What Does The Artist Do On A Crappy Day?

Um, art. What else?

Peace.

Steven Tyler 04/20/09

EMIN3M X Vinyl Art

"X" means more than just putting things together. Multiplying creates more than adding. Em knows how to create something more than just the sum of its parts. "Sing For The Moment" off of The Eminem Show contains elements of Aerosmith's "Dream On" creating a brilliant mashup that makes my toes tingle.

Maybe we can call my Vinyl Art a visual remix or an artistic crossover. Whatever. Just don't use a "+".

Peace.

EMIN3M 02/26/09

Dude (Remember When MTV Played Videos?) [EC]

Growing up in the 80s, my taste in music was pretty well influenced by MTV. The artistic and sexual aspects of video both caught my eye as a young teen boy who took a lot of art classes. For better or worse, music videos helped form my visual aesthetic and expanded my musical appreciation.

Aerosmith was one of those bands that I got into probably mostly because of their videos. I'm glad because they've put out solid albums for a long time. From Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" to Tool's "Sober", here're some other musicians that I don't know if I would have given much attention then if it hadn't have been for MTV:

Peter Gabriel
Madonna
Guns N' Roses
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Michael Jackson
Prince
Metallica
Depeche Mode
Faith No More
Red Hot Chili Peppers
U2
Talking Heads
R.E.M.
Devo
Jane's Addiction
Blind Melon
INXS
Eurythmics
Cyndi Lauper
Dire Straits
Billy Joel
Tool

That video of "Sober" still gives me chills. I stopped at '93 with MTV's yearbook because that's when I graduated high school and started getting most of my new music from random finds in record stores and the radio.

I know there're a lot more videos that were instrumental in popularizing certain groups. Who wouldn't you be a fan of if it weren't for MTV?

Peace.

Connecting Events

September 27th on OB in SD, CA Primitive Kool Gallery is putting on a "dead rocker" show to celebrate a new school of rock, a la the Jack Black movie. I've got a bunch there from the last show I participated in that are already for sale. Bonzo is the first new one. I'll be doing Keith Moon, Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan as well.

"It's Yours Take It" in Boston looks like it was a great success. My piece made somebody smile. And I will be doing another Steven Tyler probably this week.

I'm loving the comments, so thank you. I also really appreciated the emails about Perez Hilton using my Marley piece in connection with Gwen Stefani's baby's name. The picture's down now because they're not supposed to use the thumbnail image from the photo distributor at all, much less not associated with a post about my art. This happened before, so at least this time it wasn't associated with something offensive. But this means I'm connecting! Pretty cool.

By the way, one of those connections has some pretty cool news too! Talk about exposure!

Peace.

John Bonham 08/25/08