Ennyman's Territory

Zenith City Writers Event Proves Rewarding

2012-01-29T07:17:00.012-06:00

If I were only permitted to read the Duluth News Tribune one day a week, that day would be Thursday. As nearly anyone who follows the art scene here in the Northland knows, or ought to know, this is when The Wave appears, a section of the paper dedicated to music, the arts, theater, food and movies. Hats off to Christa Lawler and all the DNT staff responsible for helping the community be more aware of all the exciting events and happenings taking place here.

Last night's event at the Teatro Zuccone proved exceptionally rewarding, an event I would not have been aware of had it not be highlighted on the Best Bets page of this week's Wave. To some I s'pose it would have sounded boring, a gathering of writers reading from their work. But the essays, poems and stories were anything but boring and it was pleasing to see a nearly packed house.

The theme was New Beginnings and the lineup was comprised of Lucie Amundson, Gary Boelhower, Anthony Bukowski, Tom Isbell, Dennis Kempton, Christa Lawler, Paul Lundgren, Elizabeth Nordell, Ryan Vine and Andy Bennett, who played the role of host and Master of Ceremonies.

I arrived early as if going to a rock concert. The room was quiet and I found a spot that seemed suitable near the front. The Teatro Zuccone is a wonderfully intimate setting for music, drama and last night for writers reading their works. As eight o'clock approached the decibel level increased dramatically, a palpable, almost wild energy filling the air. Mind you, this was a group of people gathering to hear writers. Peering across the room one could see a most ecclectic audience, from college students to old fogeys like me.

Finally, Andy Bennett, director of development with the Renegade Theater Company, ran to the podium to welcome the crowd and kick off the evening. You knew we were in for a ride as he read an essay about his junior high school experience titled Fresh Start. His humorous prose captured all of us instantly, or was it the entertaining delivery? His insights into the educational caste system, from his own personal point of view, evidently resonated with a crescendo of applause acknowledging a good story.

The distinguished Anthony Bukowski was then introduced. Mr. Bukowski read a short story titled "The Maritime Trader" about a married couple named the Krummys. (Here's where readings like this fail one, because we hear a name like that and in the book it might be spelled a half dozen other ways. Suffice it to say, I chose to spell Lloyd and Verna Krummy's names with a K.) The story tied in with life in the Northland as it involved a man with a telescope and a wife who ran off with a deck hand on one of the ore boats that frequent our port. More applause.

Ryan Vine, whose many publication credits left my head spinning, read a piece called Rule Book. It was fun and whimsical with sideways themes, some quite thought provoking.

Elizabeth Nordell, a story teller who also teaches story telling, recited a story rather than reading it. Her animated delivery is practiced, and the manner in which she constructed the story was equally skilled. You could tell the audience liked her, and at this point I wondered if writers have to be performers as well in order to be appreciated. The answer to this question followed immediately.

Tom Isbell, professor of theatre at UMD, read a segment from his novel The Hatchery. His vivid crisp prose hit like a punch. Isbell's words, not his delivery, gave us pause. A strong piece that made for a good place to break for intermission.

After the break Lisa Amundson, a former editor at Family Handyman (among other places), began with a long entertaining introduction which included humorous descriptions of life in the suburbs. (To her relief "Competitive Lawn Maintenance" is not a major sport pursued in Duluth, where she now resides.) Amundson, who described herself as "a wordy pole dancer" mentioned having notified a few friends that she was going to read a story that included nudity. The incident involving nudity was indeed hilarious.

Gary Boelhower, a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of St. Scholastica, followed. Dr. Boelhower shared four short essays tangent to the theme, "In the beginning was the Word." One of the pieces was titled "First Song." The essay or prose poem detailed how the letters of the alphabet are first presented to us with such innocence, but as we mature we learn new words that begin with these letters. By the end he has recited countless lists of A-B-Cs invoking references to wars, battles and the many stains on our human history caused by man's inhumanity to man.

Dennis Kempton, founder of Ouevre magazine, shared an extremely personal memoir titled Red Chalk. The piece appears in his book of essays titled Distance. The story, powerfully written with its candid pain flowing across the surface, could not help but tear your heart. As I drove home later I wondered how many others were reminded of the recent news stories of the horrors committed at Penn State. Kempton is to be commended for his courage as he shared this experience of being young, powerless, tyrannized and abused.

Christa Lawler followed with a narrative she called The Duplex. Christa's delivery and clever use of language shows how finely honed her wit has become over the years she's been pouring out prose for the newspaper and other outlets sixteen hours a day.

The night ended on a high note with Paul Lundgren giving us a rundown of what grocery shopping means to a newly married man, beginning with those early memories of trips to the grocery store with mom through all the phases in between, culminating in the challenge of running an errand for your lovely spouse carrying a shopping list that may or may not correspond with the items you find at that final destination, the Super One.

All in all, the net-net here is that we have a lot of talent in this town, and if you ever see it listed again that a bunch of writers are convening to share their work, don't underestimate it. Cheap entertainment and culture have kissed.

The Olde Toothpaste Challenge

2012-01-28T07:14:00.004-06:00

The other day I was in the grocery store picking up a few items when I realized I was getting low on toothpaste and should pick up a tube. When I reached the section I had to scratch my Head because of the impossibly vast array of toothpaste options there in front of me. Tooth whitening, cavity fighting, bold tasting, fluoride enhanced... I finally went to the Crest section and here were still more choices. Ultimately I bought this spectacularly packaged, Crest Complete Multi-Benefit toothpaste, that not only whitens but gives you a cinnamon rush.

What a beautiful package. Not only is it red, white and blue, it's got some kind of holographic waves flowing across the background/foreground . It also has its main features repeated in Spanish so this dazzling product can be marketed in San Antonio and Los Angeles.

The whole experience of making this purchase brought to mind an Andy Rooney segment from the old Sixty Minutes show. Rooney was a pugnacious, wry wit who made millions distilling a week's worth of thought into a sixty second barb. By way of contrast, there are probably hundreds of local talk radio heads who make a few bucks by stretching sixty seconds of thought into sixty minutes of air.

One of Rooney's pieces was titled The Cost of Ingredients, which begins like this: "I keep looking at things I buy and keep thinking about how they got to cost that much." I can still hear his sarcastic snarl when I read that.

Andy Rooney begins this segment talking about packaging, citing a few examples. He then zeroes in on Crest. He bought two tubes of Crest, at two different places, one for $1.99 and the other for $2.39. Rooney had the ingredients tested at a place called Industrial Testing Laboratories. He wanted to know how much the ingredients for this product cost. To be fair he noted that this same procedure could be carried out with other popular toothpaste brands, so he wasn’t exactly picking on Crest.

He learned that the ingredients cost a total of twelve cents. Experts estimated that the tube and box cost about five cents.

Crest sold 200 million tubes of toothpaste that year, which would mean they spent 24 million on ingredients. With $10 million going to packaging and $41 million on advertising, the company spent half as much on ingredients as on marketing. And the revenue for all that toothpaste, at two dollars a pop, would have been $400 million.

But when I look at the box my Crest came in, I have to say it's really a work of art. It's simply beautiful how they manage to get so much information in such a small amount of space. Here are pictures of cinnamon, with fireworks around them, which means your tongue will be hopping for joy when you taste this paste. If the bright colors and images don't seal the deal, you can read the sales copy on the back. "Feel it working. Know you're covered."

Then the real benefits, in type so small you may need a magnifying glass. Fights Cavities. Removes Surface Stains Freshens Breath.

And the whole thing is repeated again in Spanish, because Hispanics also carry magnifying glasses in their pockets when they go shopping.

In fact, this box of Crest would be a useful tool for teaching Spanish to American children because being bi-lingual is useful in a country that will one day have more Spanish speakers than English.

Finally, let's get to the drug facts. The active ingredient in this tube of Crest is Sodium Flouride, o.243%. It's purpose is even stated clinically. This is an anticavity toothpaste. Other ingredients include sorbitol, water, hydrated silica, disodium pyrophosphate, sodium lauryl sulfate, flavor, sodium saccharin, sodium hydroxide, carbomer, xanthan gum, carnauba wax, cllulose gum, titanium dioxide and red 40. Feel better now? I wanna go brush my teeth again!

But wait. There are also some warnings. "Keep out of reach of children under 6 yrs of age." That's a little scary to me. And here's the really scary part. "If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact Poison Control Center right away."

Maybe three times a day is safer than every fifteen minutes after all. Have a great weekend. And don't forget to brush.

EdNote: You can find Andy Rooney's The Cost of Ingredients on page 169 of his book Years of Minutes.
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Are You Really Ready for the Cars of Tomorrow?

2012-01-27T06:06:00.006-06:00

One hundred years ago Cadillac did something radical. They introduced a car with a self-starter. Hard to believe today that if you wanted to start a car way back when, you had to stand outside in the cold and crank it. I'm sure this wasn't a lot of fun for a young Minneapolis man on a first date when it was twenty below zero. But someone came along with an idea and decided to do something about it.

Cars have come a long way since then. But there was a time when cars didn’t have tubeless tires, or hydraulic brakes, or shock absorbers. And at one time your only choice when it came to color was black. Eventually cars began to have brain boxes, little computer chips that took care of more and more facets of your vehicle’s operation. But to be honest I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with where this is all going. I know that the people designing these cars of the future have good intentions, but…

Last summer a Pop Science article titled “How Intelligent Cars Will Make Driving Easier and Greener” caught my attention because for some reason the idea of cars doing all the thinking for us humans seems a little disconcerting to me. The article stated that not only will our cars predict what other drivers will do, they will also predict what pedestrians will do next as well. Now this month Wired magazine has a feature story that insists the next car you drive will drive itself.

Hmmm. I have a problem with this. For example, I recently spent six hours talking to tech support in India in an attempt to get our H-P computer to communicate with our H-P printer. Do I really want to be on my cell phone with a tech guy in India when my car fails to go in reverse? Or decides to drive to the Napa auto parts store when I want to go eat lasagna at Olive Garden?

That’s really not my biggest fear. What about when car thieves of the future start hacking your Camaro’s control center and drive it off to some slice and dice parts warehouse? It all just seems so weird to me.

But the honchos behind all this nigh tech fandango are committed. This past October the 18th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems convened for five days to discuss the future of transportation in this country. These folks are earnest about the possibilities of connectedness and travel. And there are plenty of companies involved in bringing this emerging technology into the automotive field.

Tom Vanderbilt, author of the article in Wired, falls all over himself in praise of Google's efforts in the development of these futuristic robotic cars. Here's one excerpt.

“The Prius begins to seem like the Platonic ideal of a driver, against which all others fall short. It can think faster than any mortal driver. It can attend to more information, react more quickly to emergencies, and keep track of more complicated routes. It never panics. It never gets angry. It never even blinks. In short, it is better than human in just about every way.”

The Wired article isn’t really about what Toyota and Ford have been doing for near two decades. They were exploring what the Google-nauts are up to, because Google seems just as invested in robotic transport systems as the old-timey players.

“While Google wants to create, in essence, computers that drive, the auto industry has been trying to make its vehicles drive more like computers. Bolstered by increasingly powerful and affordable sensors, sophisticated algorithms, and Moore’s law, the world’s carmakers have been slowly redefining what it means to be a driver, encouraging us to offload everything from shifting gears to parallel parking. The automated car isn’t just around the corner—it’s here. The more interesting question isn’t when we will let go of the wheel completely but what form and purpose the car will have when we finally do.”

I’m grateful for the many benefits technology has given us. But when you look at what it costs to fix a driver’s side door window because the electronic switch doesn’t work ($400), it starts to concern me where all this is headed.

For some reason I’m not quite ready to give up control of my steering wheel. Of course, for all we know the jet airplanes we fly on from city to city or continent to continent have only had pilots in the front to make us feel comfortable that some human is in control up there.
According to Wired, “The next generation of gearheads won’t obsess over horsepower and torque; they’ll focus on things like radar range, communication latency, and pixel resolution.” Really? Tell that to the Fast and Furious crowd. But then again, maybe I'm just an old fogey.

My next question relates to insurance. If my futuristic Ford Focus runs into a school bus and kills three kids, is Ford responsible or is it my fault because I was in the back seat with my girl friend?

Oh well… What will be will be.

Ten Minutes with Artist/Cartoonist Simon Gray

2012-01-26T05:56:00.009-06:00

Last week at The Stagecoach, a relatively new gallery in Downtown Duluth, I saw some paintings by Simon Gray for possibly the first time. I was attracted to the intellectual playfulness as well as the structural design and execution of the pieces themselves. Local potter/artist Tonya Borgeson suggested that I would find it worthwhile to look at more of Gray's work, and when I did I remained impressed. He now lives in the Southwest so this interview was conducted by email.

Ennyman: How did you first become interested in art?
Simon Gray: I come from a family of artists. My grandfather, father and uncle all painted water colors. My brothers all drew and painted and creating art was the only thing I was ever interested in doing all through school.

E: Who are your biggest influences?
SG: My second major in my BFA program was Art History, I think the symbols in my work come from my interest in primitive people's art on cave walls and stones. We humans have always left symbols behind us.

Apart from that, my current influences range from film and television to advertising. I am inspired with the overlay of information on top of backgrounds and how that draws focus, and creates a narrative.

My biggest influence is the television news where you have a talking head in front of a background, another image up and to the side of the head and a scroll of words below the head. Somehow we take all this in a matter of course, and the narrative may or not be cohesive but it is always compelling to me.

E: How did you come to take an interest in cartooning?
SG: The cartooning quality comes from simplifying personal symbols so they become almost shorthand for me.

Cuneiform was the original starting place for my symbols, then Asian characters, then some simplified 2d images, and finally they evolved into the forms they are today.

E: I find it interesting the way your small 3-D images on various wood surfaces transform the whole piece into a 3-D landscape. What are you trying to accomplish with these pieces?
SG: I consider myself a Literal Artist.

LITERALISM - (Literal Painting) - Usually, consists of 3 things:

1. Multiplicity of painting styles on the same surface.

This establishes a surface, then denies or breaks that surface. The illusion of depth is both created and destroyed.

A visual tension is created that parallels the literal tension, felt by those of us who were taught by Modernists. We are wrestling to reestablish communication with our audiences. This communication was established by the Realist painters, broken by the Modernist painters, and has been occasionally nodded at ever since.

Most painters today have fallen comfortably into one of two camps: The seamless illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface, or: The establishment of the surface, by the deliberate application of the media.

But there are a few of us playing in the vapors between.

It’s not realism. It’s not abstraction
It’s both. And neither. At the same time.

It’s realism, under a plate of glass.
It’s abstraction, with a drop shadow.

2. A visual narrative, that may or may not make sense.

The visual narrative is unique to the artist. My works are screen shots. The running text scrolling under the nightly news, with imagery floating in the background. A talking head. Sound bites. Bits of conversations. Talking points. Some very important. Some nonsense. But all of it is a part of my daily existence. The same as it was for the painters in the caves of Lascaux.

3. A feeling of history, in the imagery or materials.

History is a key part of the picture. I am one in a long tradition of human beings who feel compelled to scratch out imagery on some kind of surface. The surfaces of my work must reflect this history. Some surfaces are found, and bring their own past. Some I have deliberately aged. The role of history in my work also has a personal connection for me. My grandfather, father and uncle were all self taught landscape painters. I still use their brushes.

To me this is just a mirror of the contemporary society I live in. My paintings are literally pages from a continuing diary. The imagery is what is in my head at the moment, and the background is what was suggested by the materials. I don't try to force too much of myself onto the materials.

E: What are you currently working on and where do you see yourself in five years?
SG: Currently I am working on found metal blanks. Most of my materials are salvaged or re-purposed surfaces. The detritus of modern society. The surfaces come to me with a history already and I can carry that story forward and add my own narrative.

I cannot predict what my next piece will look like, let alone projects 5 years down the road. The materials direct me, they are my path, I just follow.

E: What's the best way for others to see more of your work?
SG: The best place to see my work is at simongray.com. I am constantly uploading images. There is a link titled 'art' that leads to a page of paintings, some of which I did when i was living in the UK a few years ago.

There is also a wealth of other madness and scribblings there including music, books and my online cartoon series 'Yelling At Bees'. Maybe I to have too much spare time on my hands... hmmm.
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Wordless Wednesday: Let There Be Lights

2012-01-25T05:59:00.008-06:00

Goats

2012-01-24T06:49:00.008-06:00

Championship on the line. Ball on the five yard line. Though the quarterback has brought his team to this moment through many an adversary, he must still punch it into the end zone or all will be for naught. And even though it's only an intramural football championship on the line, it still feels as significant as...

It's the last play of the game. I was that quarterback. I called for an option, faked a hand-off and rolled left. There was absolutely nothing between me and the goal line. Tony Ruggerio was standing in the end zone wide open as well. For some reason I bolted for the goal instead of throwing the ball. Sadly, two steps from victory, I was snagged from behind. Game over.

