La Monte Young

La Monte Young
oil on canvas paper, 20 x 16 inches, 2016

 Alright then...here's the real thing.

Watermelon Man

Herbie Hancock
oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, 2016

Rock It, Watermelon Man, 2 iconic tunes from jazz-man Herbie Hancock. Always liked the tunes but, until today, they never made the top 100 and thus Herbie Hancock I never painted before.

The Mayor of Shiraz

 Moshir Homayoun
20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas, 2016

Any new post on/by Excavated Shellac is guaranteed to pique your interest and rekindle your curiosity in the exploration of music history. This week another jewel from the forgotten history surfaced. A 78 disc from 1933 by the Iranian pianist Moshir Homayoun was discussed and, as usual, greatly researched. Homayoun, aka Habibollah Khan, is known as the first Persian piano player who lived a storied and influential life as musician and politician. The following links direct you to, first the Excavated Shellac piece, and second the Wikipedia page on Mr. Homayoun.

Music in the News

Giovanni Battista Granata
Oil on canvas paper, 12 x 16 inches, 2016

The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed by the estate of Randy California (from the band Spirit) versus Led Zeppelin, has gotten a lot of media attention the past two weeks. Indeed the iconic guitar intro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven sounds a lot like Taurus by Spirit which is two years older. Unfortunately for Spirit the case brought to light many more riffs that sound just like the two contested and are much older. Dave Graham used the riff in a version of Cry Me a River ten years earlier, but the chord progression also appears in Mozart, Bach, and—oldest of them all—in Sonata di Chittarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo by the 17th century Baroque composer Giovanni Battista Granata.

Horns of Plenty

Aluar Horns (Uganda)
8.5 x 11 inches, oil and pastel on paper, 2016

30 years ago I was introduced to traditional African music. A friend, Esther, had a record from the Nonesuch Explorer Series dedicated to ceremonial and folk music from Africa. I taped the record and still have that audio cassette. A recording made in Uganda near the border with Zaire (DR Congo) of about 60 horns, drummers, and singers, was one of the first tunes played by anonymous musicians to be listed in my Top 100. Last week I found the original vinyl and had to buy it. Ethnomusicographic records like the Nonesuch Series used to be plentiful but you don't see them much anymore. I hadn't heard the tune, called Aluar Horns, in twenty years.

Hello Gallo

Vincent Gallo
oil on canvas board, 8 x 10 inches, 2016

As I was rummaging through some records on my shelves, my eyes stopped at a record by Bohack. I had never really listened to that record (It Took Several Wives, 1982) even though I've had it for 18 years. I bought it at the time, cheap, because of the cover that I (in 1998) immediately recognized as a painting by Francesco Clemente. I think I only played it once when I bought it, and not even all the way through. I guess I was not impressed and left the record in near mint condition on my shelf. So I pulled out the record and looked on the back where I spotted the name Vincent Gallo. And I knew of Vincent Gallo, not because he's so famous (which he is, especially after the cult classic Buffalo '66 of 1998, which he directed, played in, and provided the soundtrack for), but because he's a friend of Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) and appears on many a photograph together with her. It was the Gallo of the song Mr. Gallo from Cat Power's first album Dear Sir (1995). So I found information about It Took Several Wives on the Discogs website and to my surprise I found that the record is heavily sought after, worth about $200. I played the record (all the way through this time) and really liked it. Of course the value, and reference to Cat Power, really helped me appreciate the music. The record now, with protective plastic jacket, has been moved to the "important" shelf. 

Nina Simone!

Nina Simone
oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches, 2016

To Be Young, Gifted and Black is a song written by Nina Simone with Weldon Irvine in memory of the author, and friend of Simone, Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun). It was just released as a single in October of 1969 when Simone performed it live at the Philharmonic Hall in New York. The concert in front of a white audience (which Simone does not fail to mention in her introduction to To Be Young, Gifted and Black) was recorded and released on the album Black Gold of 1970. I found the album together with 'Nuff Said of 1968, at the local Goodwill Outlet Center—the last place items exist before being crunched in a giant garbage machine. The album existed on a shelf, or in a box, in someone's house for 46 years, hardly ever played, before being rescued from its destruction. And now it has a new life, and a painting dedicated to it. "Her picture is painted in my memory without a color of despair, and no matter where I go she is always there." (added lyrics to Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair.)

For those of you who ever visited the Koreshan State Park in Estero might recognize the background as being the generator building interior.

!Kung Bushmen of Namibia

!Kung Bushmen women singing
oil on acrylic on found canvas, 30 x 40 inches, 2016

The !Kung Bushmen are a San people (see previous post) living in Angola and Namibia. The exclamation point marks a clicking sound that is part of their language. Miriam Makeba popularized the sound in her 1960 hit song The Click Song. For anyone interested in the music of the San peoples with their ancient roots I highly recommend the Folkways album Music of the !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert from 1962. As always, and this is the great thing about Folkways, their albums are always available. On their fabulous website you can listen to outtakes of every song before purchasing.