Look at these awesomely huge carrots we grew in our veggie garden!
Wow.
Now let's look at them from a different perspective:
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Wa-waaaaa.
The one on the right there is decent, and there are still some big boys in the dirt, but the next crop is going to need to be thinned out a bit. Still, I'm not complaining. We've been knee deep in tomatoes all summer. Throw in a jalapeno, a cucumber or two, a bit of basil, and maybe even some green onions and it has been a good summer.
Being that today is the 40th Anniversary of the weekend of the Woodstock Music Festival (technically Sha Na Na and Hendrix played on a Monday morning) and that, coincidentally, I have spent the last few night rocking out to the Blu-Ray extended directors cut (with 18 extra musical performances), I figured I would continue this over-the-top nostalgia we collectively have going this weekend.
Why not start it off with easily the greatest performance of the whole festival (at least of the film): Santana's Soul Sacrifice. Great version of this song, and even greater when you throw in the context that, at the time, Santana was an unknown SF band that hadn't even recorded their first album. Bill Graham pulled some string to get them on the bill. 19-year-old drummer Michael Shrieve's drum solo is just mind blowing. Then factor in the admission that the whole band was very high on acid during this performance. Turn it up, Man!
Not in the Woodstock film, but finally available in the new Blu-Ray release is the performance of heavy rockers Mountain. This was just their 3rd gig, and they were clearly the heaviest band in the place. The sound in this clip isn't the best, but the distorted bass is just killer.
I also thought it would be a good time to celebrate the Woodstock of my generation. No, I'm not talking about Woodstock 94 and I'm especially not talking about Woodstock 99, I'm talking about those awesome commercials for Freedom Rock!
Even after all these years I still intuitively know where each song snippet cuts into another and their order. To this day I still expect to hear The Byrds "Turn Turn Turn" mash into Skynyrd's "If I leave hear tomorrow..." whenever I hear it. I didn't actually listen to any of these songs into I really started rocking in my twenties (I was just 9 or 10 when Freedom Rock first dropped in 1987).
I recently scored a scratched up copy of the 2nd disc of Freedom Rock form the Junk Store and I have to say it really isn't a very good compilation at all. Zager & Evans? James Taylor? Malanie? These people don't rock. The commercial is much, much better than the actual product.
Anyhow, I have fallen in love with heavy 60s and 70s rock (and even some of the lighter stuff) and am currently working on a 4-disc, 5 hour custom super Freedom Rock Platinum Edition with all kinds of rarities to go with the hits. It is going to be amazing (maybe I'll post the track listing) and I can burn you a copy for just $24.95 plus $3 shipping and handling.
In the meanwhile, let's all throw up the peace fingers and have a skinny dip in honor of all the smart bands that, because the couldn't get paid enough or didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting there, declined playing at Woodstock:
The Doors (Morrison was paranoid that he would be assassinated at a large outdoor venue).
Led Zeppelin (didn't want to be "just another band" in the show).
Jethro Tull (didn't want "to spend their weekend in a field of unwashed hippies). I actually sympathize with this one a bit.
Bob Dylan (not enough money, hated his fans).
The Byrds (angry about their hit song constantly being associated with Lynyrd Skynyrd).
Moody Blues (despite being on the original poster, decided to play Paris instead).
Iron Butterfly (got lost on the way).
Joni Mitchell (was afraid the traffic would make her late for her appearance on the Dick Cavett Show).
We re-sized the desk and moved it into the gallery, painted the face wall, added three shelved for books, and removed the book island. We also had to drill a hole in the wall to get the phone line into the gallery for the credit card machine. So, nowadays we are curating the selection of books on display in the gallery. The artwork in this picture is by Carl Auge.
Messing with the camera at night in the studio. I'm still mesmerized by the way the door numbers reversed on the glass spell "SEE".
I'm a bit late to the party at this new skate spot in north Berkeley. It is in the parking lot at the new soccer field complex west of the highway on Gilman. Frankly, the ground is gritty and these kind of bank spots take a lot of energy to skate. I'll stick with Oak Tech, thank you very much.
I told you I would post more pictures of the veggies harvested from our garden box. It is going to be a gazpacho and salsa August.
I tell myself that I'm going to clock in massive hours in the studio on a daily (or nightly) basis and just crank out the work. Good or bad, just make art constantly. The good ones will rise to the top from the volume. Narangkar is racking up literally hundreds of hours on some amazing things for her upcoming solo exhibition. Time for Pete to get with the program.
It goes without saying that I'm falling way short of my goals for both time in the studio and time working on actual artworks while in the studio, but I've still managed to get a few pieces out of my brain and through my hands. Nothing great, but hopefully when I get through enough of these it'll be something. And I've really enjoyed the process, which it supposed to be what it is all about.
This drawing took way to long and, in retrospect, isn't that pleasing aesthetically. I just haven't found a happy way to use the vertical format without centering the image. This piece is even more claustrophobic framed. It is about 15 inches tall.
On the other hand, this piece just flowed out real smooth and easy. The arched form and lines on the right bring to mind a lot of the uninspired "rainbow art" that is floating around the scene these days (link chosen at random from many, many easy to find choices). That bothers me a little, but I still like this drawing a bunch and it felt good and loose during creation. It is about 10" tall.
I've got about four or five more pieces all done and trimmed and framed. No pictures for you yet, though. I often feel like just the processing of everything - scanning or photographing, file prepping, uploading, blogging, spellcheck, and on - can really interfere with art creation and often isn't worth the effort. Sure, it is important to document your work (there are certainly things I wish I had better records of), and these peripheral things are part of the professional art practice, but sometimes the digital side of things gets way to distracting and time consuming.
On another note, I need a general catch-all phrase for these building drawings. The machine ones are "time-wasting machines" (pretty clever, eh?), and I've been titling some of these as "wilderness" drawings (also pretty clever, no?), but it isn't sticking. Lil' help, people.
