Are You Phil Collins?

Carl Morris compiles Sleeveface. This is the phenomenon of people photographing themselves or others with a record album cover positioned in front of them to line up somewhat accurately, replacing some body part, usually their head, with the album cover. I caught his attention intially by claiming I was, actually, Phil Collins, answering yes to that question at the bottom of the Sleeveface blog. In fact, philosophically, Sleeveface is exactly about answering that question. No matter what you think of his music.

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Sleeveface, at once Magrittian in its corporal obscuration, is constantly subsuming and re-affirming layers - both of the visual and of Saussurean semiotics or, as it were, "meaning". In its active disruption of the visible yet non-visible "non-space" between perceptual lens and reappropriated artefact, participants (once viewers themselves) recontextuate in the role of recontextuatrix: recalling not only Brecht's fourth wall but the material objects which in their recapitulation/recontextualisation sublimate to the role of the wall (Gilmore and Waters, 1979). Thus we plunge into the causa sine qua non. Sleeveface, qua Sleeveface, merely places theaforementioned artefact among - in its most visceral forms - reverential contexts. There is however a high degree of possible further disruption to the Baudrillardian simulacrum in the temporal lag between the impression of the performer and signifying act. Notably, an incidental price sticker bearing the imperative "Save TheChildren" takes on overtones, undertones, new meanings, shades of meaning and non-meanings, irrespective of altruistic intention in relation to the elderly lady who - in the highly expectant yet undeniably quotidian context of the local charity shop - originally placed it. Collins can be said to signify this illusion/allusion, almost pre-emptively, in his works Face Value (1981), No Jacket Required (1984) and Both Sides (1993). In the digital form, Sleeveface images disperse these syncretisms and thereafter take root in the liminal-vernacular space only to be uprooted by the psychogeography teacher. As Husserl made clear in his Logische Untersuchungen (paraphrasing): "I am not Saussure. You don't know Jacques", in clear reference to Derrida, or more succinctly in other treatments absolutely Foucault.

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Bottom line? Be the vinyl.

Peace.

Groovy Portraits: Alternate Track: Stevie Ray Vaughan

"I discovered SRV the day of his death. Damn. Damn. Damn! He could play the guitar behind his back as well as Hendrix, fer cryin' out loud! Fortunately there're bootlegs to preserve his awesome live energy. Just wish I could've been there, just once."

YouTube - VEVO's channel

Amazon - The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

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Stevie Ray Vaughan has a couple very personal connections for me, one past, one future. One of the last times I saw my brother-in-law Jason before his unexpected passing was when he gave me a huge hug for giving him a portrait like this one. And, we are finally really planning a move. To Austin, SRV's town!

I have a couple bootleg CDs of concerts of SRV. Holy smokes. I'd say better than Hendrix live. Amazing solos and just great songs. After you watch a couple music videos, like "Couldn't Stand The Weather" it's worth a look on YouTube for live stuff, especially "Texas Flood" and "Little Wing".

Please watch the YouTube videos and listen to at least the samples on Amazon. I also have more YouTube videos in my Groovy Portraits playlist, http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58F5DD51FA122EFA

See more, watch more, and sample more of Groovy Portraits at http://vinylart.info/eBook.htm


Peace.

Groovy Portraits: Single: Lennon (alt.take) & Dylan

A-side


"Perhaps the most simultaneously guarded and unguarded of musicians, Lennon defines beautiful. Popishly exquisite and soulfully bare, the human creativity he put forth astounds."

YouTube - Love

Amazon - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

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B-side

"Great road trip music. Especially if you like deciphering scathing social commentary while driving."

YouTube - Tangled Up In Blue

Amazon - Bringing It All Back Home

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I put Lennon and Dylan together in my head because they both spoke eloquently yet unintelligbly. Two halves to perhaps one coin. So I'm sharing an alternate take, an alternate portrait of Lennon from the one in Groovy Portraits Vol.1 to go with the Dylan that will be in Vol.2.

Both wrote such beautiful lyrics and sung such haunting melodies that perhaps could have only come from tortured spirits such as theirs. I also love how both played with their public image, played with the media that sought to pin them down. Not a Beatle and not a finger-pointing folk singer. No. Much more.

Please watch the YouTube videos and listen to at least the samples on Amazon. I also have more YouTube videos in my Groovy Portraits playlist, http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58F5DD51FA122EFA

See more, watch more, and sample more of Groovy Portraits at http://vinylart.info/eBook.htm


Peace.

Groovy Portraits Singles and Alternate Tracks

Vol.2 is in the works! The "flipside" second volume will include music important in my life since meeting my wife. I think the portraits reflect that fact too. They're some of my best, for sure. I'll be releasing it in early September. If you want to know about it first and get it free, you can subscribe using the form on http://vinylart.info/eBook.htm

In the meantime, I had an idea to share the content from my Groovy Portraits another way, with more info. Blog posts.

Some pieces kind of go together, like Lennon and Dylan. At least in my head. Because of the portrait. Because of the music. Singles with A and B sides.

With the number of pieces in each eBook volume limited, I have ones that I had to cut. Good pieces. Good music. Alternate tracks.

So be looking for these in the coming weeks!

Peace.