White Noise

Delia Derbyshire
10" x 7.75"
oil on wood, 2011

Top 100 2010, #90: White Noise - Love Without Sound
I used to be facebook friends with musician Roberto Carlos Lange but he must have edited his friends recently. I'll miss his frequent postings of the most interesting videos from the vaults of YouTube and his own. My favorite of those was Love Without Sound by White Noise.
White Noise is an English band formed by American born David Vorhaus in 1968. The first incarnation consisted of Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire, and Brian Hodgeson. The trio's first album was the groundbreaking An Electric Storm that featured the track Love Without Sound. The song features samplings of Vorhaus' bass, sped up to make them sound like cellos and violins as well as Derbyshire's electronic sound effects. Derbyshire (1937-2001) worked for the BBC as a composer and sound engineer throughout the sixties and into the seventies. She is best known for her collaboration with Ron Grainer on the theme for Doctor Who. To refresh one's ties with universal consciousness you should watch the Doctor Who theme on YouTube. (Play it loud for the best connection!). Pink Floyd more than just quoted from this on their classic One of These Days. While you're at it...

African Pop (part 1)

Irewolede Denge (?)

8.5" x 6.5"
pastel on wood, 2011

S.E. Rogie

10.75" x 9"
oil on wood, 2011

There are fifteen tracks from Africa in the list of 100. All commercially produced recordings spanning almost a century, and originating from all over the continent: three from South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia; two from Mali; and one each from Uganda, Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Egypt. Unlike past years, none were recorded in the field.  Many I already wrote about in the past 97 pages and before I start to get into next year's top 100 I'll briefly comment on those that I did not tackle before.

• Irewolede Denge is the musician that first used the term Juju to describe his music. Juju became the name for a Yoruba Nigerian urban style of popular music that emerged from the wider spread Palm Wine music in the late 1920s. The song Orin Asape Eko was recorded in 1937 and released on CD as the opening track to Juju Roots (Rounder, 1985), a chronological compilation of the history of Juju. Denge also is the provider of the last track on the CD recorded in the mid-1960s.
• S.E. Rogie (b. Sooliman Rogers, 1940s, Sierra Leone) is one the best known performers of Palm Wine music. Twist with the Morning Stars (1965) was the first African Pop record I owned. It hit my Top 100 charts in the late eighties. I've lost that record and this year's song Toomus Meremereh Nor Good comes from a compilation LP named Africa Dances.
• Alem Kebede from Ethiopia I found on the blog Awesome Tapes from Africa. The original tape was given to Brian Shimkovitz, proprietor of the blog, by his friend Jarboe (I assume that is the musician who was in the Swans). Ateremamesew is a track from that cassette recorded in the 1970s, the style being desribed as Ethio-Jazz.
• Sekouba Traore from Mali I've also found on Awesome Tapes from Africa. I've written extensively about him before (April, Sekouba Traore) and now there's a second track from the cassette Walinyumadon called Bèki de la Dô. I based his second illustration on the same (and only) photo found.

Alem Kebede
6.5" x 8.75"
pastel on wood, 2011

Sekouba Traore

8.75" x 6.5"
pastel on wood, 2011

Crossing the Blvd

Sergey Ryabtsev
15" x 9"
oil on wood, 2011

The exhibit Crossing the Boulevard is currently on view at the Urban Art Space in Columbus, Ohio until March 26. The exhibition was curated by Judith Sloan, a documentary maker and sound artist. I helped putting up the show and during the installation, as well as thereafter, I became intrigued with the contents. In the exhibition portraits are displayed from immigrants in Queens, NY, the most ethnically diverse spot in the world. Stories are communicated through photographs by Warren Lehrer and interviews by Judith Sloan. One can easily spend a few hours in the gallery looking, reading, listening to the interviews, and—yes... listen to musical examples from some of the immigrants portrayed. Of the latter category my favorite track is a violin improvisation by Russian born Sergey Ryabtsev. He's a member of the well known gypsy-rock band Gogol Bordello, led by Ukrainian born Eugene Hütz. Ryabtsev immigrated to Queens in 1994 and joined Gogol Bordello in 2000.