I didn't really dwell on it a lot but it did sting because I made a bad decision. True, Tony could have dropped the ball. But he was wide open and he'd caught them all year. The following year I was off to college, then moved to Minnesota. My family moved to Pennsylvania so going home no longer meant returning to New Jersey.

Ten years later I visited my old neighborhood in Bridgewater, I ran into an old friend who was on that team. As soon as he saw me, instead of saying "Hi, how've you been?" he said, "Why didn't you throw it?"

That's the problem with being the goat. And you never forget. In fact, I cannot remember a single play from that intramural football season. I remember only the one, and it still stings.

So think of that when you think of these famous goats.

Billy Cundiff
It's bad enough that he missed that field goal in the last seconds of the NFL Championship this past weekend. Nowadays, the response in cyberspace is instant. And merciless. Having had the chance to tie the Patriots and take the game into overtime, he muffed it. I'm sure he'll never forget that kick for as long as he lives.

Bill Buckner
The guy had a stick, winning a batting title in 1980. He played in the All-Star Game for the Cubs one year. And he had over 2,700 lifetime hits in his twenty-year career. But this is not how we remember old Bill. Instead when we here the name Bill Buckner, with think of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Things were looking good for the Red Sox going into the 8th inning. But then, when the Mets tied it up the game went to extra innings. In the tenth, with two out, a simple grounder to first baseman Buckner should have clinched the World Series. Instead, he muffed it. Three singles followed and the Mets re-gained their stride... as well as the win. It would be many years still for the Red Sox to get the ghost of Babe Ruth off their backs.

Steve Bartman
Hoo boy. Talk about a goat. This poor fellow had to leave town. He is probably living somewhere under an assumed name so that no one from Chicago plugs him.

The incident occurred in October 2003 in another game six. This one was for the National League Championship. The Cubs were five outs away from winning the game and playing in their first World Series in over half a century.

In this incident the goat was not one of the players. Rather it was a fan seated in the front row of the left field corner. A fly ball was hit into the corner. Left fielder Moises Alou went to catch it, but the enthusiastic Bartman interfered, knocking it away. The next thing you know the Marlins, who should have been finished, were racking up runs, eight of them in all. Series tied, momentum shift, Cubs' hopes quashed. Marlins took game seven and went to the World Series.

Death threats followed and Bartman had to disappear. Life is hard, but especially so when you're a scapegoat.

The Museum Home of Matthew Onan

2012-01-23T06:11:00.010-06:00

I met Matthew Onan this past fall at the opening of Stagecoach, a new gallery in downtown Duluth. In the usual manner I asked what kind of art he liked to do and he mentioned a few things and we exchanged contact information. In his first email to me he stated, “I don’t think I mentioned that my biggest/favorite/most complex piece of artwork is my house.”

The first weekend in January I took the tour, and it made an impression on me. I've often heard and used the expression, "A place for everything and everything in its place," but I'd not actually seen it so applied to a living space. I felt challenged to do a more thorough job of organizing my own life.

What follows is an email exchange between myself and a young artist whose life, to a great extent, is art.

Ennyman: Your whole house is a work of art. How did this happen?
Matthew O: I enjoy beauty, as does every person, but more than the average person I need it as much as possible… visible all around me. Thus, ever since I was young, I would place things that I liked, that looked good and nice to me, on my walls, dresser space, etc., and arrange them so that they were “at their best.” By that I mean that their overall position within the context of the entire room, their near and distant neighbors/juxtapositions, all maximized the inherent beauty of the object. The object then was for ALL the objects, pictures on the wall, etc, to achieve their highest possibility.

Likewise, I always felt for and strove to achieve the highest possibility for the room itself. This was almost always done with objects, pictures, etc., that I had at hand, collected through the years. This process was repeated in approximately ten different rooms/apartments/studios in my post-high school years. Coming to live in this house then, I applied the same techniques, a process which took roughly three years. Not until the finishing touches were taking place did I start to think of it as art. Now I do, and quite strongly. It remains as static as possible, meaning that I keep things very neat, and while it is (naturally) still a functional space, I try to minimize the variance of those things that must come-and-go, change; for example, mail, dishes, kleenex boxes that become empty… for each of these contingencies I have a fixed method, or response. I view the house as a single piece of art… like a Dali painting that one can enter and move around, three-dimensionally. That metaphor does not fully work, but in ways it does. (I say Dali because he composes with things that are by definition unrelated, and random, but via his juxtapositions and overall composition, everything “works.”)

E: Your home repeats a red yellow green blue motif. What is the significance of these colors for you?
MO: The planet is green and blue, with a red core and yellow firmament. That’s one way to put it. It’s more of a feeling though, a feeling that the four colors evoke… they all like each other and are happy in each other’s presence. Most simply, they look good, and right, and balanced together. Green and blue especially… I guess because they are the “umbrella colors” to life.

E: You’ve designed each room so that it has a “best vantage point.” Do you have a favorite vantage point for the whole of your home?
MO: I did have you sit at that chair for it had a “best vantage point” aspect to it, though that was more an exception than the rule. I should have perhaps said a “better vantage point.” The set of rocks on the shelf going down to the basement, and the driftwood on the shelf in the laundry rooms are the two pure examples of a “best” vantage point (that I can think of now). Otherwise it is more an aggregate of vantage points. This is perhaps the most difficult aspect to describe. Take a statue for example. There are an infinite number of vantage points. The sculptor himself saw the work from this multitude of angles (there is a way to reconcile “infinite” to a human capacity, i.e. the sculptor’s seeing all the vantage points but this is not the place.) but no one else has, or will, or is even able to. Living in this house, this space, has given me a similar experience, in that I have had a very wide array of vantage points, and time to take everything in, and finely tune things in their arrangement and juxtapositions. Like a sculptor I feel that the finished product is still accessible to others minds’, but, necessarily, the full effect can only be felt by me. This is distressing in ways, but the distress fades when I realize that this is how it is for everyone, for all creations, experiences, etc…. the idiosyncrasity of life in general.

As I mentioned to you also, I hope one day for a post-bachelor student to do their thesis on this house/space/piece. I would allow them to live here, by him- or herself… and really soak things in… engage and study. This would make me very happy; for there to be someone who can, with time, begin to really “get” the place. This is not to say that someone like yourself, or the kind Ann Klefstad, (both being talented, insightful artists) don’t “get” some of the things I’ve done, or strove to get across, but there is this necessary element of time that I would like someone to delve into. In summary, the best vantage point is an aggregate of vantage points… not only directly, but also between the rooms and floors there are themes and connections… from obvious to intricate, but even the obvious need to steep into a person, due to the overall complexity. Lots of thought and fine-tuning went into this place, and being that it can only be seen one wall, or room at a time, (and these from so many vantage points!), it necessarily takes a longer, more patient process than most works of art. This seems, or may seem, to imply this has an edge on other forms of art, which is not my intent, or true. Rather, it is just different. Being so large, even a relatively simple, two-dimensional picture may be looked over too quickly, as there are so many surrounding distractions, even in a given room.

To the original question, which I hope I didn’t stray too far from, if I had to pick one vantage point it would definitely be that chair in the living room. From there areas of four rooms (one being an entryway) are visible. Also, as I mentioned to you, it is where I spend the most time, thus it has become perhaps the most (via largely the subconscious) finely tuned, i.e. reached its highest potential, insofar as it is a single vantage point; for again, the highest potential comes from the slow engagement of as many vantage points as possible.

E: You also “make art”… not just design your living space. What are you currently working on?
MO: I just finished a collage in homage to Paul Gauguin, using only images of his paintings. My aim was for something that he would like. There is lots of energy, or a sense of controlled chaos, with his vibrant color being very apparent. The scale of size is very large, which is something necessary to begin to try to portray a life like his. And his self portraits dominate if not in size, then in quantity, which is something he would approve in, or even insist on, if say he were to have commissioned this. In other words, he had quite the ego! I’m also doing some landscapes with wax and paint. They’re not large. Perhaps 5” x 7” on average.

E: What music do you listen to while painting, drawing or making your collages?
MO: I’ll put the iTunes on shuffle, when I do have music going. It’s probably a 50-50 split between having music on and silence. I like it all though, from female opera and heavy, heavy metal on one side of the spectrum, to acoustic and slower indie on the other side, with my favorite band ever, Modest Mouse, and orchestras being good examples of not so much the middle ground as spectrum spanners.

E: In closing I would suggest that it has been a while since someone made such an impact on me in so deep a way as Matthew and our time in his museum home. The very patient manner in which he shared his space with me, the very deliberate manner in which he orders his life has caused me to think more seriously about the almost reckless pace of my own life, with its debris everywhere. There's an almost worshipful attitude to and respect for the space, each room becoming a form of sanctuary. For this reason I wanted to share it here.

Thank you, Matt.

Sunday Catch All

2012-01-22T07:42:00.003-06:00

Ever notice how hard and crusty bread gets when it's all dried out? Hard to chew. It can even cut your gums. It's still nourishment but not a delightful way to get it. Do you think the same thing applies to dry text books in school? They contain information nourishing to the mind, but it's presented so dried out you can hardly chew it.

***

Last summer when I made up my mind to publish my novel and several volumes of short stories as eBooks, it seemed that I'd better go ahead and get an eBook reader. When my Kindle arrived we became fast friends, and I even wrote about it in a few blog entries including this one with the non-ambiguous title Love My Kindle.

Well, this week I discovered at least one drawback to eBooks and the devices that you read them with. Despite the ten day battery life, they still need to be re-charged. And if you live in Minnesota, but leave your recharger cord in Florida where you spent part of your vacation, you will not be happy when your Kindle runs out of juice. I have yet to have this kind of problem with a paperback novel or magazine.

Fortunately, even though our local Target store had the re-charging cords on backorder, our local Radio Shack came through for me and -- voila! I can read again!

***

Along the same lines, what are we going to do when the world as we know it comes to an end and there is no more electricity? I better hold onto my Reader's Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual so I know how to fix things around here. The last time I replaced my toilet by watching three videos on YouTube.

***
Speaking of eBooks, someone said they wanted to read some of the stories in my Unremembered Histories, but they didn't own a Kindle, Nook, iPad or Kindle Fire. I asked if she had a Chrome browser, and she said yes. Voila! She can read my books!

In fact, you can read eBooks on smart phones, too. Follow this link to a page where you can download Free Kindle Reading Apps for all your favorite devices. (O.K., not all, but a surprising number of them nevertheless.)

***

The trigger for all this rambling was an item I saw at Business Insider that indicated surprise that people were using their Kindle Fire tablets more for reading books than for surfing the web. Maybe the Kindle brand is so strongly associated with books that it becomes natural to groove with it in that manner. What could be more important than reading books?

Here's a little something to serve as a closing thought on all these matters, a poem by Beverly McLoughland called Surprise.

Surprise

The biggest
Surprise
On the library shelf
is when you suddenly
Find yourself
Inside a book-
(the HIDDEN you)
You wonder how
The author knew.

Have a wonderful day in your neighborhood. Thanks for stopping by.

You Can’t Always Know Who the Good Guys Are

2012-01-21T07:28:00.008-06:00

After a tour of duty in Afghanistan, former rock star wannabe Vin Sarno returns to his Savannah homestead to figure out where he wants to spend the next chapter of his life. Shortly after returning home he decides to kill time by helping with his father’s “Ghost Tour” business. Doing midnight walking tours through Old Savannah brings back memories of Kabul, including a bad experience with some real spooks he encountered during a short prison stint in that shattered land.

You Can't Always Know Who the Good Guys Are is journalist Gerald Flanagan’s first novel and once it gets going it’s a riveting nail-biter. The pace at first feels like the angst of an existential stain squeezed from an over-sized abscess. But once Flanagan paints the setting, the story is a runaway train and though you’ve been down this track before the only thing you know for sure is that your hero will never be the same.

In the midst of everything is an unrequited love with ambiguous possibilities. Aliyah is the daughter of a Taliban chieftain who finds it impossible to believe Sarno can bring her the deliverance she so longs for from this insane life she’s endured. There are few places on earth where it is more difficult to be a woman.

Flanagan, who served as an embedded journalist in the Iraq war also lived in Karachi, Pakistan and Kabul where he reported on the hunt for Osama bin Laden for two British magazines and the Washington Post. With ease he paints the scenery which serves as backdrop for the story.

The Savannah portions of the book have just enough levity to release some of the tension readers will experience. The graveyard and ghost stories that have become entertainments today contain kernels of horror that find echoes amongst the Taliban. The manner in which the author takes the impossible and convinces readers that it is probable is quite astonishing.

Perhaps at the root of the story is Sarno's pain at knowing that his future with Aliyah can never work out, and that the entire mission of his life has been an epic struggle in futility. Nevertheless he knows no other path.

What I like most about the book is when Flanagan causes the story to intersect with real events, including when Pat Tillman was killed by "friendly fire" and the first attempt on Osama bin Laden near the caves below the Khyber Pass. The net result is to create the impression that this fictional adventure/drama may actually be a true account of events that journalists are restricted from writing about.

Ultimately, if you can't find the book at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, the reason might be that this review is itself a fictional review of a fictional book. If you like fiction, especially the kind where you have trouble discerning the line between real and improbable, you may enjoy my own books of short stories, especially Unremembered Histories and Newmanesque.

In the meantime, have a great weekend. There is always more to look forward to. And tonight, if you're in Duluth looking for something to do, visit Beaners Central to hear singer/songwriter Caitlin Robertson perform at Seven. Heartwarming music, and good java for a cold January night.

Unless otherwise noted, all paintings and illustrative material at this site has been created by Ennyman.

Ten Minutes with Gary Swanson, The Modern Primitive

2012-01-20T06:00:00.011-06:00

Last Friday night there were three art openings within walking distance of one another in Downtown Duluth. That morning I wrote about the PRØVE, Ochre Ghost and Washington Galleries in the hopes of generating a bit of a Gallery Hop that evening. Gary Swanson's sculptures were on display at the Washington in a unique presentation with two other artists.

Earlier this week I met with Swanson to learn more about his background and motivations. His American Primitive series is simply marvelous. I don’t know if all public school art teachers are this thoughtful and insightful, but if even only half were I believe I’ve found a new basis for hope in public education.

Ennyman: How did you first take an interest in art?
Gary Swanson: My interest in art stems from watching my mother while growing up. She was a very crafty lady. She was creative at using materials she could find. She grew up in the Depression era. She never threw anything away. It left a mark on her. We couldn’t eat at the kitchen table because it was always covered with projects she was working on.

We were also a musical family. My father taught and we sang a lot as a family. I also had a cousin who had an effect on me, Louanne Peterson. She was a painter who also did collage and assemblage art.

E: You got a BFA in 1980. What attracted you to teaching art to elementary school kids?
GS: I didn’t find teaching. Teaching found me. While getting my art degree I took education courses, “just in case.” Teaching was Plan B.

My wife Jean and I were hired in Solon Springs. They were seeking to fill one position with a person who had both art and music training. We said to them, “Hire us and we’ll split the job.” This worked out great for us as one of us was always at home while the other was at school. She’s now choir director in Solon Springs. After eight years I moved to the Maple school district where I’ve been for 23 years.

The more time I spent in the classroom, the more it felt like a calling.

E: What prompted you to return to school and get your MFA?
GS: There were incentives. You could raise yourself on the salary scale by continuing your education. The district wants you to continue picking up credits. It was different when our kids were little. In 2005, when the kids were grown it made sense.

When I went back I decided to focus on outside art. By that I mean the art of primitive cultures, children, and, let’s say, cognitively challenged. All of these groups are highly intuitive, self-taught artists. I wanted to focus on outsider art and its influence on modern art.

I began with German Expressionism and how it became a bridge to modern art. This became the foundation of my concept of “Modern Primitive” in which I fuse discarded materials with modern manufactured materials.

I’ve always wanted my work to be authentic. I wanted to make a statement.

E: What role does art play in the schools? Why is it important to support our art programs?
GS: Thankfully, in our district we’ve had strong support (for the arts.) But you have to make an effort to make the art visible. Any time I can put artwork for public viewing . I’m all over that.

Children’s art, from the standpoint of creativity, problem solving and fostering imagination, is key to education. Art movements have shaped our culture. And fostering imagination I vital.

There can be an emphasis (in our culture) on herd mentality. Art and music offer a reprieve through freedom of expression.

I like to say that I’m an art facilitator, not a teacher. Their art is just as just as important. They inspire me.

E: What kinds of objectives does an elementary school art teach set for his students?
GS: I try to give them a variety of materials. Materials drive the pieces. It’s your reaction to the materials that create the outcomes. Different kinds of paint, wood, etc. I plan out materials and let them discover, giving them a chance for discovery.

Swanson explained that “You have to keep your art behind the curtain.” By this he meant that it is the natural inclination of the students to want to emulate the teacher. In the art realm, his aim is to avoid this happening so that their on innate creativity emerges.

