Richard Brautigan short story in SF
PETER EDLER
This is Congressional Gold, 80x98cm, acrylic on canvas. The painting is for sale for USD 1 (one US dollar) on a first- come first-served basis to the Dalai Lama, or George W Bush, provided either agrees to display it for the general public - the Dalai Lama at his residence at Dharamsala, India, George W Bush at the White House. Ciaociao da Pete
THE MINUTEMEN WE JAM ECONO photos by eric stringer
Mike Watt as photograph of sunrise
sunrise in pedro
april first 2005
sunrise in sanpedro may 2005
fall 2005
sunrise in pedro sep 7 2005
I did find a pendleton w/green on it later at the good will...
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/46961-interview-john-fogerty
Tue: 11-27-07
Interview: John Fogerty
Interview by Joshua Klein
There's a song on the new John Fogerty record, Revival, called "I Can't Take It No More", where the former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader calls out the current administration with rage and frustration. Of course, Fogerty's going to take it-- he has no choice, and neither do the rest of us waiting out the clock. But he's not going to take it sitting down. In fact, Revival is the most righteous =46ogerty's been since his CCR heyday, which was one of many good reasons to talk with the legendary songwriter about everything from the state of the nation to his new disc loaded title to how he came up with so many immortal songs (hint: hard work played a big part).
Pitchfork: When I told someone I was speaking with you, they called you one of the most underrated songwriters of all time. I thought: Underrated? You've written at least a dozen of the most recognizable songs of all time. Do you feel underrated?
JF: No. [laughs] No, I don't. Let's put it this way. I feel happy about the songs I've written. I'm a great lover of the craft of songwriting, and I sure admire it in other people when I see it-- past and present. When I was a kid I was kind of learning at the knee of everybody who had come before. I feel comfortable with what I have accomplished. I feel happy to be able to work in that environment, and that I have a lot of songs left to be written, somewhere. People may be mixing up the word with "under celebrated" perhaps. I'm probably not in some circles as well known as some other folks. That's only because of the confusion with my name, or Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Pitchfork: You did name your new record Revival.
JF: Actually, my dear wife Julie named it. It's interesting. She had convinced me and others that Revival was the name. After I had gone on for a while knowing that that was the name of it, during the pre-production leading up to the release, I thought that she was referring to how I felt. What I felt was that my songs-- especially if you hear a collection of them, an album-- I really sensed a higher level. The songs seemed to be coming from a guy who knows what he is doing, confident and assured about his craft. That's how I felt. Especially when taken all together, it's powerful. It feels to me like I've returned to form, as in my earlier days. But as I said that to a few folks, my wife said, "That's not what I meant." [laughs]
OK, prey tell, honey, what did you mean? She said, "Well, long ago you had a big group with a lot of success, and then you kind of went down the road into a lot of darkness, a meandering and winding road, as it were. Now you've come out into this wonderful place where your personal life is very happy, and your music is reflecting your newfound happiness in your heart. That's where your music is coming from, and that's what the revival is." I kind of looked at her and went, oh. It's not too far removed from what I had guessed, but because I was the one it was happening to I didn't perceive it as the journey that she was watching. [laughs] When she first said "I think we should call it 'Revival'," I kind of reacted like, well, yeah, that's kind of obvious. It was too plain. I had lived with the word associated with me for so long it wasn't like a new, fresh idea. I kind of see that word all the time! [laughs] But she tried it out on many other people, and they reacted strongly, so I said OK.
Pitchfork: You also have a song on the new record called "Creedence Song". It doesn't get more obvious than that!
JF: And that song really-- how can I say it?-- it makes a statement in a couple of ways. Obviously, just writing a song and calling it "Creedence Song" is certainly a touchstone to my past, and really music that is still played to this day, in a really modern and vital way, I guess you could say. The other kind of inescapable fact is that I'm speaking of Creedence and referring to Creedence in a very fond and happy, loving way, which might make many of my fans who have been watching a long time go wow, that's kind of new, coming from John! I have been known to say-- what's the word?-- a cynical remark here and there about my former band and some of the circumstances. What this kind of signals is that I'm a happy guy, a happy fellow who considers himself very lucky to be doing this and that there's still an audience and a reason for me to be making music. The way I relate to my days as Creedence now is in a very positive and happy way. This song is sort of a giveaway, revealing a portion of my heart in a very current state of affairs. In some quarters, I guess, people will be happy and relieved that I'm feeling that way.
