Thursday, May 7, 2015

Bun Bun

M.I.A.
oil on canvas board, 9" x 12", 2015

David Letterman calls it quits on May 20th. His late show included guests like Captain Beefheart and M.I.A. The M.I.A. performance of Born Free from her Maya album at Letterman's Late Show in 2010 ranks among the most exciting live performances I've ever seen. It's not often I would consider a musical performance as art but this one sure is. M.I.A. is seen performing with two musicians and a dozen dancers, clones of herself, in what seems an unrehearsed, not choreographed rendition of Born Free that borders on anarchy. Alan Vega and Martin Rev composed the riff the song samples (Ghost Rider, 1977), and should be proud of what became of it. The name of the Bunny in the painting is Bun Bun, I found her (the painting) in a thrift store.

note: just after I wrote the above text I watched a youtube video of suicide performing ghost rider in 1977 and i thought that martin rev looked a lot like the keyboard player on letterman's late show 33 years later it didn't take me long to figure out that it actually was martin rev performing with m.i.a.

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