E: You went to college in the late 70s and again this past decade. How has the teaching of art changed over that period of time?
GS: The technology, especially the Internet. In the 70’s you would dig through the library to find artists and study their work. Now, there is so much online. You can find examples of every artist’s work. You can reference and cross-reference…

In my experience there’s more emphasis today on environmental issues. Green art wasn’t even on the scene. Social issues are also being reflected in today’s art. There’s a greater awareness of political correctness. There’s also a greater sensitivity to community, which surprises me a little. There’s a greater sense of community and community action.

E: Who are your favorite artists?
GS: I’ve been attracted to the work of Jean Dubuffet. Raw art. His work is fascinating. I also like the boxes of Joseph Cornell. Marc Chagall. Louise Nevelson. The list could go on and on.

Gary Swanson's assemblage sculptures reflect a certain comic streak that is within the artist himself. When he describes some of the ways he teaches, including wearing costumes at times, you get a sense that here is a thoughtful man who knows he is blessed at having found his calling. It was a joy meeting him last Friday evening and again for this interview Tuesday.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

DAI Gallery Celebration Makes For Memorable Evening

2012-01-19T05:54:00.008-06:00

Last night's Duluth Art Institute Gallery Celebration at the Depot revealed just how vibrant the Twin Ports art scene is becoming. The quantity and variety of visual works on display showed just how much inebriating fermentation has been going on here in the Northland. Tangier 57 was on hand to provide the perfect melodic accompaniment for this night dedicated to the arts.

The Duluth Membership Show seemed more extensive than ever, crawling over every available surface in the Depot's Great Hall. Inasmuch as one of the rules for displaying your work is that it has to have been created within the past year, it just seems remarkable how many patrons of the arts were exhibiting this year, from passionate beginners to lifelong professionals, and everything in between.

Many of the names are familiar from Tonja Sell, Gary Reed and Scott Murphy to Lee Englund and Tonya Borgeson. But there are countless new faces as well. For example, this was the first time Aaron Kloss has participated, contributing a painting titled Twilight Birch Triptich (right).

Many of the pieces show the artist's appreciation of our natural surroundings with themes like Lake Walk Snow, Winter's Blast, Woodland Art, North Lake Cairn, Lake Superior, Lester River Waterfall, Ode to a Flower and Over the River, Through the Woods.

Some pieces reference art history, like Teresa Kolar's 3 Birds with Kandinsky Circles, and Kris Nelson's Van Gogh's Chair Emerging, which I found particularly fun. (Fun is perhaps the wrong word when discussing the sensitive and anguished Van Gogh, but the piece itself was delightful to encounter.)

Upstairs there were additional exhibits. In the balcony area known as the John Steffl Gallery you could take in Steve Read's (un)natural reactions, a cross between minimalist sculpture and the expressions of nature, particular in relation to the North Shore. Kathy McTavish's Birdland filled the George Morrison Gallery with evocative sound and imagery.

To sum up, even if you missed the opening, the work will be on display through March 1, and you owe it to yourself to check it out. And for those who want to do more than simply see the pieces, you may wish to engage the artists themselves. Kathy McTavish will be leading an artist dialogue on February 2 at 5:30 p.m. and Steve Read will conduct the same on January 26, again at 5:30 p.m.

Whatever your taste, there's something for everyone. Maybe you look at something and don't "get it" but then you walk around a corner and it's an "Aha"... Art can do that to you. Sometimes it can even change your life.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Wordless Wednesday, January 18, 2012

2012-01-18T06:04:00.007-06:00

Who's the Greatest Guitarist of All Time?

2012-01-17T05:52:00.009-06:00

It happened that about a dozen years ago or more I was asked to settle a dispute between two co-workers. One claimed Eddie Van Halen should get the nod, the other placed Hendrix on that ultimate pedestal. It was up to me to choose the tie-breaking vote. It wasn't really that hard for me. I first made my case for Eric Clapton. But ultimately, for innovation, influence and mastery, well Hendrix really was one of a kind.

It's the kind of debate that has gone on in every field of endeavor no doubt. Who is the greatest boxer? Who was the most influential writer? Who is the most talented magician? What is the best jazz album of all time?

These kinds of debates are probably fairly meaningless in one sense. What I have to think of say about it doesn't influence much of anything. But when a magazine like Rolling Stone weighs in... well, it may not settle the debate for some people but it does reveal how many talented rock and roll guitarists there have been out there. And if nothing else, it gives the publication a chance to sell a lot of magazines. If you're into rock 'n roll guitar, the December 8, 2011 Rolling Stone just might be the ticket.

Before going any further I should note that the electric guitar and the guitar are two different animals. The wonderfulness of a guitar used to be that you could take it anywhere. You could bring it to a remote village or a family reunion or to the beach for a serenade. You can lead choruses or make solitary revelry anywhere in the world with nothing more than a guitar.

Rock and roll music as we know it requires amps and electricity and sound systems. When Dylan was in Duluth in 1998, the team running the sound system was on the floor of the DECC in the midst of parallel 100 foot longs tables covered with dials and wires and assorted equipment designed to control volume, pitch, yaw and all the rest. This kind of music is not something you bring to a mountaintop except on your iPod.

The Rolling Stone special edition is fun because most of the writers are themselves guitarists or rock musicians. The Eric Clapton profile is written by Eddie Van Halen. The George Harrison piece is penned by Tom Petty. Keith Richards writes about Chuck Berry and Nils Lofgren of the E Street Band writes about Richards. It just adds a dimension that you won't find in most other places.

So let's cut to the chase.

Rolling Stone pretty much settled that one debate between my co-workers by placing their selection for numero uno on the cover. There was only one Hendrix. I still remember the incredible sounds that his three-man band produced on their first album, Are You Experienced? As Tom Morello writes, "He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage." Where he came from and how he accomplished the things he achieved are a book length story. Suffice it to say, few would argue with placing him first and foremost in this list.

I won't be listing all one hundred here, but we really do need to comment on a few of them. Eric Clapton did rock the world with his guitar. Van Halen writes, "Eric Clapton is basically the only guitar player who influenced me – even though I don't sound like him. There was a basic simplicity to his playing, his style, his vibe and his sound. He took a Gibson guitar and plugged it into a Marshall, and that was it. The basics. The blues. His solos were melodic and memorable – and that's what guitar solos should be, part of the song. I could hum them to you."

I myself had all the Cream albums. The live jams on side three of Wheels of Fire never ceases to satisfy.

Number three on the list is Jimmy Page. I remember being in Scott Homan's basement when we heard the first Led Zeppelin album with songs like Dazed and Confused. Page, whose roots had been with the Yardbirds, lived the rock and roll dream and has survived to tell about it. Joe Perry writes, "He had this vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do... He was writing the songs, playing them, producing them – I can't think of any other guitar player since Les Paul that can claim that."

Times of have changed in the music scene, but rock and roll is intimately woven into the Sixties. Much like the atmosphere that sustains life on earth, it nourished imaginations, and comforted a lot of souls during a time of great upheaval.

Time will not permit more than mentions of the rest of the top ten, as selected by Rolling Stone. There is Keith Richards of the Stones weighing in at #4, Jeff Beck #5, B.B. King at #6, Chuck Berry #7, Eddie Van Halen #8, Duane Allman next, and rounding out the top ten is the irrepressibly intense Pete Townshend of The Who.

One of the names on this list (#92) is Dimebag Darrell, who was shot to death while performing in Columbus in 2004. I mention this only because it's proof that going on stage really can be hazardous to your health. Fame isn't the only killer of rock stars.

Much more can be told here, but... I'm on a deadline. If you're favorites are not here, check out the full Greatest Guitarists list at Rolling Stone.

Photos at top of page by Andrew Perfetti

Five Minutes with Duluth Art Institute Director Kristin Duckart

2012-01-16T06:02:00.006-06:00

In 2011 we saw a transition at the Duluth Art Institute (DAI). Samantha Gibb, after eight years at the helm, stepped aside, having accomplished many important objectives including placing the DAI on a stronger financial foundation.

This week the DAI is celebrating four shows opening on Wednesday, January 18. It will be a big night with the much enjoyed DAI Member Show, Emerging Photographers, Kathy McTavish's Birdland, and Stephen Read's (un)natural reactions exhibit in the John Steffl Gallery. In short, it seemed like a good time to meet the new director of the Duluth Art Institute.

Ennyman: What was your background before coming to DAI?

Kristin Duckart: I've had the privilege of working in many different types of environments; from managing an art gallery in Minneapolis, as an educator in a large medical group, running a family business, serving as a District Governor for Rotary International, to leading the development efforts for a Fine Arts college, and volunteering for a multitude of nonprofits. All have been incredible, but most of my professional efforts have centered around nonprofit organizations. Many years back, as a young mother with two small boys at home on the family farm, I found myself craving a connection with community. I was recruited to work as the development director for the boys' school and was eager to roll up my sleeves and give it a try. I had been managing the family business for several years and was seeking something different. After successfully raising 2.5 million dollars in an eight month period, I was well on my way to a whole new profession. That was the beginning of my long career in raising funds and awareness for non-profit groups. From Universities, medical groups, and several posts on nonprofit boards, the jobs and opportunities continued to find me. My favorite position of all, however, was while serving in a key role for the University of Wisconsin - College of Fine Arts and Communication. Helping build a strong relationship between the arts college and community quickly became one of the most exciting opportunities thus far. I remember my eagerness to get to work every day because there were so many creative, imaginative, brilliant, and outright fun people to spend my days with. That was several years back and to this day, the artists and professors remain some of my best friends.

E: From where I sit, we seem to have a really vibrant arts community here in the Twin Ports. What's your take after being here a few months?

KD: I definitely agree! I'm amazed and excited to live in a community that fosters a healthy and unique arts community. I look forward to playing a supportive role in enhancing the opportunities for both artists and community members.

E: What kinds of issues does the Executive Director deal with on a day-to-day basis?

KD: Although I've worked in executive director positions previously, every organization is unique and it's important to me to take the necessary time to learn the "personality" and needs of the organization. I plan to do a lot of listening and learning these first six months. It will be easier to lead us down a successful path if I've taken the time to learn and understand the history of not only this organization, but the wonderful community in which it resides.

E: When did you begin to take an interest in art and did you paint, draw or...?

KD: I've had a deep appreciation for the arts my entire life. Although I cannot claim to be a painter, a sculptor, or a weaver per se, I enjoy creating artistic spaces for friends and family to enjoy. Most of my closest and dearest friends are artists. It's just always been that way. I seem to feel most connected while in the company of the artistic folks! We share a mutual respect for creativeness and caring in ways that I've not experienced with others. For years, I hosted artists, musicians and poets at my home up the shore. The gatherings were weekend retreats for old friends and new friends to come together and enjoy the arts on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. I miss those days and look forward to them again now that I've returned.

E: Why is it important for a community to support the arts?

KD: The arts are always a part of a vibrant and growing community. Our economic viability and quality of life are directly proportionate to the level of support and participation of the arts. Innovation in all disciplines often begins with creative exploration.

LEARN MORE about this week's upcoming exhibitions at the Duluth Art Institute.

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points

2012-01-15T07:37:00.007-06:00

"The only difference between Dali and a madman is that I am not mad." ~Salvador Dali

Before heading to the Dali Museum at the end of 2011 I wanted to be sure I remembered how to get there, so I checked out Google Maps for the correct exit to reach 398 5th Ave SE, Saint Petersburg, FL. The beltway around Tampa Bay is Highway 275. The exit you need goes onto Highway 175.

What intrigued me about this map, however, was that Highway 175 is but a few blocks long. Because of its brevity it seemed strange to call it a highway. At the time I almost wrote a blog entry about it titled, "The Shortest Highway In America." But then I considered some facts about the matter.

First, is it really the shortest highway in America? And second, how long is it, exactly?

If my math experience serves me well, this little road just happens to be the shortest distance between two points, or in math lingo, it is a line from point A to point B. But, according to math theory if you cut the line in half into two equidistant line segments, each one in itself would be composed of an infinite number of points because by definition if you keep cutting the segments into halves, you can keep cutting them into smaller and smaller sections forever because between any two points is an infinite number of points.

In short, I concluded that this small stretch of highway is the same length as Route 66, from Chicago to L.A.

It's easy, then to see why the Greeks had such a problem with the concept of infinity. It can turn common sense into nonsense, just like a lot of our government's laws and regulations today. How tall is a mountain of red tape? Don't ask, because you just don't want to go there.

In the meantime, I believe I'm reaching the end of my rope. I think I've made my point.

Bad Ideas: The Eugenics Movement In America

2012-01-14T06:43:00.006-06:00

Let’s say it again. Bad ideas have bad consequences.

Tuesday on National Public Radio I listened to a story about one of the victims of a forced sterilization program in North Carolina. At age 14, when she was giving birth to her first child she was sterilized without her knowledge. At age 19, married and trying to have children, she discovered that a procedure was performed without her permission or even being told about it. Today a panel is recommending she be compensated for her loss.

The shocking part of the story is that this event occurred in 1966, not 1936 or 46. According to Wikipedia, the North Carolina Eugenics Commission was not abolished until 1977. What!?
In early 2010 I was astonished to learn that eugenics advocates managed to get 30 states to put laws on the books making the practice of forced sterilization legal. By 1933, the Human Betterment Foundation had documented over 16,000 such sterilizations. By the time they were finished it's been estimated that as many as 66,000 were victims of these procedures. What were they thinking?

The Winston-Salem Journal’s five-part series blows the lid off this incredible chapter that took place right under our distracted little noses. It went on while Americans were watching Leave It To Beaver. It went on while Americans were dying for freedom in Southeast Asia, and while Americans filled amusement parks from Disneyland to Six Flags. And we never knew.

The story raises many questions. Why did North Carolina continue the practice after most other states had abandoned it? Which raises the next question. How did it come to pass that at least 30 states had laws permitting the practice of forced sterilization.

And then, the spooky question… What are some of the things our government is doing today that we do not even know about, that they do not want us to know about, but which we will learn about in the future when our own kids are grown?

I do not know the numbers, but would guess that the quantity of pills being distributed to children to help with behavioral modification in school may be questioned at some point. It might even shock us the degree to which people in mental institutions are being forced to ingest pharmaceuticals against their will, “for their own good.”

Who are the people making these decisions?

The North Carolina story that has been making news this month, however, has more to do with the problem of how to right the wrongs. A panel has recommended that the state pay one of the victims $50,000. Is that supposed to be the equivalent of justice? That feels like a strange amount to me, a token gesture that says, “Gee, we, uhm, were wrong. Sorry.” No amount of cash is going to make this one right.

The scariest thing to me is that there are still people who believe forced sterilization is good and necessary, and the problem is that those who govern us just don’t have the will to do “what needs to be done.”

I was actually pleased to hear this story being talked about so publicly. It's an ugly chapter in our history, but a good reminder of what can happen when idealism runs amok.

Openings Tonight at PRØVE, Ochre Ghost and Washington Galleries

2012-01-13T05:56:00.009-06:00

If you're looking to get out and about in the Twin Ports tonight, check out the art openings at Ochre Ghost, PRØVE and Washington Galleries.

For one night only at the Ochre Ghost Gallery from 6:00 p.m. till 10, internationally acclaimed recluse painter Angorki Spytec of Soudan, Minn., will be exhibiting a retrospective of 10 Years of his most recent work: Paintings and Boxes. Ochre Ghost is located at 22 N. Second Avenue East, and if you've never been there, tonight would be a great night to check in.

From here you can take the alley two blocks over to Lake Avenue and catch a whiff of the energy on display at the PRØVE, with refreshments provided by Sir Ben's and DJ work by the Crunchy Bunch, who seem to be a fixture now at this gallery.

This is the PRØVE's third show, titled Field. The five young men who opened this gallery in November are excited about this show which has new works from other artists besides themselves. Thematically the call went out for art that was made of pieces that were repeated and varied but when assembled combined to make a whole.

The back wall, for example, is a series of sixteen small colorful pieces which have been assembled in something of a grid that catches your attention and stands together as a much larger whole as a result.

According to Anthony Zappa, one of the reasons this show features the work of other artists is because Steven Read's energy was diverted to an exhibit he has assembled for the Duluth Art Institute called (un)natural reactions.

When I stopped by last night to grab the pictures you see here, I spoke with Nicolas Monson and Anthony Zappa about some of the things they have learned through this new experience of owning a gallery and curating shows. Zappa said the biggest lessons have been in the practical realm. "Scheduling and organization" was mentioned. "We've learned the importance of meetings." The gallery is as much a business as it is a venue to show their work.

Four of the five principles have known each other for four years. The fifth member of the team, Rick Hansen of Sound Unseen, brings another dimension to the group. "Rick brought us a ton of publicity," Monson said. "He has connections" that the students didn't have and that has been a big help.

For more on the PRØVE check out Christa Lawler's review in yesterday's Wave.

When you finish seeing all there is to see at the PRØVE (including your friends) and if it's not unreasonably cold, take that short uphill hike to the Washington Gallery at 315 Lake Avenue for an art exhibit titled "Lost, Found and Reassembled," featuring works by artists Gary and Jacob Swanson and Madison Ohm. Looks like fun to me. 6-9 if you've got the time.