The Top 100 2010

1. Blooddawn – Nailed Fist                       
2. M.I.A. – Born Free                               
3. Vampyre Corpse – Dogs of War                   
4. Beth Orton – Conceived                       
5. Time and Temperature – Havana                   
6. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Pedal Up                   
7. Trelldom – Sonar Dreyri                               
8. Imperial Palace Band – Seigaiha                   
9. Townes Van Zandt – Waiting Around to Die       
10. Tsjuder – Blasphemy                       
11. Song Poetry of North Vietnam (Hat a Dao): Ty-Ba       
12. Beth Orton – Shopping Trolley                   
13. Art Ensemble of Chicago – Thème de l’Amour Universal   
14. Torres Strait Islanders 1898 Death Wail               
15. Quechua of Bolivia – Ceremonial                       
16. Safra Bion Racu – Lament for Dead Brother           
17. Iry Lejeune – Calcasieu Walz           
18. Chikaha Rahma - Risakr Fi Simana       
19. Roberto Carlos Lange – Amazonian Pacific           
20. Darkthrone – Transylvanian Hunger               
21. Women from Ferroletto – Alla Campagnola           
22. Mishka Ziganoff – Koilen                           
23. Dollar Brand – Jabulani                       
24. Clarinetes de Linares – El Gallito Giro                       
25. Zhou Xuan – The Wandering Songstress                   
26. John Jacob Niles – Go ‘Way from My Window       
27. John Jacob Niles – Maid Freed from the Gallows Pole       
28. Be Good Tanyas – Waiting Around to Die            
29. Folk Dance in Hora Style (Rumania)                
30. Joni Mitchell – All I Want                       
31. Sekouba Traore – Walinyumadon                       
32. Fela Kuti – CBB (Confusion Break Bones)               
33. Smodern? – Miss Smodern                       
34. Antoñita Romero – El Berebito                   
35. Italy: Sardinia (anon. men’s choir) – Ballo Tondo           
36. Louise and Joseph Spence – Won’t That Be a Happy Time    
37. Imre Jankovics - Hárnas táncdal                   
38. Gamelan Gong – Lagu Kebiar                   
39. Bob Dylan – Mississippi                               
40. Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz                           
41. Joseph Moskowitz – Doina                       
42. Jolie Holland – Sweet Loving Man                
43. Massar Egbari w/Donia Massoud – Wailing Song       
44. South Africa Jazz (anon.) – Leribe               
45. Mother of Fire – The Beast and I                   
46. Beth Orton – Heartland Truckstop               
47. Nina Simone – I Ain’t Got No –I Got Life           
48. Chun Siu Lei – The New Lady Tan Kei               
49. Malijo and Party – Muliranwawo               
50. The Murder Party – Demo                   
51. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Kiss Me Again           
52. Chen Yin – Xiang Yu, the Conqueror Removing His Armour        
53. The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize               
54. Irewolede Denge and Dickson Oludaiye – Orin Asape Eko
55. Sekouba Traore - Bèki de la Dô                    
56. Bob Marley – Put it on                   
57. Tomo Jurcevic – Becarac                       
58. Edward Kamau Brathwaite – Wings of a Dove           
59. Helado Negro – Dahum                           
60. Ustad Vilayat Khan – Arrival in Benares   
61. Michael Hurley – Girl on a Billboard                   
62. The Gits – Twisting, Breathing                   
63. Nina Simone – Strange Fruit                   
64. Beth Orton - ♡ of Soul                       
65. The Wailwan Boree 1898 with Wadimiri               
66. Ornette Coleman – Voice Poetry                   
67. Lady G – Hey Gal                           
68. Pura Paku Alaman – Gending: Tedjånåtå            
69. Robert Pete Williams – I’ve Grown so Ugly           
70. Mihály Bársony – Tiszaújfalui tekerömuzsika           
71. Niela Miller – Baby, Please Don’t Go to Town           
72. Jonuzi Me Shokët – Vome Kabà                   
73. Cantonese Opera – The Moon/Two Green Lotus Bitterly Imprisoned
74. Zhou Xuan – Song of the Seasons           
75. Odetta – Virgin Mary Had One Son               
76. Arantza and Andoni Goikoetxea – Jota               
77. John Lee Hooker – She Left Me                   
78. Jimmy Peters and the Ring Dance Singers – J’ai fait tous le tour pays
79. Marie Osmond – Karawane                   
80. Beth Orton – Stolen Car                       
81. John Coltrane – Vigil                       
82. Sergey Ryabtsev – Improvisation                   
83. Yugoslavia: Croatia (anon) – Love Song           
84. Albanian couple from Italy – La Strinna           
85. Alela Diane – Dry Grass and Shadows
86. Kayesha Seta – Bali Kelele
87. Women from Beira-Baixa – Cançao de Embalar           
88. Aster Aweke – Track 8
89. Cat Power – Wonderwall
90. White Noise – Love Without Sound   
91. Moondog – Up Broadway   
92. Alem Kebede - Ateremamesew
93. Beth Orton - Worms
94. Pierre Henry – Psyché Rock
95. S.E. Rogie – Toomus Meremereh Nor Good
96. Burzum - Belus’ Død
97. David Allen Coe – The Baddest Motherfucker
98. Singing Train attendent, Japan
99. Jolie Holland – Love Henry
100. The Joyfulaires – (In the Valley) He Restoreth My Soul

