a(u)ction

Shortly after we moved to southern California I got to help VH1 Save The Music Foundation by displaying the work which had been at their NY corporate gallery at the Billabong Design For Humanity event at Paramount Studios.

At that event the lovely people from VH1 told me about the Songwriter Music Series presented by Starburst coming up in Los Angeles with an accompanying online auction. I was delighted to contribute a couple pieces. The auction is now live!


The Dylan above is one of my favorite pieces I've ever done. Its listing is here. As of this posting, it's a good deal at well below what I usually ask for pieces. Please help it doGOOD, as charitybuzz says, who is running the auction.

The Colbie Caillat below is special because she is going to be the performer at the live event and will be signing the piece! It's part of a package for people who'd like to attend the event, travel and accomodations included, listed for auction here. The bidding for this ends tomorrow! It's also currently at well below what they've valued it. Go to this cool performance and liveWELL, also as charitybuzz says.

Please check out the auction listings, bid if you're so inclined, and share them with those you think might be interested. As with the DLF Music pieces, I want these to do as much good as they can for the charity. I know that if someone who enjoys my work were to win a piece this way, the story of the art would just be that much better. Thanks so much!

Peace.

Vinyl Art Goes Bicoastal for VH1, Sort Of

Moving to CA has brought with it some really unexpected opportunities. Awhile back before the move I was contacted by a fellow at VH1 in NYNY. They have a corporate gallery that displays music-related art and photography. Pretty cool. 20some of my pieces were up for 3 months! Some friends were able to check out the exhibit and said it looked great. I wish we could've seen it, but we were moving!

Then we moved. I got the pieces back from VH1 at our new house and pretty much the next day, a lady from VH1's Save The Music Foundation there in NYNY contacted me asking for help. Every year Billabong puts on their Design for Humanity at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on the NYNY backlot that benefits a specific charity. This year it was benefitting them and they had been given a space to hold a silent auction for some autographed guitars. The space needed some dressing up to make it feel more music-related since it was basically an empty set made up like a New York diner, maybe. Anyway, it, they, needed help.

Since I had the pieces back it was pretty simple to take them to the event. That meant we got to go to the event! At Paramount Studios! Back to NYNY, sort of!

My wife went with me, while my in-laws, who were conveniently in town, watched the baby. She really helped coordinate and laid out all the pieces in the space they'd given us to hang them. The above shot shows the main wall at the back of the space. There were a few more pieces on the side walls as well. My pieces drew people in, past the autographed guitars. There were like 4,000 people there for this thing! It was incredible.

The best part was that at the end of the evening, 2 couples came in and did a deal to win all the remaining guitars! So all the pieces they brought had been bought. And the whole night brought in around $120,000 for the charity. It was funny because Billabong's people had given VH1's people cash. Cash! That much! They didn't quite know what to do with it all, and how they were going to take it back to New York.

For me, it was a great time. And next I'll get to give STMF a piece or two for an upcoming local songwriters' auction. Maybe even get the musicians to sign the pieces like with DLFM. Very cool, fitting in with my new mantra.

Push to give, Peace.

Pushing To Give

My new mantra.

Usually people push to get. To get attention, to get money, to get love. But it can be a challenge to give too. To give attention, to give money, to give love. To get taken.

A lot of the metaphysical, philosophical, religious types from the East and West talk about our purpose in this Life here being tied to giving of ourselves, finding what we can contribute to humanity, loving as we would be loved. As I've pursued my Vinyl Art as a means to share my passion for music and art, it has developed into a means to give back as well as to gain financially.

During this past half-year, while my family was in the process of moving, a MAJOR opportunity to do so arose. I had quite awhile ago painted auteur David Lynch and was honored that he signed my piece as an eventual auction incentive for his foundation. He then set out to create a charity music label, DLFM, that would pull unique music tracks from various musicians whose online downloads would benefit the David Lynch Foundation.

I fortunately got in touch with that group and got to contribute pieces to the new venture. My goodness, indeed. Above you can see the photo of my paintings of Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Moby and David Lynch signed and pledged for during the initial Pledgemusic drive by one fellow in France. Other pieces also were pledged for at that point and I have the rest ready to auction off on DLFM's website launching soon.

While there were challenges requiring that push, it has been an amazing chance to do good helping Mr. Lynch with his DOWNLOAD FOR GOOD campaign. My video on the link above about my pieces says it all for me.

I don't know where it will lead, as I've also gotten to give "thank you" pieces to Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and others whose pieces have benefitted the foundation, but pushing myself feels very gratifying. I only hope the Universe feels it too.

Peace.

Full Bleed

I've been giggling all day.

See, I painted this piece yesterday, inspired by a photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Today I received an email from him in response to my query verifying he took the cover photo of Lou Reed's "Perfect Night In London". He not only said that he'd taken the shot, but that he thinks my work looks cool and he would pass along a piece to Lou, if I wanted to give him one.

Well, yeah!

So this piece is on its way, hopefully ending up in Lou Reed's hands.

Lou Reed.

Peace.

What's The Sense?

How do you think? Is it in words? Images? Sounds? Smells or tastes? Feelings?

I've got words, images and sounds up in my brain. But words usually trump. It's sometimes annoying, no? I know I just want to turn off the stream of conversation my brain seems to have with itself. It gets in the way of what I want to do. That's why I paint. With music on.

Ahhhhh.

It really does sort of turn into meditation. I don't think in words about each dab of the brush. I don't think in words about each moment of music. It's very peaceful. I think that means, while words are dear to me, my passion lies with music and art.

Funny how what I ended up doing every day combines both. Makes me feel really lucky I sometimes get paid to do it. Those moments fly by, leaving me wishing for more daylight.

