Thursday, December 31, 2009

Resolution Come To Me


Tonight I go dancing. “Carlyn Lindsey & Snake Doctor” are performing tonight—their first real gig since Carlyn’s mom died. Today’s musical track is a solo electronic piece of what song? Special points to those T. Scot Halpin Memorial Bloggers who knew that it was a stepped up, jazzed out version from the “Interactive Seeker”-- “Ode to Dr. Kevorkian”—recorded in 1990.

Today’s artwork is not a Sharpie line. This is the line a pen described earlier in the blog. Scot was a frugal man, and this drawing was made by a pen a frugal man might not usually buy. Scot looked down on glam art supplies. He distained the concept that art should only take place on a carefully prepared canvas.

This piece is actually a portrait of my family. Here we stand on the windswept chessboard of life—each of us with our own set moves. At least in this drawing, we are all experiencing the same off shore breeze. Please dear Blogger, do notice the magnificent sepia blush.






Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Monday, December 28, 2009

M is for Mustang


Here we go, off on one more journey through the time machine, way back to 1982. “T. Scot Bottom & the Rockabilly Funhouse is putting a wrap on their third set at Gabe’s in Iowa City.

The locomotive has its head of steam. The gears are greased. Get ready to settle into the pull of the real thing. Every band in the world knows this song, but as far as I’m concerned—this as perfect a version of
“Mustang Sally” as exists.

Today’s artwork is the cross beam of a multi-media muse feast. This is graphite. This is transparent acrylic. This is Krylon.
All done on the horizontal, in 1992. Dig the beret and the palette. What all’s happening on the left is a little less clear.










MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2009








Saturday, December 26, 2009

Boxing Day Brunch


For Boxing Day, I am serving up a little golden quiche of a tune for our brunch. Wake up and smell that coffee. “Empty Bed Blues” is one of the first tunes Carlyn Lindsay polished up for public consumption, before the conception of "Snake Doctor". Another player from our blog, Jerry Farnsworth, worked a lot with Carlyn helping her develop her first basic repertoire.

This recording was made in 2003 at the Encore Cafe—-before guitar was added to the ‘Snake Doctor’ line up. Early ‘Snake Doctor’ was quite a soft spoken, jazzy affair. There was enough sonic space around each of the players that they were effectively able to hear and respond to one another with great delicacy. Listen deeply for Scot’s out-of-this world bass line.

Blue “Sharpie” line this time. Same idea—Scot like that this stupid toxic pen was responsive. A pause swelled. Please blow this image up to fully appreciate the delightful subtleties of Scot’s work with washes. Here is a snippet of a poem Scot wrote about being awash in color, shortly before he died.

Golden Light
Dream surgent
Moving across the Arms
The legs and reaching
The Heart
Dream surgent
Yellow blues—
Red or orange
The Power / The Strength
Move ‘n’ glow
Heal
Heal and replace






Friday, December 25, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Eveish


“Memory 17” anyone?” Today’s music is a solo recording Scot created in 1989, performing another version of his amazing 3-D multi-sensory plea—-yes, I think it's appropriate at this time of year--once again—-Memory 17--direct from “The Interactive Seeker Series” composed in 1988 while rambling the wildest of west coast headlands.

Today’s artwork is a gem. I have mined a deep cave to bring you this very richest of reds. Ruby red. Blood red. With only the slightest touches of orange. A glaze of blue. A frosting of illustrator’s white.

This piece began on an even deeper level as of watery wash—-more like a dye, a bandage. Scot tore up this cotton rag paper into little sheets and sloffed down color and glaze and spatters—-unconfined to a graphic field. Upon this universe, he then laid down this sweet little drawing. A drawing direct from the consciousness of “The Little Prince”-- a guy who floats around the cosmos, so ready to encounter things.

