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John Henry

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Music, Opinion, tagged , , , on September 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

John-Henry-statueAnother Labor Day weekend.

I usually focus on the labor aspect of this holiday when writing about it, trying to point out how much our country was shaped by both the toil of the workers as well as the labor unions who fought for and won many of the rights that we now take for granted.  But this year I thought I would focus on a folk song that addresses the role and importance of labor in our lives:

John Henry–  that steel driving man who faced off in an epic battle of man against machine, defeating the steam drill that threatened to take away his job.  Well, sort of defeating it.  I guess a victory is still a victory even if you die in the wake of your triumph.

john_henry_by_fw_long_dehtUnfortunately, John Henry’s great efforts ultimately didn’t save the jobs of the workers who would be displaced by the steam drill.  But it did illustrate the importance of  labor and the purpose it adds in our lives.  Labor has always been that thing by which we have provided for ourselves and our families, from the time we were primarily hunter/gatherers and farmers (which was not that long ago) to the present day.  To take away that ability to provide is to strip away one’s pride and definition as a human.

In that aspect, John Henry’s victory  was more than a triumph of blood and bone over steel and gears.  It was a triumph of the human spirit, a crying out of our need to be necessary in some way, to be undiminished.  And despite John Henry paying the ultimate price for his victory, I think that is why this song still strikes a strong chord with us.

So for this Sunday’s music I will play one of my favorite versions (among many) of John Henry.  It’s from Johnny Cash from his 1963 album, Blood, Sweat and Tears, an album which focused on labor.  I think it captures that idea of purpose really well.

Have a great Labor Day weekend but try to remember the idea behind the holiday.

John Henry William Gropper
 

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September Song

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , on September 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- September Song sm

GC Myers- September Song 2014

August has finally and thankfully passed.  You would think as one gets older you would want to hold on to every moment–every day, week and month– but August never passes quickly enough for me.  This distaste for August has given September an almost magical appeal.  The very sound of the word feels cool and easy in my mind.

Relieved from the hard edges and sharpness of August, September brings cooler air and falling leaves.  Time passes just as quickly but there is a calmness which allows for reflection.  In September, I often find myself stopping and just standing,  looking into the sky and absorbing the moment, glad to just be where I am.

Maybe that’s why I love the old song September Song.  It’s a wistful reflection on the passing of time and aging.  Composed by Kurt Weill, it was written for  and  first recorded by Walter Huston for the Broadway play Knickerbocker Holiday in which he plays Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam (present day New York) in the 1600’s.

The play didn’t have much success but the song, written for Huston’s limited vocal range and rough voice, has lived on as one of the great standards of modern music, recorded by scores of artists over the years. Today I thought I would play a beautiful version from the one and only Ella Fitzgerald.  As I look out of my studio window, it is cool and foggy and the words and sound of this song just feel so right for the first day of September.

Have a great day.

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Highway 61 Revisited

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , on August 30, 2015| 1 Comment »

Highway 61 Revisited Album CoverI wrote earlier this week about the 40th anniversary of Springsteen’s classic LP, Born to Run.  Just a day or two later came another anniversary of another landmark album, this one marking  50 years since Highway 61 Revisited from Bob Dylan was released back in 1965.  It has remained a critical favorite over the decades, coming in at #4 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  Of course, lists like that are pretty subjective but in this case, I tend to agree.

It was Dylan’s first all electric outing after making the transition from purist folkie to rock star with his prior album, Bringing It All Back Home, which was part acoustic folk and part electric rock.  With Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan went all in and made an album that was a real document and catalyst for the turbulent times in which it was made.  It is said that the 1960’s, as we have come to remember them as an era, started with this album.

I know it has long been a favorite of mine.  It’s an album that has been with me for so long that it doesn’t seem to be of any time, regardless of its age.  It just is.  Every song holds up and each is like a full and rich meal.  It’s filled with a meaty mix of words and textures and meanings that just fills you up.

So, for this week’s Sunday morning music,  what could be more fitting than the title track from this classic from half a century ago?  It’s a song that never gets to get my blood moving.  It’s been covered by a multitude of other artists and I don’t know that I ever heard a bad cover of it.  Here’s the original.  Have a great Sunday!

 

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Oh, The Places You’ll Go!: Spanish Edition

Posted in Favorite Things, Motivation, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on August 23, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-Archaeology- Rooted in the Past smOne of the interesting aspects of doing what I do is seeing where the images eventually finds their way. They have ended up in American Embassies in several countries, in magazines and on book covers here and abroad as well as on several CD covers.  One was even included in a recent history text book.  They have found their way to most corners of the globe, making them much more well traveled than their maker.  And in 2016 a couple of images from my Archaeology and Strata series will be part of the annual calendar for the Spanish Society of Soil Science. 

