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Posts Tagged ‘Rolling Stones’

Far Away Eyes

Posted in Music, Painting, Process, tagged , , , on March 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Far Away Eyes

Seems like a recurring theme lately with me starting most posts by saying that I am busy and eager to get to work. That’s actually a good thing for me. That eagerness to get to it is something that is not just there. It is cultivated, a result of previous actions. It usually means I am doing the right things (at least, for me) in my creative process.

So, while I wish I were willing to spend more time writing this morning’s post I am glad to want to get to my work.

But I wanted to share the painting above, Far Away Eyes, that is currently at the West End Gallery. I wrote about this piece last July and rereading that post reminded me of the struggle that I had with it. It was one of the first pieces I worked on during the early days of the pandemic. I had no momentum, no energy, little inspiration nor any eagerness to be at work. My mind was wholly distracted.

This piece though fought with me and made me work. Made me shut out the outer world for a time so that I could focus my mind on it, to become part of it.

To put it plainly, it didn’t come easy. That’s probably why this piece resonates so strongly with me. I think we all appreciate those things that make us struggle, that make us be at our best. We might be frustrated and demoralized during the battle but the result, the overcoming, makes us forget that. I know that the struggle in this piece had slipped my mind until I read the post that was written soon after this painting was completed, when the battle was still fresh in mind.

I now appreciate it for what it is, the force it possesses and not for what it provided in its creation.

As it should be.

The title for this song  was borrowed from an old Rolling Stones song from their 1978 Some Girls album. I didn’t mention it in the original post about the painting because I didn’t think the song itself fully lined up with the piece but its title did. But now, I’m not so sure.

Give a listen and you decide.

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Shine a Light

Posted in Music, Painting, Process, tagged , , , , , , , on January 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »

“Exile on Main Street”- At the Principle Gallery

When you’re drunk in the alley, baby with your clothes all torn
When your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn
Whoa I just seen so many flies on you
I just can’t brush ’em off

The angels beating all their wings in time
Smiles on their faces and a gleam right in their eyes
Whoa, thought I heard one sigh for you
Come on up now
Come on up now
Come on up now

May the good Lord shine a light on you
Yeah, make every song you sing your favorite tune
May the good Lord shine a light on you
Yeah, warm like the evening sun, ah-nah-nah yeah

— Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, Shine a Light

I am in the beginning phases of my preparation for my annual shows at the galleries that represent my work. This is always a difficult period, trying to find a thread to grasp and follow. You never know where it will lead and what sort of work it will produce. That uncertainty is agonizing for me. Because so much of my livelihood depends on how these shows shake out, deciding what form the work will take is a big move.

I don’t gamble anymore but in some ways, it’s like placing a large bet. I am betting that my choice in moving ahead and the work it will produce will provide the income I need to live and will allow me to maintain my status as an artist deserving of future shows in the galleries that represent me. This decision puts a knot in my gut every year at this time. That awful feeling is the reason I don’t gamble anymore. This is the only bet I am willing to make now.

Getting to that point where I have decided what direction the work will follow is not really a process at all. It’s more like panicked examination of past work and new influences, trying to find something that grabs me, holds my limited focus and can perhaps inspire me. It can be maddening at times but it’s sometimes fun to roll back through the work from the past, to see what clicks as strongly now as it did then. There seems to always be something in doing this that reminds me of things, traits in my work, that I have put aside and no longer employ in my current work. That sometimes leads to revisiting those traits. Sometimes the results are enlightening, making me want to make it part of my process again, and sometimes I discover that the things I was doing then just don’t translate to the current moment.

That’s where I am. Seeking. Looking for a light that shines.

That brings me to today’s title.

While going through some past work, I noticed that one of my favorite pieces from the past year, Exile on Main Street, was still at the Principle Gallery. It was one of the cityscapes that were part of my annual show there, last year’s show being titled Social Distancing. I loved doing this work as well as the resulting pieces. This, as I said, was a favorite from that group. There is warmth and distance, Quiet and tension. Things I tend to see and look for  in my better works.

Naming it, I borrowed the title from the classic 1972 Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main Street. I thought a favorite song of mine from that album would fit my current process– Shine a Light. It’s credits list Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from 1972 as the songwriters but it was actually a collaboration with the late Leon Russell that came from 1968.