Sadly, I must point out that this ‘Little Prince’ is accommodating an encroaching growth in the left temporal region. Something also seems to be going wrong with his pencil? Luckily we see that his toes are firmly planted on the ground. There is an interesting structure off in the distance—-kind of home, kind of sculpture, kind of tomb.






The Days Are LOnger Now


WEDNEDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2009

Another round of the same, thank you. In all fairness, we haven't heard that much from "T. Scot Bottom & the Rockabilly Funhouse" here on the T. Scot Halpin Memorial Blog. In this series, we get more of an intimate view into Scot's Rockabilly laboratory. He was on the spot, dissecting the form. He was exploring the outer edges of twang. Dig that pulsey rhythmic agenda! Remember too that this is winter of 1982, just a few months after "The Stray Cats" had released their first album. Rockabilly had been at that time, a dusty form--mostly seen as an oddity on library back shelves.

Scot took a deep dive into the Iowa City public library and pulled some deeply buried pearls from out of the silt. There was also a Rockabilly tendency going on at the time. A kind of Rockabilly confluence. We got hooked up with the old woods guy, whose name has escaped me (will get). This guy had been doing it from the beginning. He really took to Scot and vice versa. He had a real light jazzy style that Scot picked right up on.

There were also other cool Rockabilly groups that came through town--our favorite among them, "Big Daddy Sun & the Outer Planets"--true representatives of the 'Rockabilly Cause'. They traveled around in an old unheated school bus in which they slept. After a gig one winter night Scot asked 'The Little Red Rooster, lead singer of the group, how they kept warm. He replied they hoped people asked them to stay--which we did, and ended up getting to really hang with the guys. And so it goes.

Today’s artwork is another “Sharpie” drawing. Here’s the deal. The “Sharpie” line would stand up to any punishment a watery wash might give it. Scot could actually lay it on, without having to wait for too much to dry.

Check out today’s masterpiece. Talk about synthesis. Talk about synergy. Scot was fascinated with the concept of the trio. He loved the striped down nature of the instrumentation. He loved the conversation between the instruments.

“T. Scot Bottom & the Rockabilly Funhouse was not actually a trio, but it was definitely a band where everyone did double duty. Regarding this piece, I urge you to check out these spatters. Love these washes. Notice that these guys are really jamming together.






Tuesday, December 22, 2009

And So It Goes



More of "T. Scot Bottom & the Rockabilly Funhouse" live at Gabe's back in 1982. It's almost like we are there. This time it's a cool medley of "Boys"--The Beatles KA rocker and Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes".

Shake it don't break it has to do with my new approach to the holidays. Get the bang, while avoiding the old painful pitfalls. Treasure meaningful traditions, but shit-can all the implosive, unpleasant or duty laden duds.

Today's artwork is another example of Scot's graphic experimentation. The line work for this piece was done with a red Sharpie marker. The truth is I'm a little sick about all the time Scot spent drawing with those Sharpie markers. It used to say right on the marker, "Not for letter writing." I guess they took that message off once they realized no one ever wrote letters any more.

Check out the subtlties of these washes. Check out this blue wash. Take about "blue suede'!







Monday, December 21, 2009

Life Gets in the Way


Today's musical track is another one from the recently unearthed T. Scot Bottom & the Rockabilly Funhouse" LIVE at Gabe's in Iowa City, Iowa in 1982. The track is "I'm Movin' On" by "The Rolling Stones"? Can that be? Scot is doing the vocals and KA guitar. Our good friend Mark Houseal graciously steps up the the melody plate in order that Scot might do his cool Rockabilly lead-ythm thing, a la "The Cramps"--one of our eternal favs. Tom Drew on solid-state drums and the Todd head on Bass. I am absolutely astounded to hear Scot rip these lyrics out. That's a lot of fast talking for Scot.

Today’s artwork is a drawing/painting Scot did in 1991. I remember this period when Scot moved away from print making and got started on a new graphic direction. His graphite line has always been my personal favorite.