Check it out... it's a Twin Ports Art Walk. Wear your best scarf.

Seven Minutes with Painter Melanie Sternberg

2012-01-12T06:22:00.008-06:00

I first noticed Melanie Sternberg's work at Hanabi, a local restaurant serving Japanese cuisine in Downtown Duluth. Her engaging, vividly colorful paintings looked right at home there. A month later, at the Play Ground, she displayed several new pieces in conjunction with a performance titled "Radiance" by the Avalon Dance Troupe. Last weekend, Sternberg showed another group of paintings that Limbo Gallery curated in conjunction with the opening of the Zstudio for their Grand Opening last week which included works by John Heino, Jeffrey Woolverton, Eris Vafias, Ed Newman & Lesley Lipke (on display through the end of January.) Sternberg's energy is fully plugged in and it translates well into the paintings she creates.

Ennyman: When did you first take an interest in art?

MS: It all started with home art projects growing up. Painting ceramic ornaments, flocked posters, light brights, homemade Barbie clothes, carving pumpkins-- basically anything having to do with colors and some sort of process inspired me. My first painting was in kindergarten head start with the love of my life by my side – ‘Jerry'-- or like we used to call him -- 'spike'. We finger painted with purple and red,-- I have since refrained from creating paintings with love interests. I think our relationship ended at the water fountain.

E: Who have been your biggest influences as a painter?

MS: Words are inspiring to me, writers like Bertrand Russell, John Ruskin, anything about iconology/iconography, different art movements and periods or historical record -- it all inspires me. I imagine them -- how they created the works we study, and how the works shaped the world consciousness. Artists like the Lourembourg Brothers, Kandinsky, Rothko, -- way to many to name from history. Presently I love all fashion and patterns and people -- everything inspires me. I can’t even focus while answering this. Music is huge! My professors and peers along with my family have always influenced my work, whether it be painting, photography, drawing, collage, coloring, or just singing around. I’m making art… I just breathe art.

E: Do you have a name for your style of painting and what are you striving to accomplish with your work?

MS: I have never tried to define my style with one word or a title. I don’t know if the idea applies to my work as my work is dictated by spontaneous intuitive responses and the simple placement of parts. I do not know what I do, so I don't feel like I can tell you for sure one thing. I can tell you many things, stories, show you colors and imagery that has risen from me. I can show you calculated works and master copies that I have made, too -- on the opposite spectrum, but they are not expressive of my artistic nature or ideas about 'where' art is going. Art is going everywhere -- it is a constant explosion into all directions. If art were linear and directed it would lack the freedom from definition that is necessary for an individual to have a 'semi-natural' response (semi-natural because we know it is literally impossible for any person to have a reaction void of stimuli.) My 'intention' is to create a response in my viewer, just like every artist is, I believe.

E: What kind of music do you listen to when you're painting?

MS: I love music -- which is obvious looking at my work, full of patterned colorful parts or notes or shades -- however you like. But I listen to a variety of music while working. (So no people -- I cannot tell you what 'song' this painting is about because it took me over a year to finish -- and I did not hit repeat.) I can tell you that I am currently listening to Florence and the Machine, Adele, India Arie, anything blues, folk, rock 'n roll, a little country and the good stuff, Patsy Cline, both Hanks, Cash of course... I love cowboys, so that sums it up. This list could go on forever, too. I enjoy upbeat music mainly. I love live music and being serenaded.

E: What do you see yourself doing in five or ten years?

MS: I think I may still be here in Duluth, there is no telling. Hopefully still working within the arts and still making art as well. I never know the answer to this question. I am everywhere all the time.

E: Where can we see more of your work, both in the Twin Ports and online?

MS: Right now I have two shows. I have work hanging at Hanabi Japanese Cuisine, a second showing of 'Duluth Colors.' You can find the album on my Facebook -- via my page “The Painted Lady.” You can view all of shows there. Duluth Colors hangs until Feb 18. The second show I had the pleasure of being part of was at the super cool new ZStudio dance studio located under the Electric Fetus. The show hangs until the end of February as well.

E: Where can we see more of your work, both in the Twin Ports and online?

MS: Right now I have two shows. I have work hanging at Hanabi Japanese Cuisine, a second showing of 'Duluth Colors.' You can find the album on my Facebook -- via my page “The Painted Lady.” You can view all of shows there. Duluth Colors hangs until Feb 18. The second show I had the pleasure of being part of was at the super cool new ZStudio dance studio located under the Electric Fetus. The show hangs until the end of February as well.

Click images to enlarge.

Wordless Wednesday: The JFK Assination

2012-01-11T06:08:00.009-06:00

Miscellaneous Notes Off Scraps In My Office

2012-01-10T05:53:00.007-06:00

I am in the process of attempting a thorough beginning-of-the-year cleaning of my office and a few other spaces in my life. I've tried a variety of techniques for accomplishing this in the past, but most are just temporarily effective and never thorough. This weekend I visited someone's home that was extreme on the other end of the spectrum, orderly and uncluttered. Every item in the house (with the exception of maybe one room) had been purposefully arranged. Everything had a place and everything was in its place.

As a result of this visit, I felt inspired to tackle my own space. In the past I've tried books like Clutter's Last Stand to no avail. Perhaps I was using the book incorrectly, as a prod to poke me instead of a vision to inspire me. For whatever reason, I consider clutter to be something like the tide. It goes out, it comes back. It recedes, it rushes back in.

Sunday afternoon I began once more to give it another go. Some progress has been made and to the degree that I continue, more will be achieved. As for now, it feels good to be able to see the top of my desk again. I also found some important papers that I hadn't seen in a while.

Here below are some less important notes from various scraps I found buried on my desktop. Maybe you'll find some of this as interesting as I did.

*****

Dream about Misplacing Things
I hate misplacing things so when I went to put my gutter back on in the spring, I went out to my garage and it wasn’t where I usually store it for the winter. I started looking for it, first in the obvious places and then in the basement and then behind the shed. Finally, I remembered where it was. I had shipped it to my brother in New Jersey. He said it was in a storage locker in Atlantic City.

*****

Zelig
Educating Rita
About Schmidt
Tenth Man
Tender Mercies
Remains of the Day
Groundhog Day
Awakenings
12 Angry Men
Truman Show
Trip to Bountiful
What About Bob?

*****

The bigger the plane, the longer the runway.

Fiddling while Rome burns?

“Our destiny chooses us. You can’t run from who you are.”

“It’s about letting the butterfly go and it comes back by itself. Animals and children instinctively recognize that energy around a person. If someone really wants the child to come over, the child usually doesn’t, because it’s not as sweet an energy. But if they sense a bigness and not just a pulling, it’s sweeter.”

“Describe what you see.”

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Idea for a painting. Have someone paint something for me, but I sign it, and call it mine. Title: “Damien Hirst Made Me Do It.”

The Last Shard (title)

Garrett McKinnon. The Dark and Deadly Sky

Proliferation of Meanings

Matthew Oman, Red Yellow Blue Green

George Catlin

Murder Is My Beat: Classic Film Noir Themes
Bohren & Der Club of Gore
John Zorn, Naked City
Another Shade of Blue
Jazz In Film, Terrence Blanchard
Pete Rugulo
Stan Kenton

“In every relationship there lies a possibility of influence.” ~Andre Gide

Electric wires and sky

Vulnerability

And the Beat Goes On

Have a great day... and let the light guide your way.

GA Gardner Exhibit at the Athenauem Gallery

2012-01-09T19:43:00.004-06:00

If you're anywhere near Alexandria, VA at the end of the month and you happen to be an art opening groupie, you'll need to check out GA Gardner's "Interconnections" exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery, 201 Prince Street, curated by Jarvis DuBois. The reception will be Sunday, January 29 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. If you can't make the opening, Interconnections will be on display from January 26 - March 11.

According to the press announcement, Gardner uses the vibrant colors and energy of his native Trinidad and Tobago in his paintings and mixed media works to address our often-complicated relationship with mass communication.

Gardner’s works provide keen insight into how the proliferation of media in contemporary society results in a cacophony of mixed messages. Intricate layers of painted printed strips cover some canvases to interpret today’s advanced, digital modes of communication and their relationship to an intended thought or message. His uniquely vivid palette recalls the sky, sunsets, sea, and terrain of his Caribbean roots — yet his subject matter, style, and content speak more to our fast-paced urban environment.

Gardner's work has been exhibited at museums and galleries in New York, China, and the Caribbean, as well as seen on CNN’s Larry King Live and in the New York Times among other outlets. Gardner has been greatly influenced by not only his upbringing in the Caribbean but also his overlapping careers as an animator, researcher, author of 14 books on Art Education, and a professor at George Mason University in Virginia. These experiences, complemented by his world travels, influence the strongly textural and multilayered canvases of his artistic production. Jarvis DuBois is an independent curator and arts consultant based in Washington, DC.

The Athenaeum is owned by the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association which is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all forms of art, and to establishing programs that will enrich the cultural life of Northern Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan area. As the primary site for these activities, the NVFAA owns and maintains the historic building.

This past year Mr. Gardner consented to an interview here at Ennyman's Territory. I was impressed with the man and his evolving craft. I'm sure this exhibition will not disappoint.

Photo: Freedom, by GA Gardner. Diptych, mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48". Click image to enlarge.

Kehinde Wiley: Mastering the Classics

2012-01-09T06:21:00.008-06:00

During the holidays I had the opportunity to visit Savannah for the first time. I'd heard it was a beautiful city, and it did not disappoint. Savannah is famed for its history, its food, its riverfront, its architecture and its graveyards. It is also home to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Though the aim of our three night stay in Savannah was to visit my son, who is a manager in one of the city's many nice restaurants, I also very much desired to take in the SCAD Museum of Art. It was worth the visit.

Among the exhibits on display at this time is the work of a New York-based portrait painter named Kehinde Wiley. His paintings are very large, and in the style of the classic masters, except they are different.

A museum staff member said that Wiley takes people off the street (for example, Harlem) and has them choose a classic pose, but he paints them in their contemporary garb. My guess is that he is cleverly introducing these ordinary people to extraordinary slices of culture and art history. The piece here on the left is titled, The Three Graces.

This weekend I went online to find out more about Kehinde Wiley. On his website I found the following Artist Statement.

Kehinde Wiley’s portraits of African American men collate modern culture with the influence of Old Masters. Incorporating a range of vernaculars culled from art historical references, Wiley’s work melds a fluid concept of modern culture, ranging from French Rococo to today’s urban landscape. By collapsing history and style into a unique contemporary vision, Wiley interrogates the notion of master painter, “making it at once critical and complicit.” Vividly colorful and often adorned with ornate gilded frames, Wiley’s large-scale figurative paintings, which are illuminated with a barrage of baroque or rococo decorative patterns, posit young black men, fashioned in urban attire, within the field of power reminiscent of Renaissance artists such as Tiepolo and Titian.

What impressed me was not only the conceptual fusion of art history and Black American experience, the paintings themselves were masterfully produced. Wiley's brushwork demonstrates nothing short of wizardry.

I've forgotten how long the Wiley exhibit will be up but for now through the end of January you can see the paintings photographed here at the SCAD Museum of Art. To see additional works by Wiley, visit his page at the National Portrait Gallery website.

For what it's worth, this very young artist in his mid-thirties has a lot of years ahead of him. He'll be someone to keep an eye on in the 21st century.

Click images to enlarge.

The Revolution 5: All Beatles, All Night Long

2012-01-08T07:55:00.008-06:00

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." ~Lennon/McCartney

Last night we saw The Revolution 5 at the Teattro Zuccone in Duluth, MN. The Beatles tribute group shared a rich evening of Beatles with us in a show titled The Long and Winding Road: From Ed Sullivan to Apple.

There have probably been a number of groups who have enjoyed “becoming the Beatles” for a time and entertaining crowds with their music. I doubt many would be charging admission if they weren’t good, and this group of Midwestern musicians turned out to be very good. And their show was more than entertaining, despite their appearance being completely different from the original mop-top artists from Liverpool.

It may be that they were aware of how different they looked, because they didn’t just put on a show imitating the Beatles. The set had a Beatles “look” with the relatively spare drum kit and guitars. At the back of the stage was a screen upon which the name of the band was projected, in The Beatles’ font and graphic look. And most significantly, the show opened with actual footage from when Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles in 1964.

Grant Haake, the lead singer, is (my guess) in the neighborhood of 6’ 5”, towering above bass player John Tetrault. These guys could hardly look more different from one another, unlike the original Fab Four who many people almost couldn’t tell apart. The rapidity at which Grant and company won over the crowd despite this lack of symmetry in appearance was impressive. Being introduced by Ed Sullivan helped. Taking on the mannerisms of the Beatles helped. Performing so many great songs with such energy and proficiency blew the lid of everyone’s hearts as they embraced the evening of Tribute to the Beatles.

The first half of the show consisted of every Beatles song that they performed live for Mr. Sullivan’s audiences, beginning with All My Loving, the opening number. Haake talked about many of the songs for us in a Brit accent and for the entire evening he never went out of character. He never stopped being a Beatle.

The opening number was followed by Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, I want to Hold Your Hand from the February 9, 1964 show. The following week in 1964 the Beatles performed two more hits, This Boy and From Me To You. And the next week, probably back by insanely popular demand, we received two more offerings: Twist And Shout and This Boy.

There was another fun part of the show last night. Between some of the songs they played a few of the TV commercials that aired in 1964 on the real show, and they were hilarious. These brief interludes no doubt gave the band a chance to catch their collective breath because Beatles music can be high energy and the group here held nothing back in their efforts to re-create their sound.

The next group of songs came from the September 12, 1965 performance on the Sullivan show, the day after my 13th birthday. Haake mentioned at one point during this set that for the period of that hour there had been no juvenile crime in America. This segment included I Feel Fine, I’m Down, Act Naturally, Ticket To Ride, Yesterday and Help.

After the intermission we moved into the Apple years when the Beatles had stopped touring and developed their increasingly complex sounds in the studio. What was impressive last night was how The Revolution 5 was able to capture so much of the nuanced and complex layers of sound that the original Beatles had invented. Perfectionists might quibble that they used a synthesizer to play the horn sound on Penny Lane, but the deft inventiveness with which they reproduced the studio effects, especially on songs like Strawberry Fields Forever and A Day In The Life, was impressive.

The play list is far too long to recall here in its entirety, but thoughtfully reflective songs as well as rockers. Back in the U.S.S.R., Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help From My Friends, Two Of Us, The Long & Winding Road, Yellow Submarine, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Here Comes The Sun, Something, Blackbird, Ballad of John & Yoko, Taxman, and Revolution, among many others, made for a memorable experience. Every song received instant enthusiastic applause. Portions of the crowd were on their feet even before it was over, and at the end all of us were cheering for more. The encore followed, with dancing, clapping, smiling and laughing.

At the show’s end Grant Haake, Aaron Barthell, Louis Wineskowski, John Tetrault and drummer Charlie Phoenix were lined up at the exit to personally thank each of us for coming to their show. The Revolution 5 made it clear why the Beatles played such a significant role in the history and development of rock and roll.

If my review sounds a bit biased, it's because I was there. Here's a link to their website where you can learn more about the band, see their upcoming schedule and book tickets to see them yourself. I'm confident you'll enjoy the show.

11/22/63, The Rest of the Story

2012-01-07T06:44:00.009-06:00

No, I'm really not going to spoil the ending of Stephen King's latest bestseller, 11/22/63. But I will complete some thoughts about the book that didn't make it into Monday's review.

First, thought... If you dislike the word "obdurate" then do not read this book. Being a one thousand page book, you will have read this word between fifty and two hundred times by the time it's over. (Can someone get me a count on this?) Your brain will be bruised if you try to resist it. This word is out to get you.

As you already know, the novel is about a teacher and writer who goes back in time to change the past. But, as Stephen King reminds us over and over, "The past is obdurate and protects itself against change." In other words, King has personified "the past" so that it actually feels like it has a mind, volition and power to interfere with you if you mess with it. If you accept the premise of a character who goes back in time, you will have to give King credit for making the obdurate past one of the characters in his story.

Preventing the JFK assassination is our hero's quest. Jake Epping, who assumes the identity of George Amberson of 1958, actually has a two-step mission. Before interfering with Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination (his second objective), he must determine whether Oswald acted alone, or was actually indeed "the patsy" in a bigger plot.

We all know that King made his name by creating frightening nightmare tales and scenarios. Therefore, it would be out of character for King to make a straight story about a guy who tries to stop Lee Harvey Oswald. By necessity a King story almost requires a sinister element like the living past who is determined to thwart the hero's objectives.

JFK plays a relatively minor role in 11/22/63. That is, Kennedy's actions which get covered in the news serve as mile markers along the way toward his date with destiny. Instead, Lee Harvey Oswald's life and times are fleshed out to a degree that most people have forgotten. That he was a former marine, that he defected to the Soviet Union for a couple years, that he was initially arrested for shooting a police officer, J.D. Tippet, about 40 minutes after JFK was shot, that he had a stormy relationship with his wife Marina who was fluent in Russian, that he spent time in New Orleans handing out "Fair Play for Cuba" leaflets during the months preceding the assassination... these details and much more are fleshed out as Jake/George eavesdrops on his target's life.

