time.  Mini-Dragons were especially popular and I sold a lot of them on my school bus to subsidize my love affair with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  I guess the occasional burn and the loss of a fingerprint or two was a small price to pay.  The Thingmaker was eventually pulled from the market by Mattel but returned in a revised and safer form years later by another company.  

Like I said, it was a different world with a lot less adult supervision and more room to roam.   I can’t say if it was a better or worse childhood than today’s kids experience.  I will say that it fostered a lot of self-dependence, at least in my case.  

Here’s another example of the difference in the times …

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The Impact of Joseph Stella

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , on June 28, 2009| 4 Comments »

Joseph Stella Flowers, ItalyWhen I see the paintings of Joseph Stella, particularly his modernist work, I am immediately engaged.  They seem dense and complex, almost manic in their compositional content, yet the color and symmetry have an effect that I find calming.  I often wonder how Stella viewed this work, what he felt from it.  Not in an artspeak sense.  Not academic jargon.  Just how it made him feel.

Stella (1877-1946) was an Italian immigrant to this country who has often been linked with several movements- modenism, futurism, and the precisionism among them.  There is a contradiction in this in that everything I find about him points to someone with an outsider’s mentality, someone who never felt himself a part of any group  and with an “antipathy for authority” with which I identify.  Joseph Stella Brooklyn Bridge

Maybe that’s what I see in the work.  I don’t know.  I do know that I am drawn to the boldness and beauty of it.  The strength of the lines.  The depth of the colors.  The sheer visceral bite of the  image that when taken in as a whole seems to engulf you.  Gorgeous stuff.  Work that makes me feel smaller, even tiny,  for a moment yet inspires me to want to move my own work further ahead.  To grow and expand.

Maybe that’s how I classify other’s work in my head- by how much they make me want to do better, by the way their work’s impact becomes an endpoint for me, a goal that I hope to achieve.

The work of Joseph Stella is definitely such an endpoint.  Now I must work…

joseph stella fountainjoseph stella old brooklyn bridgejoseoh stella

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Ukulele Fever

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged on June 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

UkuleleI always feel like I’m cheating a bit when I come across something in another person’s blog and end up using it in my own.  But when I saw these guys I knew I was going to have to use them as soon as possible. 

They’re the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and they are just what the name implies: a band of uke players.  They play great covers of unlikely songs.  The theme from Shaft.   The Good, the Bad  and the Ugly.  Should I Stay or Should I Go.  From rock songs to classical standards, all done with a mix of tongue in cheek virtuosity.  They’re currently working on a mass version of Ode to Joy that will be performed in August in London.  If you’re going to be in London and want to play along, check out their website and you too could be strumming out Ludwig’s eternal music along with hundreds or thousands of others.

If not, at least enjoy a little Smells Like Teen Spirit…

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Marty Poole

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , on June 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Poole Early MeltI am currently in the process of getting ready for my annual show at the West End Gallery in Corning, NY.  This exhibit, titled Dispatches, is my ninth solo show at the gallery which was the first gallery to exhibit my work, starting back in 1995.  

For the past several years at the West End, the show that is hanging in the month or so before my show is from one of my favorite artists,  Martin Poole, who also lives in this area.  Marty’s work is always beautiful, with wonderful handling of the paint and luminosity in his colors.  There is little he can’t do with a brush and it shows in all the genres he paints.

Poole CassandraHis landscapes are filled with light and space, often immense, complex  skies that fill the picture plane.  His portraiture goes beyond traditional portrait painting.  For Marty, it’s not enough to paint a superb representation of the subject- it’s more important to have them be mere components in a beautiful composition, which makes for a more interesting viewing experience for all.  Marty’s unique eye comes through in everything he paints and other painters usually just sigh resignedly when they look at his stuff.Poole Long Talk

I know I have on more than one occasion.

It’s always a daunting task to follow Marty’s show at the West End.  His shows are always filled with beautiful, strong work that draws raves and oohs and aahs.  You never want to be the one who comes in with a lackluster show after Marty sets the bar a little higher each year.  So, I work a little harder after I see his show each year and hope I can match his consistency and his obvious commitment to his work.  It’s the sort of pressure that some artists don’t enjoy, having to follow the show of a highly skilled and well known artist.  I can’t say I enjoy it but I know it provides an impetus to continue striving, to continue to grow my work.  For that alone, it’s a pleasure to follow the Martin Poole show.

You can see the work of Martin Poole in a number galleries throughout the country including the West End in Corning and the the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  His current show at the West End hangs until July 18.

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Face Jugs

Posted in Favorite Things, tagged , on June 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Face JugYears ago I sold a painting to a lady who was working in Corning.  I can’t remember what she was doing at the time exactly but she had a thick German accent so I asked where she was from and what brought her to this part of the world.  It turns out she was from Austria and had originally came here as an anthropologist studying Appalachia.