After a few years he became so sophisticated in the medium of the graphite drawing or pen & ink drawing, that compared to those later pieces, this drawing seems a bit simplistic. Some of his later drawings are off the charts.

Simplistic it may be, but I also see it as the beginning of a great love of making drawings that express his love of music. This drawings expresses a little bit of that flow I’ve been talking about. Talk about grace. Balance. Rhythm. Talk about flow.






Sunday, December 20, 2009

I Know How You Feel


"Ancient Cradle" Part of "The Interactive Seeker" written while Composer-in-Residence at the "Headlands Center for the Arts" in Sausalito. Solo Scot Halpin performance on vocals and keyboard. Recorded in 1989 in San Francisco, California.







Saturday, December 19, 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wild & Wooly


Today’s musical track is steady and straight out of the BC shoots. This is your basic BC jam song, with lots of room for each of the players to widen their sonic stance. This is a song made for the kind of leads Jerry likes to do. Scot is wizzing around the fret board, holding it down and flying around at the same time. Kenny Wright is tapping it out across the distance. This track was recorded on January 4, 2007.

Today’s artwork is another piece with the same treatment described the day before yesterday. I was looking for something that captured the spacey, loopy feel of the musical track. This piece was done in 2007.






Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Companions for the Ride


Today’s musical track is another page from the Scot Halpin “Songwriter’s Notebook.” It is a sweet, simple progression, full a nooks and crannies, just right for just the right lyric.

Today’s artwork is another graphic transformed by the miracle of the digital matrix. Scot was absolutely delighted when he realized that he could fairly successfully recreate the look of intaglio aquatinting—a technique he was in love with.

With just a few lines, Scot is able to create such a rich and complicated world. His work is often about giving fish rides in boats. The bird/bug creature does appear to be fishing. This piece was done in 2004.






Monday, December 14, 2009

We're All Refugees


“Standing on the Brink.” Today’s track is from the “Folklore” rehearsal tape. It is straight up and unfiltered. “Hideaway” is part of “The Seeker” music he did while he was Composer-in-Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 1988.

For the record the Folklore line-up was Scot Halpin-songwriter, vocals and guitar. Edward Bachmann-bass. Johnny Law-drums. This was recorded at Iguana Studios in San Francisco on January 27, 1987.

Here’s a great piece of artwork. This, believe it or not, started as a ball-point pen drawing done on (cheap) typing paper. Thanks to the digital world we now live in, Scot was able to transform that simple graphic into a magnificent painted icon.

I was just talking with a friend yesterday. We were talking about the grace with which Scot lived his life during his most awful, dark, difficult moments. He was always upbeat. Always trying to be a better man today then he was yesterday. This piece was done in 2007—about a year before he died.






Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lost in Wild Confusion


Today’s music is another shot of “Plank Road” at its finest. “Lost in Wild Confusion” gives is the natty lyrics and vocal stylings of John Williams backed up with the march, march, march of the regiment that is Scot’s bass pattern. This track was recorded live in John’s barn in 2006.

Artwork for today takes a leap. The disk this piece was on sort of plopped in my lap and so I took it as a sign that is was time to move back to some of the artwork that Scot was doing during the last years of is life.

Today’s piece is a ball point pen drawing on typing paper that Scot then scanned and began to layer digital effect to both the line work and the backgrounds, foregrounds, and figures. This work, thematically, is darker.

Scot was very much processing his health crisis and immanent death through this work. This piece was done in 2007.







Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Painterly Side



“Plank Road” again today, joined here by special guests, “The International Kazoo Jubilee” who also fall-in doing back-up duty. The IKJ is really just Scot and John’s step-son Evan joining in, but hey, talk about a joyful noise. The song is the traditional, “Oh Suzanna”.

Scot was loving this song toward the end of his life. He really came to love to sing the old songs. These were not songs he heard at home growing up. When he found them, he ended up really taking them to heart. He came to not be afraid of the bitter-sweet.

