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Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

Kitsch Monday

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, Television, Video, tagged , , on August 9, 2010| 5 Comments »

The Mothers-In-Law

Sometimes when I’m looking for something for this blog I come across other things that distract me like a shiny object flashed in front of an infant.  Whatever I was seeking is forgotten and I’m off on a new tangent.  Such is the case today.

I was looking for a piece of film of a 60’s garage band when I stumbled on this.  It’s from the short-lived television series The Mothers-In-Law which ran from1967-1968.  It was an unremarkable but funny sitcom starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as mismatched in-laws of a young married couple.  I remember watching it as a kid and enjoying it but can’t remember anything specific.  It was just there.

I only bring it up because of this clip featuring the TV family somehow hosting the 60’s band The Seeds in their living room, where the band performs their garage classic Pushin’ Too Hard.   It’s a great bit of kitschy television, the kind of moment that the 60’s TV often produced.  It’s almost as good as the clip from the Mike Douglas Show with a performance of Mustang Sally by a band called The Cavemen, dressed in goofy Fred Flintstone costumes.  What the heck, I’ll throw that in as well.

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Big Mama

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , , on July 31, 2010| 3 Comments »

Big Mama Thorton at the 1965 American Folk Blues

After writing a short post about Stevie Ray Vaughan  the other day, marking 20 years since his death, I felt like hearing some blues.  Old school stuff.  After listening to a bit in the studio, I went searching for some old Buddy Guy online and came across a great piece of film from the American Folk Blues Festival in 1965. 

 It was a beautifully shot and produced performance by Big Mama Thorton backed by a young, slick Buddy Guy. She rambles out and belts out her best known song, Hound Dog.  Yes, the same song that propelled Elvis to mega-stardom.  There are a lot of purists who throw a lot of hate towards Elvis for taking Big Mama’s song and moving it out of the realm of race records, for making it a big hit on the predominantly white pop charts.  I’m not one of them.  I think Elvis did a great version of the song and in many ways it helped artists such as Big Mama find their way to a wider, more diverse audience.  And Big Mama did a version that was different than Elvis’.  It rocked hard in a bluesier, earthier way.  Big Mama was like a  human earthquake.

Check out this performance.  The sound and camera work is really top notch especially for a performance video of that era.  I’ve also included a video from the same session with Big Mama and several other bluesmen including Big Walter Horton and Doc Ross trading licks on their harps.  Check out John Lee Hooker on his harp, his trademark  guitar nowhere to be seen.  You ever see this one, David?

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Stevie

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged on July 28, 2010| 8 Comments »

Yesterday marked twenty years since the death in a helicopter crash of Texas blues guitar god Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I always enjoyed watching Vaughan play.  There was a sheer physicality in his playing that seemed to bond him to the guitar body.  There was also a concentration in his playing that made it seem as though at that moment the only things that existed for him were himself and that Stratocaster, giving his work  a sense that it was more than mere playing.  It gave everything he played an added layer of depth.

With his death, he’s forever frozen in the public’s mind as he was when he died, a 35 year old at the height of his talents.  His growth and continuum ended that day and we’ll never know how his career and work might have evolved, for better or worse.  I haven’t followed his legacy through these years so I can’t comment on his influence in the world of music.  I don’t know how many 19 year olds out there even know who he was or if they’ve ever heard a single song by the man.

I guess it doesn’t matter.  The music’s out there and it’ll always be there, alive and above the whims of what is new and of the moment.  It will influence someone in some way at some point.

Here’s one of my favorites, Riviera Paradise…

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Cavatina

Posted in Video, tagged , , on July 23, 2010| 2 Comments »

The show opened at the West End Gallery last night and went pretty well.  Nice crowd. 

Some surprises, like writer Alicja Mann and her husband, David, showing up unexpectedly.  The opening coincided with their annual trip between their home in Tucson, Arizona and their summer place in Cape Cod so they drove quite a bit out of their way to surprise me.  Alicja, as I wrote  about in this blog, had used one of my paintings for the cover of her book of essays, Looking At The World Twice.  She told me the book had recently won a prestigious award, the Glyph,  for best cover design from the Arizona Book Publishing Association.  She was extremely thrilled and proud to have such an honor bestowed and allowed me to share a bit of her  excitement. 