It kind of surprised me because I never really thought of our area as Appalachia, especially in the stereotypical terms the word conjures up.  But as we talked I saw the thread that tied us to the mountain culture.  Our area has a rural feel and driving through the hills you get the feeling that you could be driving in the Tennessee or Kentucky hills, not New York.Face Jug

Unfortunately, we don’t have some of the better traditions of the Appalachian culture.  For instance, the pottery face jugs like the one shown.  Face jugs evolved through the slave culture of the south as a means to deter evil spirits from the graves of the dead so that they might get to heaven.  They also served as a sort of gravestone for the living as the graves were not generally marked.  

The tradition of making face jugs has continued in Appalachia and there are families that are in the fourth and fifth generation of jug making.   Like any other art form, there is a wide spectrum of face jugs.  Some maintain the roughness of the early slave jugs while others have become more polished, with a contemporary feel that definitely takes a new course from the early pieces.  There are some that walk the line between the originals and the work of highly skilled potters.  These jugs are usually done by potters who are self taught or learned the craft from a family member and usually have a certain individual style.Wayne Hewell Face Jug  Kind of like this one from Wayne Hewell, who is part of a multi-generational jug making family in North Carolina, that is done with a swirl of lighter clay running through the jug.  I have one of the brothers to this particular jug and he sits on the fireplace of my studio.  I call him Clem and so far he’s done a pretty good job keeping the evil spirits away. Devil Face Jug

But if I think he’s slacking off I might have to get a Devil Face Jug just to remind him what he’s trying to keep out of the studio.

I’m watching you, Clem…

 

Face jugs 1850

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Kid Stuff

Posted in Biographical, Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , , , on June 20, 2009| 3 Comments »

Alfred E. NeumanOne of the great things about the internet  is being able to, with a few clicks, come across things and images that have been stored away in your memory for a very long time.  The characters that lived so vividly with you as kid come back to life the second you see them, taking you back to specific memories associated with them.  For me, many are cartoon characters and other highly visual creations, all influencing my eye.  I probably shouldn’t be admitting that. 

Maybe it’s simple nostalgia but there’s something kind of comforting in seeing these icons from your past for just a moment just to know they’re still there.  Many have never left, such as the eternally grinning Alfred E. Neuman from  Mad Magazine or the icon of all kid icons, Snoopy,whokid snoopy_cool holds a special place in my memory.  Snoopy was the first thing I really learned to draw well.  A kid on my school bus, Tom  Hillman, who was a couple of years older and a drawing whiz, showed me the basics of how Snoopy was put together with a few simple circles and ovals and a curved line here and there.  It seemed like magic and I was hooked.  I drew Snoopy everywhere.  I particularly liked drawing him when he was in the character of one of his alter egos such as the World War I pilot battling the Red Baron, or Joe Cool who was definitely the Big Man on Campus.

Spy Vs. SpyMad Magazine also provided a wide variety of other imagery from the their wonderful parodies of current TV shows and movies to their great back covers that you had to carefully fold to reveal it’s true content to the regular strips such as Spy Vs. Spy, with its Cold War characters trying to off one another in every issue.

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was in his heyday in my youth and his Rat Fink kid ratfink_logo_smcharacter was the hero of young boys everywhere.  There was a sense of anarchy  and chaos in his drawings that really appealed to kids in the 60’s.  I think every kid wanted to sit in one of his crazy hot rods for just a minute and feel the tires screeching and the heat from the flames blowing out the side pipes.

There are so many more images I could show.  Great cartoon characters.  Great characters from kid books.  Advertising icons.  All littering my memory and still living somewhere on the web.  If you want to just look…

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Key to the Highway

Posted in Favorite Things, Video on June 19, 2009| 3 Comments »

little_walter_woodcutIt’s a slow Friday morning.  Rainy and dark.  Puddles in the driveway and in the shadows in the studio, colors fade to a kind of gray tone.  

Feeling kind of bluesy.

I’m reminded of an old album I stumbled across about 35 years ago in a used record bin at a shop in Corning. 

It was Hate To See You Go from Little Walter, the famed blues harmonicist.  I didn’t know who he was at the time but the album cover just drew me in.  It was a black and white close-up of the harp player’s face, showing the wear and tear of a life spent in the blues.  Every crease was evident and the rough scar above his eyes made you wonder how it came to be.  It was a great face.

little+walter.bmpThe album turned out to be great as well.  Classic blues playing and Little Walter’s raspy voice on great songs.  Listening to  the original bluesmen completely ruined my appreciation of those who covered their songs later. Even when I hear the early Rolling Stones that I so loved, I find myself cringing a little at their blues covers, even though I know these covers gave a lot of valuable exposure to the originals that they may not have found on their own.

I find myself singing this song below to myself at different times, completely unaware that I’m doing so.  One of those songs that you take to heart so much that it integrates itself into your thought patterns.

Anyway, here’s Key to the Highway from Little Walter…

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