GC Myers- On the Shoulders of Time smIt’s gratifying for me to see the work spread out as it has.  You hope, as an artist, that your work has a wider appeal, that there is some common denominator in it that speaks across geographic and cultural boundaries.  You never know when you are in front of the easel if your work will be anything more than a blob of pigment on a bit of canvas destined for the trash or will take on a life of its own and move on.  So to see it move around the globe in some small way is a form of validation for the work, making the next crisis of confidence easier to fight through.  And that is no small thing.

Being Sunday it’s time for a little music and I thought I would play a song that kind of jibes with the soil theme of the work here.  It’s one of my favorite songs to sing along with from one of my all-time favorites, John Prine.  It’s called Please Don’t Bury Me and it’s about as upbeat a song on the subject of dying as you’ll ever hear.  Give a listen (and sing along if you know the words!) and have a great Sunday!

 

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Crawl Up and Die

Posted in Early Paintings, Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , on August 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Early Work mid-1994It’s Sunday morning which means I usually play a little bit of music.  This morning I didn’t have anything in particular in mind so I went to YouTube and just punched in something general then let myself be led by  randomly choosing from the selections that come up on the right side of every video.  It’s amazing where this will sometimes take you, sometimes to music that you know really well and other times opening new horizons.  Today it led me to a song that I have always liked by the Stray Cats from back when they were leading a little rockabilly resurgence in the 1980’s.

It wasn’t one of their hits from the time and I’m not even sure it is on any of their widely released albums.  But it is one of my favorites from their songs.  It’s called Crawl Up and Die and has a nice build up and finish, the perfect thing to kick off a sleepy Sunday morning despite the somewhat gloomy  title.

While trying to find an image to accompany this post and song I came across the old piece above from back when I was still forming a voice and working on processes.  This is among my earliest attempts at my reductive process where I put on a lot of very wet paint and pull off what doesn’t belong.  Kind of like carving in paint.

I wasn’t sure at this point where I was going with my work and was still considering straight  representation.  While I don’t think this is a bad piece, especially from where I was in my evolution, it didn’t have enough to make me want to move further in this direction. So I moved down a different path and, fortunately, it was the right choice.  I do like the mood of this piece however and feel it fits the title here.

Have a great Sunday!

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In Heaven Now…

Posted in Favorite Things, Motivation, Music, tagged , , , , on August 15, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Raised Up Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now.

—Jack Kerouac

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I am not sure what to do with these words from Jack Kerouac but I do like them and think they deserve to be passed along.  I am a firm believer of kindness in all forms and believe that it is a pathway to a better life here in this world.

When I was waiting tables I found that my own attitude and demeanor often dictated how others responded to me.  If I smiled and acted congenially, more often than not the person I was dealing with responded in the same manner.  We are reactionary creatures and we instinctively respond according to the tone we encounter– rudeness with rudeness and anger with anger.

And kindness with kindness.

It’s our choice.  If we can fight against our reactionary nature and choose to act and react with kindness, we can shape our world and then perhaps realize that a form of heaven might be within our grasp.

I have never had the faith or certainty of those who believe that there is an actual heaven waiting beyond this world.  I would like to but I just don’t have it within me.  So, for me, if there is to be a heaven it is something to be sought in the here and now.  By that, I mean creating an environment that is honest, kind and gentle.  A life that is peaceful and quiet–that would be heaven to me.

So, when you’re out there today and face rudeness and anger, make the choice to react in a gentler manner and be kind.  Your world might be one small step closer to heaven.

This quote reminded me of a song from one of my favorites, John Prine.  The title pretty much sums it up: He Was In Heaven Before He Died.

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Nature Boy/ A Replay

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on August 14, 2015| 1 Comment »

 

I was looking for something else and came across this post from back in 2009 about one of my favorite songs and the unusual man who wrote it.  I thought it deserved a replay.  Plus I just felt like hearing “Nature Boy”this morning.  Here’s how it goes:

eden-ahbez-with-cowboy-jack-pattonSometimes when you look a little more behind something that’s been in front of you for years you find out things you might have never imagined otherwise.  Such is the case with the song, Nature Boy.

Nature Boy, as recorded by the great Nat King Cole,  has long been one of  my favorite songs.  It has a wonderful haunting melody and tells the story of a “strange enchanted boy” and his search to find love.  It always has had a sort of mystical feel to me, a real oddity in the world of popular music in 1948 when Nat King Cole recorded and had a huge hit with it, staying at #1 on the charts for eight weeks.

I was going to just have a short post and put up a YouTube video of Cole’s version but in doing so I saw the name of the songwriter, eden ahbez, and was intrigued.  Doing a little research I came across some photos of him such as the one above, from the late 40’s sitting with Cowboy Jack Patton ( who wrote Ghost Riders in the Sky) and a spaniel.  I’ll let you figure out who is who in the photo.  ahbez’s long hair and attire seemed really out of place for me in thinking of 1948 so I read on.

eden-ahbezeden ahbez was a real one of a kind character in the world of music and in general.  You could probably guess that from the name which he adopted and wrote only in lower case letters.   Born in 1908, he is regarded as the first hippie by many, a long-haired and bearded wanderer who crisscrossed the country on foot, wearing robes and sandals, maintained a vegetarian lifestyle and slept out under the stars.  In fact, when Nature Boy hit the charts he and his wife were living under the first L on the Hollywood sign, which stoked a bit of a media frenzy around ahbez.  He worked in and frequented a vegetarian restaurant (that’s where he met Cowboy Jack Patton, another interesting character) in 1940’s Los Angeles whose German owners preached the gospel of natural and raw foods.  Their followers became known as the Nature Boys.

