Moondog

Moondog
14" x 7.5"
pastel on wood, 2011

Now that the storm has subsided and my mental state hit the safe green area again it's time to forward some more paintings. Actually I just took the Top 100 exhibition down and have now finally the remaining images available again for reproduction. First up is Moondog and he'll fit right in with these Norwegian heavyweights I discussed a while back. Not that his music is anything like black metal, far from it, but both Moondog and Norwegian Black Metal are inspired by the same Nordic mythology. Moondog could be seen in an outfit like this on the streets in New York City. That's where he lived, and performed before a German cinematographer took him to the promised land. From the streets of New York City to a house near the Rhine.  Now I grew up just a few miles from that river but it never struck me as a holy river. I certainly would not drink from the holy water (I wouldn't drink from the Ganges either, not that I'm against drinking...)  'The Viking of 6th Avenue' was a very colorful character and an esteemed composer, musician, and poet. Born Louis Hardin in 1916 in Kansas, exposed at a young age by the music of Native Americans that influenced the music he made later on. The LP Beat Jazz: Pictures from a Gone World contains his music together with the likes of Jack Kerouac, David Amram, to name a few. The track Up Broadway was #91 in the Top 100 2010. Moondog died in Germany in 1999.