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hunter s thompson anthony hope-smithThe Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others — the living — are those who pushed their luck as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later

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The quote above is taken from Hunter S. Thompson’s 1966 book , Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.  I read that book and most of his other work , including that from his  longtime union with Rolling Stone magazine,many years ago with great glee but never really got caught up in the whole gonzo mania that sprung up in later years as he became an almost mythic figure.  No, I just loved the Ralph Steadman -Bad Crazinessway his journalism, if indeed it was that or purely fictional, took on sometime serious subjects with a skewed and jaded eye.  And it was just laugh out loud funny at times with imagery that is as vivid in my mind as when I first read it oh so many years ago.  Plus, it usually was accompanied by the ink-splattered artwork of Ralph Steadman, including this drawing shown here taken from a memorable incident in  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  I think Steadman’s manic drawings of Thompson’s adventures were a major force in the  building of the Thompson legacy and legend.

And for some, Thompson is a legend, an icon, a caricature that still lives on.  There have been numerous books and films on his life including a graphic novel last year, Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson , illustrated by Anthony Hope-Smith.  I don’t know if I’m still buying in but some of the imagery is wonderful and the early stories are still great reads.

Here’s a video from artist Piotr Kabat that is his graphic interpretation of the quote at the top of this post.  Well done.

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I was in Cooperstown yesterday, picking up my paintings after my show at the Fenimore Art Museum there had finally ended.  After packing up and heading home, Fenimore  Art Museum Exhibit- GC Myers2012 2I couldn’t shake a song from my head, it’s refrain running over and over again.  It was Is That All There is? by Peggy Lee.  It had been a hit for her in 1969 and was played regularly on the AM radio stations of the time.  If you were listening to an AM station back then , there was no telling what you might here next.  After Peggy Lee you might hear the Beatles or the Stones and then maybe something from Otis Redding followed by Roger Miller or the  Doors or Johnny Cash.  It was all over the place, stylistically, but that was the norm then before music on the radio became relegated to its stylistic niche.

But in 1969, there was Peggy Lee, the older Pop/Jazz chanteuse from a prior generation singing the existential lyrics of  Is That All There Is?  on my radio.  She spoke much of the song, recounting episodes in her  life and the disillusionment she felt after each occurred before singing the lines  …if that’s all there is , my friends/ Then let’s keep dancing/Let’s break out the booze and have a ball/ If that’s all/There is…

It turns out the song, written by the great songwriting team of Lieber and Stoller, was based on an 1896 short story, Disillusionment,  from German writer Thomas Mann and the song’s episodes were directly from the story.  I didn’t know that and it really didn’t matter because , though I was only ten years old at the time,  there was something in that song that stuck with me, something that I internally understood. We are always let down somehow by those things we seek and finally attain, even when they meet all of our expectations.  We never feel as changed as we had thought we might and we emerge pretty much the same person.

That’s pretty much the feeling I had yesterday as I headed home.  The show there had been a great, great experience.  It had exceeded my expectations and was by all accounts very successful.  But still… there was the inevitable moment of letdown accompanied by doubts and fears and questions.  What if this is as good as it gets?  Is this a peak and I have nowhere to go but down?  Where do I go from here?

I’ve tried to explain this feeling here before. It’s something that baffled me early on.   But after doing about 35 or so solo shows over the past decade and a half, I’ve come to expect this feeling and am somewhat prepared.  I always tell other artists when they get their first show to savor the feeling, take it all in, but to not be too discouraged by that letdown moment in the aftermath.  And they all do feel that moment, even after a triumphant show.  I’ve had so many tell me this that there must be some validity in it.