Most of us forget, too, that Oswald was investigated for making an attempt earlier that year on General Edwin Walker's life with the same rifle he used to shoot the president. General Walker was a segregationist, anti-communist and right-wing extremist member of the John Birch Society. (Remember them?) Before the Kennedy assassination the Dallas police didn't have any suspects in the attempt on Walker's life. King brings all these characters back into focus to help recreate the past which is not only obdurate but often obliterating, that is, leaving many of its details obscured with fog.

There is a technique that writers use to help strengthen the bond between readers and characters. That technique is pain. That is, when a character, especially your hero, goes through pain the reader develops an increased empathy. Assuming we care at all about the characters, we cringe and we want to comfort them when they get hurt. So it is that King uses this tool to keep us in the game later in the book, for both Jake/George and his heart throb Sadie experience suffering in this story. (We writers can be so mean!) And though the suffering may just be a natural outcome of the characters' choices earlier in time, we readers know it is the inhuman past trying again to thwart our heroes from accomplishing their aims.

Whereas this book deals with a significant moment in history, I'm not sure it can be called an "important book" with regard to the event it revolves around. It's fiction, it's fun and it's written "for profit." Nevertheless, for those who care, King has set the stage for those who desire to see a more vivid re-creation of the times we or our parents once lived in. It's more than suitable as an informative form of escapist entertainment.

Right up to the end you'll be guessing what happens next. That's just how it is...

Photo captions: Images from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1963. Bottom right, the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. Click images to enlarge.

Is it OK for artists and writers to use assistants?

2012-01-06T06:04:00.003-06:00

Years ago I remember reading about how one of the famous names in romance novels used assistants to write her stories, which she published as her own. I seem to recall that she had something like eight writers cranking out her stuff and she got the glory. It seemed a variation on the ghost writer theme and I wasn't sure what I thought of it, though it did answer the question of how she could crank out so many books.

In 2010 when I interviewed Gillie Schattner here, who paints humorous pictures of dogs in human clothing, I learned that the sculptures they have created were built to their specs by another craftsman. Learning this blurred the line for me as regards what is the artist's work and what is not. The sculptures, and you can see a few here, are most assuredly and clearly the Schattners' ideas, translated into 3-D forms.

What brings these thoughts to mind is an item in this week's Daily Mail about David Hockney's public criticism of influential artist Damien Hirst for using assistants to produce the work which is sold solely under his name.

The trigger for this declamation was a poster Hockney erected for his new exhibition, "All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally." The statement was a deliberate barb intentionally aimed at pricking Damien Hirst, one of the wealthiest (if not the wealthiest and most successful) living contemporary artists.

According to the article, "Hockney, seen as Britain’s greatest living painter, believes that artists should produce their own works."

The timing of Hockney's complaint about Hirst is also interesting. A major exhibit of 300 spot paintings by Hirst will go on display in New York this coming week. These are large paintings with fields of spots of which he only painted five paintings because he got bored. In other words other people painted 295 of these paintings, but it is Damien Hirst's show.

The guy is a multi-millionaire and can afford the help, I suppose.

It may be that Hockney's ire has been bared because of the fawning Hirst receives in the art world today. If you read the comments at the end of the U.K. Daily Mail article, you will find this one that explains a measure of Hirst's popularity.

I have to say, that I having nothing but admiration for Damian Hurst, he has made millions by conning rich mugs into believing what he does is art, good luck to him.

Is this a good thing? It seems to me that this is the kind of sentiment that does more damage than good for serious artists because it calls into question the earnest problems many are wrestling with. When the public doesn't "get it" there is a follow up thought: "Maybe this guy is just pulling my leg."

Hockney's paintings over the course of his career have been impressive. Never the kind of high profile public figure that Picasso, Dali and Warhol have been, he is certainly someone that all the young painters of the 70's was familiar with.

As for Damien Hirst, now in his mid-forties he's done well for himself with his shock art and large exhibitions. He won't be going away soon.

In the meantime, if you get a chance, visit an art gallery this weekend. For Duluthians, the Tweed Museum has an exhibit of psychedelic poster art from the 60's till mid-January. Can't make it to Duluth? Then take a little stroll through my Many Faces of Ennyman art blog to check out some of my own recent works. And have a great weekend.

A Review of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs

2012-01-05T05:49:00.009-06:00

"You must understand that ordinary efforts do not count; only superefforts count." ~Gurdjieff

His name was Steve Jobs. Just when you thought you knew everything important that there was to know about the passionate founder of Apple, you discover through this incredible biography how little you really knew.

Everyone knows about the garage startup, about Woz, about his tantrums and the challenge of working for him, and maybe even where the Apple name came from. And most of us who were there watching the 1984 Super Bowl remember "the commercial" for MacIntosh, as legendary as John Elway's "the drive" for sports fans.

But how little most of us really knew, till Walter Isaacson assembled his story and shared it with the world in a New York Times bestseller this fall, shortly after Mr. Jobs' passing from cancer.

I myself have been a Mac guy since 1987, when I bought my first, a 512Ke. E meant enhanced. When John Sculley was brought in from Pepsi to be head of Apple in the 1980s, I thought it was a good thing, because I read Odyssey, Sculley's book in which he tells he came in as a white knight and saved the company from certain doom.

When you read Isaacson's book you hear the other side of the story. It's possible Steve Jobs had to be pushed aside for a season, but had the genius of Jobs not been re-inserted many years later, the languishing Apple would almost certainly not have become what it is today.

There were many surprises in the book. Steve Jobs had been born to a family in Wisconsin who put him up for adoption. He was raised by a California couple named Jobs. His birth mother was 23 and when he turned 23 he fathered an out-of-wedlock child whom he himself did not raise, an ironic echo of his own life experience of abandonment. Her name was Lisa, which later became an acronym for one of his products preceding the Mac.

Jobs' drug use is detailed and his religious quest, which included going to India for seven months to study at the feet of a guru, becoming a Buddhist vegan who even when an exec at his fledgling company preferred to go barefoot than wear shoes. Anecdotally, Isaacson notes that Jobs smelled because he did not believe in deodorant or the other American amenities of hygiene. His method of de-stressing at work would be to sometimes stick his feet in the toilet. His employees found this a bit icky.

Steve Jobs was a huge Dylan fan and Beatles fan. In fact, he was so much of a Dylan fan he pursued and maintained a two year romantic relationship with Joan Baez who had herself been romantically entwined with Bob. Jobs gave it up when he came to realize he didn't really love her but loved the idea of being involved with his idol's woman.

When the iPod came out, a brilliant Steve Jobs concept that revolutionized music, Jobs was asked the question that Apple's TV commercials were asking: "What's on your iPod." the interviews then said, if you had to choose between the Beatles and the Stones, who would you keep? Jobs replied that that was easy, The Beatles. "But if you asked me to decide between the Beatles and Bob Dylan, that would be a much harder question."

Isaacson's book is endlessly enlightening as he details Jobs' experiences in bring Pixar to the world and thereby forever changing the way animated films are produced. We see his ongoing rivalry with Bill Gates and how the Apple philosophy was 180 degrees opposite of the Microsoft way. We read of his friendship with Larry Ellison, and how the Oracle founder helped him get re-connected to his life again. We learn about Jobs' friendship with Bill Clinton and the advice that he gave President Obama. And we learn about his tears.

When Woz's father confronted young Steve about splitting the fledgling Apple 50-50 between them, he didn't defend himself. Jobs wept. In story after story we read of crying jags, even in board rooms. It's an unusual portrait of the man who was clearly visionary and profoundly influential. At least one reviewer wrote that this book is the story of a "man who put a dent in the universe."

In an interview on Amazon.com author Walter Isaacson describes Steve Jobs this way. "He was a genius at connecting art to technology, of making leaps based on intuition and imagination. He knew how to make emotional connections with those around him and with his customers." It's a good interview and well worth reading.

This eye-opening page-turner is as exciting as any novel.

Steve Jobs and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle including my first novel, The Red Scorpion.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T06:05:00.007-06:00

Dali Museum More Striking Than Ever

2012-01-03T02:31:00.002-06:00

“I don't like the idea of 'understanding' a film. I don't believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art. Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn't. If you are moved by it, you don't need to have it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.” ~Federico Fellini

On the last day of 2011 I had the privilege of being able to visit the Dali Museum in St. Petersberg, FL. The Spanish-born painter is one the few megastars of the contemporary art world who was a household name in his own lifetime. His draftsmanship is unsurpassed, and his images astonishing, even if not always comprehensible. And perhaps it is this incomprehensibility that some people find off-putting about Dali’s work. But as Fellini stated, you do not need to understand something in order to engage it or be moved by it.

Most people define the enigmatic Dali as a surrealist, but in point of fact that would be like calling Bob Dylan a folk singer. Dylan was part of the folk music once, but it was only a phase. The same with Dali, who embraced the surrealists much the same way folk singers embraced Greenwich Village at one time.

The new Dali museum provides a well-conceived structure than enables visitors to see the phases of Dali’s work through its many progressions, from early works to anti-art, through surrealism to his nuclear mysticism and mature works. Visitors to the gallery can opt in for a walking tour or use the free headset earphones which give you more control over your pace. Each of the major works has a number on the wall that you punch in to your keypad and a narrator gives you’re the lowdown. You also have a green arrow button which you can push if you would like even more detail on the piece you are looking at.

The original Dali Museum has been drawing visitors from all over the world since opening in 1980. In January 2011 this new shrine to Dali opened its doors for a new generation of fans. There are more than 2000 pieces of art and 96 of his most influential or most important oil paintings housed here. The three-story building itself is a work of art as well as a safety zone, as it is designed to withstand even hurricanes. The Dali works are all located on the third floor. The former museum presented his paintings on the first floor, which might be susceptible to damage in the event of a major flood.

Dali’s paintings have several features that make his style compelling. First is the superb skill as a painter. Second is the sense of mystery that surrounds so many of the scenes he portrays. Third is the way he distorts all manner of things to absurd degrees. Fourth are the themes of sensuality, eroticism and mysticism that permeate so much of his work. If it was his intent to shock, he succeeds… and yet, we keep looking, trying to understand these bizarre landscapes peopled by perversity. Two other recurring themes in Dali are that of producing optical illusions using positive and negative spaces within the picture, and his repeated references to art history.

The Dali works assembled here in St. Petersburg are actually the collection of Reynolds and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio. I remember while in college at Ohio U. having a strong desire to see the Dali collection that the Morse’s made public in Beachwood beginning in 1971. I never followed through.

After Dali graduated from the Surrealist school, he chose not to participate in the developing abstract movement, choosing instead to draw inspiration from Renaissance painters, and Gala. But my favorite pieces when I visited five years ago and this past weekend are the enormous canvases which are themselves fully developed stories. The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is near twelve feet wide and sixteen feet tall. The Ecumenical Council and the complicated Homage to Crick and Watson are similarly enormous.

But my favorite continues to be the Hallucinogenic Toreador. According to the story (with Dali all stories are suspect as self-made mythologies) Dali purchased a box of Venus brand pencils with Venus de Milo on the box and saw a face in the shadows cast by the famous statue. Dali spent sixteen months on this remarkably complex painting.

And then there are the films. In one section of the third floor gallery we find hundreds of illustration and two large walls with movies projected onto them. Suffice it to say that the films were comical and bizarre, and due to my own time limitations I only watched a portion as the activities in the films did not imply that a storyline was in progress.

All this to say that on your next visit to Tampa, be sure to schedule a little side trip to one of the most significant collections you’ll see anywhere.

For more, visit this YouTube Tribute to Dali.

A Midpoint Book Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

2012-01-02T06:48:00.004-06:00

The premise… Maine schoolteacher Jake Epping has a chance to go back in time to track down Lee Harvey Oswald and interfere with the JFK assassination. He takes the plunge.

The first section of 11/22/63 is setup. A friend introduces Jake Epping to the wormhole in time, and explains its machinations. No matter how long you stay it is always only two minutes later when you get back to the present, and it always brings you back to 1958. Once back in the past, Epping needs and identity and assumes that of George Amberson of Wisconsin. If the reader takes the bait and accepts the premise, King has a lazy cantering style that clip clops along in a breezy, unhurried pace as he re-creates America in 1958 and following. If you’re a reader like me who wants to cut to the chase and bypass mountains of detail, you may get impatient. On the other hand you may give in and go for the ride. Remember, we’re starting in 1958 and the destination is five years down the road. As expected, King throws in more twists and turns than a sidewinder.

This book blends two themes which are endlessly fascinating for most Americans: the JFK assassination and time travel. H.G. Wells started it, Robert Zemeckis popularized it again in the 1980’s with his Back to the Future trilogy, and many other films such as Peggy Sue Got Married toy with it. What happens when we enter the past and tamper with it? It’s a variation on the butterfly effect. Choices have ramifications. Will history have alternate outcomes if we go back in time and mess with it?

(I toyed with a variation on this theme in one of my own stories, Unremembered History of the World, which you can read in my short story collection Unremembered Histories.)

Currently I am half way through the book, 500 pages to go. Throughout we get memory jogs of what life was like a half century ago, sewn seamlessly into the story. Here’s one of a thousand examples. “I never saw a single fast food franchise, unless you count Howard Johnson’s with its 28 Flavors…” How long has it been since I thought about Howard Johnson’s? And can you imagine a road trip without running into golden arches?

I like the first person approach in the story. It enables the reader to follow the narrator’s thinking as it evolves, as it wrestles with the conundrums of his experience. His quest is a noble one and you’re rooting for him as well. You learn with him as he goes along.

At this point (halfway through the book) his love relationship with Sadie has just fallen apart, a relationship that took hundreds of pages to get to. The sojourn down Lover’s Lane with Sadie helps King throw in details about attitudes towards sex during that time, as well as details about preventing pregnancy before the pill. The wedge that finally divides them is Epping/Amberson’s failure to remain completely in the 50’s, inadvertently singing Honky Tonk Woman while driving in his car with her, a realistic oops that would probably happen to any of us, singing a favorite song that had not yet been written. At this she points out another half dozen or more occurrences where he used expressions that just weren’t from that place in time, like kick out the jams, and dude.

In this sense, King has done a masterful job of being realistic even in this most unrealistic fictional premise. John Gardner once wrote, “Detail is the lifeblood of fiction,” and you can see here that King has done his homework, not only with the facts of the fifties, but the behavior of his characters.

I don’t have to know how it ends to give it a strong endorsement. It may become the longest book I’ve ever read. It’s certainly hard to put down… and is waiting for me now.

Photos... Top right: The target of Jake Epping/George Amberson's quest... to stop this man.
Middle: Article from Cleveland Plain Dealer, the day before it happened.
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

What Might Have Been

2012-01-01T07:47:00.005-06:00

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.” ~Fulton Oursler

Endings and beginnings often bring times of reflection. As we transition to a new year we make resolutions, and imagination sprouts wings to fly forward toward new possibilities. Simultaneously we sometimes find ourselves pensively pondering the past. I've done this, and maybe you've done it, too, lamenting over castles built of air, mirages now disassembled.

Volumes have been written of regret, a theme that appears in stories as divergent as Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and Andre Gide's beautifully heartbreaking Isabelle.

The other night a very minor incident brought to mind how people can beat themselves up over things that are done and gone and can't be changed. And how regret kills the spirit. How do we resolve this? Do we ignore the past and only direct our gaze toward the future?

Such a stance will likely prove unprofitable. Why? Because there is a balancing truth. We can learn lessons from our past that help us in our futures. Sometimes that twinge of pain is a reminder, too, that our inner healing is incomplete.

There's no great harm in feeling a little blue about what might have been. Just don't live there.

Gurdjieff once compared our life experiences to food which we eat but is not always digested at the same rate of speed. Some experiences may take years to process, emerging from the subconscious to haunt us at unexpected times. That's the nature of bereavement.

Ultimately, the movement of our inward journeys should be toward healing so that we can fully appreciate and enjoy the present that we live in. May your 2012 be one of continued growth in strength and understanding.

Here's a poem by Abraham Lincoln that I found in a 1996 volume called Best Loved Poems of the American People. In explaining the poem later to a friend he said a certain recollection put in "in a poetizing mood."

Memory

My childhood's home I see again,
And sadden with the view;
And still, as memory crowds my brain,
There's pleasure in it too.

O Memory! thou midway world
'Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed and loved ones lost
In dreamy shadows rise,

And, freed from all that's earthly vile,
Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,
Like scenes in some enchanted isle
All bathed in liquid light.

As dusky mountains please the eye
When twilight chases day;
As bugle-tones that, passing by,
In distance die away;

As leaving some grand waterfall,
We, lingering, list its roar--
So memory will hallow all
We've known, but know no more.

Near twenty years have passed away
Since here I bid farewell
To woods and fields, and scenes of play,
And playmates loved so well.