Do you do what makes time fly for you? If you do, it's cool isn't it? If you don't, why not? What's the sense?

Peace.

Give Hard

Last year I gave to the Alabama Blues Project. Three pieces for their auction.

They asked me again this year. I'm giving them an all new SRV and a similar B.B. King.

I like giving to charity, not straight money, but my work, my time, my self. I feel like I'm connecting more with them, hooking into the humanity of the effort, acknowledging the reality. I don't know if the people who win my pieces at auction feel that way, as most have gone for quite a bit less than what I sell them. But out there somewhere will be on somebody's wall or in someone's closet a piece of me that meant they gave to the cause. They gave hard.

Peace.

DONATED - 08/25/09

Free Sticker FUN

Yesterday I realized I needed to have more fun. Not that I haven't been enjoying what I've been doing, I just haven't been having FUN. You know, the kind of fun that deserves all caps. So now in addition to taking my time, I'm going to have FUN.

Quite awhile ago, I'd started doing stickers. On the sly. Underground. Layered spray paint and then a small face with a VA logo. I gave them away free, occasionally in trade for other stickers.

My plan was to do more and surprise buyers of Vinyl Art with them, people who'd stuck by me (ah jeez, sorry for the pun) and not only kept up with my work, but shared it as well. Kind of a special thank you. Still on the sly. Still given for free.

I'm doin' it. For FUN.

Peace.

(Hehe, this is my 420th post and I painted Gilmour and Marley. 420. You know.)

Sounds Of Sanity, Of Life

I picked the winner for my contest this past weekend. I painted the piece for the winner, Zane, today. As I suspected he has great taste in music, giving me a choice between Bowie as Ziggy, Bono as the Fly, Marc Bolan, the Pixies, Pearl Jam, and Alice Cooper.

Zane gets it. He gets music. My wife read his story and said, "That's your winner." He captured it with excellent writing and deep passion. So he gets Alice.

This is not to diminish the other 9 entries I received. I am SO honored that people took time and thought to be creative for me, for the opportunity to win a piece of my creativity. I am posting them here, either the full text or a link to the entry online, in no particular order. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I do at all, that to have people care enough to try and win one is amazing.

So, anyway, here they are:


Norm Geddis - "I sat at our kitchen table with my son and his friend. Both of them are sixteen. The subject of "Inglorious Basterds" came up and as the soundtrack comprises songs from exploitation films of the sixties and seventies, a subject about which I could compete with Quentin Tarantino on Jeapordy, I was looking over my vinyl soundtracks to "Riot on Sunset Strip" and "Vampyros Lesbos" composing a playlist for the next week's radio show. I asked my son's friend if he had seen "Pulp Fiction" and I got the most shocking response I had ever received to one of the most common questions we all ask -- have you seen this movie or that movie. He told me he was planning on seeing it but that some of his friends had criticized "Pulp Fiction" as a "talkie".

A talkie! Were these friends mourning the days of Valentino and Mary Pickford?

What I learned is that for some words spoil things. For numerous members of my son's generation, this film that I have always regarded as the perfect threeway of art, exploitation and action fails because the characters talk too much. Such films are referred to as "talkies". Talkies are defined as action films that contain too little action.

I point out that my son and his friend are both just fine with "talkies", at the moment they are desirous of something more in their lives than Wii sticks up their butts. However, I fear that their taste and curiosity are atavism.

The lesson here made me sad and made me remember all of the good things that come from having to wait. My taste in music, film, and for that matter my libido were all born sometime after one in the morning on countless summer nights. I was fourteen years-old and I had cable television in my room. Just as young men before me developed interests in Archaeology, Anthropology, Astronomy and summers in Europe because of the pages after the pages of naked tribal women in National Geographic, I developed my tastes in music and art because of the movies after Emmanuelle on cable television. I stayed up to see tits. I stayed up later because I started watching A Clockwork Orange.

And I started buying soundtracks. This was knowledge earned at a cost of two hours, a bus ride to Tower Records and $7.99 at a time. I owned the soundtrack to More before I owned Dark Side Of The Moon. More is still my favorite Pink Floyd record.

The first compact disc I purchased was the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet.

Paul McCartney once said that when he sees a movie the soundtrack is the foreground and everything else is the background. That's kind of the way it always has been with me. There's no such thing as a good movie with a bad soundtrack.

I came of age on the cusp of the VCR. So for a few years soundtracks were my lifeline to a movie, and this, in a way, made a movie something like a novel, where it existed or evolved inside my imagination more, and for longer than it existed for the two hours I sat in the theater. The soundtrack to Star Wars provided me with hours of stories. Those days are gone. Availability alone can kill. When I can buy varying box sets of DVD's with multiple re-edits and numerous commentaries, my imagination seems intrusive. Add to the box sets video games and comic books and its like who am I to add to the Star Wars universe?

Therein lies where a soundtrack on a vinyl record contains more than another vinyl record of another genre. The format itself slows down the user, one last grasp on a time when a movie was re-experienced twenty minutes at a time. And where what the viewer saw, how the viewer remembered the movie was the most important vision."


Jeff Skonieczny - "Growing up I had always loved music, I received my first cassette (my parents took a little while to adapt to CD’s) when I was around eight or so and this cassette just happened to be Aerosmith’s "Big Ones." At around the age of eleven I received my first boom box and the first two CD’s I received were Bon Jovi "These Days" and Queen's "Greatest Hits." During Middle School I drifted away from listening to classic rock mainly because "It wasn’t cool." I listened to bands like Bush, Nirvana, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, and Nu-Metal bands like Korn. Many of the bands I liked then I still love today, however none of that music was able to truly drag me in, and because of that, music was never a big passion of mine until my freshmen year of High School.