Pitchfork: You could have called it "Golliwog Song".
JF: [laughs] If I had called it "Golliwog Song" I don't know what it would have been. Because I would have had to make it sound like that, too! [laughs] Therefore probably nobody would have paid attention!
Pitchfork: I think it's because you draw so enthusiastically from your traditional rock and roll influences that you've been so consistent over the years. People know what a John =46ogerty song sounds like. They know the voice, they know the production. Could you write a song at this point that didn't sound like a John Fogerty song?
JF: I could do it-- and I have done it-- if I was really trying to do something different and almost be somebody else. Especially what happened after "D=E9j=E0 Vu", which I thought was a bit of a departure. It certainly had a lot of leanings toward acoustic and fingerstyle guitar. I felt that it was a tangent, similar to other tangents I had taken in my career. I looked back and saw that I had kind of gone off on these interesting avenues-- to me, perhaps-- but that I had maybe left my fans behind. So I refer to it as wanting to get back to my center, the middle of me, the place where I'm strongest. That's the idea. I feel that my best work is in that place. It certainly is very much rock and roll and from that point of view. I've tried even on purpose sometimes to get away from that, and the further I get away, the most disastrous the result [laughs].
Pitchfork: You might not be underrated as a songwriter, but I think you are underrated as a producer.
JF: Well, thank you for noticing that! If you go back and actually check the credits on all the records that I've made, I've produced all my music though the years, starting with the Creedence records. I'm not going to sit here and say I always know what I'm doing [laughs]. But when I'm on it, as I certainly was during the Creedence time and I feel that I am now, too, there's a real clarity. You can just see what you're supposed to do. I realize there have been other times where I was maybe not so sure. Of course the result isn't always happy. That's also a sense that I do know what I'm doing, and I sure know what I ought to sound like, which is the producer's job.
Pitchfork: Something different about this record and the last record is that you've become really specific with your politics. You name names.
JF: Look, I have very strong feelings about some things. I happen to believe-- put it this way, all of our politicians, no matter what their political party and affiliation, everybody is human. Therefore, by definition, nobody is perfect. It's the nature of the game. We all make mistakes. Politicians make mistakes. Sometimes they even make big mistakes. But that's all they are. They just choose the wrong thing. I just happen to feel that in this case, with this administration, it's not simply bad judgment. I think these are bad people behaving badly, very much having a sinister purpose or agenda that is very self-serving a selfish. Lining their own pockets, lining the pockets of their friends, and making all the rest of us pay for it, of course. That's the intensity of my own emotions and feelings about this. For the life of me, I can't remember a bunch of Democrats in recent memory who got together as a group and said-- I mean, I know there was a Billy Sol Estes, and that LBJ had a couple of things that he did that were pretty much for his own good. But I can't remember such a group of people in power having the reigns of power and taking the entire country to a place that makes their close friends so wealthy, so quickly. It really seems bad. That to me is, more than the war itself, it's that agenda, that perversion of power, that I'm referring to as the "Long Dark Night".
Pitchfork: A lot of people compare George W. Bush and Richard Nixon, or the Iraq War with Vietnam. But not a lot of people talk about those differences. The group of people with such focused power to do wrong.
JF: Nixon had his "golfcart army"-- Halderman, Erlichman. Basically they were running around trying to protect Nixon and the whole political dirty tricks thing. It wasn't until later that Erlichman was trying to hawk ice cream or something. Whereas these guys now are doing stuff that lines their pockets now. It's so much more about power and money. The whole Halliburton thing, or Blackwater. All these different groups of people that are put right in the path of billions of dollars of American tax payers' money. If I had enough time I could have named all of those people [in the song], too! [laughs] The song would have been 400 minutes long.
Pitchfork: You've obviously played protests, and you play a lot of songs people play as protest songs. Would you consider yourself a protest singer?
