"Friday morning at nine o'clock she is far away..."

FIVE for FRIDAY

1. Monday
A week ago or so, I posted this "last spread." The copy was lorem ipsum FPO stuff, so I needed something to go there and I decided I would write more verses for this song as a book. On Monday, I wrote what I thought would be a great last verse. Then I changed. Now, it's a great last verse.

2. Tuesday
I once wrote a line for a song that went like this:
"Sometimes I think
In congested traffic
With cellphones and harmonicas
Life ain't so tragic."
I find I think A LOT in congested traffic. Tuesday was no exception. I thought up a new verse on my way back to work from a press check about "what happened to Billie the nightclub singer."

3. Wednesday
Along with a number of other tunes, Sonia, Jim -- our new drummer, Tony -- and I played a funky version of the original (three-verse) A Place I don't Belong

4. Thursday
I put on a shirt I hadn't worn since last Thursday. I found an envelope in the pocket. Some bit a junk mail. But there was something scribbled on the back. It was a verse I had written about "the red Cadillac parked outside the packy."

5. Friday
Today is Salvador Dali's 108th birthday-anniversary. I'm going to do my best to be surreal!

"Say the WORD and be like me!"

NOW, I'm truly in A Place I Don't Belong!
Or maybe it's not that bad.

After my decision to add more lyrics I found myself with this desire to create something more magazine-like. And that needed text.

See. Here's what I shared the other day. It's another verse. It's laid out like headline text on a magazine spread. It needs body text.

So, I added it. Here in prose. But later that day, I found myself writing more but this time in the rhymed meter of the original song. I'll need to decide if I'll mix them or just write it all in rhyme. If I go with the latter, Dylan truly would be proud. In doing so, I would have taken a three verse song and quadrupled it.

"As I write this letter..."

A Place I Don't Belong is my latest graphic-novel magazine project. You may already know this. It includes the same nine characters I used in my first project, "Ain't gonna hang no pixel." You may already know that, as well. In PIXEL, the story is about two people -- the artist and the girl who works at the frame shop. The included 'celebrities' -- Bob Dylan, Emily Dickinson, Jack Kerouac, Paul McCartney, Marilyn Monroe, Edgar Allan Poe, Billie Holiday, Bette Davis and Alfred Hitchcock -- illustrate analogies like "I stood as still as Kerouac," or references like (Paul McCartney illustrating)"a Beatles' song" or 'themselves' as Bob Dylan does as the 'inspiration' behind the artist's decision to "stop painting with paint."

In PLACE, these nine characters play roles in my script. And my script is based on the lyrics of an original song with the same title.

You may already know that.

This song has three verses.

My problem has been in creating the "story" that isn't covered in these lyrics. I saw it as visual story-telling challenge. But that challenge has become quite daunting. On the way into work yesterday, I came up with a solution.

I think Bob Dylan would be proud!

MORE lyrics!

Yes, so I set out at lunchtime to create another verse (I think I will need at least three more in total). This verse takes Jack and Norma from the coffee shop to the nightclub where they hear Billie and her band. I think the verse came out quite nice. It inspired this quick spread design.

"Tell Me What YOU See?"

every picture tells a story -- don't it?

The STORY goes like this....
I suppose I could have unpacked the original art—the colored-pencil illustration of Bob Dylan, aptly titled: "A TRAIN TO CRY"—unpacked it from the box ready to be sent to the Santa Fe gallery (before the 'shipping cost' funds ran dry). I could have done that. And hung that picture like I hung the ink drawing of JACK KEROUAC and the batik painting of BILLIE HOLIDAY in the previous months. But I wanted to do something different this time. Hang something that might make the customers of the Northfield Coffee and Books shop pause and say "what's that?" It looks like a bulletin board from the artist's studio. It looks like a "process revealed." Some step-by-steps. Or at least a progression of what may have come first. You all viewed the "somewhat comical" step-by-step I posted in a previous blog. That's included. But so is a CD image of the album cover art for BLONDE ON BLONDE. And there's even a ticket to the 1997 Bob Dylan concert at Northampton's John M. Greene Hall (that had only to do with the inspiration not the actual art itself). There's the model train that posed for the original illustration. The cover and a page from my self-published magazine: "Ain't gonna hang no pixel." Yes, I wanted something different.

And that's my story...

"Good Day Sunshine!"

Billie came home early. Only cuz I had the day off today. But it's only a day early. I hung May's show.

"Say The Word and be like me!..."

I GUESS YOU COULD CALL THIS MY FIVE (+1) FOR FRIDAY HOW TO BE AN ARTIST
It's simple! Follow these steps:
Then go write a book and use this as your cover.

"Tomorrow may rain..."

This has become most unhealthy (yet so highly productive). The threat of rain canceled my walk yesterday. That's right! I painted.

P.S. I wrote this on Tuesday. I should be careful about using words like "unhealthy" as an evil genie might be listening and grant me my wish as has appeared to have happened in this case. I've been sick for the past couple of days. Let's talk about how productive I've been since. Damn!

Poe, Poe Pitiful me...

It's been awhile. But Live-Journal is having some serious issues with the Reds. I need an alternative.

Revolutions Per Minute

Is anything measured by RPM's, today?

Maybe the design of my band's demo CD is the last.

I shared this with them and it rapidly went through changes...



Here's the first design...



It was decided the whole "LIVE at Millers Pub!" seemed unnecessary.



...this allowed the personnel to be moved into a more prominent and relevant position...



..and that would help "un-crowd" the contact info...



..even to the point where I could increase this information's importance with a larger font size...



There was some unfavorable reaction to the shadow cast from poster on text (see above)—personally, I rather liked it. However, when I re-sized that image, it insured that our drummers pic wouldn't get cropped if the CD art misaligned...



...and there you have the design and re-design of the Walter Mitty's demo CD.

When "lazy" creates a poster

It started with a gig with some "old friends" of mine from high school—a reunion show of sorts. My band—the Walter Mittys—was to open for theirs.

I said I'd create a poster. And this is what I came up with.



A year later. The same venue. The same two bands (except ours, now, is minus one player—so, new band graphic). I open up the old file and begin to re-create.

This works out great—most of the info is the same. And I manage to create a new look. This one, now, more of an old poster-handbill look.


A week ago, I'm approached by another band. They ask if my band's interested in doing a benefit show. We agree. I volunteer again to do a poster. The turn-around needs to be quick, so, I decide to open up this poster file again. There's no information—this time—to borrow, short of our band name but it proves to be a great starting point.

Liking the retro-handbill look, I push the fire-house theme. Though I played with three colors in and earlier version, I end up going for that low-budget two-color look.

To me, it looks like it would find a perfect home on the telephone pole out in front of three-bay brick fire station with three shiny red and polished chrome fire engines facing front.

It's only graphic is a Gibson Les Paul, But it could easily be a fireman's axe.

So, this is Christmas

I hope you all had a LONG JOHN HOLIDAY!



The WAR is not over.

And it's not over by only wanting it to be...

Sorry, John. You WERE a DREAMER.
You can't make those choices. We can't.

Unless you're part of the Military-Industrial Complex.

2 Russian musicians, a Beat and a Beatle

I just updated my website
with this wonderful quartet:
Igor Stravinsky,
Regina Spektor,
Jack Kerouac
and Paul McCartney.

Check it out!