During my freshmen year of High School my parents left a copy of Pink Floyd’s "Wish You Were Here" sitting on the couch and in an act of pure curiosity, I decided to pick it up and give it a listen. First was "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" which I skipped right past because it was just too slow and dull for my taste at the time, I decided to go right into the title track and from beginning to end I was immediately captured, I had never listened to a song that had such an effect on me. I was completely struck by how powerful it was and in all honesty I probably had that song on repeat for two straight hours. Each listen never got old, every time the song came to a close I was in awe of its majesty and prowess.

When going to sleep that night I decided to give the album a listen from begging to end, but I just wasn’t able to get past that boring intro on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." I just didn’t understand it. I decided to give "Dark Side of the Moon" a listen and I sat there strictly paying attention to every detail in the songs and it just wasn’t doing it for me. A few days later I was on the computer and decided to leave "Dark Side of the Moon" on in the background and when the CD came to a close without even realizing it, I said to myself, "What did I just listen to?" I wasn’t even truly listening to the music but for some reason it had this profound affect on me. From there on in, I played that CD as if it were the only one I owned, and by entering into the world of "Dark Side of the Moon" I was able to finally grasp the "Wish You Were Here" album and all of its beauty.

From that moment on I had found my passion, the one thing in life which mattered to me more than practically anything!

By listening to Floyd I decided that I had been holding myself back all these years in fear of being scrutinized for the music I listened to. Who would have known that it would be "cool" to listen to Floyd just a few years later?

Anyway, I decided my musical horizons needed to expand further than Floyd and I sought out to find other great classic rock bands. The first two bands other than Floyd I stumbled across were Led Zeppelin and The Doors, both of which I fell in love with. The Doors especially captured my attention, Jim Morrison and his conceptual and mysterious lyrics created this burning infatuation in me. I became obsessed with Jim Morrison; I bought Jim Morrison biographies, posters, even blankets. I was starting to love music on an even deeper level; I loved everything it stood for and every detail in its history. I wanted to learn everything I could about every band I listened to - listening just wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted to know why the music they created sounded like it did, what each song meant, the music in the context of the times, and anything else I could possibly know.

Throughout the years I have explored numerous classic rock and modern bands but none struck me like Floyd and very few bands were able to produce that rich abstract sound that Floyd created. Later on in High School a member of the track team introduced me to King Crimson and he told me that I really needed to listen to "In the Court of the Crimson King." Right after track practice I went right home and purchased the album, and it was incredible, this was exactly what I was looking for, they were just like Floyd, long compositions, songs that took me on a journey, with an amazing mixture of rock and free jazz, the album was just so powerful and moving. This is when I learned the splendor of progressive rock. I snatched up every album I could by bands like Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and even the modern band Tool (who I listened to but with less appreciation.) Progressive Rock immediately became my favorite genre of music and that is where I stand to this day. Maybe my musical journey will continue to follow me into different genres but for the past few years my heart and ears have stuck with Prog Rock and Classic Rock, and even though I've listened to these albums hundreds of times, it never gets old. You can never spend too much time appreciating the complexities of the greatest music ever made."


Armando Mesa - "I would like to say that seeing Chris Isaak in concert years ago at the Arizona State Fair was a musical impact on me(watching the man himself appear on stage in a suit covered in the same glass and mirror material that is used for a disco ball was a visual spectacle to behold, I must admit,lol).. I would like to say that hearing a soulful ballad-type love song played at my sister's wedding was a turning point for me.I would like to say that listening to Mariachi music played at a person's funeral once impacted me profoundly. There are so many moments in my life that I would not just like but love to say that they made THE difference.While those moments were thought provoking,emotionally touching, and absolutely memorable, none can compare to one as on the day I had to be there for someone in my life.Someone that I love very much and has been a huge inspiration for me. Someone who needed me.My dad.

In the spring of 2008, my dad was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer,stage 4 on April Fool's Day. It was devastating to him and us, his family, as the news came only a few months after my own mom (on Christmas night of 2007,to be exact) had suffered a series of five strokes.Not one, but both of my parents were soon dealing with very serious,life threatening illnesses;They continue to do so to this day even though their current states of health are 'stable'.My dad will be 79 as of this June 25th, 2009 and mom is going to be 75 on October 31st.Time is very precious to our family.What once was taken for granted, is no longer.Dad's illness is currently in remission(however,lymphoma can re-occur in the human body after it has made a prior invasion at any time and dad has told us he does not want to go through chemotherapy ever again) and my mom is doing fine but is on a huge list of medications,blood thinners,you name it, to keep her from suffering any more strokes---'aggressive preventive maintenance' as one of her doctors put it to us in a very serious and dire tone of voice.

Being the oldest of three,still single, I took it upon myself to step up and become my parents' caregiver. It is a 24/7 job.Having a regular outside-the-home job is not possible with both parents being ill and requiring absolute care and attention...As a caregiver,it is one of THE hardest and most difficult jobs I have ever undertaken(any other mundane 9-5 multi-tasking job outside of the home was a 'snooze fest' and 'siesta' compared to what would lay ahead).Between both parents and tending to all of their medical needs, there is no 'me time' as it is not about me but what my family needs from me(I, myself, am a portraiture artist but have not drawn in a number of years,especially,now, that my duties have changed drastically).I am caregiver, home medic,nurse,house keeper,chauffeur,gardener,semi-repairman---you name it, I wear the hat as Jack of all trades.I must take their vitals every day,twice a day, and sometimes three times a day...Mom requires that I administer all of her medications five times a day as she is on twenty different meds.She cannot take them by herself due to her strokes also bringing about the onset of her Alzheimer's and dementia.Our lives and lifestyles have changed drastically since the first time my mom became seriously ill and had to be hospitalized for her strokes on Christmas night of 2007. Between December 2007 and mid 2008, BOTH parents have had to be hospitalized due to complications from their illnesses numerous times.Some hospitalizations have been on major holidays(don't know what it is about the holidays)!---They have had several extreme 'rough rides' and very close calls, as they say.My dad has also endured two congestive heart failures as a result of his chemo treatment as well as his kidney fucntion at a low performace rate(almost close to dialysis)and other health related complications.Some hospitalizations or ER visits were non-associated with their initial illnesses as well!The bottom line is that they are still here on earth with me and my family(again, I cannot stress how precious time becomes and the most must be made as to cherish each moment with our loved ones,friends,neighbors,EVEN strangers---yes, strangers,as in the cashier you smile and say 'hi' to as she rings up your items at a store to someone you say ,'Excuse me', for accidently bumping into them at the post office).I also owe a LOT of gratitude to my Aunt Jennie who helps me immensely with my mom while there are times that I must tend to my dad fully.