Where many were, but few remain
Of old familiar things;
But seeing them, to mind again
The lost and absent brings.

The friends I left that parting day,
How changed, as time has sped!
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of all are dead.

I hear the loved survivors tell
How nought from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.

I range the fields with pensive tread,
And pace the hollow rooms,
And feel (companion of the dead)
I'm living in the tombs.

Originally published anonymously in 1847.

Summing Up: 2011 Arts Interviews (Part 2)

2011-12-31T06:51:00.006-06:00

It is a mathematical dictum that the shortest distance between two points is a line. It has also been observed that between any two points is an infinite number of points because each half segment can be cut in half again and again ad infinitum.

Now, what if time were viewed in the same manner. Half of 24 hours is twelve and half again would be six, but if you keep cutting time in half you end up with an infinite moments of time between now and then. As I pondered this, I began to worry that infinity is such a long, long time that tomorrow might never come. Therefore, I am posting Part 2 of this year's list of interviews with artists and other involved in arts related activities. Just in case...

Ten Minutes with Richard Hansen, Director of the 2nd Annual Duluth International Film Festival

Five Minutes with Artist/Designer Marian Lansky

Ten Minutes with Painter David Sandum

Eight Minutes with Muralist Samuel Homan

Five Minutes with Artist GA Gardner

Five Minutes with Artist Amylee of Paris

Ten Minutes with Artist Sandi Harrold from Down Under

Seven Minutes with Fairy and Goddess Artist Liza Lambertini

Ten Minutes with Artist Tonja Sell (Part I)

Ten Minutes with Artist Tonja Sell (Part II)

Five More Minutes with Multi-Media Artist Tonja Sell

Ten Minutes with Singer/Songwriter Caitlin Robertson

Five Minutes with Richard Brandt, Author of One Click

Ten Minutes with Photographer John Heino

Ten Minutes with Steampunk Artist Eric Horn

A Dialogue on Writing with David Beard

And once again, drive safe if you're out on the roads... and have a very meaningful 2012.

Summing Up: 2011 Arts Interviews

2011-12-31T06:23:00.004-06:00

I really enjoy interviewing people. Being a writer gives you the often rare opportunity to gently probe beneath the surface to see what makes a person tick. I've been interviewing for more than 25 years so it's no surprise to find that my blog is occasionally peppered with interviews of artists and other creative people.

My initial aim with the artist interviews had been to help other artists discover the varieties of ways their creativity could be expressed. As I reviewed this past year I found that I produced and shared more than thirty interviews and thought it would be useful to assemble them here in one place.
To each of you who participated and contributed, a very earnest thank you.

Five Minutes with Bluewater Illustrator Todd Tennant

Ten Minutes with Artist Nancy Eckles

Five Minutes with Painter Marcia Baldwin

Five Minutes with Duluth Painter Dale Lucas

Ten Minutes with Artist Nancy Miller

Five Minutes with Eris Vafias and Art Kamakaze III

Karin Kraemer Talks About Pottery

Local Artists Talk About Painting Live

Ten Minutes with Artist Laurie Frick

Six Minutes with Artist Elizabeth Papenfuss

Five Minutes with Award Winning Narrator Grover Gardner

Twelve Minutes with Painter Olivia Villanueva

Five Minutes with Artist Paul Klee

Ten Minutes with Painter Juan Farias

Ten Minutes with the Young Creative Rob Kaiser-Schatzlein

Come back tomorrow for sixteen more.... and drive safely tonight if you're out on the roads. Happy New Year!

My seed thought for you in 2012: Life is a gift. Don't force it. Embrace it fully and let it happen.

Photo: Jeredt Runions, live painting at the Clyde. By Andrew Perfetti.

The Gunfighter

2011-12-30T05:26:00.004-06:00

Before starting this blog four-and-a-half years ago, my mornings began with journal writing. Thirty years' worth. Re-reading pages from these journals is sometimes illuminating, sometimes depressing and sometimes surprising. There are many insights that would have been utterly forgotten had they not been captured in ink. For this reason alone keeping a diary or journal has important therapeutic value for nearly all who practice it.

Not every day of journal writing produces profundity, but for writers the discipline of writing daily helps us in two other important ways. First, as we dredge our hearts, minds, souls and record what we find, we develop the skill of making concrete in words what would otherwise remain misty, vague and nebulous. And second, I believe that writers can use these daily sessions to work on improving their craft. That is, instead of just writing what happened yesterday or what's going on inside or around us, we strive to record it well.

In high school I kept a dream diary for four years. Not every dream was significant or important, but the practice helped improve my ability to magically extract images and details from the scenes that typically played out in the nether world below the surface of consciousness.

Here's are some scenes from a dream that I recorded on April 13, three decades ago.

Scenes from a Dream

I was a gunfighter in the Old West.

In my dream I had ridden into an abandoned town on my horse... went to the town hall or saloon, some building with a stage, and entered. There were three or four women there, armed, weapons set up so as to protect themselves from an assault in a last stand kind of way. I was not who they were expecting and they let me stay. We talked. It was not clear to me if the people the were expecting were bad guys or good guys, but it’s possible they were anticipating a posse. Their men had been killed or captured and they were in desperate straits.

It turns out I knew one of the women and I learned from her that she was taking care of two infants that were truly annoying to her. This was a woman with whom I had been somewhat romantically involved at an earlier time in my life. I told her to take care of the children “as if they were my own.” In truth, I suspected that they were my own when I learned who the missing mother was.

We talked and waited and finally the posse showed up. When they entered the saloon, they were surprised at my presence. They knew who I was.... a dangerous man and a sure shot. I had two guns in my hands, but no bullets. Possibly a dozen men entered, and we (the women and I) talked them down. No shots were fired. They agreed to leave the women alone.

A Dialogue on Writing with David Beard

2011-12-29T08:18:00.008-06:00

David Beard received his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication in 2002 from the University of Minnesota, Department of Rhetoric. He has written extensively on this topic of his interest and was editor, with Richard Enos, of the book Advances in the History of Rhetoric: The First Six Years. Late this fall we met for the first time at an art opening in downtown Duluth. He is currently an assistant professor of writing studies at UMD.

Ennyman: Whom would you consider the most significant American writers of the past 100 years? And which authors have been your personal favorites or biggest influences?

David Beard: The most significant writers in the last 100 years in our nation? I don't think anyone has surpassed Fitzgerald as an expression of the flaws of the American dream. I love teaching The Great Gatsby. (We are lucky to have a Gatsby expert at UW Superior, Deborah Schlacks.)

But when I was starting out, I dreamt of being Vonnegut for at least three reasons. First, Slaughterhouse Five is one of the most important books about WWII and life after WWII that is accessible to people ages twelve to eighty. Second, Palm Sunday (his first book of essays) helped me understand the relationship between conscience and literary or rhetorical style. Vonnegut, for me, I'd say is all about conscience expressed on the page. Third, and most important, Vonnegut was a writer by sheer force of effort and sheer force of will; he was an engineer by training, not an English major; he was a soldier, not a poet. But he was a writer.

E: Did I mention to you that I interviewed Vonnegut for an article once? I was a Vonnegut fan when young. Here's the short tribute piece I wrote about Vonnegut shortly after he died.

DB: In the same way that I love Vonnegut, I admire Tim O'Brien. The Things They Carried changed how I teach literature. But I've never fallen for his later work. In that same vein, Art Spiegelman's Maus changed how I teach visual communication.

But the biggest impact on students today? To be a writer, for so many young students, today, is to walk in the shadow of Hunter S. Thompson and William S. Burroughs. I admire them both, but I have mixed feelings about their legacies as "writers to emulate," or examples of the writing life. What do you think, Ed?

E: Regarding Hunter S. Thompson and Burroughs?

I come from the "belles lettres" school of thinking as regards writing. It’s the writing, not the lifestyle that matters most. Hunter Thompson became a pop icon of anti-establishment, but is that the embodiment of what a writer should be? If I recall correctly his first major story on the Kentucky Derby was just a mish mash of notes and not even a prepared manuscript. The editor of Esquire who gave him the assignment was going to print and needed the story but Thompson had done little but party. The editor asked for the scribblings and they were purportedly published as is. (I say purportedly because an Esquire editor famously altered even Raymond Carver’s writings around that time.) Any other editor would have called it rubbish but they celebrated it, printed it and donned Thompson a genius. Proof that the king had no clothes on.

I’d be curious to know how much of the interest in Thompson is due to his writings and how much due to the movies about him. And what does this say about being a role model for young writers?

What I’m saying is that it perpetuates the erroneous notion that to be a great artist (writer, musician, etc) one has to behave insanely himself or herself. Burroughs and Thompson were one-percenters as regards over-the-top lifestyle. I would argue that it’s possible to write well and live a “normal” life…

What’s your take on how the Internet has changed publishing?

DB: The Internet has made it possible for more people to be writers but for fewer of them to be paid for it.

The Internet has made it easier for writers to reach audiences, including marketing their own work, and I think, maybe, as a result, some authors become the product for sale.

Two of my favorite regional authors are Roy C. Booth and Aaron Brown. Both maintain blogs and Facebook pages. So when I buy their latest works, I'm extending my relationship with them as much as I am buying a product. Surely the same might be true of readers of Ennyman's Territory?

E: I certainly hope so. New topic... What do you mean by "the new rhetoric"? In what way is the new rhetoric different from the old rhetoric?

DB: When we talk about the Old Rhetoric, or when we talk about rhetoric in popular terms, we tend to talk about the ways that persuasive figures manipulate people. We think of emperors addressing their people ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears") or presidential candidates addressing their voters. We think about demagogues misleading the people to enter into power -- whether the power of politics or the power of the market (old school advertising set out to manipulate consumers the way politicians set out to control voters).

When we talk about the New Rhetoric, we're talking about the way that our society has the technologies, the social structures and increasingly the will to turn monologue into dialogue. As a teacher, that's the condition I foster, the skills I teach and the social change I want to enable.

E: Are there any universal truths about writing that you try to personally convey to your writing students?

DB: There are no universal truths for successful writing. Writing is, for me as a writer and in my classes, a local act, constrained by local forces. Each act of writing requires the writer to pull out the barometer to get the air pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the calendar, the compass for bearing, the map with protractors for location, the Farmer's Almanac for info on this date, historically, and the Ouija board for just a tiny peak into the future. Anytime any part of those writing conditions change, the strategies you'll use as a writer will change with them.

We are lucky to live in a place where writing is taught so well by so many: Heather Bastian at Scholastica, Jamie White-Farnham at UWS, John Hatcher, Chris Julin, Rachel Wolford and Craig Stroupe at UMD. The teaching of professional writers is part of the culture and climate of Duluth Higher Ed. And it's part of the climate of the town. I work with the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, who regularly fund work by established and up & coming writers, and who teach young writers and artists the grant-writing process. And every year, dozens of college students learn from professionals like you, Ed, in internships.

E: Thank you, David, for your thoughts and insights. Let's keep the dialogue going.

Wordless Wednesday: Beginnings and Endings

2011-12-28T09:02:00.007-06:00

Amazon Prime Makes Receiving Content Sublime

2011-12-27T05:14:00.004-06:00

I'm currently reading #1 bestseller Steve Jobs, an incredible book about the incredible man behind that incredible company. I will be writing more about it in the week ahead, but wanted to note one observation that emerges as one reads this story. So many of the great companies were the result of a visionary leader whose fingerprints are all over the products they produce. Steve Jobs' Apple is no different.

Another observation. In the internet age there have been real winners and losers, and the captains of industry in the digital age are fully aware of what's at stake in many of the battlefields where they duke it out with rivals. The computer's operating system was one of these battlefields, and Bill Gates was Steve Jobs' rival on that front.

In recent years another battlefield has emerged as regards how content would be delivered to our computers and portable devices. Apple's iStore is going head-to-head with Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The result for consumers of electronic media has been fast dropping prices and superfast upgrades to electronic devices that deliver books, music and video.

Many card games, from Bridge to Tripoli, involve a bidding war in order to name trump. Once trump is declared, the cards are played in accordance with this new situation. It's not enough to play your cards right but to have the power to declare whether the money cards will be clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades. Hence the backdrop for many of these digital wars. The visionaries saw the lay of the land (or rather, cyber-territories) long before most consumers even had an inkling of what was at stake.

Amazon's current game changer is Amazon Prime. Here's what Sam Biddle at Gizmodo has written about Amazon Prime.

Game Over: Amazon Prime Is Officially the Greatest Deal in Tech
Amazon's Prime service began as a way to get your books and deodorant shipped to your door faster. Which was nice. Now, it's turned into a cornucopia of digital everything: movies, TV, books.

And as it's grown, it's turned into something else: the smartest digital ticket around.

The four components of Amazon Prime are these.
1) FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
2) No minimum order size
3) Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with Prime instant videos
4) A Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library

O.K. what's the catch? The whole kit-and-kaboodle is yours for a flat fee of $79 a year. And the first month trial is free for anyone who likes the concept but is on the fence.

As a writer I like the concept so much that I'm making two of my own books, Newmanesque and The Breaking Point and Other Stories, available in the Amazon Prime lending library this week. Not that these $1.99 eBooks were expensive to begin with. (Thank you to new buyers and readers! Reviews always welcome.)

Will it be the game-changer Biddle suggests? Who knows? Google's attempts to steal the Facebook community with Google+ hasn't panned out as hoped. But Prime is just one of Jeff Bezos' current moves. Apple and Netflix will counter.

Meantime life goes on all around us. Have a great day.

Why I Try

2011-12-26T20:33:00.003-06:00

Why I Try

Do I really want on my deathbed to lie
wondering why I didn't try?
Regretting life I didn't live?
Regretting the strength I didn't give?
Regretting what I didn't share,
wondering why I didn't care?

And so, you see, till the day I die
I'll try and try and try and try.

It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-25T06:33:00.004-06:00

"You've been given a great gift, George: A chance to see what the world would be like without you. " ~Clarence

The celebration of Christmas has resulted in a whole host of traditions that families pass down from one generation to the next. Decorating the Christmas tree, singing carols, reading the Christmas story and exchanging gifts are just a few of the common traditions that extend back many long years through the generations.

In more recent years, because movies and television have more or less emerged during the Boomer generation, a new set of traditions has been added. For some families it's the watching of Charlie Brown's Christmas, created by Charles Schultz near 60 years ago for television. In our family it has been the shared watching of A Christmas Carol, the George C. Scott version.

Before we finally got the DVD we used to watch a VHS version that we taped from television in the late 1980s. Watching this story for ten, fifteen and twenty years has not only brought a continuity to our traditions, but a lot of laughs as we try to say some of the lines just before they're said on the film. "Cratchitt!"... and "Another sound from you... and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation."

After the visit by deceased friend and partner Bob Marley, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future all visit the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas eve and teach him that there are other ways of looking at the world besides the way he sees things. The lessons are many and valuable, and the story richly entertaining and heart-warming to boot.

There's another film that many families share as a tradition. Like A Christmas Carol it's the story of a man who has been seeing things wrong, but instead of ghosts helping him get perspective on his life, it's a quirky guardian angel named Clarence, striving to earn his wings.

This film, too, has so many memorable moments and lines. The scene where Jimmy Stewart is inwardly despondent over the lost money and lashes out at his children is heartbreaking in the extreme. The screenwriting, directing by Frank Capra and the acting are all five star. In honor of the 65th anniversary of this film, the Los Angeles City Council declared this past Friday "It's a Wonderful Life Day."

One theme common to both these films is the deep insight that our lives are interconnected to others in ways we often don't see because we're caught up in our selves. If we're fortunate, we can begin to grasp the truths contained here without a visitation by ghosts or George Bailey's suicidal despair.

Whatever your traditions as regards Christmas, my prayer is that you will be richly rewarded with new self-understanding this season as regards your role in the bigger scheme of things. For some reason I keep wanting to say thank you.

"You see George, you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away?"

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's an Awesome Thing

2011-12-24T12:04:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year when creches and Nativity scenes show up all around. Probably a lot of commerce generated by all this Christmas gear. If you're like me, you may have had the thought cross your mind at the extravagant lengths to which some people go to dress up their yards with lights and re-enactments of that moment in time long ago. From now on, instead of saying, "Who has time to do all that?" ... here's an alternative thought. This really happened.

Merry Christmas to all, and the very best to you in 2012.

Caitlin Robertson’s Coyote Blues

2011-12-24T06:28:00.006-06:00

In November I interviewed Minnesota singer/songwriter Caitlin Robertson who is currently trying to raise money for a second CD of her folk-rock-country-pop songs, Wintersong. In December her threesome, Caitlin Robertson and the Dusty Roads, opened for another Twin Cities group at The Rex (the old Fitgers Tap Room) and I was able to purchase a copy of her first CD titled Coyote Blues, which I have been listening and re-listening to. And I like it.

There are a whole slew approaches to making music. For some groups the song is simply an excuse for break-out jams in between verses. For other groups, it’s all about the message, the story, the words. Robertson weaves both music and words into a lyric whole.