I’ve gotten to the point where I anticipate it and try to prepare for it.  There’s show preparation and post-show preparation.  The show prep is actually the easy part in that  it is all tangible.  There is work to complete. deadlines to meet.  The post-show is intangible, without goals or deadlines,  and therefore more difficult to take on.  I use it now  as a catalyst, a cattle prod of fear to spur me forward in my work.  Actually, I would be worried right now if I were without fears,  satisfied and content with my achievement.  I think that this feeling of contentment leads to complacency which is the end of growth and creativity for an artist.  And to not continue to grow would be even worse than the few pangs of disillusionment I experience in the aftermath of a show.

So today I am discontented and anxious in the studio.  Just as I want and need to be.

I think I’ll listen to a little Peggy Lee just to enhance that feeling. Maybe I’ll break out the booze and have a ball…

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Breaking AbbeyTonight’s the much anticipated American debut of Downton Abbey‘s third season.  I know that I’m looking forward to get my fix of the drama following the family and serving staff of a huge British manor as it struggles, financially and socially,  through the changing times around World War I as the era of the great landed estates nears its end.

Speaking of needing a fix, a few weeks back, in response to his faux outrage over Michelle Obama getting a preview of the new episodes ahead of the general public,  Stephen Colbert presented a video featuring three of the main characters from the series in a parody.  They were supposedly reading lines from the upcoming season of Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad, the series dealing with the story of a  science-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin.  If you’re a fan of either series, or both like me, you may get a kick out of this uncensored mash up.  Maybe they can next do a Homeland/Mad Men version with Carrie and Saul carrying out the parts of Don Draper and Roger Sterling?

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Uncensored – Breaking Abbey
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

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The TreniersThere was a now little known band called The Treniers that began performing in the 1940’s.  Led by twin brothers, Cliff and Claude, they were known for their raucous live shows that featured their considerable talents as musicians, dancers and comedians.  They were simply entertainers.

They were also one of the first bands to use the term rock and roll in their songs and acted as a bridge between the pop and swing of the 40’s and the first fledgling footsteps of rock in the 50’s.  They appeared on a number of early television shows as well as in a few 50’s rock movies with Alan Freed, the legendary DJ who brought rock and roll to the mainstream, such as The Girl Can’t Help It.

Personally, I only knew of them from a novelty song they cut in the 50’s called Say Hey!, which was a tribute to the great Willie  Mays, whose trademark was the phrase Say Hey!  It was on an old record I practically wore out as a kid about the history of baseball and was also featured on the Ken Burns Baseball documentary.  But reading a book by Nick Tosches on the unsung heroes of early rock, I was introduced to them and began seeking their work online.

They were an interesting case, immensely talented  but never having the huge recording careers one might expect.  You see, their energy came from the interaction with an audience, from  the reactions of the excited and dancing crowds before them .  That  never fully translated in the recording studio where the only audience was a handful of engineers.  The recordings could never capture the joy and force of their live shows, for which they became famous.  In fact, they performed for over 55 years  in Las Vegas and other places as an act with at least a few members of the family still in place.

Here’s a great early clip of them from the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1954.  It was hosted by the still partnered comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were both huge fans of the Treniers.  It’s a wonderful bit of music and comedy that features some wild dancing that makes me understand what the French see in Jerry Lewis.

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Monkees' Christmas 1967I was flipping around the channels last night, the final Christmas specials winding down as the holiday came to an end.  I ended up on an old Christmas episode of The Monkees from around 1967.  It was a show that I had loved as a kid of 8 or 9 and it had Butch Patrick, the kid who played Eddie Munster on the also adored The Munsters TV show, as a guest.  How bad could it be?

God awful. That’s how bad.

Luckily, I came in near the end but was amazed at how utterly terrible it had been  put together, almost to the point of being unwatchable.   The writing was bad and  the schtick, worse.  I began to wonder if all of those other things I loved as kid had aged so poorly.

But just as I was about to flip to anything else, the band came on and began performing a song a capella. Sung in what seemed to be Spanish or Portuguese, it was mesmerizing with its harmony.  Beautiful.  The whole show was saved by this act of redemption.