I finally had a breaking point.The point of 'impact'.The moment where MUSIC was my salvation like never before was indeed bitter-sweet. For years I have been an avid music listener and collector (vinyl) and stereo hi-fi equipment nut and guru and thought all these years that I 'got it';What music meant to me. However, the real eye,mind,heart,soul and ear opener was a day I will NEVER forget as long as I live. It did not happen the first time that I took my dad for his chemo therapy treatment(as emotionally draining as that was as well,but on a different level for me as I was trying to be the 'tough guy' and hold back the tears welling up in my eyes from seeing my dad and the other patients),but the third time.Just the whole experience for me was emotionally draining(heartbreaking to say the least) having the image seared into my mind and memory of my dad sitting in a chair attached to an I.V. and it's mechanical apparatus releasing the 'medication' chemicals that would fight and destroy the cancer cells---'medication' that really is a poison to fight another poison in the body and that all too well damages other vital organs(which my dad already previously had an enlarged heart and near failing kidneys;How he endured the chemo is definitely a miracle).The image of my dad in his weakened state as well as seeing the other patients in a huge cancer treatment facility battling for their lives really dug into the very core as a human being and thought of my own mortal existence. I cannot even fathom what was going(and still goes) through my dad's mind as well as the other patients;To be in their shoes(knowing that remission for some is only 'borrowed time'). No never mind what I was feeling that day as it could not possibly compare to what my dad and the other patients were feeling and experiencing on all levels of their human existence(emotional,physical,psychological,etc.).To be concerned or even remotely consider what I was feeling would be a sign of selfishness (but the imagery and memory of it all still haunts me to this day);It was NOT about me but about my dad. My dad's treatments would last 6-8 hours. This went on for a few months on a bi and tri-weekly basis, depending on what his lab results would show each time with his cell counts and the activity of the lymphoma.

On the third time for his chemo treatment was the one that did me in.It was a day in which I had to leave my dad there alone at the cancer center without having a family member there with him for the first time. I had to rush back home to help my aunt with my mom and tend to her medical needs and to help bathe her as well.I also had to run some errands:pay bills,go to the post office,the bank, the pharmacy,etc. What once (before my parents became ill) would have been considered a not-so normal and hectic day for me was now a regular day;It was my job, my life.There was/is no time clock to punch in or punch out...

As I walked out of the cancer center leaving my dad behind I could feel this huge sob of sadness and sorrow about to emerge as I fumbled for the car keys.I got into my car(actually, my dad's Nissan Pathfinder) and sat there for a good 10 minutes crying; Making sure that I would get it all out what I had probably been holding in since my mom first became ill, since finding out my dad was going to face a great battle in fighting the lymphoma and seeing the cancer facility and the other people also battling a monster of a disease.To say there was a lot piled on my dad's plate was an understatement.I was too consumed with that thought to worry or start taking inventory of mine. That day, in late April I no longer had the strength or reserve I thought I did.Before starting the car I was going to make damn sure that neither my mom or aunt saw any signs in me of fear or that I had been crying.There was another reason in not showing the tears; My dad made us promise and begged us NOT to tell my mom about his cancer (especially since she had already suffered her strokes and was now dealing with Alzheimer's and Dementia).For all my mother has ever known is that I was taking my dad for 'special I.V. vitamin therapy treatments for his kidneys'---Partially true since my dad's kidneys have also been deteriorating over time and still require Pro-Crit injections(possibly, for the remiander of his life)....While sitting in the vehicle,crying, I had just the cd player on. In the mechanism was Vangelis' Blade Runner Trilogy soundtrack.The track that was playing was Blade Runner Blues...It has since become my 'personal soundtrack theme'.On that day, music became not only my haven but my sanity. I realized that listening and feeling it is what made me focus and to continue the rest of my day and life with a new found inner strength---Strength that I also wanted to share with my dad and mom as I knew there would be days they would have none on so many levels!