My first impression of the album is its clean sound and high production values. The songs involve a range of musicians in various combinations from acoustic guitars, keyboards and percussions to fiddle, mandolin, upright bass, electric bass, steel and slide guitars and vocal harmonies.

My next observation is that Robertson’s songs demonstrate a serious effort to craft original images and touch universal themes in new ways. I was very pleased to find that the CD includes an eight-page booklet with acknowledgements to the other artists involved with her project as well as all the lyrics to her poetic songs.

The opening track, Red Barn So Lonely, begins this way:

Red barn so lonely
Rooftop white with snow
Doors hang open
Swallow breath-stealing cold…

I hear William Blake in this simple description which easily becomes a metaphor for so much more. The song continues with lines like “frozen quilts of stars” and “ice covered wings” as the narrator struggles to regain hope, to re-connect with lost dreams.

Robertson’s lilting, lyric voice has a childlike innocence as it soars through airy high spaces. She's easy to listen to. But she’s not the innocent you expect as you learn she’s past her thirtieth year and has had enough life experience to know it has painful as well as rewarding contours.

I’d be interested in learning who she’s singing to when she sings Meet Me In Port Townsend, the second track. The Photographer is another song that tells a story in song, followed by Feeding the Vultures, Sally Ireland and the Ice Cream Song (Meltin’ Fast).

Coyote Blues, from which the album takes its name, is a story about two cowgirls who meet a coyote while walking into town one afternoon. It’s an intriguing song with an interesting twist, including a coyote howl that will take you places.

Two of my favorite songs on the album are Bar Napkin and Losing You. Bar Napkin begins…

Bar Napkin, bar napkin
Won’t you dry my tears
Won’t you record my poems
Take away the years

It’s been a long time
Since I felt young
Oh what a mess
This life has brung….

The song brought back a memory from my own youth when I felt old and had seen so much, felt I had been through so much. In the song the narrator recounts a decade of her life from young barmaid to present, weary and looking for a fresh bar napkin to start on again.

I find it interesting when songwriters mention their actual ages. Paul Simon once wrote, "I was 21 years when I wrote this song; I'm 22 now and I won't be for long... and the leaves that are green turn to brown."

The song also brought back memories of my year in Mexico where tortillas, like bar napkins, serve a variety of purposes, from hot pad, to soup spoon, to even being a napkin. I never saw anyone write on poem on a tortilla, but it’s a sure thing this south o’ the border food staple has been the subject of more than a few poems.

Losing You corrals a painfulness that could put moisture in the corners of your eyes, a song of loss and heartbreak. It’s not the belt ‘em out blues of Janis Joplin. It’s more Melanie and Linda Ronstadt, a high clarion call perhaps not unlike the Sirens that tormented Ulysses. (O.K., I’m probably over-reaching there.)

Read the interview here to learn more about Caitlin Robertson and her current project. Be sure to enjoy the video. You won’t receive her CD by Christmas any more, but if you get a little Christmas money from grandma, it might be something to add to your collection.

click images to enlarge

eReader Wars

2011-12-23T06:05:00.007-06:00

Woke this morning dreaming about digital eReaders. In my dream a company called Digital Mayflower had been the pioneer in eReaders, which is funny because when I woke and looked it up online, there really is a company called Digital Mayflower, though in a different technology category. The trigger for this dream was an Editor’s Pick article that I read yesterday in Wired magazine about eReaders.

About Wired Magazine
In 1994 I took a one day class about the Internet at U of M, Duluth in part because I wanted to be ready for the coming technology revolution. There were many highlights that day, chief of which was searching through libraries in Berlin and Pisa via Archie, doing Veronica searches. When I got home, abstracts for several articles were magically downloaded onto my 20 meg Mac… Right then I knew something powerful was happening.

The second highlight was less profound, but quite practical. The instructor said there’s a new magazine all of us should be reading, and he showed us his copy of Wired. I went out and bought a copy and have been reading it ever since.

Back to the Story
So yesterday I was paging through the January issue which I came in the mail earlier this past week. In the midst of a hundred other topics was this Editor's Pick article by Tim Carmody. In Carmody's estimation, the surprise winner is... the Kobo Touch.

Huh? Never even heard of it. But I'm sure they will make hay with the endorsement, because Wired magazine is no longer a fledgling start-up. It is a million reader powerhouse whose recommendations and endorsements have real clout.

For the record, you really don't need an eReader to read eBooks. Browsers like Chrome can download books from the Amazon.com store or the Barnes and Noble eUniverse. But as Carmody points out, "When it comes to book-length reading, no glowing LCD tablet screen can hold a backlight to the eye-saving e-ink of these readers."

Other eReaders compared and featured included the Nook Simple Touch, the Sony Reader PRS-T1 and the Kindle from Amazon. And why it matters which eReader you choose? Well, the Kindle and Nook each have special relationships with the "mother ship" and the more Kindles there are, the more Amazon sales will soar. Ditto for B&N for buyers of Nooks.

Despite Wired's influence, Kindles have been selling at the brisk rate of a million per day as we head into Christmas, undoubtedly due to the low price point of less than a hundred dollars per unit. Nook countered by lowering the price on its own eReader.

To best understand the eReader wars, picture the theater industry. Hollywood made the movies, but there was a time when no one could view them without the theaters. The distribution network gave the film industry its power. Likewise modern ePublishing. B&N and Amazon maintain the inventories, but the distribution systems determine which resource people will use to buy their eBooks from.

For this reason questions were raised in various blogs regarding the article's selection of the Kobo. Why? Because something is at stake. And here's the first article I found in response: Paul Biba's short and too the point Wired’s Tim Carmody stacking the deck against Amazon ereaders? Slanted review warning! It's a really concise criticism that you'll really want to read if you're still undecided between a Nook, Kindle, Sony and now Kobo.

The heart of Biba's beef is summed up in a paragraph that appears after listing the four eReaders reviewed by Carmody.

What’s going on here? Carmody is taking a completely different category non-touch Kindle and comparing it to three higher-end touch ereaders. In addition, one of the “Cons” he lists of the low end Kindle is that it has ads. This same version of the Kindle is available without ads, but he chose not to mention this and then decides to use the ad version and list it as a con.

Biba's barb ends, "Shame on you, Wired."

On the very same day Carmody posted a few comments of his own at another site.

The January issue of Wired has my first article/review in the print magazine, a roundup of new e-readers. We didn't get to include the new Kindle Touch or the Kindle Fire, because they weren't released until a month ago (magazines take a long time to make!). But I was still surprised at how much I liked the Kobo Touch and how disappointed I was with the $79 entry-level E Ink Kindle.

Kobo put up scans of two pages of the review. (I don't even have my print copy yet! The world is crazy.) Still, very happy to be in my first issue of the magazine — and I'm already writing something for my next issue now.

Personally, I don't care one way or the other what eReader you choose. I already have my Kindle and love its ease of use. What matters more to me is that people continue to enjoy reading. The high volume of eBooks being sold seems to indicate that there are still a lot of folks with this passion.

Books are a labor of love for those who write them, and authors find no small measure of satisfaction in connecting with readers who appreciate their work, in whatever form it is encountered. As an author myself, I am not very particular whether you buy my novel The Red Scorpion at Amazon.com or B&N. What matters to me is that you enjoy the ride.

Here's the page to visit for a brief introduction to my four current books. And if you get an eReader for Christmas, start anywhere.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Bob Dylan

2011-12-22T01:59:00.004-06:00

I found this last night online. Kinda fun story of a guy who did the best he could to hold Dylan at arm's length, but after a long, long time finally got it. I like the title of the essay because of its deliberate take-off on the sub-title of Kubrick's classic, Dr. Strangelove.

The Mike Walsh story begins this-away....

Let me make this clear up front: I'm not a Dylan-head, Dylan-ite, Dylan-phile, Dylan-ologist, or any other kind of extreme Dylan fan. In fact, I never bought a Dylan record or CD until just a few years ago. I never saw the need. Growing up in the 60's, Dylan was on the radio all the time --"Blowing in the Wind," "Don't Think Twice It's All Right," "The Times They Are a Changin'," "All I Really Want to Do," "It Ain't Me Babe, "Mr. Tambourine Man," etc., etc. Plus, many other bands had hits with his songs, like Peter Paul and Mary, Hendrix, and The Byrds. There was no escaping Dylan back then. You listened to him whether you wanted to or not.

In college, it seemed like everybody in the dorm except me owned Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2. So I had to listen to the same songs all over again at just about every dorm party. One kid down the hall even had a guitar, a neck stand with a harmonica, and a music book of Dylan's greatest hits. So I got to hear the same songs played and sung live -- quite amateurishly, to put it kindly. By the mid-70's I'd had quite enough of Dylan -- so much so that I did a nasally, slurred vocal rendition of "Like a Rolling Stone" just to torture the Zimmermanites, even though they never seemed to mind. In fact, they joined in no matter how obnoxiously I wheezed, "How does it feeeeeeeel?", so the joke was always on me.

What I wanted to hear was something different, something that wasn't on the radio. Soon punk and new wave surfaced, and I've been a slave to indie rock and the underground sounds ever since, as my record collection can attest. My opinion of Dylan stayed the same during all that time, even though I didn't sing "Like a Rolling Stone" quite so often (although I did work up an even more annoying version of "The Needle and the Damage Done" but that's another story).

The rest of the article can be found here at the Phawker blog where you'll read that it took many a year for this fellow to come around. For seem reason I was much more prepared for his outside-the-pop-40-box sound a bit earlier than that. When Ed H. loaned me The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan on the school bus, I recognized something stirring there. A few years later, when Ed shared about the beauty of eating flower petals on a subway in Greenwich Village with his girl friend, I wasn't so sure about that part of the new scene.

Last night I remembered his story about the flower petals because Susie bought some edible flowers to brighten the darkness of our Winter Solstice. She thus decorated my stew with a pansy. Which I ate, incidentally. It made me smile as I thought of Ed H. on the subway... Funny how Subway became a franchise, and yesterday noon I ate a sandwich there.

An intersection of connections... Eds and subways and eating flowers and Dylan. As I write these lines I drift through Girl From The North Country, and Boots of Spanish Leather... and Bob Dylan's Dream.... and I dream a little, too.

Hope you're still holding some dreams in the hearth of your hearts. Keep 'em goin'....

Picture top right by Ennyman, painted on a page from the 1939 London Times

Wordless Wednesday, December 21

2011-12-21T06:27:00.005-06:00

Butterfly Effect

2011-12-20T05:59:00.004-06:00

Butterfly Effect, A Novel by Rick Anderson Schuster
(Not to be confused with The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews)

Take A River Runs Through It, explode it into a dizzying mix of interlocking puzzle pieces indescribably reshaped into vague flashes of certain and uncertain intangibilities, and you have Rick Schuster’s covertly personal novel about coming-of-age on the Jersey shore, Butterfly Effect. Ken Rossi is a middle-aged swim instructor who once aspired to Olympic stardom but is now a high school gym teacher, ever wondering if he had what it takes but failed to apply himself.

Scouts had acknowledged his natural ability, sowing his imagination with seeds of a golden future. Had he not achieved a citation in Sport Illustrated? Now he wondered where the sidetracks began. Why had he failed to make the necessary sacrifices? When did he begin to realize the dream would never come true? When did his parents first recognize he’d been slacking? What were the emotions ripping their hearts that he never recognized?

The catalyst for Rossi’s self-reflective explorations is a fourteen-year-old Lizzie Norman who catches his eyes during a routine swim meet against Rahway. The teen swimmer has the moves and determination of a champion, the same kind of drive that once drove Rossi as a teen. What he doesn’t anticipate as their relationship unfolds is the manner in which she responds to his fatherly attentions.

It’s the little things that bind the two. Her broken family has filled the pool of her heart with saltwater tears, but his kindnesses instead of helping only serve to exacerbate her pain, becoming the very distraction he hoped she would not have to deal with.

Butterfly Effect explores a variety of sub-plots, including the roles of sports and scholastics in character formation, social posturing, the challenges of adolescence and the difficulty of identifying boundaries regarding appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in a post-modern age.

At times the narrative is a bit jumpy as the reader flashes back and forth between Rossi’s teen experiences and Lizzie Norman’s present struggles. It seems the author was striving to reinforce the parallels of their lives, from different locker room viewpoints.

SPOILER ALERT

In the end, Rossi and Norman recognize too late the trap they’ve made for themselves. Both lack the willpower and energy to be proactive in their liberation. When the scandal hits the papers, Rossi realizes that the whole of it began with a single harsh look by his father when he finished second in his first swim meet, a look that at the time he took wrong and only now begins to see in its true light.

Being from New Jersey I could relate to this story a Jersey teen on the edge of the Big Apple and the Big Pond, and the big world out there so near and yet so far away. The highest levels of competition involve pushing through pain thresholds that most of us shy away from. Butterfly Effect explores the internal pain thresholds we grapple with as well. Sometimes it’s just all too much.

If you enjoyed this fictional review of a fictional book, you might also enjoy The Breaking Point and Other Stories, available as an eBook for your Nook or Kindle.

In a Better World

2011-12-19T05:57:00.006-06:00

Every once in a while in the very first sequence of a movie you get a strong sense that this is going to be an extraordinary film. It happened for me with Run, Lola, Run. It happened with There Will Be Blood. And yesterday, from the first, I knew that In a Better World would be a thought-provoking and painfully powerful film to watch, the kind of pain that comes from art. The opening film score and landscape shots alone conveyed that mix of beauty and pain which elevates it to something almost transcendent.

It's a Danish film directed by Susanne Bier, whom you may know from Things We Lost In the Fire and After the Wedding, films I've heard of but have not yet seen. The story takes place in Darfur, centering primarily on two families. It's a drama that looks at the problem of vengeance from an assortment of angles.

We meet Anton, the first main character, at a small outpost hospital where he is the doctor. A woman is rushed in with her stomach cut open and they begin the emergency surgery that they hope will save her. We hear that the "big man" did this, and the horror of it is this. The "big man" likes to take pregnant women and bet whether she is carrying a boy or a girl child. Then they cut her open to see if he won the bet.

Once you hear this story, you're almost certain that we'll be meeting the "big man" later in the film, and indeed we do.

Anton has a son Elias who is victimized by bullies in the school he attends. This son and a new friend named Christian will be a central piece in the story. Christian becomes the new kid in this tough school because his mother has died and father brought him to a new place. Like the bigger world where Anton's dad works, this bullying situation is a microcosm, with its own "big man"...

What is the response to these bullies? What is the response to violence? When Christian sees the school bully corner his friend Elias in a basement bathroom, he chooses violence to subdue the kid, and threatens him with a knife.

In another confrontation Anton attempts to teach the boys that there is an alternative to revenge. By turning the other cheek we demonstrate our strength and the other person's foolishness. This lesson doesn't sink home with the boys, however, and they make other choices in response to things going on.

This inadequate summary is meant to simply hint at the varieties of ways violence is examined in this film. The acting is top-notch, the pace is good, the story remarkable.

This is not the kind of film you will balance a checkbook to. Besides, much of it requires reading subtitles. It is the kind of film that will move you if you engage it. We live in a broken world. How do we respond to the violence that is tearing us apart?

Holiday Stress? Bring It On

2011-12-18T07:40:00.007-06:00

Nearly every year around this time I post my brother's article about holiday stress and things you can do to alleviate it. The feedback I get has been evidence that the season isn't always jolly with ho-ho-hoes while we're decking the halls and splitting logs for the yule-tide fire. If you need a little encouragement in this regard, and a handful of practical wise words, read Dr. Ron Newman's Holiday Ups and Downs.

On the other hand, a few words in defense of holiday stress might be in order.

Stress, or the pressure that comes from responsibilities, isn't all bad. I'm not going to say it's fun. But it can be rewarding. Here are some examples.

We have made it annual tradition to write a Christmas letter that we send to friends and family. It updates them on what our children are doing and what we've been up to. There's a sense in which it keeps us connected to the people we care about, something which is healthy in a post-modern world where so many connections have been broken.

Even if you don't write a letter, just sending pictures or even a card requires addressing envelopes, staying organized, keeping current with addresses of people in your life. It takes time and could be perceived as a burden of sorts, but doing it has hidden benefits. One is that we're elevating this season in some way, marking the passing of a year by not letting it pass unmarked, unnoticed, just another season.

There are other things most of us do that we don't have to. We put up trees and lights, we go to parties, some spend an evening or afternoon visiting shut-ins and singing carols. And there's always the shopping that needs to be taken care of. If you're not in the right frame of mind, those lines can be stressful.

What I've found, though, is that years later the memories created by family traditions can comfort us like a warm blanket and hot cocoa. Here's an excerpt from an email I received yesterday from my daughter who is currently in China. You can see here the variety of traditions that were built into our family Decembers.

I really miss singing Christmas carols!!! ... I was just thinking of when we'd sing Christmas songs on the way to get the tree, and we'd sing Frosty the Snowman and we'd always get mixed up on the words. haha. Getting the Christmas tree and decorating it I think is my favorite Christmas tradition, the one I have most memories of... it was so special to all be together, singing, and being excited for Christmas... Christmas eve was always almost more exciting than Christmas, too, with the suspense of everything. watching A Christmas Carol as a family, reading together and putting out the cookies for Santa...