I had never met Alicja personally nor was I expecting her appearance at the gallery so I was very surprised when she introduced herself.  It was a real pleasure meeting her and David and we had a wonderful conversation during and after the show.  Many thanks to both of them and may their trip up to the Cape be safe.

Anyway, I’m taking a little time this morning to mull over the events last night so I’m just going to have a bit of music.  How about Cavatina from guitarist John Williams?  Some of you may remember it as the de facto theme of the movie, The Deer Hunter.  Just a lovely piece of music…

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Willin’

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on July 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

Well, my show for the West End is complete and delivered, leaving me a little fatigued and listless at the moment.  It takes a few days to get my feet back under me usually and regain some semblance of focus.  So, today I find myself sitting here, looking at the computer screen with nothing to say that amounts to much.

What I try to do at points like this, those transitions between exhibitions, is to try to pinpoint the things in the work that are exciting me at the moment and begin to plan on how I can further explore these things.  For instance, if I had worked on a smaller piece that involved a new element or a different look of some sort, do I want to expand this element or look into a larger format or push it further in some way? 

But for all the planning and thinking, it usually comes down to serendipity or jsut doing something without thinking for the next big thing to break through.  The palnning and thinking just give those moments a launching pad.

hey, how about a tune?  This song was featured by Little Feat on their 1978 live album, Waiting For Columbus.  A tremendous live set.  To me, one of the best live albums ever.  At that point, they were still being fronted by the great Lowell George before his death the next year, I believe.  OD’d, unfortunately and of course.  

This version of Willin’ is not from the album and isn’t quite as good but it still captures the song well.  It’s from the German rock show of the time, Rockpalast.  Enjoy…

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Big Stein is Gone

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , on July 14, 2010| 1 Comment »

George Steinbrenner , the polarizing owner of the New York Yankees, died yesterday at the age of 80.  To many fans of the game, especially for Yankee-haters,  he was the epitome of what went wrong with the game over the years, with his win-whatever-the-price mentality and larger-than-life bluster.  But if you were a fan of the Yanks, you probably grew to love the guy over the years for the same reasons. 

I liked the guy.  Over the years, there was a mellowing of his public persona and the focus went away from his public battles with Billy Martin and others to one that centered on his desire to win and his sentimental nature which led to his legendary generosity.  There are countless anecdotes about him talking to cashiers one day then having his people contact them the next with the news that Steinbrenner was putting them through college.  He started numerous foundations in cities around the country to send the children of fallen police officers through college.  He gave second chances to flawed humans, from the well known such as Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden to the many obscure folks who found themselves on the Yankees payroll after they had reached the bottom.  There are several stories out there of  people who Steinbrenner had come across over the years, who ran on to hard times with financial and health problems who were notified out of the blue that they were being hired by the Yankees as scouts.  They had no duties as scouts.  Nothing was required from them.  They simply received a paycheck for the rest of their lives.

I also liked his willingness to let others poke fun at him.  It made him an unlikely iconic figure in popular culture.  What other team-owner or businessman could host Saturday Night Live twice?  Then there’s his persona on Seinfeld with Larry David doing him as a staccato speaking loony.  It made Steinbrenner a cult figure of sorts.

Actually, Steinbrenner actually did appear on an episode of Seinfeld, although it was cut in the end and never aired.  It’s kind of funny. 

So, whether you hated or liked the guy or have absolutely no feelings, take a moment and watch  him be a good sport…

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Sweet Lorraine

Posted in At the Movies, Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , on July 12, 2010| 4 Comments »

Yesterday, as I was working in the studio, I caught the last few minutes of the film, Tin Men, Barry Levinson’s atmospheric comedy about aluminum siding salesmen in early 1960’s Baltimore.  It’s a great film that I’ve seen dozens of times.  It never fails to make me laugh with Levinson’s always engaging dialogue and great use of deep detail throughout the film that give it rich texture and a real sense of place.