I have been an enormous fan of the works of master synth and soundtrack guru Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou---simply known as Vangelis--- since I was twelve and heard his Blade Runner soundtrack for the first time in 1982! In fact, I had just received the 25th Anniversary Blade Runner Trilogy package a few days ,in December of 2007, prior to my mom having her strokes.I used to think that if heaven has soundtrack music it must be akin to something like Vangelis'. If there was ever a time in my life that music fit a moment it was then in the car sobbing over the ordeal my dad was experiencing.Was the impact that Vangelis' music had on me in the vehicle a negative one? Absolutely not.True, it was at a very sad time in my dad's and our lives but the music made me realize something;There is faith and there is hope! That light and life do exist and almost sound the same(as quirky as that may sound).Can't explain it or make it any clearer than that as to how I felt listening to Vangelis.It was comfort on a level as well that I had never experienced before with music.I had heard and listened to music before, but now I really felt IT!I GOT 'IT' !...The drive home I continued to listen to the Blade Runner soundtrack and it was as though just a ton had been lifted from my shoulders and something inside me said, 'From this point on, life will be o.k...." Now, in my life, I absolutely do not take for granted what music is or what it means to me.Vangelis' Blade Runner score has MEANING to me;It's not just a 'cult classic' score.While the score can be moody and somber at times, there is definite delicately detailed and textured aural beauty akin to a Gilbert Williams new age luminescent painting at times and then there are parts of it that possess such wonderful and thunderous musical moments like a fantastic loud and abstract painting....Listening to music every day from that point on is not just 'something to do'; It is a ritual for me on a very personal,private,emotional,intellectual,fun,and spiritual level!---But when I can share in the listening with others, it becomes that much more of a powerful experience! Incidentally, the film Blade Runner, as well as the Vangelis score, has a very deep message or question about our own mortality and time here on earth;What does it truly mean to be human?I'm pretty sure I felt that question burning inside of me for the first time as well as finding part of the answer on the third day of my dad's chemotherapy treatment."


William Foster Hillis - "My name is William Hillis. I was born Louisville on Derby day of 1945..The music they would have sang that day is of Course "Weep no more my lady, weep no more today.We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home, My old Kentucky home"I didn't hear it. I was bathed and baptised in that song...and ya kinda have to be from Kentucky to understand the soul of the song...As a child we used to visit the Stephen Foster Home long after his death of course but it was kept up as though he were still alive and beautiful women in anti-bellum dresses carrying parasols strolled the grounds and an ancient black gentleman with white hair played the banjo and sang the songs of Stephen Foster...and when he sang my old Kentucky Home women put their hats on and men took their hats off....the only other music at all that I heard as a very small child was in the Waterford Baptist church every Sunday and there they sang songs like "On the old rugged cross" and "Bringing in the sheeves" On my mothers side of the family no one played radios..Not because they didn't like music but because they preferred the quiet....My father had a beautiful voice and I enjoyed hearing him sing love songs to my mother...He didn't have or need or want any accompanyment...He just sang softly in perfect pitch on top of all that quiet the songs my mother loved....He was from Texas and when I was about six we moved there and all of a sudden there was music everywhere and the radio came to life and I first heard that song "Your Cheating Heart" and people like Earnest Tubb singing "Waltz across Texas" and Patsey Cline and Merle Haggard and George Jones....My grandmother would have turned that music off if she's had a radio....That was beer joint music but I liked it and easily learned the words and sang along....at night we listened to dixieland broadcast from the Roosevelt hotel In New Orleans and that was something else...Satchmo himself would talk sometimes and the sound of his voice was even more of a revelation to my young ears than the sound of his music because he was turned on tuned in and dropped out a hundred percent and it was all about music with him. and when I heard him play it was all about music with me....Music live from the Blue Room in the Rosevelt Hotel in New Orleans was the thing I looked forward to...Daytime was just something I had to get through...It was the night time that was the right time for me....For my Christmas present when I was eight my father took us to New Orleans and my present was he took me to the Blue Room of the Rosevelt Hotel and there were like a hundred huge white Christmas trees strung with all blue lights and they swung these doors which were about ten feet tall open and there in front of me was Live Jazz and they took us to a table and served me a 7 up with an umbrello in it and Time and I just stood still and I looked at my father and mother and the umbrello in my drink and all those musicians and I felt what it was to feel true happiness, clean and pure.........the next thing that happened to me in my late night radio wandering...I had my own radio and my own room now...was that after 11:00 oclock Iat night I could Pick up W.L.A.C Nashville....this was a very famous Rhythm and Blues station that broadcast all across the south....the reception went from Kinda bad to pretty bad to very bad but I could have cared less. I was not an audiophile . I was being introduced to and trying to get up next to that whatever they were playing....I suddenly dug it even more that dixieland...My favorite disk jockey was "Jiven Hoss Man Allen" and he was playing hard R&B for a 99.99 percent southern black audience....Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker, Howlen Woolf , Muddy Waters anything on Chess records and all those kind of record companys...Things we now call race records.... and Redd Fox and Moms Mabley....and Gospel records, the swan silvertones, the five blind boys of Alabama, Shirley Ceasar, the soul stirrers...Reverend Gary Davis....all that stuff and the advertisments were like for wine and Clovereen Salve.......I took this station to heart. It was my private world and I had to play it quietly because it happened very very late at night...i learned the names of all these singers and when they played a song by someone whose name I didn't know I made it my buisness to learn their name...I copped this music. A-Z...and we moved back to Kentucky and I was thirteen now and both ready and not ready for the music that awaited me there...Beatniks were in and squares were out and there were coffee shops and in those coffee people sat in almost total darkness and recited insane poetry and listened to hard bop...We don't think much about it now but during those times and especially being thirteen I had a lot on my plate especially after a steady diet of Etta James and little Walter and all that.....to take this bop thing in...It was a cerebral thing not a physical thing....It was not about what ever this other stuff was about it was about something else and something which alluded me...but I pretended to like it because I liked the people who liked it...So I just kept my mouth shut, which was fashionable at the time and listened...Charlie "Bird" Parker and it makes me laugh that I called him "Bird" when I was thirteen...It was all about "Bird" wasn't it? I knew enough to know that it was all about "Bird" wasn't it? It was all relative to "Bird" All of it...that was the measuring stick until people got so sick of being measured by that stick that People like Ornette Colman and Sun Ra and John Coltrane...and all the crazies came along...the really crazies, people who played stuff that was not fun to listen too...and you kept on having to say to yourself..."It's not about fun" It's about something else....It's about something that's hard to put your finger on...something I can feel now but cannot discribe..it's about wolves in the ghetto it's about wolves in the snow....When I was sixteen I hitch hiked to New York with a hundred dollars to see it for myself....I hear you saying "Why you couldn't get into bars at sixteen" Well, all I can think is that I'm glad you weren't some prick doorman there in those days or I would have had to find away around you....I went everywhere I wanted to go and I saw, I wont say them all, but I saw all of them them that were there...Monk ...Roland Kirk, Bill Evans, Miles, Dizzy, Yusef Latif, Don Cherry, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, Dexter Gordon,Jerry Mulligan etc etc etc....I wanted to be a bop drummer, Jimmy Cobb was my guy at this point......after all this the 1960's happened and in 1966 67 68 I lived in the Haight Ashberry....I don't want to talk about it...Everyone knows everything about it..even people who've never been in America knows it a-z and can sing along...half of it I'm trying to remember Half of it I'm trying to forget....i helped to create part of it and I got caught up in what was left.I went to prison because of it and kept my musical roots in spite of it...Black Music...that's what I loved...I was a white boy lost in the blues but by then I was no square....I was not a wanna be because I did not always wanna be what I always was....It was afro-cuban music that had my ear now.....through out all these periods starting with the beatnik thing I'd always been a conga player...because that' what beatniks did play the congas, play the bongo without having any idea what they were doing....It was irrelavent...express yourself, that was the thing....Well it was pretty hard to play My Old Kentucky home, or baptist church music, or Hank Williams, or Dixieland, or Bobby Bland or Dexter Gordon on the Conga Drums...so I just flailed in no mans land with no rules no concept no time no background no idea............and when I began to see Cubans play in san Francisco, they were ripping it up so bad I was forced to realize I had no idea what the fuck I was doing...but I decided there and then they no one was tearing it up as bad as the big Salsa bands and I was going to cop that....everything was just a prelude to this...It was the african thing ...it was the jazz thing...it was the latin thing...it was the crowning ring a ling for me....so that's what I've been doing for the last forty years...trying to cop that thing.....a couple of weeks ago I saw an incredable piece of art by a guy named Daniel Edlen...it was a painting on a record in black and white of a jazz guy...I recognized him as a great jazz artist and thought to myself...I want one of these records....today I heard he was heaving a contest and I thought to myself well if I can't win that contest there's not a Jesus......"