...and Again (Awesome Tapes from Africa)

Chikaha Rahma
11.5" x 8"
oil on wood, 2011

...And Again. The blog Awesome Tapes from Africa is a major supplier for Top 100 material. Rirsakr Fi Simana is a song by Chikaha Rahma. He's from Algeria but I can't find any more info. At least there's a picture of him on the sleeve of the cassette the song's on. Quite a characteristic face indeed—it'll make you do some profiling. If you do, and if any negative sentiments come up, you got it all wrong. And that's all I say about it. Chikaha Rahma is featured in the very last top 10 of the year. Today is February 23 and that is the final day for the Top 100. Today I played all songs stuck on 9 points and the resulting top 10 are all newcomers in the list. I have to do a little checking and adding the numbers but tomorrow I will forward the final list of 100 songs. I still have to do 14 paintings before March 12th. And that date, my dear readers, is the date of the countdown and reception simply called The Top 100 2010. Everybody is invited, drinks are on me. Location: Skylab, 57 East Gay Street, Columbus, OH 43215. It all starts at 7:00 PM sharp. It'll take about 7 hours to play all 100 songs so the space is open to the public until 2:00 AM Sunday morning. If Columbus is bit too far for you to come maybe you can check out a big selection of the paintings at the White Columns booth at the New York Independent. The art fair that is a satellite to the better known Armory Show. This will take place March 3-6, 548 W. 22nd St., New York. The works shown there will not be featured at the Skylab show. Reproductions will take their place. But not to worry: the reproductions look great thanks to Zuzana Muranicova for printing them.

Albania!

Image from Folk and Popular Music of Albania
32.5" x 16"
oil on wood, 2011

Aah...Albania! I once flew over it on my way to Greece for a vacation. Greek records I have quite a few but as far as I'm aware there are only three songs in my record collection recorded in Albania. All made it one time or another into a Top 100. All are of folk music and at least two of them were originally commercial 78 shellac discs from before 1945. The latest is Vome Kabà by Jonuzi Me Shokët, recorded in Tirana in 1930. It appears on Sprigs of Time, a compilation of old 78s I acquired last year. I never found an image of Jonuzi Me Shokët or of any of the other Albanian performers I have on record but still had to paint a painting. In my running list of songs for the Top 100 2010 Vome Kabà used to have a star in front of it to designate that it still needs a painting. That star had been staring at me for almost half a year before I finally typed in the words "Folk Music of Albania" and clicked "image" on my Google menu bar. Of course there exists a record named Folk Music of Albania and I'd seen it before, they used to have in the Columbus library system. Not interested in its graphics I found Folk and Popular Music of Albania right next to it and on the cover two vintage photographs of the cutest (Albanian, I assume) girls appear. It's unlikely that there are female performers on Vome Kabà but it didn't keep me from painting one of the girls (the cutest of the cutest) as a placeholder. I wish I had that record Folk and Popular Music of Albania, or Folk Music of Albania for that matter as it would fit so nicely with Folk music of Rumenia and Folk Music of Yugoslavia, that also appear in this year's list.