Today’s artwork is a step away from the style and tone of yesterday’s piece, but both highlight a more painterly side to Scot’s artwork. In the last week we have seen his work stretch back to illustrations of midi-plugs to this.

Something about this guy expressed the since of separation that the song was triggering in my senses. He seems most definitely on one side of a fence. The black piece is again India ink. On this piece, nothing was left to dry.

Scot loosely laid out the red and yellow field. While those were still wet, he squirted out the graphic with the India ink. From there he went in and moved the thickest swathes of black with his brush. The little cuts of white sparks and the glow of the red and yellow glazing, both stir up tremendous inner warmth. I especially love the red buttons on the hat! This piece was done in 2004.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: AS REGULAR FOLLOWERS TO THE BLOG KNOW, ENTRIES HAPPEN IN DIFFERENT WAYS. A WHILE AGO, I WAS EXTRA BEHIND AND WROTE SEVEN ENTRIES IN ONE DAY. THE ONE ENTRY I WANT TO MAKE SURE DOESN'T GO MISSED IS THE ENTRY FOR NOVEMEBER 29, 2009 (Sing Me Back Home) WHICH ADDS A DEDICATION TO MY FRIEND CARLYN LINDSEY'S BELOVED MOTHER, LENORE LOGAN LINDSEY. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT.







Friday, December 11, 2009

Headline: Gravity Actually Sucks


Today’s track is the only version we have on tape of Scot and John as “Plank Road” doing their song, “Gravity.” They eventually came up with a real slow version, like the one that appears on John’s self-same titled “Gravity” (available online at CD Baby__________) is more suiting to the context of the song, but on this track we get to hear Scot’s harmony part on top, which I think so delightfully fills out the song. To me this is like a treasure found. This material was recorded in 2006.

Today’s artwork is a race against the physics of the media involved, in this case a very viscous India ink squirted out to create the graphic. Let it dry. Oh bother. Squirt some on a piece of paper, grab a water-saturated brush.

He’d load the brush, start at the bottom—that’s why it’s the darkest there. Scot was a master of cutting out a little white. On this piece it is a very sweet and significant couple--the angel and the left cheek of the guy, a little background to create a horizon. The longest thing about this piece was the time it took to let the graphic dry. This piece was done in 2004.







Thursday, December 10, 2009

Living Life Accordingly


Today’s music track is in keeping with the sentiment of honoring a new Nobel Peace Prize laureate. This year the award went to Barack Obama in recognition of his efforts to move conflict resolution to a diplomatic track over military incursion. May it be so. The music is a snippet off the same tape described in yesterday’s entry. There are more words somewhere, but what we got here is basically enough to convey to message brilliantly. What could be more simple or more effective—it is one world, endlessly, how about we each live our own individual lives accordingly?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: AS REGULAR FOLLOWERS TO THE BLOG KNOW, ENTRIES HAPPEN IN DIFFERENT WAYS. A WHILE AGO, I WAS EXTRA BEHIND AND WROTE SEVEN ENTRIES IN ONE DAY. THE ONE ENTRY I WANT TO MAKE SURE DOESN'T GO MISSED IS THE ENTRY FOR NOVEMEBER 29, 2009 (Sing Me Back Home) WHICH ADDS A DEDICATION TO MY FRIEND CARLYN LINDSEY'S BELOVED MOTHER, LENORE LOGAN LINDSEY. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT.

Today’s artwork is a mixed media piece. The line work was done with an oil pastel. Scot has pulled the line with some turpentine to turn it into a wash. Once all that turp settled, he laid down a bed of neutral colored acrylic wash—add a few squiggles—we’re good. Scot really like to decorate his paintigs. I love this beautiful wise face. This piece was done in 1998.






Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Jammin' With His Own Bad Self


Today’s track comes off a cassette tape that is decorated with Scot’s special visual notation system—in this case, a blue dot, red ring with a blue core. He could read these symbols like the rings of a tree. I do not know what they meant to him. To me, they identify the tape as being part of Scot’s gargantuine ‘Songwriter’s Notebook’.