Sara

Favian

Prince

Lisa

Glenn


I know some of these are long, but they are amazing to me. I hope you've read a few, and checked out a couple of their links.

I got an email yesterday from a lady who wants me to paint Neil Young for her as a reminder of her brother who died unexpectedly when he was 23. They'd just seen "Rust Never Sleeps" so I'm painting a younger Neil on that album. She says, "Yeah, we need music to keep us sane."

That's why I paint these.

Peace.

Regifting In A Good Way

This was great. I got a call from the woman who bought this Stevie Nicks for a friend. She wanted to surprise her friend with another piece of Stevie Nicks by me! She said the friend shows off the 1st piece all the time. So gratifying.

This make me feel more than doubly good because it means that not only did someone enjoy receiving my work as a gift, but someone else enjoyed giving it so much that they wanted to do it again!

SOLD - Stevie Nicks 07/13/09

Another Man's Treasure

He signed it! As my contest draws to a close at the end of the month, at the beginning of which I first showed you this piece, I received my painting back from Mr. Lynch, signed and ready to be framed and sent to his foundation.

Hopefully this will become someone's treasured possession, acquired at auction for a good cause. Right now this is my biggest hope, that I can bring in funds for various charities with my art. Those who get my newsletter know of one coming up in the Fall. (If you want my newsletter, just shoot me an email.)

From the very beginning, when I started thinking big with promoting my Vinyl Art, I of course had my Oprah fantasy. Mine was to somehow give a painting of Bono, tinted red, to Oprah, have Bono autograph the record on the show, and then auction it off for (red). It hasn't happened yet, but I still have the painting.

This unexpected connection with David Lynch has got me goofy. He is seriously one of my favorite auteur directors ever, and to get to help him out is amazing. We'll see what can come of it!

Peace.

Now I'm Not Saying I'm Robin Hood

My friend Rodney is having a hard go of it these days. "Soul-crushing" he says.

My friend Robert isn't doing great. Already on disability, he was foreclosed on and had to move. And he's going blind in his other eye.

The randomness of real Life, eh?

This is why I feel SO lucky to be alive and to be able to do what I do. I get to bring joy, to give love, to share passion. My art may simply hang on a wall or lean on a ledge, but make no mistake, it DOES something. I thank Life, G'od, for using me, for allowing me, for guiding me to serve in the way I do.

Besides creating the pieces, I also work my butt off trying to help others do what they do as I can. Being connected means I occasionally can reach the right people, and they can reach me. This Johnny Cash is now up for auction for 4 more days. Help Civia and Musicians On Call, through Country Music Television, help people recovering in hospitals with the power of music. It's only $55 framed as of the writing of this post, a steal for a good cause.

You have to take to give.

Peace.

Storied Past

[EDIT - 7/27/09: The below contest over, I've painted Alice Cooper for Zane, the winner with this entry. I received 10 entries this time! I've posted them here with the painting of Alice.]

Brian Clark's post using me as an example suggested I look to music trivia, giving it to my audience to put you in a nostalgic mood in which you might be more inclined to buy a piece. It might work. The problem is that it wouldn't be me. My gut rejects what I find manipulative. I'd rather know about you. Stories persist, facts fade.

I know I've asked a bunch about your stories, but I'm going to make good on an idea I had before Jason died and run another contest. The rules will be the same: you somehow convey a story about your past as it relates to music, I'll pick my 10 favorites (assuming there are 10+), and then randomly choose the winner (or if there are a LOT of entries, I'll put my top 10 up for a vote by all entrants). I'm hoping to get more than a couple entries this time, but Paticus's story was so awesome last time that it was well worth it anyway.