JF: Only at times. I think at times the very strong feelings I have about my country coincide with my musical ability, and I'm able to actually turn it into music, a song or even hopefully a memorable song, sometimes. You may find it surprising, but I'm a very intense, proud American. I love being an American. But I come from a generation that came of age in the 60s, so that intense pride sort of comes out a little differently in me than it does in, say, John Wayne. Now that I'm a lot older, I certainly revere John Wayne as an icon. Heck, he was a cowboy, and I love cowboys. But during the Vietnam era, he was too dang right wing. He was status quo, everything's great. He was against the protesters and for the Nixon White House, and his politics I think-- I think-- tended to be quite conservative. He could have almost uttered the phrase "stay the course." [laughs]
I'm just made differently. Man, I just love being an American, I love my country. But it happened to me during the Nixon time, especially pre-Watergate, that as I watched Nixon for the first time in my life I felt shame. I had to analyze myself. What is this emotion? I realized that my government was separate from my country. It was the first time I ever felt ashamed of the government, not the country. I felt that the population as a whole, of which I am one member, I was proud of that. I was proud of our history, all the things that have lead us to where we are and what we stood for and stand for still-- I hope. But there was a distinct difference. That was the first time I could see that what the government was doing was not necessarily what my country wanted to have done. Which is probably how I feel now. That pride as an American comes out a little bit different. I can salute the flag. I can totally support the troops. And yet I am against what my president is doing with those troops.
Pitchfork: "Fortunate Son" is just steeped with disgust at what Nixon was up to.
JF: Well, it was so glaring. It was so obvious during Nixon's time that the children of privilege-- the senator's son, the president's son, if he had one, or at least the president's daughter's boyfriend-- they weren't going to war. They were going to have a cushy job somewhere. Whereas the poor, lower class grunt was going to be the guy in field getting shot. It made me so angry. I'm not the first guy to notice it, but it made me so angry that the rich old men make the war, and the poor young men have to fight it.
Pitchfork: In "I Can't Take It No More", you explicitly apply "Fortunate Son" to whom I take is George Bush.
JF: Put it this way: The sound of that track is a giveaway. The energy, the frustration, the anger, the intensity is a giveaway to those emotions. I've listened to the White House, the administration, and certainly George Bush for years now-- we all have listened to this stuff. And my feeling is I can't take it no more! We all know he lied about the casualties for one thing. They continue to lie about the casualties on both sides. We're killing Iraqis by the hundreds of thousands-- we are, or the insurgents are. We're even lying about the American casualties. If you get killed a certain way, they don't list it as died in combat. I understand if you get blown up in certain quarters of the country that's also not listed as died in combat. The total figure of deaths or casualties in Iraq doesn't get counted in the main column.
Of course, then there are all the "civilian contractor" deaths. Just that one portion is a lie. Of course, the WMDs was a lie-- I'm picking apart my song here. And the detainees? I'm talking about the detainees before the war! There's one guy we famously beat the crap out of until he said "Yes, Saddam has weapons of mass destruction!" We basically went to war with the testimony of one detainee that we tortured. Every night Bush gets on TV and says we must stay the course. We must prove we're not cowards, and we're not quitters. I've just had it! It's tired, it's old.
Pitchfork: The gall of that guy, to eventually give in and compare Iraq to Vietnam and then cite that as a reason to stay!
JF: It's the mess that he's created. The one that I loved was after Petraeus did his testimony-- I didn't actually watch, because I was disgusted-- there was a picture of him, the front page, and the headline was "Bush declares things are going so well"-- because of the surge-- "that we can now bring home 30,000 troops." The real truth is that we had to bring home 30,000 troops-- which of course brings us back to the level we were at before the surge-- or else we had to institute a draft. Those guys have all had three tours of duty now, so if he sent them back again basically there would be a revolt! The spin was that he was bringing them home because we were doing so well! God! Wow! It just makes you crazy.
Pitchfork: People tend to forget that you were drafted, and you served.
JF: Yes.
Pitchfork: You weren't a draft dodger.
JF: Well, I was drafted, but I managed to then get myself into an Army reserve unit. So I didn't go to Vietnam, obviously. My credentials are not like those of the poor guys who served and died. I am nowhere near that commitment or trauma.
Pitchfork: But you didn't run away or hide, either.
JF: No. I certainly have the experience. I know at least a portion of the inner workings of the military, and I sure know how a young guy feels when his government is coming after him to take him to war. I've experienced all those feelings. It isn't something I just read about somewhere. It's all firsthand.