On this track, Scot is authentically ‘jammin’ with his own bad self.’ That’s him on all the tracks. I am amazed by the phenomenal wave he gets going rhythmically with this track. His vocals are so instrumental. Scot enjoyed taking on a non-discursive flow to his vocals.

He loved pretending to be an instrument. A really cool bond is sealed between the guitar and the vocals about midway in the track and the guitar work is so very fluid. This track was recorded in our living room on Page Street in San Francisco, where we lived for the last twelve years we were in San Francisco. We relocated to Bloomington, Indiana in 1995.

Today’s artwork is another really loose pen & ink drawing with all kinds of action going on. To begin with we’ve got all the shapes and sizes of the various figures involved. As a yoga student, I see these as many versions of ‘mountain pose’. I love all the spatter and scribbling. These are all signature Scot touches. This drawing was done in the year 2000.






Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Big Boss Man



A now a “Blue Jazz” triple header, this time Irene taking a whack at Jerry Reed’s “Big Boss Man”. Scot absolutely adored Jimmy Reed. More than any since one player, I would say Scot patterned himself after Jimmy Reed. Scot was attracted to swing like a moth to a flame. Right after swing came the groove.

Here is another illustration from the 1990’s. He did a lot of work for a magazine called “EQ” which was being pitched to people who were just getting involved in the home recording thing. This cigar is actually a midi-plug. Special T. Scot Halpin Memorial Blog points to anyone who got that. Yes, he cut those edges with pinking shears.

A little while ago, I bought a collection of different kinds of shears—made for scrapebookers. Scot was the original scrapbooker. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the shears. I bought them because I know Scot would have loved them.





Monday, December 7, 2009

Reservations


Once the title for today’s blog entry popped into my mind, I immediately began seeing multiple meanings for the word.

Today, I was looking for an illustration that had to do with having reservations—like in today’s musical track, “Hound Dog” (a T. Scot Halpin Memorial Blog triple hitter) _entry___,_entry___ ).

Here’s one thing I’m having serious reservations about “getting cable.” So far this is something we’ve managed to avoid. Scot had serious issues with what he called “screens”. He was seriously concerned about TV, the Internet, all that. Finally by the end, we had the Internet and he went crazy, music monster that he was, with ‘YouTube’.

Today’s track is a ‘Blue Jazz” rehearsal. Irene is really in the process of inventing Blue Jazz on this one. This is the striped down “BC” trio. What is so cool is how fully each part gets to stretch out. Kenny is keeping a very simple steady beat so that Scot can fly. Jerry is up to his usual rhythm punches and looping leads. The was no break on the mp3 file here, so today, we actually get a second scoop of Blue Jazz, a little further down the line, “Black Magic Woman” by Peter Green.

Today’s artwork is another pull from the pile of 1990’s magazine illustrations Scot did. He contributed to “Guitar Player” “Bass Player” “Drums & Drumming” “Drum!” “EQ” “Keyboard Player”. He did it for a long time but eventually he ran out of ideas of illustrating boxes with buttons.






Sunday, December 6, 2009

Every Day in Every Way


Today we had a little ‘dub jam’ to spread on our muffins. Scot and I both loved dub music, which is basically Reggae music sonically and rhythmically morphed. We used to live right around the corner from KPOO Radio in San Francisco, which played a lot of Reggae.

They had a couple DJ’s who would come in a spin these live dub shows that were the closest things I come to psychedelic music. If you can, listen to this one through ear-phones.

Today’s track is a bit like those KPOO dub DJ’s I was just talking about because on this track, Scot is engineering his own dub, on the spot while he is playing all the instruments, phanaggeling the vocals.