The song’s title was then (Can’t Seem) To Get a Line on You and dealt with the problems caused by the drug addiction of Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones. It was recorded as such for inclusion in a 1970 Leon Russell album but not released until the 1990’s. The Russell version (which included the Rolling Stones) is very similar and strong but the version from Exile on Main Street is more formed, more powerful.

I thought the song fit my process and also added a little more to the painting this morning. Give a listen and have a good day.

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Exile on Main Street

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on March 3, 2020| 2 Comments »

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I showed a work in progress here a couple of weeks ago that featured a cityscape that I compared to a skeleton that spoke to me as I painted, telling me how to flesh it out. Above is a side by side comparison that shows where that skeleton led me.

It was one of those paintings where I find myself constantly trying to restrain myself from going too bright. As noted in recent posts, I am looking for more depth and darkness in the colors I employ right now. But I often still want to go the next higher and brighter tone. Holding back on that impulse is difficult but rewarding in the long run. Even though this is a painting with a lot of color, it is greatly restrained which allows the deeper colors hold court and show through clearly.

I was originally going to call this piece Light on Main Street. It works well but in the end I opted to adopt the title from the classic Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main Street. The reason for this change was that I saw this piece as being the view of the Exile, an important character in my work, standing on the other side of the street.

The Exile sees the blank  and anonymous eyes of the lit buildings. It’s a feeling of alienation that I described in a post last week, Inner City Blue, about another cityscape, where each building seems like its own alien world filled with lives and occurrences about which you know little, if anything.

I think this feeling of being the Exile, a stranger in a strange land, is enhanced by the reddish tones of the sky and the deep gem tones of the distant mountains.

They seem familiar but different somehow.

And it’s that familiar but different feeling that appeals to me. I think it is may be something I actively seek in my work. It might be described as a desire to have you feel the comfort of the familiar while at the same time thinking that there is something different at play.

I really don’t know for sure.

I’ve looked at this piece for a couple of weeks now and I am still taking it in. The fact that it makes me want to continue to do so is a good indicator for my personal judgement of a work. I look forward to continue doing so with this piece.

Hey, since I snagged their title, how about a track from the Stones from Exile on Main Street? Hard to decide which to use with so many great tracks from which to choose. However, I am going with a personal fave, Sweet Virginia, in honor of Virginia’s presidential primary taking place today. Plus, there’s something in it that matches up well with this painting. Can’t put a finger on it but…

Hey, have yourself a good day.

 


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Gimme Shelter

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , on December 8, 2019| 3 Comments »

I am running late again so I am going to keep this intro to this week’s Sunday morning music selection short. It’s a great version of the Rolling Stones’ classic Gimme Shelter from 1970 by Merry Clayton.

While most of us have no idea who Merry Clayton is, she is a legendary back up singer, giving strong vocal backing to a host of artists through the decades. She was a Raelette behind Ray Charles and also backed up  such a diverse group of artists such as Pearl Bailey, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis, Carole King, Tori Amos, Neil Young and even Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The most famous story about Merry Clayton revolves around this song, Gimme Shelter. It seems when the Stones were recording it, Mick Jagger thought it would be great to have a strong female voice in its chorus. They called Clayton in the middle of the night and she showed up shortly after, pregnant and in curlers, and knocked out her part in a couple of takes. The ultimate trooper, her chorus became a defining element of the rock classic.

There’s a lot more to read about here incredible, and largely unsung, career, some of it told in 2013 Oscar winning documentary about back up singers, 20 Feet From Stardom. In 2014, Merry Clayton was in a serious car crash and, as a result, had both legs amputated.

The ups and downs of a life.

Here’s her Gimme Shelter. Have a great Sunday.

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Let It Bleed

Posted in Current Events, Music, tagged , , , , on September 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on
Yeah but if you want it, well you can bleed on me
Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on
Yeah yeah and if you want it baby why don’t ya
You can bleed on me
All over, hoo

—Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed,1969

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Hey, it’s Labor Day weekend! Let’s celebrate with another mass shooting!