Pitchfork: Of a lot of the acts of that era, how many other musicians that you knew of were drafted and served?
JF: Not a lot. Only a few. But there were some. I was always amazed that Hendrix had been in and gotten out before the whole thing blew up. He was in the Air Force for two or three-- maybe four years? That surprised me that he had served that long. Right now I can't think of anyone that was in the regular Army, or regular military. Gary Lewis was, famously.
Pitchfork: That, of course, is the biggest difference between then and now: no draft. If there were a draft, would that finally get people out on the streets?
JF: Of course! I believe that's the dirty subversion that George Bush is trying to pull off in the meantime. If he keeps it quiet enough, low-key enough, he feels he can get away with it. This whole control of the media-- you never see any caskets draped with flags. You never see a plane landing with a hundred caskets on it. Why? Because they made sure, after the first month or so of the Iraq invasion, they made sure all those planes land somewhere in the middle of the night. No press is allowed to see it. There's that famous photo, probably four years ago now, of a whole room full of caskets with flags draped over them. That never happened again. They managed to clamp down on the media. Up to about a year and a half ago it was scary how quiet our media was being. That was a scary time. I was literally thinking "fascism" at the time.
Pitchfork: And given all that we know, there must be ten times as much we don't know or can't know.
JF: There you go! Exactly. I think I know about some of the lining of pockets, things like Blackwater. But those things have sort of accidentally come out. Look at the price of the war. We didn't equip our army well. We didn't go over there with body armor or good machinery or good equipment. All those billions went some pace else. That whole thing is very disturbing.
Pitchfork: We should talk a little about music, too. You famously had a string of number two hits-- five between 1969 and 1970 alone. Back then the competition was impressive, but did that rile you guys at all, to come so close but never hit number one? I'm sure there were some great songs at number one ahead of you.
JF: I'm sure. There always were. At the time, everything was going so well, I didn't worry about being "only" number two. Also, these were double sided singles, much of the time. I always felt Billboard changed their policy because of us. After about five singles that were double-sided hits-- and listed with separate numbers-- they instituted a policy of one single with two hit songs listed as one number. I always though we wore 'em out. But I didn't concern myself with that at all. I was just happy we were having hits all over the radio. Looking back, many of the songs in rock and roll history that I assumed had big high number, many of which were million sellers, didn't make it to number one. Famously, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going on," some other Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard songs. Huge, humungous radio hits. Back in their era it was probably somebody like Patti Page or something. In my era is was probably somebody like the Fifth Dimension, something more pop, a little bit more middle of the road that would occupy the number one position while we were number two.
Pitchfork: Bruce Springsteen has never had a #1 single. "Dancing in the Dark" was a #2.
JF: That could be. But I'm sure the album was #1. Creedence had #1 albums. Was there more than one? I remember Green River. I remember some of the other albums just hung around for weeks and weeks and weeks. That was the coolest. At some point we had maybe as many as three albums in the top 10. Certainly two. That was wonderful, There was so much Creedence music being played on the radio I never looked at the shortcomings.
Pitchfork: What a luxury, to be able to release an album every six months.
JF: Or sooner!
Pitchfork: Is it at all surreal, to be part of the language that all musicians speak?
JF: I know what the question means, but I'm so much a part of the audience in that regard. I learned all this stuff by hearing James Burton or Reggie Young playing on soul records, hearing all these great guitar licks and that approach to guitar music. At some point I was able to do it pretty good and create music for my band. If we were all in a room, you sometimes feel like you actually are walking around with James Burton and Reggie Young and Duane Eddy, and we're all on this cosmic, psychic journey together in the same room. It's like we can all hear some song start, and we all nod our heads with a smile and an affirmation. This never, ever happened, of course, but I think all of us that do this would say that we've all felt that connection to each other. It's almost a communal feeling. You validate each other.
Pitchfork: Were the songs just coming to you that quickly? Do they come to you quickly?
JF: During that period of time, I had kind of looked around at our situation. "Suzie Q" was a hit, something you pray all your life for. We finally got a hit! But then you're basically a one-hit wonder, and we were the classic version: a cover song with a unique arrangement, in the spotlight. That's the classic one-hit wonder syndrome. I looked around and thought, "God, I sure don't want that to happen to me!"