And then we’ve got the messages in the music. Scot wrote this and the two previous songs in response the work of Shakti Gwain and Gerald Jampolsky. Scot really took the idea of focusing with intention seriously, and so in this case he did what he usually did, made what he needed, in this case some positive affirmational music.

Today’s artwork is an earlier piece. He did this in 1992, the year our son was born. This is really the birth of his use of transparent acrylic that we have seen so much of in the T. Scot Halpin Memorial blog. He hit it just a little bit with the yellow swath of airbrush.

I love how the hero’s head is tossed back. His chakras are definitely opening. He’s got the colors of the word at hand. Love is at the heart of his effort.







Saturday, December 5, 2009

Because the Elevator of Love is Waiting for You


To end my marathon blog entry ( seven stories in one day) I close out with this. I remember when Scot laid down this set of music. At the time I could not imagine a more perfect body of music. Everything sacred about music—focused with intent.

For the record, Scot is playing all the instruments on all these tracks. Those are his vocals. Those are his lyrics. That is his melody. This is the next song in the movement introduced yesterday, laid down back in 1989

Today’s artwork, is a unique depiction of raising ones love level, done in 1999. The graphic is graphite. The acrylic is transparent. I picked this drawing thinking of raising ones’ love level, just as a tide raises a boat.






Friday, December 4, 2009

Create a Space in Your Life


Today’s musical track is a more developed arrangement of a meditative track previously feature here in the T. Scot Halpin Memorial Blog. (______) This tape came from a reach into a frigheningly large bin of tapes that have absolutely not notation on them at all. I am so glad I found this tape today. I was hoping I would.

This track was recorded in 1988. It is part a symphonic sequence that Scot laid down in response to work by Shakti Gwain. Sorry about the flex in the music midway. These are old tapes. This is Scot on all tracks. He has programmed the drum machine, this is his bass line, these are definitely his vocals and guitar leads. On top of that, these are his words.

The artwork for today is day pen & ink drawing extraordinaire. Nice fat watercolor paper as witnessed by the juicy deckled edges of the left hand side. Acrylic transparency, more juice with the wet-on-wet washes. Patterns, shapes, reverence. 2003.






Thursday, December 3, 2009

*Let It Shine* Let It Shine* Let It Shine*


Yet another follow-up. I am currently impressed with the fact that it seems most things are best expressed in stages. How can we express the loss of a loved one? How can we reside in a place of pain and loss indefinitely? The problem is, we can’t. It is human nature to let things shine. We most of us have the clue that we are here for a reason and that involves letting things shine, despite the despair life can throw up;

I think we humans are here for a reason, to light up the runway for all the other beautiful being who have heard about us and would like to come and jam. This is the job of this blog tonight. To offer things up: yes, there is intelligent, creative life here on this planet. *Let It Shine*Let It Shine*Let It Shine*

I chose this drawing because it looked a little bit like my friend Carlyn, and to me, the dedication to her mom continues. Let it shine. What I like is that this person appears to be solicited by both angels and fairies. She needs both, as do we all.

Pen & ink, yes. Transparent acrylic, yes. 2002.






Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I Know I'm One



Ten, nine, eight, seven… Get ready to blast off. I know I have said this before, but it still cracks me up to think of 13 year old Scot Halpin singing this song, while playing the drums. Oh, God, give me a time machine.

According to Scot, this is the first song he sang with a group (at the aforementioned age of 13). To me, it’s comparable to little Stevey Winwood blasting out, “I’m a Man” at age 16. This is more “BC” (thank you Jerry). Here we have Scot singing lead and supplying bass. Jerry is there, as always, supplying the delight of the lead. This is the Mike Stiglitz that sounds like a Hammond that I mentioned in the last entry.

Today’s artwork is just another art-by-the-ream piece. It was actually hard to give Scot authentic feedback on his artwork, because he did so much. This “art-by-the-ream” period especially so. Yes, here, look at my latest 500 drawings done in the year 2006.