It does fit into the theme of the holiday. It provides work for police, doctors, medics, nurses and rehab workers, not to mention newscasters, lobbyists, and the impotent politicians who will, on script, offer up once more their mantra of thoughts and prayers.

Plenty of work for everybody!

I don’t mean to make light of this event but it seems like we are moving more and more to a world where we will be watching a program one day dedicated to the Shooting of the Week. The scenes from the 1976 movie satire Network where the TV execs gave a weekly show to extremists that featured kidnappings and assassinations seems almost prescient now. Except in the film the radical extremists were based on the Black Panthers and the Symbionese Liberation Army whereas now the crimes are almost solely the province of aggrieved young white men from the conspiratorial edges of the far right.

There’s probably an algorithm out there that could have predicted that we would be at this point, if only we knew what data we should enter into the equation. But I think even a moron can deduce that adding more and more guns into this accounting would not lessen the number of shootings. I don’t think anyone feels any safer now especially when grade school children must face shooter drills and school lockdowns on a regular basis and public officials are advising that everyone learn how to administer first aid to shooting victims because it is not a matter of if but when that they will have to use it.

Like I said, I am not making light of this subject. I am angry at our stupidity and cowardice in facing the problem at hand. Until we decide that we must address this problem that weekly show will soon be on the a TV schedule in the near future. In the meantime, get out your first aid manuals, kids, it’s going to be a bumpy, bloody ride

Here’s this week’s Sunday morning music. It’s the Rolling Stones from 1969 with, most fittingly, Let It Bleed. Try to have a good holiday, folks.

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Dead Flowers

Posted in Early Paintings, Favorite Things, Music, tagged , on December 5, 2017| 4 Comments »

Can’t get my mind organized this morning, can’t seem to want to focus on any one thing. Had a lot of ideas for the blog but just lacked the desire to follow through so I am just going to play a song this morning accompanied by a tiny painting from back around 1995 called Harlequin. I always smile when I come across this piece.

The song is a favorite of mine, Dead Flowers, from the Rolling Stones and their 1971 album, Sticky Fingers. But the version below is from the late great Townes Van Zandt. I can’t say that it’s better or worse than the Stones version but it’s one that I like very much.

So give a listen and I’ll try to get my act together this morning…

 

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Shake Your Hips

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , on October 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Addams Family DancerI love this little GIF of Wednesday Addams busting out some James Brown-like moves as Lurch looks on.  As we’re approaching Halloween in a few days, it seemed like a fitting accompaniment to this week’s Sunday music.  It also fits the music as well.  I found myself watching her feet intently as the song played and it just seemed to mesh perfectly with the click-clack of the percussion.  You be the judge.

This week’s song is from the Rolling Stones‘ classic 1972 album, Exile on Main Street.  The song is  their enhanced  cover  of the  song,  Shake Your Hips, from bluesman Slim Harpo.  This was not the first time the Stones (along with many other rock bands) had covered a Slim Harpo song.  They did a great version of his I’m a King Bee on their debut LP in 1964.  But in 1972 the Stones were at their peak and this song just became part of who they were, feeling like it was their own work and not a cover.

Anyway, give a listen and keep your eyes on Wednesday’s feet.  Hope this gets your Sunday rocking.  After all, it is, as every rock radio station in the world will remind us, still Rocktober.

Have a great day.

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Time Traveler

Posted in Music, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 18, 2014| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Time TravelerI finished this new painting, 18″ by 26″  on paper, a few days ago and have been regularly taking it in as it sits in my studio, waiting to be framed for my upcoming show, Traveler, at the Principle Gallery.  I think I am calling this piece Time Traveler but it’s still up in the air as I ponder it for a few more days.

It’s one of a few pieces that will be in this show that are from the Strata series, which are similar to my Archaeology pieces but more focused on the patterns and colors of the underground layers and boulders rather than on artifacts.  I like this mix of the straight representation of the Red Tree in the top half  set against the organic and almost abstract forms of the lower half, giving it a striking visual contrast while still maintaining  harmony.

I normally don’t like to dwell on technique here but  this is also a little technically different from my typical work.  I normally work in one of two ways–in a  reductive manner, where the paint is applied very wet, in puddles,  then removed leaving a transparent and luminous surface or in a more traditional additive manner in which paint is applied in layers building from dark to light.  Usually one one process is used in a piece but the Strata series allows me to easily mix the methods which adds to the visual contrast between the upper and lowers segments.