The song was Riu Riu Chiu, a 16th century song from the Iberian region.  Roughly translated, it means The Nightingale’s Sounds and is a telling of the Nativity.  Not being well versed in Renaissance era choral music, the song was new to me but I’m sure it is familiar to some of you out there.  But, even so, it is a stirring and lovely version by the  Monkees.

And here it is, in a separate clip so you don’t have to suffer through a terrible episode of their show.

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NRBQ drawing for The SimpsonsI don’t think I’ve ever featured any music from NRBQ on this blog which is surprising because they are always rock solid.  Consistency is a trait I really appreciate and NRBQ has been just that for over 46 years now, which seems like a crazy amount of time for a group that has went kind of under the radar of the pop charts for most of that time but has built a cult following that counts some of the biggest names in music as fans.  They were even on TV as the house band on The Simpsons for a couple of seasons ( see Matt Groening’s drawing of the band above.)  They are known as musician’s musicians with a real sense of humor and a huge playlist that enables them to pretty much play anything.  I don’t know if they still do this but they used to have a milk crate with question marks painted on it that leader Terry Adams would stand on to take requests from the audience.

Founded in 1966, the lineup for NRBQ, an acronym for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet, has changed a bit in the last decade or two but Terry Adams stills pushes them forward despite his own battles with throat cancer.  Adams, if you didn’t know, is the blonde mop-haired pianist who seems to have a Dorian Gray thing working for him.  He looks pretty much the same as he did when I first came across them back in the 70’s.

Here’s a song from the original members of the band as they perform I Got a Rocket in My Pocket, the old 50’s rockabilly song from Jimmie Lloyd.  This is from around 1980 and is a good example of the band and their sound.  It’s also a good beat to carry you through what most likely will be a hectic weekend for most of you as you prepare for the holidays.

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Albrecht Durer  Four Horsemeen of the Apocalypse ca 1497Those darn Mayans may have marked it off on their calendar  but I’ve been so busy over the last several months that I completely forgot that the world is coming to an end in a week.   I didn’t get my doomsday bunker built.  Didn’t hone my survivalist skills in any way. Didn’t stockpile a thousand cases of Campbell’s Soup or nearly enough weapons to fight off the packs of post-apocalyptic cannibals or zombies that will surely be wandering the countryside.   However, I did buy a larger bottle of aspirin a few weeks back but that was totally unrelated to the end of the world.  Just a good buy.

So I am not prepared right now for this world to end.  Oh well. But are we ever prepared for such a thing?   I was thinking about that as I was walking through the woods the other day.  What if these were the last days of this world as we know it?  Would I,  or could I,  change anything ?

I took in the color of the sky at the moment.  Took a deep breath of the cool air.  Looked at the curves of the tree trunks and limbs reaching skyward.  Held Cheri’s hand a bit tighter.  No, in that moment  I was satisfied with that being among my last days on this world.  Maybe that’s all we can or should do everyday.  Just see our world and simply take it in, let the image register deeply within us and be satisfied that we have seen it.

Or not.  Maybe I should go work on that machine gun turret  for my Subaru.

Here’s a song that is probably getting an awful lot of airplay but I don’t care.  It’s REM‘s It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). I’ve been singing the chorus of this song for 25 years, since it was first released back in 1987, and I might as well continue now that the end is surely upon us.  Thanks a lot, Mayans!

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GC Myers- MoondancerI am slowly trying to get back into some sort of rhythm in the studio after getting back from what for me was an extended absence  while traveling out to California for my show there.  It was only a week or so but it was enough to disrupt that fragile balance and set me a bit off kilter.  I can sense it in getting back into my painting rhythm as well as writing this blog.  Just a bit more of a struggle at the moment. I don’t fret over this as I once might have because I’ve been through this more than a few times.  If I put my head down and forge forward, it returns after a bit.