I determined, we're on the tiniest record label in the world, there's no money behind us, we don't have a manger, there's no publicist. We basically had none of the usual star-making machinery, so I said to myself I'm just going to have to do it with the music. I looked within my own band and wondered about our chances. What I saw was people that could make music that was basically coming from me. I don't mean that to sound full of myself; it was just an honest appraisal. Basically I wanted to do what the Beatles had done. I sensed that I just had to do it myself.
So I got very, very busy. Every night I worked on writing songs from about 9 o'clock until about 4 o'clock in the morning. I had a routine, or a discipline, that went on for about two years. All the songs weren't great. I used to say for every song you heard I'd probably written 10 that were no good. Meaning, really, I start down the road with them until I realize, no, this is crap. It's not worth pursuing. Then I throw it away and start something else. But the music was coming really quickly, and it was really good. That was the amazing part. There was so much stuff at a really high level.
What happens is, especially when I was writing for my band, Creedence, and it's the way I write now, I go into "guitar lick" mode. When I do, it sort of leads into a real song. I'd say to myself, your songwriting is coming up with a guitar lick, and the rest is easy! [laughs] I was deluding myself that the song was almost not important, but I think the real thing that was happening was almost like self-hypnosis or mediation. The guitar lick was the transcendental key that unlocked my brain. It freed me. And then it all became easy. It's funny now, because I've had times when it wasn't easy. But that's what I was going for, a guitar lick. The happy accident that lead every bar band in the world to want to play those instantly recognizable songs, like "Up Around the Bend" or "Green River" or "Proud Mary".
Pitchfork: After a while, though, you slowed down. You stopped playing Creedence songs, and the gaps between albums went pretty long.
JF: Well, then I hit-- all the stuff that happened to me, I'll just say it that way. And I really kind of didn't get back on my feet until "Centerfield" became a hit-- by the way, that was #1. Then I had a lot of emotions and things to deal with, so I went away again and came back with "Blue Moon Swamp." That was quite a labor, I must say, even though it turned out really good. It was hard. It was just a lot of stubborn, hard, slow going to finally get those songs. A lot of digging. It was difficult. Whereas this album, Revival, that's the part that was the most fun and makes me feel really great.
Pitchfork: It's interesting that songs seem to come quickly to you, but at the same time you did go long stretches without writing.
JF: When the bad stuff was really intense in my life, it was really what you would call writer's block. Your facility is just not as good because you feel so bad. I've heard of people right on the verge of suicide coming up with some of their best work. I wish I could think of an example, other than Van Gogh, perhaps! [laughs]
=46or me, at least, when you don't feel good you're not at your strength. Centerfield, I was feeling pretty good and pretty strong, but what happened after Centerfield, that album basically opened the door and let out all that anguish that I had felt up until that time. That's why Eye of the Zombie is not so good. It took me years after that the understand what had happened. How did it go so wrong? How did it get so dark? I can clearly see it was because once Centerfield, came out and hit the top of the charts, it was like all those pains came out of you as if to say: you see? You see how bad it was? I could see the penitentiary that I'd been staying in.
A bunch of bad crap came out, and it's on Eye of the Zombie. Blue Moon Swamp, I think is kind of a triumph of keeping focus-- even if I wasn't perhaps at the top of my game. Kind of willing it to be good songs and a strong album. The real difference with Revival is that my heart is so happy. I can't even express to you the joy I had once I sensed I had six, seven, eight good songs. I felt like I truly could do what I used to do long ago. You don't like to admit that you're not there when you aren't! [laughs] But I could see that I was a guy who rediscovered songwriting and the joy of music. It was so clear. Once I started, the good stuff started coming again, like the old days. It was almost effortless.
Yeah, every song is not a radio hit, but there's a cohesiveness. That just makes me feel great. I'm a happy guy, and very happy to be doing music. I think that's the change. I think that's what happened. I know when I went to listen to a collection of songs on this album-- it wasn't all done yet-- I listened to them all as a group one day and my sense was, wow, this is really a lot of good stuff. It had a power that was separate from each individual song. I don't know if that makes senses. I could tell, this guy knows what he's doing! This has a very clear assuredness to it that you expect from an artist who knows what he's doing. He's not fishing around or mailing it in, trying to fill an album. This is a guy very much involved in doing good work. I thought, people are going to get that. They're going to see that John =46ogerty is, for some reason, doing a good job here. I know we all go through that process when we listen to music, especially from guys we've paid attention to for a while, who have had careers. You can tell when they're on and when they're not. We've all sensed when people we like are mailing it in, at various times. When a guy is obviously not doing that, it makes you feel really good! It's so great to be back on track and feeling that way again.