See, that's me. I'm looking for quality. I know I ask a lot of you to read these rambles, to pay me and my art attention. But I like stories. It's one main reason why I like movies by David Lynch as much as I do.

So for the month of June, I'll accept entries in pretty much any form. The winner gets a framed piece of Vinyl Art of their choice. The top 10 will be featured in my blog sidebar. And all entrants who want one can have an oval VA sticker.

And the really REALLY cool news about this David Lynch piece will be in my newsletter, which you can get if you email me.

Peace.

Excitement Delivered

Ok, ok, ok. So how do I put this? HOLY CRAP! Yeah, that'll work.

I LOVE how the Universe works. Last night went really well, very cool. Here's the story.

My wife and I get a kick out of watching Rob Dyrdek on MTV, both his old show with Big Black and now in his Fantasy Factory. The face Rob makes when that mini horse whinnies in the back of his SUV is hilarious.

Anyway, we noticed that Rob had quite a bit of art hanging in his apartment and his office. Luke Chueh pieces and lots of painted skate decks. I thought it'd be really cool to be able to give one of my pieces to him someday. Someday.

Skip ahead to a coupla months ago when I randomly left a comment on a local guy's blog about a new restaurant around the corner. That guy is making a name for himself as a connector. He loves the Kings Of Leon, whom I had just painted, and he wanted to see my studio and my work. He did.

Somehow we ended up talking about Dyrdek. It turns out Jarod knew Rob from back when he was in SoCal working on cars. They had stayed friends. Jarod had a whole bunch of ideas and people he'd thought to connect me with, but Rob was the one I got a real kick out of the possibility of a connection.

Both Jarod and Rob are on Twitter. Jarod at one point talked with Rob about me and asked him who he'd want a piece of for the Fantasy Factory. "Shootout at the Fantasy Factory" by Traffic.

At the time, I already had "Mr. Fantasy" and so I painted it. Awhile later I found both a better picture of Winwood online, and the album Rob wanted at Hoodlums. Last week, for reasons I now know, I had the urge to paint the piece even though I hadn't heard from Jarod for awhile about Rob. So I painted it.

Yesterday morning I saw a tweet from Jarod to Rob about meeting up in Tempe. Rob was in the valley! So I sent a message to Jarod to see if he could hook us up. All I needed to do was frame the piece. And early that evening:

So cool. Rob was totally chill, but excited and interested in taking a few moments to have a conversation with my wife and I. He had done 2 signing events and was walking in to this place to introduce the movie he executive produced before getting on a plane for Atlanta. Apparently a normal day for him! But he was totally present in that moment with us. He made it feel like we could've spent as long as we wanted taking with him.

What's he going to do with my painting? It'll be awhile before I can show you, but I'll tell you in my newsletter next week. If you didn't get my 1st one and want in, email me and I'll add you to my list.

So exciting. What's going to happen today? I'm not sure what I'm expecting.

Peace.

GIFTED - Steve Winwood 05/18/09

Too Obvious?

Green Green Day for this year's Earth Day?

Sometimes the obvious, the simple, gets overlooked.

What's obvious, simple, that you could do that you're not for our environment?

If you're interested in this piece, we'll work it out so that you can donate part of it to the Earth Day Network or some other environmental charity group.

Peace.

Can You Hear The Music? [EC]

It's been awhile since I added to this collection. I haven't had any takers yet on my Vinyl Art tied to charity. Maybe this one'll do the trick.

The Stones are one of the bands that I pretty much always listen to when I paint them. Today I was inspired by the first podcast on a new blog. It's about the Stones' "Some Girls". I was led to Basement Vinyl by a tweet from @JohnCleese. They're going to talk about albums they've collected on vinyl over the years, some 300 of them!

Fortunately, they seem to like my art, based on a tweet back to me. So that's good. I never know how people who love listening to vinyl will react. I've never really cared how those collectors who don't care about the actual music react. You know, the ones who don't play them because they're preserving the value of the record. But I do care how people feel who love vinyl because it sounds better than digital.

I know I care what they feel because I know how I feel about vinyl. My 1000 or so records mean a lot to me. The music in them, in those grooves, has been vital in my life. I start to tear up, feeling moved, just thinking about how much, in fact. I wake up with music in my head, music that if I keep "listening" to will put me back to sleep in a minute. Music drives my creativity, fills my soul. I don't paint on my records. I listen to them when I get a chance, even the really rare ones. There's just something in the fact that each record is an actual physical reproduction of the music. I just love'em.

So, in honor of the start of Annie and Pat's sharing of their collection, I'll donate the $100 to the charity they have on their site, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, in the name of the buyer. Also, again if there happens to be a bunch of interest, we can do an informal auction or something. Let's help them start their blog off with a bang!

Peace.

With A Little Help From My Friends [EC]

Since it's a new year, I want to re-introduce the Vinyl Art Elliott Collection [EC]. I'm hoping this idea will catch on this year as the potential is cool.

Here's the deal. I received a whole bunch of great albums from a lady in exchange for a Van Halen painting. Really really great albums. In perfect condition. She wanted me to have them to use for my art rather than simply sell them to a used record store. So, I came up with an idea to link my art to charity, piece by piece.

Normally, my pieces are $175 (plus shipping) framed and delivered. For these pieces, every time I use an album she gave me, the buyer of said piece gets to give $100 to a charity and $75 to me. Most are for a charity of the buyer's choice. A couple are specific, which is noted in the blog post about it. Speaking of, listed below are all the posts of the pieces so far.