He was not really what I was expecting from a pop songwriter in 1940’s LA.  ahbez died in 1995 from injuries sustained in an auto accident.  He was 87.  His was a truly unique life, just waiting for a biographer to tell the story, and reading the little I discovered makes me find the song even more interesting.  Hope you’ll do the same now that you know a bit more about eden ahbez…

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Everything Stops For Tea

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , on August 9, 2015| 3 Comments »

Long John Baldry - Everything Stops For Tea a.jpg-for-web-xlargeSunday morning and I just finished my coffee/protein get-me-started drink and now am working on my first cup of tea for the day.  Something soothing in the whole idea of tea. Maybe it’s the slowness of it, the steeping and sipping  associated with it that attracts me. One of my favorite moments of the day is finishing my cup of tea after breakfast and holding the china cup, feeling the warmth radiate through its thin walls.  There’s something meditative in that.

That brings me neatly to this week’s Sunday morning musical choice which features tea as its central theme.  It’s a song called Everything Stops For Tea from the 1972 album of the same title from the late British blues/rocker Long John Baldry, who in the early 1960’s put into motion the careers of a number of what were to be large stars such as Elton John and Rod Stewart.  I liked this album from the moment I first saw it– must have been the colorful cover that is at the top of the page here.

But I loved the music as well, especially the title track which is Baldry’s cover of a song made popular in Britain in the 1930’s by Jack Buchanan,  a Scottish actor/singer known for his debonair man-about-town roles in the theatre and on film.  Oddly enough for a song concerning one of the most British of things, the song was written  three Americans– Maurice Sigler, Al Goodheart and Al Hoffman.

Regardless, it’s a fun song that I often find myself humming at odd times.  Give a listen and maybe have a cuppa while you’re at it.  Most of all, have a great Sunday.

 

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This Little Light of Mine

Posted in Biographical, Music, Painting, tagged , , , , , , on July 26, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Center Stage smI think I’ve written here in the past about how the aftermath of  a show is for me in the studio.  In the week or so after a show opens there is generally a little letdown, the result of a sudden loss of the energy that accumulates from the adrenaline and anxiety in the build up to the opening.  I usually mope in a way, floundering around for several days trying to refocus and regain my bearings, to find some point in which to direct my energy.

It’s often a frustrating time even while the show still hangs and does well.  I sometimes get a little lost in those moments where the very act of painting becomes absolutely abstract and foreign in nature to me.  The purpose that just a week ago seemed so apparent now has dissolved and I find myself questioning everything– my abilities, the purpose and direction of my work and so on.  Those particular moments weigh heavily on me.

As I said, it’s a frustrating time.  Fortunately, I know from times before that this was coming and will pass.  It’s part of the process, part of who I am, If, as Shakespeare says, all the world’s a stage and we’re all merely players, then this is simply part of the makeup of the character I portray in this play.  It’s maybe the only role for which I am truly suited by nature and ability.

And maybe that’s the thing I need to remember in these frustrating days; that this is the role that I best play, that this is the role that was written specifically for me.

That kind of ties in with the painting at the top, Center Stage, which is part of the Home+Land show at the West End Gallery.  We are all the main characters in our own plays and we need to be be willing to play the part with conviction, to embrace the role that is written for us.  When you are on that stage, let your light shine.

And that brings us, in a sneaky manner, to this week’s Sunday morning music.  I’m going with one of my favorites, Neko Case, and her rousing version of the children’s gospel classic, This Little Light of Mine.  Gets the day started with a kick and blows away those frustrations.  So, enjoy, have a great day and let that light shine.

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Bicycle Race

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , , on July 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

PrintI’ve written here in the past about the Tour de France, the epic bicycle race that that criss-crosses France for three weeks each July.  About 2100 miles in 21 days that climbs through the heights of the Pyrenees and Alps.  It is an incredible test of strength, endurance and nerve putting perhaps the greatest endurance athletes on the planet on the edge of their physical capacities.

For me, this event is like a yearly Olympics or a 21 game World Series, each day bringing something new to marvel at– incredible scenery, awe-inspiring performances and sometimes horrifying crashes.

And this morning, as the race winds down to tomorrow’s finish on the Champs de Elysee in Paris, is one of the most fabled routes in the Tour– the climb up Alpe d’Huez.  Over 68 miles filled with ridiculous grades, hairpin turns and fierce competition.  Just great sport.

Below is a profile of today’s route and below that a little riding music from Queen.  Got to run– the race is on!

Alpe d'Huez Route 2015

 

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