Pitchfork: It wasn't fun or funny to you, but from the outside it was almost a joke when you were sued for sounding too much like yourself. It must be hard to sound like yourself again after you've been sued for sounding like yourself.
JF: [laughs] "Creedence Song" is the perfect example. At other times, especially after that lawsuit, I'd be in my room and get into my little swamp groove. I'd be playing something vaguely reminiscent of the Creedence era songs, because that's my natural thing to do, from all the people that I've learned from-- Bo Diddley, Carl Perkins, Elvis, or Howlin' Wolf. I'd go into that mode where I sort of sounded swampy-- "Born on the Bayou"-- and then suddenly a little gremlin, or a little lawyer, would jump up on my shoulder and say, "No no no no no! You can't sound like that, 'cause I'm going to sue you!" I would immediately run away and hide. It would just kill the inspiration. It would die. The minute I started to feel like I was doing something reminiscent-- boom! It was over. But during "Creedence Song" I had that same thing happen, and I willed that bad guy away. "I'm going to sound just like this, and that's too bad!" I basically got over it.
Pitchfork: It was mind over matter.
JF: I had to feel strong enough about the ground I was standing on that it was OK. It's one thing if I were an alcoholic or had mental institution issues or something. But none of those things happened to me. What happened was I had demented, perverted, legal people coming after me-- or even jealous people-- to push me off my game. And they did. So I finally felt secure enough about myself to say you know what? You can't do that to me anymore. This is what I love to do, I sound like this when I'm on my game, and I'm just going to go forward with it. Other people want a career or success because they think that will help them find their personal life somewhere. I've done it the other way around. What I have is what everybody else is looking for. I know I've got it made. I know I'm a very lucky man. That came first. Then the music and the career just kind of took care of themselves.
MIKE WATT
photo courtesy by bassist Mike Watt
Turk le clair michael bowen hawaii 2004
photo courtesy by michael bowen
Michael bowen
The Dancing Flowers of Tepoztlan
courtesy by Michael Bowen
MAN WOMAN
I Ejaculate The Universe painting by Man Woman
KENNETH H. BROWN
standing in front of the new Living Theatre in NYC on the opening night of my play, The Brig, on April 26, 2007. If you want to add me to your list with the photo, by all means do. The play has had terrific reviews and appears to be a hit again after 44 years. It will be awarded a whole new set of Obie awards at the Village Voice ceremony on May 21, 2007. Kenneth H. Brown
MICHAEL BOWEN painter
iran hangs gay children
beat-symbolist | acrylic painting | 2007
monsters. need no atomic bombs
MICHAEL BOWEN
the beautiful certificate of honor from the mayor of San Francisco. In Europe, I think this is much more common than in the United States. I do not know of anyone from the Beat generation who has received such a document---michael bowen.
Mike Watt as photograph of Historic seaplane lands in L.A. harbor
MICHAEL BOWEN
Black Joes Amsterdam bar
Oil painting by Michael Bowen
HOLLYWOOD BLVD MARCH 27 2005
here's the latest one of my series ''24 X 1''..
Erni Baer . 2008.
Aki Kaurismäki
HOME SWEET HOME London 1990
photo by Marya Leena Ukkanen
ambulance + cannon by raymond pettibon
happy winter solstice 2005 from watt!
