Jazz in a Pandemic

I haven’t listened to Chet Baker in some time, but I’ve turned to him during the past few weeks. I’ve also been listening to Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Duke Ellington.

I love Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington and Diana Krall. Trumpeters Freddy Hubbard, Clifford Brown and Wynton Marsalis. Guitarist Wes Montgomery.

Enjoy the video of Miles playing with Cannonball Adderley on “Autumn Leaves.”

And since the 40th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death was this past Monday, I’ve included a link to a series of paintings I made as a tribute.

Ian Curtis Tribute

art

Happy Birthday, Jasper Johns

I consider Jasper Johns to be one of my biggest influences as an artist. I would love to return to Whitney and Philadelphia Museum of Art to see this joint retrospective.

Johns was born on this date in 1930.

“NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, March 2, 2020—The most ambitious retrospective to date of the work of Jasper Johns, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, will be presented simultaneously in New York and Philadelphia this fall. A single exhibition in two venues, this unprecedented collaboration, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, will be the artist’s first major museum retrospective on the East Coast in nearly a quarter century. It opens concurrently in Philadelphia and in New York on October 28, 2020.

https://press.philamuseum.org/in-fall-2020-a-lifetime-retrospective-dedicated-to-jasper-johns-will-be-presented-simultaneously-in-new-york-and-philadelphia/”

Artist Jasper Johns photographed with his work at the Whitney in New York City, October 1977.| Jack Mitchell/Getty Images

Ian Curtis (15 July 1956-18 May 1980)

I like a lot of the content at post-punk.com but the celebration that Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris are planning for the 40th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death really caught my eye.

20 Years of Exhibitions

I Hate When You What? 2001, 39”x75”

I have added a new section to the website: Exhibitions.

It’s my resume of shows. I love art openings. I really enjoy that moment of looking at the work with others. I enjoy talking about the work with you. When I look over my artist resume, I recall so many memorable events, conversations, introductions and connections.

That’s what art is about, right? The communication and connection.

Follow the link below for a full listing of the past twenty years.

Exhibitions

Poe in a Pandemic

“Young Cashier: Is that a reference to Edgar Allen Poe?
Me (slightly startled): Uh, yeah, it is. The poem “The Raven.”
Young Cashier: Is it any good?
Me (recovering): Yeah, I like it. It’s a nice oatmeal stout.
Young Cashier: Is it from Baltimore?
Me (slightly startled): Wow, no, it’s from Michigan. But you really know your stuff. Must be an English major.
Young Cashier: I had a really passionate 10th grade teacher.
Me (recovering): Ah, nice!
Young Cashier: Take it easy.
Me (recovered): You, too.
Me (in my head): I love you, man!”

Mother's Day Tribute on a Minor Key

Do you have an image in your mind of your mother or grandmother or some other loved one talking on the phone? Just how close is that image in your mind to the light that entered your eyes?

I’m just as interested in entertaining as I am in communicating, maybe more so. Entertain a lot, communicate something. As soon as you start writing, it becomes a fiction to some degree. Might as well make it entertaining.

Here’s a snippet from my novel, Your Silent Face, still in post production. When I wrote this passage, I had a certain photo of my mother in mind.

“I have two black and white snapshots of my mother that I keep in my backpack. Both are post-grandfather-passing-away. My mother isn’t aware that the photos were taken. I am looking at them now. In the photo in my left hand, she’s lying under an afghan on the second-hand vegetable-patterned couch in our living room. It’s probably about seven a.m. The drapes have been opened. The only part of her visible is her forehead and a shock of black hair. In the other photo, she’s sitting at the table, framed in winter light. This time, she’s wrapped in a bulky comforter she’s dragged downstairs from her bedroom. In this shot, which is slightly more in focus, she is talking on the phone.”

When the Past Feels Like Now

So Robert Rauschenberg was an artist, and I admired a lot of his work. He passed away while I was writing “WTF,” and, since I often catalogue current events into my poetry, his passing made a cameo in the poem.

*Note: I don’t often read obituaries, but I read his.

Here’s a snippet from “WTF" which is available in the Poetry section as a digital download.

“Slightly
Despondent poet
Musters up
Enough energy
To read Rauschenberg’s
Obit
Is
A
C
T
U
A
L
L
Y
Able
To focus long enough
To read
The whole spread
Which is kinda like waiting
For an automatic
Door
”

Monogram, 1955-1959, a “combine” created by Robert Rauschenberg

Poetry

I Spend Hours Looking Sideways

I’ve been obsessing a bit today over “Frightened” by the Fall. Maybe it’s the riced cauliflower, broccoli florets and cheese sauce. Maybe it’s the full moon. Maybe it’s the margaritas #margaritafriday.

Maybe it’s because “time moves slow when you count it.”

Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer and songwriter, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig in Manchester[1] and was its leader until his death. During their 42-year existence, the Fall's line-up included some 60 musicians with whom Smith released 32 studio albums and numerous singles and EPs.[A][2] —Wiki