Alela Diane

Alela Diane
10" x 8"
oil on panel, 2011 

 There are things that I've seen in my head
While I'm sleeping in bed
Do not wither in the morning light
 —Alela Diane

The above quote is the first stanza from Dry Grass and Shadows, the opening track of her CD To Be Still. It's a beautiful quote; introverted, secretive, and full of nostalgia. I couldn't have dreamed up a better opening for my little homage to songwriter Alela Diane. I dare to argue that the first lines in any writing are the most important ones. I always try to come out strong—the first lines have to be catchy, these are the lines that show up when you Google my name, this blog, or any of the musicians that I write about. Sometimes my first lines are better than others times but I am never able to say it poetically like Alela Diane, or any other good songwriter can. The painting I finished today of Alela Diane is like the quote—nostalgic, secretive, and introverted. The secretive part of it concerns its destination: It will travel but where to is a secret, I can only tell you after it has arrived.

John Coltrane

John Coltrane
42" x 22"
oil on wood, 2011

There's one image of John Coltrane I like better than all others. I believe that this may be the eight painting I've done from a photo taken by F. Winham. I have a copy of it in the book Jazz Heroes by John Fordham. As you can imagine the page it's on has quite few paint stains. The photo shows Coltrane performing at the end of his career. Gone is the black suit and tie, gone are the conventions of the traditional jazz combo. The photo shows Coltrane with with Pharoah Sanders on tenor, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, precisely the line-up I cherish most. It is however not precisely the quartet of musicians featured on the recording of Vigil from 1965 in the newest Top 100. McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones are heard together with Garrison and Coltrane. Of the eight or so paintings from the photo I've only included Sanders a few times, Ali and Garrison remain unpainted, and now again Coltrane is singled out. Funny thing is that of all eight paintings, the one just finished, still wet, is the only one I own. The first one I painted in 2000 and it was one of the first paintings ever to sell from the Top 100 series. Apparently my audience likes this image of Coltrane just as much as I do. If the new one doesn't sell (which I don't think it will—due to its excessive size the price is somewhat steep) I'll keep it and it will be time to close Jazz Heroes forevermore and find myself a different Coltrane image to paint. 

Jabulani: Dollar Brand

Dollar Brand
11' x 8"
oil on wood, 2011

There was a record convention in town and I went for a change. I spent a few hours browsing but not buying much until, on my way out the door, I came across a rather insignificant looking table hosted by Tom Luce of Cincinnati. I bought eight records at his table as he specialized at precisely the kind of Jazz I like. Charles Lloyd, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Leon Thomas are among the names who's records I bought from him. A top 10 list of my favorite purchases I made that day will follow below, I haven't even listened to all of them. My favorite so far is a record by Dollar Brand called African Space Program. Adolph Johannes Brand, or Abdullah Ibrahim, as he is known now, is a South Africa born pianist/composer. I own now four of his records and he has been in the Top 100 several times be it not in recent years. I didn't take me long to paint his portrait once again. The song Jabulani goes straight into my list of 100. "Jabulani", you may now think, "where did I hear that name before?" I'll give you the answer in a second but not after telling you that it means 'Come to bring happiness to everybody'. Jabulani, indeed, is the name of the ball used at World Cup in South Africa last summer. The ball was heavily criticized because of its unpredictable path through the air. With a little imagination you hear in Dollar Brand's recording a soccer match being played out. You can hear the referee's whistle, you can imagine the unpredictable path through the air, and with a even a little more imagination you can distinguish Nigel de Jong's karate kick on the ribs of Xabi Alonso in the cup's final, all on side two of African Space Program, just shy of 23 minutes.

The top 10 of record shopping at the Columbus convention (album names in parenthesis)

1. Dollar Brand - Jabulani (African Space Program)
2. Leon Thomas - Gypsy Queen (Blues and the Soulful Truth)
3. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Pedal Up (Bright Moments)
4. Charles Lloyd - Love-In (Love-In)
5. Floyd Westerman - B.I.A. (Custer Died for Your Sins)
6. Airto - Bruxos, the Magicians (Identity)
7. The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize (Picture disc)
8. John Fahey - Yes! Jesus Loves Me (Yes! Jesus Loves Me: Guitar Hymns)
9. Yusef Lateef - Oatsy Doatsy (Part of the Search)
10. Morton Subotnick - Part 1 (Silver Apples of the Moon for Electronic Music Synthesizer)