He also makes great use of the background music that adds another layer of texture to the overall feel of the film.  One of my favorites is his use of Nat King Cole’s version of the classic Sweet Lorraine.  It ‘s easy rhythm and pace makes me feel as though I were in Baltimore in the heat of a carefree summer in 1963.

Here’s Nat King Cole with Sweet Lorraine.  It’s always been a favorite of mine and I hope your day goes as smooth and easy as this song…

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Summertime

Posted in Video, tagged , , on July 7, 2010| 4 Comments »

It’s summertime and the living is easy…

As I wrote earlier, I’d be more comfortable in a cold tundra wind than in the steamy temperatures that are moving through the east now,  a heat that brings to mind the hazy days of summertime on the islands near Charlestown, South Carolina that George Gershwin brought to life in his great opera, Porgy and Bess.  But while I’m not a fan, I f ind things in it that I can enjoy.  A cool drink.  The feel of coolness from a hardwood floor on a bare foot.  The quietness it brings as the animals in the forest around me hunker down, almost like they do in the coldest weather.

I’m in the final days of prepping for another show, this my tenth annual at the West End Gallery, and the heat mixed with the pressure to get my work done conspire to make me a bit listless as far as criticaland creative thinking is concerned.  So, I focus on the cool air of morning, trying to absorb as much as possible before the real heat descends and I put on some Gershwin to fit the mood.

Here’s a great folky version of Summertime from the great Doc Watson, the legendary blind folk guitarist.  He’s accompanied here by his late son, Merle.  It is one of the most evocative songs ever written and this version adds Doc’s own touch.  Enjoy and stay cool…

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4th of July Asbury Park

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on July 4, 2010| 2 Comments »

I was going to either write today, on our Fourth of July, about a film I saw back in 1982 called The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters.  It was from humorist writer Jean Shepherd, of  A Christmas Story fame, and was a very funny depiction of a celebration of the Fourth in a 1940’ssmall  midwestern city featuring all of Shepherd’s usual wonderfully caricatured characters. 

Or I was simply going to show a video of the Bruce Springsteen song  4th of July Asbury Park.  Like Shepherd’s story, it is the depiction of the Fourth in a small American town, except this is the 1960’s and 70’s New Jersey shore.  It always brings back that feeling of the viewpoint of youth for me, the carefree attitude mixed with the feeling of  every emotion like a nerve laid bare.

I opted for the Bruce.  This is a great version of the song from back in 1975, at Hammersmith Odeon in London.  The quality of the filming is exceptional and it’s great to see Bruce in his early form.  Take a moment from your own Fourth, if you can, and take yourself to a different time and place.   I can almost smell the fried dough…

Enjoy your 4th.

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Paper Doll

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged on June 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I often feature some of my favorite music in this blog, which covers a pretty wide range of artists.  I just realized I hadn’t paid homage to one of my longtime favorites, the Mills Brothers.  A vocal quartet comprised of four brothers from Ohio, the Mills Brothers performed together for nearly 60 years from the 1920’s through the 1980’s. 

I love these guys .  I know it’s an older and seemingly dated sound but I have never heard anything from them that wasn’t an absolutely gorgeous sound.  Their voices have a richness that you seldom hear and they mesh together so effortlessly that it allows the listener to sink into the music like a soft mattress. 

 Or to put it in visual terms, their sound has the richness and depth of the colors in the most vivid stained glass windows, the deep reds and blues that glow as though lit from inside.  I don’t know if anybody knows what I trying to say with this analogy.   All I’m trying to say is that they made beautiful music with an ease and a quality that you seldom see today.  If you could sing like this, why would you want to sing in amy other way?

Here’s one of my favorites from them, Paper Doll…

And here’s a 1938 recording of several songs.  I mainly wanted to have you hear the first, an English version of the Italian classic Funiculi Funicula, where their voices fill all the parts of the song including horns and strings.  Great stuff…

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