Sometimes it also helps to look at some of my recent work, trying to find the string of continuity that might run forward from it and latch on to that.  In doing so, I looked this morning at a piece from the show at the Just Looking Gallery  in San Luis Obispo, a 12″ by 36″ painting called Moondancer.  It’s a piece that’s built on bold color, one that instantly catches my attention.  The central figure of the red tree here definitely has the feel of a performer,  either as an entertainer doing an expressionistic dance before the moon or as some sort of shaman doing a ritual dance asking the moon for whatever gifts or powers  it might bestow.  The moon definitely is in audience to the performance.

It;s that sense of performance that I will probably take from this painting today in the studio, both as the central figure acting as a performer as well as seeing myself as a performer before the easel.  I often think of myself as a performing artist, each painting a new performance.  Each day is both rehearsal and performance.  I think that’s why breaks in my routine disrupt my rhythm so.  It’s like a musician not practicing for an extended period.  The ability is still there, just a little work away from returning.

Here’s a video of a classic song, Moondance,  from Van Morrison,  that might be the namesake for this painting.  I choose this song today because if you were to watch many of the available videos of it online, you would be hard pressed to find performances that were not unique.  Morrison does the song in different tempos and cadences, each time taking the same song and bringing something new to it.  Again, that’s echoes what I try to do in painting, trying to bring something new in common forms and images that populate my scenes.

Anyway,  it’s a great song from many years back.  This version is from a concert in Montreux in 1980.  Enjoy!

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Souvenirs

I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving over the last couple of days, trying to think of things that I’m thankful for and I began to realize there are no actual things on the list.  There are people and moments but no things.  And I guess that’s the way it should be.  But it made me wonder about what particular things  do have meaning for me.   What would I take if I had to grab but a few things and flee, say like the recent storm victims or the people in the areas where the wildfires bear down on them?

The actual loss of my house and studio might be difficult but they too an be replaced.  Outside of these structures, the list is still pretty thin.  A few photos, a few notes and letters and perhaps a painting or two.   A handful of books but they can also be replaced.  But no other things that I feel would leave a void in my life if I suddenly were to be without them.  No jewelry or family heirlooms. No memory jugs like the one shown above.   No priceless artifacts that I sought for years to find.  Very little, actually.

I sit here in my studio and look around at a few of the paintings that I hold on to and think that I would hate to lose them but it comes to me that they also represent moments and emotions for me.  Inner things that I hold already.  They actually are souvenirs of past moments,  like   family photos.  I’ve said before that seeing a gallery full of my work is sometimes awkward at first because it feels like I’m looking at my family photos on the walls for all the world to see.  And that’s not always the best thing.

Interestingly, I find this lack of things very liberating.  And that is something for which I am thankful.

Here’s a fitting  song, Souvenirs,  that is sung by here by John Prine and Steve Goodman, who wrote it.  Goodman also wrote The City of New Orleans , recorded most famously by Arlo Guthrie.  Most people have little knowledge of Goodman’s songwriting since he died in 1984 at the age of 36 due to leukemia.   There is another song  here by Goodman after  Souvenirs that shows more of his talents.

And I’m thankful for that, as well.

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It’s been hard to not watch the coming of  Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath over the last few days.  Locally, we pretty much dodged the worst of the storm, mainly suffering through some strong winds though not as damaging as we had feared.  But it’s been sad to see how Sandy has affected the coast here in the Northeast.  I know that it doesn’t in any way rival the devastation of Katrina, thankfully, but its been hard to see how much damage has been inflicted on regions that are so familiar.  Maybe it is the fact that this type of destruction is so uncommon in these areas that makes it so startling.  I don’t know.  Time will soon tell if this is indeed  the result of climate change  and unusual storms like Sandy will become more and more common.  Our Governor Cuomo here in NY commented recently about how 100 year floods now seem to come every 2 years.

Ah, the wrath of Mother Earth.

Here’s a little music  that warns about taking our relationship with Mother Earth too lightly.  First recorded by cult rockers Sparks in their Glam phase in the 70’s, Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth, is covered here by my favorite, Neko Case.

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