Painting a Jolie Holland Portrait

Pheoris West was one of painting teachers in college. Last week I attended a painting demonstration by him. He painted a portrait of a model and while he was doing that he told stories about his life, about his college years and about painting. His portrait turned out really great. I learned a lot from him that day in just an hour and a half. I never learned much painting technique in college you know, I wish I had a bit more of that. I'm still learning, and occasionally (like this portrait of Jolie Holland) I make a painting just as a technical exercise. I never showed any of these musician's portraits to any of my Professors, I deemed these a mere hobby. My art was making large modernist paintings. The demonstration gave me an understanding of underpainting. My wife Maria always loves my underpaintings but really I knew as much about underpants as about underpaintings. In his view the underpainting is all about light, you become one with the source. (In the case of the Jolie Holland portrait that would be the sun.) He often paints his 'light' layer with extreme detail on a mid-value primed surface and then paints subsequent transparent color layers. (Jolie Holland is painted on blue.) Pheoris told the audience he learned to paint by copying. Painting, as athletics, for him was a competitive business. If he was blown away by some painting he saw, he would work to be just as good, or better. I attest to that attitude and to honor his teachings I decided to make a Pheoris West. It felt good doing it. It felt good being him and it felt good being the sun (especially considering the bitter cold circumstances the Jolie Holland portrait was painted in).

Jolie Holland
13.25" x 7.75"
oil on wood 2011

The Jolie Holland photograph I painted from was taken by Maria. In the original photograph I am standing right next to her but I cropped myself out of it for the painting. It's not about me, you see, it's about them.

Kyp Malone and Jolie Holland at the Summit

Jolie Holland
(signed by Jolie Holland)
10" x 8"
pen on paper, 2009

Thus I went to this much anticipated concert by Jolie Holland. It was good, really good, mind you, but talking to Ms. Holland was a bit disappointing. Not that she wasn't nice, she was nice enough but I had hoped she would have remembered me from a year and a half ago when I made sketches of her performing in Nelsonville. She signed one of these sketches with “♥ Jolie” and witnessed me drawing a portrait of T -Model Ford. I was hoping then to talk with the Top 100 muse of recent years a little bit more casual and less like fan versus idol.  I have been intending to grow up some during this process and interact more with the performers and make a few paintings from life. I'm old enough, older than many of the musicians I paint but this is apparently not the year. Let's see what next year brings, it'll start in just a few weeks. Still none of Jolie's songs in the list this year but a last minute entry is likely to happen because I did buy her newest LP The Living and the Dead, it is good... She signed the album too. The opener to Jolie Holland's show was played by Kyp Malone. I hadn't given it much thought but I knew he was in a band called TV on the Radio that I really like. I didn't realize it until I saw Kyp Malone on stage that he was part of a series of drawings I did a few year ago comprising the quiz Guess the Identity of These Men with Beards. Had I realized beforehand I would've taken a copy with me and given it to Mr. Malone, he would've gotten a kick out of it. Maybe I still can find a way to forward him a copy. Scroll back in the blog archive and find the quiz under the heading Games, Games, Games. The performance by Kyp Malone was awesome, by the way.

Conceived

Beth Orton in Conceived
6.5" x 11"
oil on wood, 2011

Singing train attendant, Japan
7.75" x 11"
oil on wood, 2011

They may not be the best, certainly not the most ambitious but the latest two paintings are happy for sure. Smiles and joy and springtime and sun conceived in the midst of the darkest and coldest of winter. Both these paintings are based on video stills from very happy videos. Let me tell a little about both videos:

• The video to Beth Orton's Conceived features many creatures—Muppets they are, some fashioned after real animals, some fictional creatures. I painted her with a deer Muppet. I painted Orton together with animals before, a fox being the most prominent. When I wrote about it (see Beth Orton and the Animals) I asked the question if Beth Orton were an animal what kind she would be. The question was picked up by an on-line Beth Orton forum and one subscriber thought it would be a giraffe. Personally I decided it would be a crow. I also painted a deer before: a painting of Bambi graced the Top 100 2006 and my friend  Ryan Agnew thought of it as the greatest painting ever. He bought it. Ryan is an artist too, he does performances. In one of his most notorious performances he enacted a worm and wore a worm suit. And to make the story come 'round, it were worms in the first place that started the whole Beth Orton/animal ordeal. Worms is one of five Beth Orton songs this year.
• The video of the singing Japanese train attendant/tour guide was posted on facebook by my friend Enny Kleikamp. She recorded him while touring Japan. I imagine him singing about the beauty of the Japanese landscape and its spiritual nature as opposed to the dry factual "on the left you see..." tour guide of the west.

p.s: The year of the rabbit starts today! Happy rabbit year everyone.