... And Remembering The Grateful Dead's

Phil Lesh ( 1940 - 2024)

(skull courtesy Archive.org)

My first Dead show was at The Capitol in Passaic, NJ. It was the first time I ever saw dread locks on a white guy - they were down to his ankles like a sadhu's. It was the first time it felt cool enough to dance. I was right up front, in The Capitol's particular brand of controlled mayhem... I was 18 years old and got the tickets via The Dead Heads in San Raphael, CA. They were gold with red lettering and cost about six bucks, maybe seven, seven fifty.

I saw Phil and Friends (on a whim) at The Greek Theater in Berkeley in July 2001, in the midst of a very sad relationship, the kind you'd rather forget. I was amazed at how good it all sounded, it was so close to the sound of The Dead, I was blown away and had a great time dancing down front of the stage.  At some point I left my post to wander a hillside where I saw people gently swaying to the sound. During a particularly spacey jam I noticed a sunset of red, gold and violet, all the Bay Area Bridges in silhouette. And in that solitary moment I felt safe, blessed and privy to a moment of true musical communion.

"Let there be songs to fill the air" - Robert Hunter

 

Indian Summer

 

 

 

 

Poet Arthur Rimbaud (October 20, 1854 - November 10, 1891)

Untitled. 8" X 10" unique photographic print. Fall 1981 (copy)

The original was "stolen" by Performance Artist Lorraine O'Grady in December 1981. It was submitted, along with some speed driven automatic writing,  as my final project for her Surrealist Literature class at SVA - it's in her archive at Wesleyan University now, after decades on her studio desk. I aced the class anyway - back in October of that year -  with my presentation of Cabaret Voltaire and the Dada Poets. Lorraine and I really understood each other and got along great. She is the only Female Performance Artist I have any respect for. She always kept it personal, so much so, that it became political.

I first read Rimbaud's Illuminations in the summer of 1975 when I was 15.  The Doors' Absolutely Live was my companion piece. It worked beautifully and I managed to learn something. Passions arose, when I finally got to study Surrealist Lit, I'd already read and digested most of the required reading. Thanks Arthur!

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Robert DeNoyelles Sr. (10/14/1925 - 05/04/1983)

 Dad n' me - Pearl River, NY 1962. 5" X 7" Mixed media/board.  c 2010

Arshile Gorky's Portrait of the Artist and His Mother. Collection  - Whitney Museum of Art.

Today is the date of my father's birth. And so I honor him with an old artifact from 1962 and my artistic rendering of it, my favorite photo of the two of us. I'm also posting a favorite Sinatra song of his - it is  him!  And he loved it.

One of my all time favorite artists is Arshile Gorky - an Armenian American who helped give birth to Abstract Expressionism. Willem de Kooning worshipped the ground he walked on, as did the poet Edwin Denby. The above painting The Artist and His Mother is my all time favorite work of art. As a young artist it was always my hope that someday I'd be able to go deep within myself and produce something as personal, emotional and honest as Gorky's beautiful portrait - done recalling a most tragic, traumatic event. This is as close as I came. Losing my father at age 22 under circumstances nowhere near Gorky's, but intense just the same,  had a tremendous impact on my life. Though compact as it is, for me it is a monumental work. 

https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/gorky-the-artist-and-his-mother.html

Also, today is Columbus Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kris Kristofferson (6/22/1936 - 9/28/2024)

My personal favorite. It just doesn't get any more real than this... 

Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down