PETER EDLER as painter Just finished this - I call it Spring. Best, Pete
Libby at Bay here's a painting I just did, Pete
libby@fallujah 2 photos of my new canvas, titled libby@fallujah. Why don't you find a space and we'll have a show down there spring MMVI. I'll have 3 big canvases (2x3m) in this series. You saw the first one - libby@bay. Early next year I'll start on the third one, to be called libby@home. That would make a fine exhibition with a contemporary theme that should beat some sense into art lovers. Pete
Colin Shaddick courtesy by ron whitehead
Hunter S. Thompson and Ron Whitehead courtesy by ron whitehead
Ron at Gonzo mailbox and Woody Creek Road sign august 2005
MICHAEL BOWEN IN STOCKHOLM snow wizard
my wife isa and i in our jungle hut 2005 playing music-- michael bowen
the crushing of mexico by the american elephant painting by bowen 1983 --- michael bowen
games people play carmignano tuscany italy 1997 --- courtesy michael bowen
MICHAEL BOWEN AND ROBERTO AYALA on the trail mexico 64 by roberto ayala.. on the way to meet friends from an indian village that just got a hand mimeograph machine to communicate with the outside world thank you to Michael Bowen and his gentle courtesy for the photo
MICHAEL BOWEN PAINTING city living � Phil Johnson 1980, 2006 thank you to Michael Bowen and his gentle courtesy for permitting his wonder on this site
MIKE WATT POLAR BEAR 2006
Peter Edler
the weather at home july 2007
mike watt photographs
Alfama old Lisbon Portugal February 2007
a love poem
for Sarah
visited Iris and Xavier
flew from Louisville to Detroit to London to Lisbon
my longtime dear friend Lucia and Maria and Pedro and their dog picked us up
drove us in their natural gas powered Peugeot
ancient friendly wisdomeyed dog by my side in my lap front seat
to Alfama to old Lisbon
Escolas Gerais #24-2
Iris and Xavier's apartment
narrow streets centuries old
cobblestones handmade
tram rails electric
trams unlike any other orange and lemon colored trams
painted paintings trams decades centuries old in mint condition
trams dance slowly up and down narrow old Lisbon
cobbled streets clothes hanging stories high stories high
three four five stories every street filled with stories myths alive
fairy tale streets stories the clothes tell in gentle rain in turquoise
sunshine and fog on Rio Tejo foghorns ships boats headed to and fro
river ocean Tejo Atlantic mists in the morning church bells and trams
at 5am pigeons loving rooftops singing dawn
Sarah and I sleep on the top floor on the futoned floor under the stars
the night sky our window door to the moon
at 2am after Fado Fado beautiful Fado we wander meander down and up
narrow stairs streets alleys Sarah says listen listen and we all
Iris and Xavier and Sarah and I all stop and listen we listen we listen
and all we hear is the sound the soft and gentle sound of silence silence
at 2am Alfama old Lisbon no sounds no dogs barking no horns blowing
no church bells singing no cars grinding no boats no planes no talking
only silence silence silence stillness at 2am in old Lisbon what beauty
no other city in the world can say silence at 2am no sound only
silence stillness silence
I take Sarah's hand we kiss gentle on lips we melt at 2am old Lisbon
in the mist in the silent rain we kiss
Xavier plays gypsy violin while preparing gourmet French and Portuguese
dishes rare spices herbs delicious the food melts in our mouths
the music melts our hearts Jacques Brel Rimbaud French songs poems
of love of peace of friendship Xavier is the best tour guide in
Portugal watch out for the trams step into a doorway or die
spring is here orange and lemon trees pregnant with ripe fruit
at Portugal's largest bizarre street market block after block after block
Xavier says look and there lo and behold there we see a tree filled
with big bright green glowing green parrots never before the people say
never before has such a sight been seen global warming they say has
has has global warming has thrown off their migratory patterns the birds
the green birds look over the bizarre and in unison yell further further
further as they in unison depart in flight headed further to
who knows where Sarah buys skirts and sari and third eye from India
street market old Lisbon police arrest drunk merchants we drink
espresso in sidewalk cafes blue skies ancient bright not withered faces
old wise faces groceries markets restaurants on every street run by
generations and generations fresh food fruits vegetables meats seafoods
daily fresh wine ports the best in the world palm trees Atlantic and
