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Posts Tagged ‘Donovan’

Sunshine Song

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 13, 2025| 6 Comments »

Sunshine Song- At West End Gallery

It is the artist’s business to create sunshine when the sun fails.

–Romain Rolland, Jean-Christophe, (1904)

I am generally a fan of winter weather. I like colder weather and snow and the quiet it brings. Even so, I have to admit that I am getting tired of it this year. Tired of slipping and sliding on ice, probably because I am still working off a slight concussion from a fall this past weekend that had me stumbling around like a middleweight boxer who had just been hit flush with a haymaker and is forced to take a standing eight count to regain his bearings.  Tired of the oppressiveness of the sky’s constant grayness which matches my mood or that of the country a little too much. Tired of wearing layers and layers of clothing and having to put on crampons (ice cleats) just to walk to the studio.

Even the beauty of the snow is compromised at the moment. Here in the woods, it has no fluffiness or moisture now. The thought of going out and perhaps laying in the snow to make snow angels is gone as the thin layer of snow is hard surfaced with sharp icy edges.

Just want some sunshine. Want some brightness. Something to burn away the grayness of the sky and my spirit. Want to feel its warmth on my skin again. That has been such a rare occurrence this winter.

There is some consolation in that I do, at the very least, have my work. I have the luxury of being able to go into it and make my own sunshine, much like passage above which the Nobel Prize-winning French author Romain Rolland wrote in his best-known work, Jean-Christophe.

It does help to have some capacity to create one’s own sunshine. But it only goes so far. It’s not a self-sustaining perpetual motion kind of thing. It needs some input, some help, some influx of outside energy every so often.

It needs to see and feel the real sun occasionally, even if to simply be reminded that it is still there. With it, the bitterness of cold, the trudge of snow, and the skeletal trees of winter are tolerable.

Okay, enough. The gray light of morning is coming through the studio windows. Barely. I have to go make some sunshine.

Here’s an old song from Donovan about a guy I could use right about now, Sunshine Superman.

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The Song of Wandering Aengus

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2024| 1 Comment »

GC Myers-- Follow the River sm

Follow the River— At Principle Gallery

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

—William Butler Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aengus

The last Wednesday before a most important election here in the US. Let’s set politics aside for the day and focus on things of beauty, of mystery, of wonder. Those things that make this life more than tolerable. Things that deepen our existence here on this spinning rock we call home.

A fine example, in my mind, is the wonderful poem above from a favorite poet, William Butler Yeats. Perhaps we’re all a bit like Wandering Aengus, silently seeking something forever elusive.

Some of us might know what we seek. Some may not.

It probably doesn’t matter so long as we continue to seek whatever it might be that tugs at our soul. I think we all need that in some form or another. Until time and times are done…

Here’s Donovan with his version of the poem in the form of a song. Lovely.

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Season of the Witch

Posted in At the Movies, Current Events, Music, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Even if it weren’t Halloween today, there’s plenty enough scary stuff taking place. And, unfortunately, it won’t end with the passing of this day of normal tricks and treats. I am just hoping that there are more treats than tricks in our near future.

But today I am just sticking with Halloween and playing a song that kind of aligns with the day. It’s Season of the Witch from Donovan from way back in 1966. Great sound. One of my favorites, Richard Thompson, does a good cover but I am sharing the Donovan original.

The video that accompanies the song below is from a landmark 1922 Swedish silent film made by Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen  titled Häxan which was called Witchcraft Through the Ages in its English release. It has truly remarkable and sometimes disturbing imagery, sometimes seeming as though it were pulled directly from a Hieronymus Bosch painting. I have written here about my admiration of the silent films around this time who were realizing the visual potential of the medium and this is certainly one of those films that come to mind. I have included a trailer for the film below the song’s video.

There was also a rerelease of the film in 1968 which was shortened and featured a narration from author William S. Burroughs and a jazz score featuring violinist Jean Luc Ponty. It’s interesting but I don’t think it has the same impact as the original.

Anyway, have a safe Halloween. Be careful because, as we are seeing, there are a lot of witches and devils out there. Hoping we can exorcise some of these demons on Tuesday. Have a good day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEv53-uFdtA

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Colours

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , on September 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

There are a lot of things swirling around in my mind this morning, most of them well outside my little inner world of color and form. But distant as they are they all have reverberations that shake my safe haven. For instance, there is the pissing match taking place between two spoiled, erratic, impetuous egotists that imperils the safety and stability of the world. I’m talking, of course, about Kim Jong Un of North Korea and that other guy from America.

Or take the impending senate vote on healthcare, the Graham-Cassidy bill. It is a total trainwreck of a bill, one that will strip coverage from those who can least afford to lose it and one that is opposed by literally hundreds of professional groups representing doctors, nurses, patient advocates, insurers and those seeking to fight deadly diseases such as the American Cancer Society. The scoring on it thus far has been atrocious and there is scant evidence of it having any positive effect yet it still somehow has a chance of passing mainly to people (and I use that term lightly here) like Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa who said in a call with the Des Moines Register:

“You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered. But Republicans campaign on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign.That’s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.”

So, he is saying that, despite the fact that he knows how egregiously this bill affects millions of citizens now and in the future or how it is being recklessly rushed through the process, it is more important to just pass something so that he can tell a small group of core supporters that they did something. Even something so damaging and senseless that many of those same supporters will no doubt be hurt deeply by this action.

I don’t think that will go into the textbooks as a prime example of statesmanship.

I didn’t want to write about this crap this morning. It’s too maddening but it can’t be ignored. We have done that for far too long, letting those who have been paying attention take over the writing of the script that we are all forced to play out.

So, while I am angrily paying attention I found myself focusing on the painting above from the late Will Barnet, who died in 2012 at the age of 101. It’s an earlier work of his titled Old Man’s Afternoon from 1947. I just loved the rhythm and color of it. Plus, it immediately took my mind off those things above.

Maybe it will work for you. Plus, to accompany it, here’s the song Colours from Donovan from way back in 1965. It can’t be over 50 years old, can it. Geez…

Have a great day.

 

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