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.

Moving On

Howdy! Been awhile hasn't it? Why?

Because WE MOVED!!! We actually did it. Moved to southern California. And LOTS happened during the time between my last post and today. Lots. I'll start to share it with you as I get posting again. Can't remember all of it right now, but it'll come back to me.

For now, though, interestingly, Hazel Dooney is ceasing her blog, Self vs. Self, of several years. Her reasoning is terrific. That blog which started out as a daily journal had become a prison for her, as her life had. With huge trauma in her art and personal lives, what she had written tied her too much to her past for her to start fresh. After a stint in hospital, bankruptcy, floods, and then her father passing quickly but painfully, she needs that fresh start. She needs the world and herself to be able to let go of her old self, to not fight it anymore. Moving on.

In much less dramatic fashion, my little family is doing sort of the same. I'm becoming the financial support with my art while my wife gets to spend daytime with our 15mo rapidly growing daughter. We've traded in land for cooler air. And I've gotten involved in a couple really cool projects.

Moving on.

Peace.

Get Back What You Lost!

By L.Phelps

i log on to my computer, i start my iTunes, i search in the iTunes store for the latest release from my favorite band… and before i know it, i am listening to the new album.

Yet somehow i feel empty. i feel like i have somehow missed out on the part of music that now seems so… forgotten.

Gone are the days that i went to the record store at midnight, waiting in lines to get the latest release. Gone are the days that i anxiously listened to the radio in the hopes that i would hear the newest single. Gone are the days that i cracked open the plastic of a new CD and spent days and days listening to it… over and over and over again.

These days, i search, i download, i shuffle, i sync, i skip. i… i… i…

i somehow end up missing out on the magic of music. i miss having the experience. i miss having something tangible. i can’t be the only one.

Vinyl Art gives us back something that we’ve lost. It gives us back what we lost when music went digital.

The high gloss shine of the tiny grooves in the record make me giddy for the first time in years. I feel connected to the music again. I feel like I have something special. I feel satisfied I feel.

Thank God.

Direct

Things are happening! Just now 2 people stopped in front of our house to get flyers at the same time. We're going to sell it. I know it. We've finally decided on the general area we're looking at in southern California as well.

So my art is doing well too, which is good for the transition to supporting my family with it. Yep. And it's happening the way I like it, unexpectedly.

Neil Young for a repeat customer in Italy as a Christmas gift.

Jimi Hendrix for an upcoming super-cool exhibition in a corporate gallery in NYC of 24 of my pieces, replacing the Hendrix that just sold as a birthday gift to the bass player in an extremely big important prog-metal band who's friends with a waiter at the restaurant in Pacific Palisades displaying 20 other of my pieces through the holidays.

Frank Zappa for a surprise gift to my parents neighbor, a guitarist in another seriously cool important band.

I need to be direct because Abbey is about to wake up. And I need to be direct with my art, selling to the customer, to the music people. A unique method for a unique offering.

Peace.

Hello iWorld!

That's what I typed first publicly using my new toy, err tool. I got an iPhone!

So if you've been wondering where I've been, there's your answer. This thing, which I'm using to compose this post, is amazing. Life changing isn't an overstatement. From superfluously fun functions like a level and an Etch-a-Sketch to crazy helpful portability of functions like Twitter and email, the possible uses of this thing are endless and ever increasing. Apps like Y! Music have been updated even since I got mine to work better. Customizable radio anywhere. All your music on the iPod. Books in the Amazon Kindle app. High quality video easily shareable.

That's the most impressive aspect I think. How easy and interconnected the functions can be and then shared. I can take time-lapse photos of a painting and share them with a myriad of options and then converse with people watching and then send PayPay invoices and buy items on eBay. Switching between apps is so easy and they remember where you were last as well. I can read Twitter forwards now chronologically because it holds my position in the stream. It remembers what page you're on in a book and what song was playing on the iPod. Man, I could go on and on. And have in discovering what it can do.

Oh yeah. And it's a phone.

Peace.