Mediterranean breezes it is spring in Portugal Morocco Tangier out
the roof window rooftops river ocean spring breezes songs poems dances
the dance Iris dances the dance of life world beat rhythms magic alchemy
mystery rhythms Iris dances Sarah sings the poem of life the poems of love
Sarah and I dance love's dance in Alfama old Lisbon in Portugal
from Quinta da Regaleira
to Alfama
the water of life oh eternal natural springs
wash us purify us transform us
sweet angel of the fountains
of the natural springs springs of seven mountains
oh angel of water
baptize us
oh water of life
make us new
O Privilegio dos Caminhos
trazem a sua arte a Lisboa
num encontro
entre poesia canto musica e danca
Lucia Baltazar Xavier Iris Sarah Ron
Santiago Alquimista
ola
obrigado
birth life friendship love death
alchemy
Sintra
the journey below and above
Pessoa poet boulanger alchemist
poetry song dance
the bread of life
manger du livre eat the book
and the word will set you free
changing water to red wine
the wedding feast
in Alfama old Lisbon
Iris Xavier
our guides in this strange this mystical land
Fado destiny synchronicity
trams and church bells
at 5am
meditation prayer
red wine
Tejoo Bar
laughing woman
with a broom
Tejoo Bar Pedro at midnight guitared poems
freedom portal
keep the flame alive
the flame of freedom
Pedro sings and drinks and recites poetry every night at The Tejoo Bar
Baltazaar Dazkarieh
world music world rhythms
the beauty of rhythmic movement of sound
measuring space with time with magically rhythmed time
romantic alchemical mystery Portugal
Napoleao
the best wine port shop in Lisbon
Baixa Rua dos Fanqueiros (tell the owner I sent you)
in Kentucky it's raining Portuguese poems
the food the wine the coffee the port
my God oh Great Spirit
i'm in Heaven
Pasteis de Belem Piriquita
the French gypsy violinist Xavier plays and sings till dawn
The Friends new friends
Threshold of The Gods
Jesus crowns Mary Magdalene
Ron crowns Sarah Elizabeth
Quinta da Regaleira
Sintra
Fount of Abundance
alchemical Portugal
the threshold
the doorway
to the creative imagination
to spirit realms
Lord Byron's Caf�
Pessoa's Hotel
by plane and train we travel
we walk
from Oporto to Braga Bom Jesus
the Azores Sintra
to old Lisboa Alfama
to Faro to Tangier
to Terceira
Luis Vaz de Camoes Fernando Pessoa
Ana Paula Inacio Luis Quintas Rui Coias
Fado Amalia Rodrigues
old Lisboa oh Lisbon oh Portugal
we sing your songs
we drink your wines
we make love to you
we raise toasts to you
we dance your dances
we whisper your poems
obrigado obrigado obrigado
obrigado
ola
with Love
Ron Whitehead
February 25, 2007
Copyright � Ron Whitehead 2007
www.tappingmyownphone.com
MIKE WATT
p.s. sorry this is late, raymond's b-day was also yesterday (june 16) and my mail server was choking out too - finally it lets my flow go! http://www.operacity.jp/en/ag/exh31rp.php june 2007
the title is BIG MAC KILLS CHILDREN THEN THE WORLD I made it, am making it, because I am pissed off. Im working in my studio in Havana and flying back and forth to the e.u. (might as well lie if the story sounds better and the bastards get upset) - courtesy Michael Bowen
Larry Keenan
Window Dressing Venice
courtesy to Larry Keenan 2007
mike watt performance 2006---many thanks to courtesy of bassist mike watt
PETER SIMMONS
Hendrix pic was taken in August 1970. this photograph of Jimi Hendrix that I took at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
Isle of Wight the crowd They were taken for a Swedish magazine, Hant I Veckan and published 11 September 1970. thanks alot peter!
Wayne Propst. resides Lawrence, KS artist, writer, slightly mad genius, friend of William S.Burroughs, dear friend of many, can be mean as a snake, with heart that doesn't falter. --- courtesy by Patricia Elliott
PETER EDLER
kiss (2007)
2006 happy spring from watt!
Sarah & i back from amazing amazing romantic alchemical mystery Portugal. life changing. it's raining Portuguese poems
Ron
- february 2007
"Beat Comrades, by Michael Bowen, is perhaps the best painting that emerged from the Beat Generation." Harry Hilson
"IT WASN'T AS IF GOOD PAINTING AND WRITING DIDN'T COME OUT OF THE 'BEAT-GENERATION,' IT WAS JUST IN THE MINORITY." Harry Hilson
Michael Bowen
From WICKIPEDIA, encyclopedia
Michael Bowen is a pollinator, a significant connector of people and ideas. He has been thus for some five decades, during which by his own admission he has lived hard � he recounts his era�s love-ins, peace-ins, exuberant sexuality, and world wandering. