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Archive for the ‘Video’ 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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Quitters Never Win

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, Video, tagged , , on July 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Palin As much as I hate commenting on anything political in this blog and as much as I hate giving any more consideration to Sarah Palin, I couldn’t help myself this morning.  I don’t want to go into a whole spiel about her shortcomings ( I like to keep my posts short) or how her politics clash with mine.

No, rather I want to say that she has sold the American public a faulty bill of goods.

She sells herself as a maverick, tough and strong, but it seems to me, watching her these past several months, that she is all fluff.  Thin-skinned.  Hillary Clinton has absorbed infinitely more body blows through the years and she keeps fighting ahead.  Love her or hate her, Clinton will never be called a quitter.

Sarah Palin is a quitter.

And quitters never win.  Winners never quit.

Oh, you’ll hear the spin from the right and those who, for some unfathomable reason, viewed her as their voice that she is just being maverick-y.  Saving the Alaskan electorate oodles of cash by stepping aside and not doing as she claims all lame-duck governors do which is to travel on the public dime, promoting themselves.  As she has done for the past several months.  Wouldn’t it, therefore, be a more maverick gesture to say I am going to finish my term, especially in theses troubled times,  and do it to the fullest extent of my power?  Wouldn’t that best serve the Alaskan people?

No, Sarah Palin has chosen a self-serving path, one that will reward her with scads of cash and possibly a public pulpit that will lead to an even higher office.  That’s the story so far.  How it will play out is anyone’s guess.  As far as future public office, especially on a national level- we’ll know what we’re getting if we buy her bill of goods.

A quitter.

Don’t rule out that possibility.  As my Dad says- ” We’re the most gullible people on the face of the Earth.”

Here’s a little Dr. John to add a little punctuation…

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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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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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Remembering the Artist…

Posted in Current Events, Video on June 26, 2009| 1 Comment »

Michael JacksonI wasn’t going to post anything on the untimely death of Michael Jackson.  There is going to be an over abundance of coverage and everything, good and bad, associated with the man will be examined to the tiniest detail.  There was already an excess amount of coverage of his life while he was living and I felt that I didn’t need to add to it.

But I caught a few moments of his performance of Billie Jean from the Jacksons’ 30th Anniversary special and found myself once more mesmerized by his movement.  It was something that had been lost in my mind, overpowered by the coverage of all the bizarre details of  his apparent flaws.  

But there was magic in this, particularly in the first few minutes.  The sheer mastery of his movements and the way he pulled us in was powerful and I found myself moved in a way I hadn’t imagined.   It’s hard to look away. 

Perhaps he was a flawed human.  But as an artist, if you are, as they say, as good as your best work, Michael Jackson was brilliant…

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Going Up the Country

Posted in Opinion, Video, tagged , , , on June 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Soft Dream of NightIt’s one of those Tuesdays.  I read things on the web and end up gritting my teeth at the intractability of people on both sides of any issue.  Some try to convince you of the truth and rightness of their cause through anecdote, giving dramatic accounts of single events with the hopes that this episode will sway you into seeing the world as they do.  I’m referring to a blog that had a debate on healthcare (among other things) where an anonymous comment came in decrying the horrors of the Canadian healthcare system, illustrating his point by saying he “heard” this past weekend of a story of a patient in Canada who had need of emergency colon surgery and waited three days for an operating room to open up and was finally operated on with only local anesthesia as orderlies held him down.

 When I read that all I could think of was a Seinfeld episode where Kramer, upon telling of a story he heard about Raquel Welch where she climbed the stage scaffolding and began pelting the stagehands below with spotlights, ended by saying “Something like that, it’s just gotta be true!”