One thing I wanted to add here, flows from the whole memorial blog thing. We all have visited the ‘House of the Rising Sun.’ The way I see it, life is about visiting the “House of the Rising Sun” and living to tell about what happened later.





Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Feeling Alright


In follow-up. “Feelin’ Alright.” Jah Man. How low can one go? That’s a bit of what’s been happening lately for me—every day I come in and start my blog entry. Sure enough, before too long, the deep down boo-hoo stirs. My therapist assures me that I am “productively griefing”. For a while I was blaming the blog for the boo-hoos. Today I realized that I don’t need the blog to get sad.

It is sad that Scot’s not here in the room with me now. What is slaying me here is Scot’s bass line on this track. That, in and of itself, is about the most funky assed shit I’ve heard laid down. The fact that he is also laying down some remarkably lucid vocals is just another thing. Lucid listeners will notice that the song ends on a refrain.

Basic “BC” here. KA improv to the marrow. All live and happening in a basement down
Bethel Lane, here in Bloomington, Indiana.
Joining the guys (Jerry-Kenny-Scot) that night was “BC” friend, Mike Stiglitz and his rocket guitar, which in this case starts out sounding like a Hammond B3.

Scot and I both loved “Traffic” and both had body surfed the British Folk Rock wave. It’s a delight for me to hereby offer up Scot so fully sinking his chops into this favored tune.

Today’s artwork is a really cool piece. I have talked a bit how Scot was a print maker and how his love for that medium had convinced him to dip his hands into any number of media. What Scot managed to create here was a line that very closely resembled his beloved dry-point line—hard won, and fleeting in the world of Intaglio printmaking.

Translation here, the fat fuzzy line. This piece started out as a ball point pen line. Once scanned, Scot was rejoicing at figuring out a way to create that fat fuzzy line that did not involve dipping his hands in toxic materials.

This entry is a scan of a inkjet print of a piece that, yes, started as a ball-point pen drawing--got re-media-ized--came out and came out looking like a dry-point engraving. This digital incarnation has actually been printed out here on cotton rag paper--and the paint, well, that is clearly not in the lines.










NOVEMBER 30, 2009

LET'S GO THERE SOME MORE


As a follow up to yesterday’s entry, I’d like to make another dedication, that being to Mr. Kenny Wright. Kenny died, completely out of the blue, just three months after Scot died. It came as a complete and total shock.

Kenny is the guy playing the drums on most of the “Basement Collaboration” sessions. In this case, he is also providing the stellar back-up vocals. I know Scot so well. We could side reside inside each other minds.

In this track I hear Scot’s mind go ‘Bingo’ when Kenny pipes in with his harmony. Scot immediately wants to do it over and over again. The me that can still reside in Scot’s mind is here to tell you that he just plain wanted to hear that harmony over and over. It’s Papa Jerry who so effectively brings the harmony love-feast to a timely halt.

This was recorded during the period that Scot and Kenny were working very closely on Kenny’s drumming. Scot’s agenda was to teach Kenny to swing. Kenny came to the “BC” with a solid set of credentials. He had drummed for some of the best, but he came to drumming from a sort of heavy metal flavored beat.

Scot had him strip down to snare and high-hat which suited the situation well. Kenny was tired of hauling a giant drum kit. The sessions were in Jerry’s basement, so filling the space was not a big problem. Kenny is definitely down with brushes on this track.

Blessings be upon you Kenny. You were a dear, darling of a man. People discuss whether it is worse to lose some one who has been sick for a long time or loss someone suddenly and unexpectedly. In the case of Kenny, I’m glad it came as a surprise.

The last time I saw Kenny was at Jerry and Judy Farnsworth’s Memorial Day picnic. He looked great. He looked happy. I did know when he hugged me that he was not well. He was clearly having trouble breathing, and as he hugged me, I could feel his struggle. He was gone some two weeks later. So let’s all hear for Kenny and sing him home too.