Debbie Harry - Blondie
Dave Gahan - Depeche Mode
Prince
Madonna
Gene Simmons - KISS
Tommy Lee - Motley Crue
Steven Tyler - Aerosmith
Snoop Doggy Dogg
Prince
Jimi Hendrix
Bono
Janis Joplin
Ice Cube

The way it'll work is you'll give me 2 checks: one to me, one to the charity. I'll get the info from the charity and send them the donation in your name and address. You'll get the receipt and whatever other stuff they send, and the painting.

So then you'll get to tell people how you got this cool original piece of art by donating to your favorite charity! Sound good?

Let me know what you think, and if there's anybody you'd like me to paint if I have an album!

Peace.

Of Giving

Entering 2009, Vinyl Art continues to seem to do its job best as a gift. I've pondered a reason why before. From Christmas to birthdays, like with this GG Allin, people are apparently keeping my work in mind to give to close friends and family. Coworkers too.

I can hardly begin to convey how good this makes me feel.

Really. I mean, how cool is it that people are seeing my work and taking the time to think about someone who loves music and who they'd like the most? Right? I might even get to do a couple wedding gifts this year!

It is all about those connections for me, my ultimate goal being to bring people together to celebrate human creativity. I mean, if the financial necessities of capitalism didn't exist, I'd give these away. I do, heck. I love helping charities, finding ways to exchange my art, and so on. My job is to express my love of music, art and Life and to spread that as far as I can, meaningfully, deeply.

To all those who've given my work as a gift, from the cockles of my heart, thank you.

Peace.

SOLD - GG Allin 01/02/09

Steps Back (Or, What Is Vinyl Art?)

The yang to the yin of progress is steps back.

We take steps back to see the bigger picture.
We take steps back to get perspective.
We take steps back to regain balance.
We take steps back to learn from mistakes.

My dad likes to say that our feet point forwards for a reason. True, but sometimes one needs to look back. Our heads do turn enough around to see.

You are reading the blog of Daniel Edlen. Me.

I handpaint portraits of musicians and entertainers on vinyl recordings of their performances.

I call it Vinyl Art. After filing the necessary paperwork, I discovered the existence of vinyl art toys. Oh well.

I came up with the idea as a teenager back around '92. My dad had turned me onto The Beatles on vinyl, and my mom volunteered at the library handling used book and record donations. I got first pick of the records, which didn't sell well. Amassing duplicates of my favorite albums, the idea hit me after a high school art project I did using white pencil on black paper. I did about 6 of them and lost interest.

I began selling them after work-friends suggested I see if people'd go for them as holiday gifts back in '06. Fortunately I could still paint, maybe a bit better than before, following years of sculpting people out of clay.

I use only white acrylic paint, dabbing it on with small brushes which wear out very quickly.

I show them at a few galleries, I participate in every show of artwork using vinyl records I find out about, and, yes, I do commissions. I love doing commissions the most. The best is when someone has the record they want me to paint on.

See, I do this to make the world a better place as I can. My story has become about connecting people with people, with their culture, with their memories, with their music. It makes people feel warm inside to think about their music. The troubles and destruction and negativity in the world quiet for a moment.

My story has also become about giving. Giving Vinyl Art as a gift works out well for all involved. And giving to charity through my art does too. I've done it enough that it warranted a category, which you can find in my table of contents to your right.

That brings me to this blog. I started it partly as a journal of my trials and tribulations as a self-employed self-promoting artist, and partly to expand the knowledge of my work. It's become a very important outlet for me, especially after my brother-in-law Jason died suddenly this past February. A kind of therapy. But also a way to connect myself to my art, to make it meaningful.

I know that the mere idea of portraits on vinyl might seem gimmicky or hokey and the pieces might not fit into typical art world categories, but it is the passion for music which motivates me. You can find many examples throughout this blog of how that expresses itself. Through stories about the musicians, about the galleries, about the people commissioning pieces, about the people getting them as gifts, about the charities, and about me.

I, Daniel Edlen, the artist, am in this blog.

So I continue.

Peace.

SOLD - The Beatles 12/12/08

Express Yourself [EC]

Since N.W.A. put gangsta rap on the map with the MTV video of "Express Yourself", Cube's been tellin' his story. It ain't pretty. Even today (this is some heavy shit).

He said in a recent interview, "Rap is a mirror. And if you're ugly, you can't blame the mirror."

What do you think?

Creative-types who speak their truths, tell their stories, catch flack from other public figures and groups if that truth is disturbing. Are they creating more ugly? Is reaction, fear fear fear fear, ever better than thoughtful action, love love love love?

Ask yourself why, like the little kid, "Why why why why?" What's the intent? What's my intent? Why do I feel like doing this, why did I do that?

My intent with this piece is to bring peace. Little by little.

Help me?

Peace.

Don't Compromise Yourself [EC]

You're all you've got. Janis said so.

It all depends on one's authentic intent. If I were setting out to sell my work so that it could be used and reproduced in other contexts, then great. I've got nothing against doing art for graphic design. It's just that that isn't why I'm creating Vinyl Art.

Vinyl Art pieces are original portraits of musicians and entertainers handpainted with acrylic on vinyl recordings of the subject. Their purpose is to celebrate our shared love of music. Each one is a unique expression, a piece of me, that hopefully will connect people with the music and culture they love.

To that end, I've also on several occasions tied my art to charity, including this piece. It is painted on an album given to me in trade. For the albums I received in that trade, I've decided to give $100 of the $175 for a framed piece to a charity of the buyer's choice. I love this idea, getting to give to charity and linking my art with that act of humanity.

See, that's my ultimate goal: uplifting humanity, making the world a better place. This art is my contribution, my way that I best know to be creative, productive. I won't compromise my art or myself.

Peace.