The Kids Are Alright

This was on an A-frame out front. I love the lower case.

This hangs from the ceiling inside the front door. The place is actually a hallway that by day is the entrance to the local VFW. They put down rugs and a backdrop at the end of the hall behind the stage to turn it into a concert "hall".

Here's the school's vinyl sign hanging on the wall just inside the door.

Here's a view of the wall of my art alongside the chairs. People walked right next to the paintings so a lot of'em stopped and checked them out. I think several thought that the images were somehow printed on the records. It's a weird problem to have: having to explain that they are handpainted instead of printed or screened or computer generated. I guess it's a compliment, but it's a marketing hurdle.

Paul put up information about my process and the availability of commissions. My wife came up with the brilliant idea to print up half-sheet commission forms for people who might want me to paint somebody else. If the order is placed before the middle of October, I'll still give the %25 to the school for their scholarship. Hopefully some people picked'em up.

They made this snazzy name sign. It was all sparkly and looked great on the gold wall. That wall color was nice. It and the rugs created a warm feeling in the place.

Me! My wife was so proud. During the gig, they introduced me and told the audience about the percentage going to the school a couple times. The kids were really appreciative and the general manager of the school thanked me a bunch.

None sold that night, but the Billie Holiday and Howlin' Wolf are going to be in the school's fundraising silent auction at the House of Blues on November 1st. So hopefully I'll get them some money then.

It was so cool to be able to connect my art with an organization that gets kids excited about music! My main point with my art is to celebrate the music, and to inspire kids to pick up an axe and learn how to riff like Jimmy Page is awesome! They played Zeppelin, Who, and other classic bands' music along with some originals by the kids. The drummers for the band were excellent, so I hope they saw my Moon and Bonham. They played "London Calling" and while I didn't use that album, I did paint Joe Strummer of The Clash. So my work fit right in with what the school's about. I really hope I get to continue to draw attention to them.

So, check out The Paul Green School of Rock!

Peace.

Kurdt Kobain? Kool!

So I was at Rockzone today getting my pieces back and I found this album, "Bleach" reissued. $10. Cool! Kurt is credited with his name misspelt. Does anybody know why?

I'd been waiting to find a Nirvana album. It's not "Nevermind", but then how could I possibly expect to ever find THAT one available? So here's Cobain, a last minute addition to the "dead rocker" show at Primitive Kool tomorrow.

I also found out today that I'll get to participate in a silent auction for the School of Rock at the House of Blues! I'd tried to get my work up in the restaurant/concert hall chain a long time ago with no luck. Maybe this'll open up that door again. And it'll be great to help the School of Rock out even more! I hope I can work something out with them at a national level too. Thinking big.

So, I've gotta frame this one and pack! Have a great weekend.

Peace.

SOLD - Kurt Cobain 09/26/08

The Future Is Unwritten

Here's the last one for my solo show at Primitive Kool this Saturday night. This post's title is on the back of The Clash's "Combat Rock" album I used for this painting of Joe Strummer.

The show is part of Newport Nights that I participated in last year. This show will also showcase the kids from Paul Green's School of Rock franchise in San Diego, CA. Apparently they're getting well known with franchises across the nation!

I just found out today that I get to give the school $25 for each piece of mine I sell at the show! Sweet! So if you're in the area, check it out! Should be a good time and you can support rock music education.

Coincidentally, I also was just asked to take down my pieces from Rockzone Records, the local independent record store that had agreed to help me try to sell my work back last year at the same time as the Newport Nights show. Bummer. Stephen said nobody has ever even asked about the pieces he had on his wall.

So, I'm getting them tomorrow midday. On the off chance that anybody reading this blog is in the Phoenix area and wants to really surprise a guy, go take a look at the pieces and ask Stephen about them and, heck, if you like one, buy it! Support local art!

I certainly didn't know where I'd be today a year ago. I was just so excited people were even interested in seeing my work, let alone buying them as gifts for loved ones. In the in-between-time, Life has thrown our family a curve that painfully reminded us of how uncertain and unknown the future is.

"There's no absolutes in life, only in vodka." - a line from "Homicide: Life on the Streets", my favorite cop show EVER

Peace.

Joe Strummer 09/25/08

Ripples From Vinyl Killers And Newport Nights

I'm trying to get to these orders before hopping the pond to London. The request for Jerry came through the Vinyl Killers show and Damian Marley came through Newport Nights at Primitive Kool. I'm working on a ZZ Top which came through Wild About Music. I also delivered the pieces to Red Dog Gallery downtown which might lead to more connections. Great place! If you're in the area you should check it out this Friday after 7pm. They're #70 on the PDF map.

