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Posts Tagged ‘Rolling Stones’

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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Exile on Main Street

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, Video, tagged on May 25, 2010| 4 Comments »

There’s a lot to do this morning so I’m a little distracted by my work.  So I’ll quickly make quick work of something I meant to mention earlier,  last week’s reissue of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 classic LP, Exile on Main Street.  I grew up with the Rolling Stones’ early albums and over the years my appreciation for this album has grown time I hear it.  Love or hate the Stones, this is great stuff.  And it has a great album cover, to boot.

So, even though this is not off this LP, I’m playing their earlier Get Off My Cloud,  mainly hoping that that infectious guitar line and defiant chorus will  keep me away from simply railing against all the crap that is going on in this world.

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Get Off My Cloud

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Video, tagged , on January 24, 2009| 2 Comments »

harlequin3Saturday morning and I’m in the studio early, anxious to get to work.  There are things I’d like to post on my blog but I feel like there’s a painting waiting to be released.

I think that for this Saturday morning I’ll instead show a little early Rolling Stones.  At Christmas, I was talking with my nephew, who is around 30 years old, who commented on how many people he knew who were totally ignorant of the music of the Beatles and the Stones, particularly before the mid-70’s,  and the great influence that both had on current pop music and culture.

For anyone from that time that is a remarkable thought because of the incredible changes that were taking place at the time and, for many,  how their music was very much the soundtrack for the era.  Perhaps this is hyperbole and the world would pretty much be the same without either band and their songs but I doubt it.  Great change is only affected by great influence.  The greater the influence, the more we are inspired to go beyond, to take what they have shown us and to synthesize and integrate it with our own voices and visions.  

Growing up, listening to this song, Get Off My Cloud, was empowering.  There was a sense of defiance and a sense of standing up for yourself that pulsed out of the grooves.  I don’t know if it completely comes through but at the time, it played loud and strong.

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Ring of Fire

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Video, tagged , , , , on November 9, 2008| 2 Comments »

Just thought on a Sunday morning I would throw out a small bit of Johnny Cash, someone who I have unabashedly idolized for over forty years.  This song, though earlier in the decade, reminded me of Cash’s TV show of the late 60’s and the the incredibly diverse talent that would appear.  The very best of rock, pop, soul and country would show up every week.  It reminds me how our explosion of media access has separated everything into niches, neatly labeled and put apart.  As a kid living in the country, I remember being glued to my little radio, listening our local AM station, WENY, and hearing guys like Johnny Cash one minute then the next the Rolling Stones and after that the Doors then Otis Redding, all topped off by Frank Sinatra. Or maybe Barry Sadler singing “The Ballad of the Green Beret”.  Or the 1910 Fruitgum Company.   What great diversity!  And the funny thing is that it seemed to make complete sense, that the transition and flow from one song to another was not abrupt or shocking. It forced the young mind to find the common thread and grab it.  

This is not to condemn today or glorify yesterday.  Each is what they are.  Just a memory.  It’s Sunday, so relax and give a listen to the Man in Black.

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