I share all this because even when the feelings aren't there -- you're tired or burned out or going through a hard time -- next year will probably be different. We don't scrap traditions because we're not in the mood. These traditions have hidden rewards and give continuity to ourselves and our families.

Please note: I do understand the emotions of those for whom the excessive commercializing of Christmas has become odious. The "reason for the season" was the birth of an infant born into a poor family in a stable, in a country oppressed by a foreign power. It's an almost crazy setting for the birth of king. And how that event turned into long lines at the mall I'm not quite sure.

All this to say that traditions have value. Each family benefits by shaping its traditions for another generation. It's a beautiful thing.

The Soothing Magical Power of Quiet Heart Music

2011-12-17T07:09:00.009-06:00

This week I was prompted to think again about the power of music, especially its ability to console and soothe. These thoughts led me to pick up the phone and call a lifelong friend, Henry Wiens of Quiet Heart Music, whose piano CDs are designed purposefully to this end, to comfort and heal. Afterwards he passed along to me a recent letter from a "customer"... the kind of feedback that keeps him motivated to continue sharing his music. (Posted below.)

The trigger for all this was a USA Today article that included some interesting insights on this topic.

"Often, music therapy is more cost-effective than administering medication, especially for patients with anxiety, sleep disturbances or pain," says Al Bumanis, spokesman for the American Music Therapy Association.

A 2007 survey of U.S. health facilities by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 facilities, 35% offered some type of music to patients.

Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.*

Here's the letter that Henry forwarded to me:

Henry,
I’ve been meaning to email you for a while but just getting around to it now. I hope you are well.

My mother had a rough summer as she progresses further into the depths of Alzheimer’s disease. She no longer can feed herself or walk. Most days she is unaware of her surroundings and gets agitated very easily with noise and multiple people in the same room. My sister and I tried many things to calm her and have her be more relaxed and peaceful. We bought a few soft animals for her to hold. A soft blanket for her lap, and then my sister remembered she had bought your CD at the Pittsburgh conference last year. Your music has been key to calming my mother. When we start the music she closes her eyes as if she is visualizing a green pasture and feeling a warm breeze. It’s amazing to watch the tension leave her face and her body relax.

I will be purchasing some CDs for the facility where my mother is residing so everyone on her floor can experience the calm, soothing magic of your music. Thank you for providing this for not just folks with dementia but everyone who needs to restore tranquility and calm to their day.

Lois

Are you stressed out because of this whirlwind called the holidays? Do you have life complications driving you to distraction? Does the armor you wear during your workday make you weary by day's end? How do you spell relief? I spell it, M-U-S-I-C.

*Music provides healing grace note for hospital patients
USA Today June 17, 2008

Mad Men

2011-12-16T05:51:00.004-06:00

The soundtrack begins with descending strings playing as a graphic shows a man in a dark suit looking at the corner of an office. Close up: silhouette of shoes stepping into frame and a briefcase being set on the floor. The wall art falls away, the chairs melt and fall away, and then the man himself begins his fall, descending in apparent helplessness past all the sensual imagery of his ephemeral world of glamour and glitz. Like a cat with nine lives he ends up seated in a position of suave cool, arm stretched over the back of a couch, facing forward. So begins the introductory sequence that is Mad Men, the sophisticated award-winning TV drama featuring ad agency exec Don Draper in early Sixties New York.

The haunting music and intro sequence is perfectly executed and thought-provoking. It's classy, smart and essentially tells the whole story. It makes a fitting touchstone to begin each episode.

So what's this show's appeal? Why such high ratings by critics and viewers? First off, the stories are well crafted to give an inside glimpse of not only the lifestyle of Madison Avenue, but of the Sixties itself. For example, what better vehicle for discussing the public relations issues of the Kennedy-Nixon campaign than through the ad agency that represents one of them.

The first four seasons give viewers plenty to work with as the agency's activities take place against the backdrop of the JFK year during which women's issues, race issues, Viet Nam, the Cold War, Cuba relations and more all came to the fore. We see, too, the impact of advertising and the ethical issues agencies deal with.

The story itself, like the show's intro, features creative director Don Draper, a complicated man in the midst of this complicated time. The supporting cast includes the young, ambitious sleazeball Campbell, secretaries, and the partners at the top. Almost none of these characters can be considered role models, and when I watched the first few episodes it was like fingernails on a blackboard at times. The sexist attitudes, the devious agency politics, moral bankruptcy of some of these characters could easily make one uncomfortable. But the show is not about creating role models. These were the real attitudes in many places, and continue to this day though we're more aware of their unacceptability today.

Amongst its fans, the show shines because of the writing, the attention to detail and the broad range of understanding of everything from the fashion scene to the political scene, from dog food to soul food.

There are so many good lines, all delivered in the midst of ordinary conversations as agency execs meet with clients in boardrooms and restaurants, or wait in taxis down on the street. Here's one I scribbled down last week: “Nobody knows what’s wrong with themselves. And everyone else can see it right away.”

In another episode, Joan lays it on the line with, "I'm not a solution to your problem. I'm another problem."

In a somewhat hilarious scene in which there is an accident in the office involving a client from England, I believe: "That's life. One minute you're on top of the world and the next minute some secretary is running you over with a lawnmower."

Through the course of time the characters change, grow together, grow apart, take on more responsibilities experience heartaches, and at times reveal our own lives here in various parts of the American scene. If you need a show with guns and violence, this is not really for you. If you like something thoughtful, it's something to consider. And even Campbell isn't all bad, just as the heroes aren't all good. It's a slice of life.

Enjoy your weekend and get your Christmas presents wrapped. The 25th will be here before you know it.

Ten Minutes with Steampunk Artist Eric Horn

2011-12-15T06:06:00.007-06:00

I first met Eric Horn at the world premiere of Chronicle at the Friends of Industry event early last summer. Think of Jules Verne. Think of futuristic contraptions that might have been conceived 120 years ago. Think steampunk... a world where flight and travel and life is all steam-powered. And now meet a talented artist and illustrator who is bringing this world to life.

Ennyman: When did you first take an interest in artistic expression and who were your early influences?
Eric Horn: I have always been into drawing and being artistic. Ever since I was able to hold a pencil, crayon, or pen I have been drawing and sketching things. My parents encouraged me to keep at it. My father, Ran Horn, is in his own right a very good artist, who has his own Gallery in west Texas and his own website. He taught me a lot of what I know about drawing and painting. Although we have completely different styles I learned the basics from him. My other influences came from art teachers I had over the years. Two of those teachers had a big impact on me, Mr. Englund and Mr. John Salminen. They taught me that there is more than one way to draw, paint, or take a photo. They also taught me that criticism is not a bad thing, but a way to help improve yourself and your art.

EN: How did you become interested in Steampunk?
EH: Steampunk is something that I stumbled across only a couple of years ago. I fell in love with the look and feel of the genre. I also love the fact that it lends itself to interpretation. Although there are some hardcore steampunk enthusiasts out there, overall there are no real rules on how to be steampunk. As to my art it is very loosely steampunk or I should say it is my version of steampunk, which may or may not fall into what other people view as steampunk. I work with what I have available and the funds to do this, so I have limits on how exact to the genre I can be.

EN: Tell us about your current project, which you shared at the Friends of Industry event last spring.
EH: "Chronicle" is a graphic novel that I have been working on for over a year now. We came up with the idea of showing it as a slide show set to live music for the "Friends of Industry" show last June as a way of introducing the idea to people. It took me over 4 months to do all the art and get the layouts on a DVD. Because I was on a time limit I did not get everything that is going into the final graphic novel. I only had about half an hour for the "film" and had to pick and choose the scenes and shorten any narrative and dialog so the viewers would not be bored. But all said, I think I was able to tell most of the story to a point. This project has taken on a life of its own and I am currently working on continuing the story. I have taken my time getting back on the horse, so to speak, because over the 4 months I worked on the first part it took a lot of energy out of me, and once I get going again I know how much work I have to do. Part one is approximately 25 pages of a comic, give or take. And that is only a third of what we have written, and that third is only a third of what is in our basic outline of the story, not counting the 5 side stories I'm currently writing and story boarding or the re-shoot of the scenes I left out or was not happy with originally.

As to what "Chronicle" is about, it is a gothic, steampunk fairy tale that I have come up with. The bulk of the story takes place on an Air-ship in a world that would resemble the late 1800's. The story has all the good stuff, like action, drama, horror, with a dash of comedy. The story is amazing (if I do say so myself) and I am trying to make sure that all the art in the book is just as amazing. I want my future readers to enjoy the ride I give them and want them to engross themselves in just looking at the pictures of the story.

EN: Like many artists you have a regular job. What is your typical art regimen?
EH: Well in my real life I work at the casino as a Black Jack Dealer, and then I also work at the Renaissance Festival every year. Not sure about my typical art regimen. I usually go in spurts of working on different things. But even when I am not working on anything I do think of ideas of things I would like to do and try. Like I have a couple of ideas for coffee table books, more stories to tell, and paintings I should do. The trick is trying to find the time and motivation to do them....

EN: How much time do you spend on your drawings?
EH: Well, that all depends on the piece. Some of my pen and ink drawings have taken me months to do, putting in a couple of hours a day on them. Some I have cranked out in under two hours. As for my self-titled Over Art style (Over Art is when I take a photograph and then ink over it to give it an animated feel and look) I can do a piece in usually a day or three. The longest I have worked on something is years. I have one piece that I still have not finished because of the amount of ink involved, and I also lose focus on finishing it and put it away to work on something else.

EN: I heard someone say they had no idea you were doing all these fantastic pictures. Have you only recently begun showing? And were you surprised at the positive reactions to your work?
EH: I find that funny as I always have some kind of drawing tablet with me. And thought I was known as the artist in my friend circles. I have done a few shows around town in the past. I have done 4 or so at Jitters coffee house, and I am on the short list if an artist is a no show for the month. But because it is not a real art venue I have not had a lot of exposure. Now that I have been involved with "Friends of Industry" and a few other well advertised and attended shows people are seeing and being exposed to me and my art. I'm now taking every chance I can to get a fan base built for my yet to be published work. No, I am not surprised that people like my work. This sounds conceited, but I know my work is good. If I did not think so I would not be doing it. I have 2 sort of mottos 1) I am awesome! 2) Anything is possible. As long as I can believe in those two things I feel I will make it as an artist. Told you I am a very vain person.

EN: Where can people find examples of your art online?
EH: I mostly have examples of my work on Facebook, and a few of my old black and white ink drawings are on my dad's website VangoghTX.com. I have not had the time or money to build my own site yet, but that is a plan in the future.

EdNote: At last weekend's Goin' Postal show Eric should us some experiments he had been doing using coffee as a medium for creating backgrounds for illustrations. When I saw these I knew I was talking with a kindred spirit.

Almost Wordless Wednesday, December 14

2011-12-14T05:52:00.010-06:00

A few images from local art galleries or shows. At top is Richard Rosvall, whose Steampunk masks, weapons and jewelry were featured in the Chronicle event at Friends of Industry last summer. Here he is seated at the Ochre Ghost Gallery where work by Adam Swanson, Emily Ostos, and Crystal Pelkey is on display, among others. At bottom is a scene from last weekend's show at Goin' Postal in Superior. Some of my paintings line the shelf above as visitors chat below. Andrew Perfetti plays a quiet guitar riff that allowed guest musician Mark Anderson to take a break. Andy played a key role along with Jeredt Runions and Gustave Campanini in assembling this show that will be on display at his place of business through the month of December.

While driving home last night I listened to an interview with an artist on NPR about an exceptionally haunting piece by Schubert. Here's a quote that caused me to stop the car so I could scribble it down. "It's beautiful and painful. That is what I expect from art."

On a less serious note, my daughter posted a link to a somewhat hilarious website that pairs Nietzsche quotes with Family Circus cartoons. It'll be worth your while to check it out, aptly called The Nietzsche Family Circus.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Take it in and have a good day.

Not Dark Yet

2011-12-13T05:47:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I heard someone mention that the police had used an unmanned predator drone in a police sting of some sort. It took twenty seconds last night to find a story about the event on Google.

I often hear said that you have nothing to worry about if you're not a bad guy. But what if someone somewhere inadvertently, or even vindictively out of malice, paints you as a bad guy? In the name of fighting terror, it's my understanding that a lot of our rights are quietly being removed including the right to privacy and the right to a free trial.

Do we have too much government encroachment on our freedoms? Have government regulations gone too far? Are there reasons why the U.S. economy has been sputtering while China's economy has been racing? Yes, yes and yes. There's just too much red tape.

After reading a few articles about the drones I stumbled upon a website called Red Laws, dedicated to exposing the loss of freedoms in America. The site offers some interesting and even entertaining stories. Today's current top story is about a man in Winona, MN, who was not permitted to rent out his house when he went back to the Middle East as an advisor. Another story is about a woman who was hounded by the USDA over a lemon tree, which they ultimately removed from her possession. Another tells the story of a Memphis woman who was told she had to remove the American flag she had installed in front of her optometry business.

As I pondered these things, the opening stanza from a Bob Dylan song came to mind.

Not Dark Yet

Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music

In the meantime, zippity-doo-dah... and have a good day.

Rocky Balboa: A Critical Review

2011-12-12T06:23:00.003-06:00

"Rocky Balboa is without a doubt the best sequel in the Rocky series. It is touching, exciting, well-acted, well filmed and well written." ~Comment at imdb.com

So, I finally caved in and watched Rocky Balboa last week, the sixth and final episode of the Rocky series conceive by and starring Sylvester Stallone. Sly owes a lot to Rocky because he was the character that opened all the doors for his career in Hollywood, against all odds.

If anyone remembers, Rocky V was a bomb. Whatever it aspired to be, it was not a fitting end to the story of a fighter who never gives up, always willing to take it on the chin to go another round. Stallone evidently believed the Rocky series should end on a high note, and here we are with Rocky Balboa.

An astonishing number of people commented on this film at imdb.com, the place I go to see what the public thinks about movies. The critics are hit and miss, sometimes unreliable because of a built-in bias against certain directors or Hollywood of Indie films, or they're stroking someone whose career they want to see take off. In this case, the lavish praise for Rocky Balboa appeared as over-the-top as the character himself.

~Stallone proves he's more than a stereotype.
~A Mature Rocky, still packs a Punch!
~A fitting end to an iconic series
~The final round of the greatest hero in the history of Cinema
~Now, this is how it ought to end!
~Incredibly Inspiring - even after seeing them all many times.
~Bring a box of Tissues to this one!!!
~Do not listen to the critics!!!!!!!
~Sly Floors The Rest!
~Yo! Adrian... Rocky's Back

There is ample evidence that the Rocky story has connected to the hearts of the masses. He's the iconic symbol of an underdog, and his films repeatedly grossed millions of dollars. But to be honest, it was painful watching this film. Not only is everything here predictable, it's filled with lame dialog and a tiresome Stallone whose manner of speech begins to really grate on your nerves after a while. (OK, if you love da guy, you love da face and d'way he he tawks.)

Here's the definition of the word cliché: A cliché is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.

The story line here involves a young heavyweight champ who has been undefeated in 33 fights, mostly knockouts. Mason "The Dixon" Line is king of the hill, but now boxing is all spectacle and losing its fans. What can be done to bring boxing back to a more respectable, and profitable, level? The sports network creates a fantasy match between Mason Dixon and Rocky Balboa, allowing computers to reproduce the fight. Of course one thing leads to another and the former champ agrees to "an exhibition match" with the reigning champ.

Rocky is in the neighborhood of sixty and, well, all he does all day is walk around mumbling, so he's really not in shape. Yet, when all is said an done it's "here we go again" with the Rocky theme park music.

Adriane is in her grave but Paulie is still here, and a grown son... and a new love interest. It's Hollywood and that love thing has to be there.

No spoiler here. Despite the insipid lines throughout, there is a measure of surprise and class in the tight finish.

You might enjoy this film, but if you squirm a little with the slow pace for the first half, don't say I didn't warn ya.

After The Ball

2011-12-11T07:52:00.003-06:00

“There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.” ~Martha Graham

A nice feature of Facebook is the ability to create albums of photos as a means of organizing ones pictures. Here's a link to a Facebook album with a few of the pictures from last night's show at Goin' Postal.

The picture here was taken down the street at Mr. Lucky's the billiard hall. I am sure that those who did not know there would be a pottery show in the space were exceedingly surprised when they walked in and saw this. Dusty Keliin is the potter who found a way to bring his art to the public.

Jack London once said,“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” It may be that this applies to finding an audience for one's art as well.... and may well be the impetus behind some of the art in public spaces movement we've seen emerge in the past number of years, such as the Kamikaze art events by the Limbo Gallery, and the more recent Phantom Galleries in Superior.

A tip of the hat to all the people involved in making these things happen.

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” ~Henry David Thoreau