We bought memory foam neck pillows and ear plugs for the flight. Next is organizing all our clothes and vital items. Getting a bit nervous about dealing with airports and public transportation in another country, but it'll be a fun adventure. Hopefully I'll have something profound to say when we get back. For now, though, (yes, I'll say it again) there're new ones in the gallery, so:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and we're off!

Top 9 Things To See In London?

Now live on YouTube! Click on the photo to see my new movie.

I've got some done with still much to do. Today, besides putting the video together, I did Damian Marley and Warren Zevon for commissions from Newport Nights. I've got a Jerry Garcia and Miles Davis to go, so far. I'm hoping for more interest after Primitive Kool puts those 16 up on their website. It looks like the Otis Redding sold too! We're going to London next week so I won't be posting here or able to paint, so I've got to get a lot done this week. I've got to get the ones done and framed for First Fridays, which'll be next week too. Feelin' the crunch!

Speaking of our trip to London, these are the things I'm most excited to see:

The Verve concert
Stonehenge
Westminster Abbey
Abbey Road
Tate Modern
St. Paul's Cathedral
London Bridge
Mary Poppins
Hyde Park

Please let me know what else we should hit! Otherwise:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and comment on my videos on YouTube too.

Miles, And Miles, And Miles!

Newport Nights rocked! It was a great gig, lots of people. I got to watch quite a few checking out my work. Ocean Beach is a cool place and getting to see the ocean was wonderful. A couple pieces sold, with more commissions as well. The Miles Davis they had sold online and another of him was requested by one of the employees of Primitive Kool. We'll definitely be heading back there for a future show!

Red Dog Gallery in downtown Phoenix is going to be displaying 8-10 of my pieces during the upcoming First Fridays! I've been hoping to find a place that participates in that monthly event as well, as the turnout of people interested in local culture is supposed to be huge. Woohoo!

I also found an inordinate number of records today at 2 local used stores. Bob Marley, Hendrix, the Dead, Pink Floyd, SRV... man, that was sweet! So now I'm stocked up and ready to paint. Besides the Miles Davis movie, I've also got the shots taken for a Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix so I'll be posting those this week. In the meantime, I've still got my gallery so:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and, please, leave comments here, on YouTube, or email me!

EDIT: I wanted to note that the image I use for the Miles Davis piece is the 1985 photo by Anton Corbijn. He's well known in the music world for his photography and music video work and I wanted to make sure to give him credit for the initial beautiful vision of the legend on muted trumpet.

Dylan On YouTube

This is making me nervous. I haven't done one before and I don't know how well it worked. I made a time-lapse movie of my painting of Dylan. There are some 20 slides as the painting develops. I'm not sure if it's too dark. On one computer it might be, but on another it looks the way I want it to be seen. I've also done one of Johnny Cash that I need to tweak and add music.

We're still planning on being at the Newport Nights show on Saturday. Hopefully the San Diego fires will be contained enough to allow traffic through. We don't know how many people'll show up, but maybe it'll be a nice welcome home for some locals if they had evacuated. Four pieces have already sold, but they're keeping them for the show. Pretty exciting.

I also am in contact with Roger Steffens who is interested in possibly adding one of my paintings of Bob Marley to what will be the founding collection of the National Museum of Jamaican Music in Jamaica! Whoa! I've got a pic of what it'll look like in my gallery online, so:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and please let me know what you think about the YouTube video here, by email, or on YouTube.

Do Work!

The Man in Black is definitely giving Zep a run for their money in popularity, at least as far as my paintings go. A collector already bought the one I had done for Newport Nights at Primitive Kool before they even publicized them! They asked if I could do another one for the show so they could sell that one along with paintings of Johnny Cash from a couple other artists. So, I did work! This one is on the Pickwick release "Walk the Line". I had to reunite it with it's cover at the record store because it's a bit warped and they were going to sell just the sleeve. Doin' my part!

Speaking of my part, apparently Blog Action Day was a huge success. They took down most of their site so I had to put the banner image on my site. Makes sense, though, to streamline their site. They probably didn't want some 20,000 blogs hitting their site constantly for those banners. In any event, feel free to use my copy. You can find it in my previous post:

http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day-make-it-more-than-day.html

Also, if you want to see more examples of my work, you can go through the rest of this blog and:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: http://www.vinylart.info/

and tell me how you found me!

Newport Nights Collection

They're a little small, I know. But I've posted most of them already. This is just to show the whole show together. News emails and posts have gone out to spread the word. If you know someone who lives in the San Diego area or will be there October 27th, please let them know about my art. Http://primitivekoolart.com has the details.

They don't however have the paintings yet. I'm going to send them next week. There's still plenty of time for commissioning me for holiday gifts too, so let me know if you're interested! You can leave comments here or:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and email or call me. Thanks!