I am always amazed at the willingness of people to believe so much that they see or hear, no matter how far-fetched, if it serves their own point of view or self interest.  I guess that’s what separates us from the animals…

Anyway, I need something that makes me smile and this song from Canned Heat has always done that for me.  This  is Going Up the Country… 

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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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Settling Back In

Posted in Technique/History, Video, tagged , , , on June 15, 2009| 2 Comments »

AswirlIt’s Monday morning, back in the studio.  After a show, there’s always a period of settling back into my routine which is something that is really important for me as I’m a real creature of habit.  It takes a couple of days to digest the events of the past few days so these first days are kind of sluggish, just tying up loose ends to little projects and straightening up the studio.  Start focusing on the next goal which is my annual show at the West End Gallery in Corning at the end of July.  

There’s also always a slight melancholy, something I may have mentioned before.  I’ve heard about this from other artists as well.  I think there’s always a letdown after you finish a project, such as a show, that you’ve been so focused on for a period of time.  During the preparation the goal drives you on but suddenly the day arrives and the goal is no longer there.  So you float a bit, tread a little water, until you determine what the next goal will be.  Luckily, I have my next show so I can swing into that with only a slight case of funk.

So today is spent with errands and such but tomorrow I’m back in full swing.  But until then I will enjoy my quiet time and that small bit of melancholy.  Here’s a song in that spirit from Steve Earle (in his heavy phase) with a song written to his friend, Townes Van Zandt,  on his passing.  Enjoy Fort Worth Blues…

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Rock of Ages

Posted in Recent Paintings, Video, tagged on June 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The Way of the Brave Well, the show was last night but I won’t report on it until tomorrow since I’m actually back on the road home.  I never carry my computer when I travel so it will have to wait.

But I wanted to leave something here today so I’ll leave a painting from the show, The Way of the Brave, and a video from one of my favorites, Gillian Welch, with a song called Rock of Ages.  Her songs are always like a rhythmic mantra to me, a kind of harmonic drone that I feel very comfortable hearing at this point in my life.  I think this painting fits in well with the song.

Anyway, enjoy your weekends and check back in…

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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Posted in At the Movies, Video, tagged , , , on June 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

The Life and Death of Colonel BlimpI’m taking a small break from talking about my show that opens Friday to mention a film that is showing today on Turner Classic Movies.  They’re showing several films of the great director Michael Powell and finish up with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp from 1943.

It’s probably not a movie many of you know and that’s a great shame.  Colonel Blimp was a popular comic character in the British papers of the 1930’s, an older, round British officer who was a throwback to the Boer War, always recounting his exotic exploits in the far reaches of the Empire in a doddering, foolish manner.  The movie begins in WW II Britain and the main character, Clive Candy, is an older officer who has become the very embodiment of Colonel Blimp.  The movie traces his life and shows, sympathetically, how he came to be such a character.  It was a very controversial movie in wartime Britain because of the presence of a German officer who was portrayed as a sympathetic character.  Even though he was anti-Nazi, the portrayal of any German officer in such a favorable light drew the ire of Winston Churchill and the British government.

Visually, like all films from Powell and partner, Emeric Pressburger, Colonel Blimp is stunning and has the beautiful saturated color that are present in all of Powell’s color films, like The Red Shoes or The Black Narcissus or my favorite, A Matter of Life and Death.  There is a short sequence at the film’s beginning that could easily be the first example of the modern music video.  It consists of a group of troops on motorcycles speeding through the English countryside to the sounds of rollicking big band music.  The filming is sharp with daring shots and gives you the sense of the speed and power of the bikes as their movements were in sync with the crash of the music.  When I first saw it I was thrilled.  It had such a modern feel, something I wasn’t expecting in a film from 1943.  I wonder how many filmmakers had seen that short segment and been influenced to further highlight a scene with music.

I don’t usually like to recommend movies for much the same reason I don’t like to recommend specific art.  Film, like art, is a really personal preference.  Totally subjective.  What I may see in a film or piece or art may elude you and vice versa.  But if you get the chance see Colonel Blimp or any of the other Michael Powell films.  They are visually beautiful and greatly interesting.  His eye for composing the image that you see reminds me of the way John Ford put his scenes together.  Both have a truly artistic feel, adding an elegance and magnificence to almost every shot.  There is nothing mundane in any of their work.  Good, good stuff…

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