March 10, 2012
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I like the Views by Country feature that has appeared on my WordPress stats page. I see three views from Finland and I wonder who is that out there who found my tiny little spec in the cyber-universe? Is it one person who has come back three times or perhaps I have three readers in Finland. It’s delightful to me too that along the way I’ve made friends with people in countries I’ve never visited, like Azahar in Spain and Bloggerboy in Germany. It’s also interesting to me that even though the internet sheds barriers, the greater majority of view come from Canada.

 

March 9, 2012
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Rocket Number 9

For today’s Daily Dose, I’m taking to the spacewaves. We’re talking Saturn, people. Second stop is Jupiter. Space is the Place. Here’s Sun Ra and the Arkestra:

I had the good fortune to catch a show by these guys in NYC in the early 80s. They were doing a tribute to Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson and it was fantastic! If I recall correctly, for that show they were Sun Ra and the Intergalactic Omniverse Arkestra.

March 7, 2012
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Orange Blossom Special

Tonight’s Daily Dose is The Orange Blossom Special. It’s a fiddle tune written in 1938 by Ervin T. Rouse. While it is sometimes known as the fiddle player’s national anthem, it goes down pretty well on the uke too. Here is the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain doing a most fantastic version of this venerable old time classic.

I grew up on the next performance, Johnny Cash at San Quentin.

Here’s The Buckaroos featuring Don Rich. Buck Owens and the boys had a great band going back in the day. They also had the best outfits. I’ve heard people call them “Nudie Suits”, referring to Nudie Cohn, but I read somewhere that Mr. Owen preferred outfits designed by Nathan Turk. In any case, they were spectacular. These days, bands seem to just wear whatever they feel like. These guys liked to do it up right for their audience.

Now let’s listen to Eric Dysart, who rips it up.

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March 7, 2012
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Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman by mister anchovy
Ornette Coleman, a photo by mister anchovy on Flickr.

Here’s another blast from the past. Back in 1997 I created a few paintings in which I used stencils and spray enamel. This is one of them. I called it Ornette Coleman because at the time, I was blasting Ornette Coleman’s music in my studio. I think this was the strongest of the group by far and I’m still fond of this painting after all these years. If I recall correctly, it’s about 42″ square.

March 6, 2012
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101

For a number of years, I was a tenant at 101 Niagara St. Some of you may have read a few things I wrote about those times. It was known back then, and I suppose it still is, as the coffin factory or the casket factory, because once upon a time it was in fact home to a casket company. For many many years it was home to an assortment of ragamuffin artists and musicians and friends.

I didn’t leave there on the happiest note. The landlord decided it was appropriate to slide a rent increase notice under my door on Christmas morning. That really pissed me off, let me tell you. At the same time, my father was not in great health and couldn’t see so well anymore and really needed someone around the house more often than my regular visits. I packed up my studio and moved to my father’s house, the house I grew up in, in Etobicoke. It was weird moving back but I wouldn’t trade of minute of the time I got to spend with my father.

I understand the owner of the 89-101-109 Niagara St. complex, the same outfit who owned it back in the day, is planning to develop the property into condos. We shouldn’t be surprised I guess. I hardly recognize the neighbourhood anymore. It’s condo city. Still, it’s one of the few so-called artists buildings left around the city. We called it a zone of our own, and it really was in many ways. I had a lot of good times, good memories in that building. It will be sad to see it go.

March 6, 2012
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Sky Dragons

Sky Dragons by mister anchovy
Sky Dragons, a photo by mister anchovy on Flickr.

I thought I’d post one more old painting tonight. This is a small oil painting, only maybe 10 inches wide. I think I painted it in 2006 and it was exhibited once at NSCAD in Halifax. I still have this one, and in fact I keep it out in my studio just because I like to look at it.  Around this time I did a few paintings, perhaps three or four, with the title Sky Dragons. There was another series too at that time, called Forest of No Return. I named those pictures after the Disney song. It was from Babes in Toyland but I knew the Sun Ra version. There is no reference I know of in the title Sky Dragons. This was the first of them and the title came to me while I was working on it.

In times when I’ve been painting well, it’s all about focus and work. In those other times, I look at some of my paintings and wonder how I ever painted them.

March 6, 2012
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Logan Branch

loganbranch by mister anchovy
loganbranch, a photo by mister anchovy on Flickr.

Here’s another older painting from the vaults. This one is from 2001 or 2002. That winter was a very prolific one for me. I worked in the studio constantly and produced a lot of paintings. They were all done with oil-based paints, including some industrial paints, on either canvas or panel, and most of them were small (or smallish). I think this painting is 16 inches tall. I exhibited quite a number of paintings from this group at Loop Gallery. A number of these paintings still resonate with me, and I still have a few of them in storage. I recall painting them. I had 10 or 12 paintings on the go at the same time, working them on the floor and the walls of my little studio. I’d work up a few of them and set them aside to dry some and immediately work on another bunch, then go back to the first ones in a few days for another session. The whole business was very direct. I recall thinking of something Ron Bloore used to say back when he was my teacher: “Painting is Thinking”.

Logan Branch, by the way, is the name of a stream in Pennsylvania.