As I continue to consider this piece, I thought I would play a song this Sunday morning that mentions time.  I thought I would play Time Is On My Side which was a big hit for the Rolling Stones in 1964.  I always assumed it was written by Jagger and Richards but it was actually a cover.  The song was written my Jerry Ragavoy under the pseudonym Norman Meade.  It was first recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding in 1963 with the only lyrics being Time is on my side sung by back-up singers Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston.  It’s an interesting version that I am including below but I really wanted to focus on the version from the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, which was released around the same time as the Stones’ version.  It has the added lyrics that most of us know and is just a dynamite performance.

Enjoy and have a great Sunday!

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Apolitical Blues

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Apolitical BluesI’ve been getting a small group of work ready for a show that opens next week  in Penn Yan, NY, which sits at the northern end of beautiful Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes.  The Arts Center of Yates County holds several shows a year in their Flick Gallery, which is a beautiful space .on the city’s Main Street.   I have been invited to be a featured artist in their upcoming show, Earthworks, which runs from May 9 to June 16.  Normally, I would not try to fit in a small show only a month before a major exhibit such as next month’s show at the Principle Gallery but after seeing the gallery and speaking with their director, Kris Pearson, I was impressed and decided to try to squeeze it in a crowded schedule.  I also thought it might serve as  nice introduction to people of the region who might not be familiar with my work or with the West End Gallery in Corning, hoping they might travel down for my show there in July.

The show consists of a mix of new and recent pieces that  I feel are representative of my body of work.  There are a couple of Archaeology paintings, a few Red Roofs and my signature Red Tree, of course.  The piece shown here on the left is a small new painting, 2″ by 8″ on paper, that I call Apolitical Blues, after the old Little Feat song of the same name.  It’s a simple blues with very simple lyrics–Well my telephone was ringing /And they told me it was Chairman Mao /I don’t care who it is /I just don’t wanna talk to him now —  but with the state of current politics, the idea of being turned off and tuned out to the noise of it all seemed to fit with the solitary figure in this piece, away from the chaos and constant talk of the world.

Being Sunday morning, it seems appropriate that I share Little Feat‘s song with you.  This is a live version that was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London in 1977 for their live album Waiting for Columbus, which is considered by critics as one of the greatest live albums in rock history.  I know that it has been one of my favorites since it came out in 1978, a year before lead singer  Lowell George died.  This version also features famed British guitarist Mick Taylor who had formerly played on some of the Rolling Stones iconic albums of the early 70’s.  It’s a great way to open your eyes on a Sunday morning in May.

Have a great day!

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Water/ Eric Burdon

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on February 7, 2013| 1 Comment »

Eric Burdon- 'Til Your River Runs DryGrowing up,  I was always kind of fascinated by Eric Burdon, then lead singer for the Animals, the British rock band who always seemed just in the shadow of the Beatles and the Stones.  But they were different than the other bands of that early British Invasion.  They seemed rougher, more closely connected to American blues.  Their songs were not mere love ditties.  They were angrier, more defiant and fatalistic.

And it was all captured in the face of Eric Burdon.  He was not a pretty boy, not the smiling cute one that even moms found charming.  He was sleepy eyed with  pock marked skin and an almost surly demeanor that never broke into a toothy smile.  I might be mistaken, but I think he even had a broken tooth.   But he sang those songs that still resonate today–House of the Rising Sun, Boom Boom, Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Don’t Bring Me Down, Sky Pilot,  We Gotta Get Out of this Place.  

It’s my life and I’ll do what I want…

He has had a long career, starting the band War, best known for Spill the Wine, Cisco Kid and Low Rider.  Today. he lives in the desert of Southern California and, at age 71, has a new CD, ‘Til Your River Runs Dry,  out on the market.  I am including a song from it today, Water, that deals with the ever growing problem with maintaining the availability of  safe and potable water now and in the future.   Water is that thing that we all need– more than oil, more than gas, more than any precious metals.  Water is the cause of the current battle over hydro-fracking and might be the thing that nations battle over  in the future.  Give a listen…

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