Words Are Trouble, But Where Would We Be?

The Verve have become one of the biggest influences on my musical taste, especially since we saw them in London shortly before the release of this, their most recent album. Before my dad introduced me to music with The Beatles "Revolver" and his other albums, reading was the main form of human communication of which I availed myself. I have previously listed certain things pertinent to who I am as an artist and person. Here, then, are some of the more important influences on my literary and linguistic taste:

"Bloom County"
Edgar Allan Poe
Ray Bradbury
"Calvin & Hobbes"
"The Phantom Tollbooth"
"Peanuts"
Dr. Seuss
"Over Sea, Under Stone"
Mark Twain
Jim Kjelgaard
Robert Heinlein
"Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"
Bill Cosby
"The Gnu And The Guru Go Behind The Beyond"

I've tried to keep this list restricted to those authors and works I discovered independently of school. For while "the classics" have their place, it's more of an academic one. These had lasting impact on my use of the English language, frought with peril as it is, for better or worse. Blame them for my ramblings. Blame my parents and childhood friends indirectly for providing me with such radical literature. I happen to thank them for it.

Peace.

SOLD - Richard Ashcroft 01/12/09

For The Love Of...

I was listening to The Verve's live recording of "Gravity Grave" on "No Come Down" while I was painting this Willie Nelson and something clicked inside reminding me of why I'm doing this artwork. The passion that true music-lovers share for the music that means so much is powerful; a raw emotional bond that you can see in someone when they "get it". Getting moved to tears by music is a gift for which I'll always be thankful.

So it made me all enthusiastic-like, which was good timing because Herbertos on Flickr found me and let me know about his Free Art Seattle Exhibition. Pretty cool idea, to have art up for a month in a cafe and then give the art away. The deadline is Jan. 5, so I'll probably do a couple for it, most likely with the clear coat and no frame like I did for Vinyl Killers 5.

I may also have gotten my first call from a visitor to the R.A.R.E. show earlier this year! I didn't expect anybody to contact me from there because most of the "Really Avid Record Enthusiasts" consider vinyl sacred, and even repurposing unplayable discs for art made them shudder. A few, though, had thought what I was doing was cool, certainly different than anything they'd seen at a vinyl collectors' show. We'll see if a commission comes out of it!

If you haven't seen the other commissions I've done, you can take a look at several if you:

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

and go to the online gallery. Plenty of time for holiday gift commissions!

SOLD - Willie Nelson 11/28/07

The Verve - Front Row In London!

Friday 9 November 2007 at The Roundhouse in London

Best concert we've been to by far! Guitarist Nick McCabe just said, too, that it is officially his favorite gig of all time. The trip was completely worth it for this show. Richard Ashcroft is incredible to watch sing and play acoustic. We were front row for the whole show! I'd never done that before. I boxed out my wife so she wouldn't get smashed against the rail. I got jostled a bit but not too badly. We were right in front of bassist Simon Jones who drives their music and he was extremely fun to watch. I feel silly trying to describe in words how good is was so here's what they played:

New Decade

This Is Music

Gravity Grave

Weeping Willow

Life's An Ocean

Sonnet

Sit & Wonder

A Man Called Sun

Already There

Stormy Clouds / Reprise

Let The Damage Begin

On Your Own

Rolling People

Drugs Don't Work

Bitter Sweet Symphony

Encores:

A Northern Soul

History

Lucky Man

Come On

I'll let that suffice. Fans'll know.

London was wonderful, cold and gloomy, but wonderful. We got to see many of the sights, including Abbey Road Studios and the famous crosswalk. So cool. The wall in front of the functioning studio is painted white and covered with scribes from people who've travelled to see it. The employee who nicely told us there were no public tours said that they have to repaint it weekly because of how many people sign it. Somebody who lives nearby could take pictures of the wall before they cover it each time and do a sweet video of it. There was a great stencil painting combining the iconic Che Guevara face with Lennon's, so basically Lennon wearing the revolutionary hat. Well done.

Nothin' new on it since last week, but if you haven't:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

Maybe a Verve piece'll show up!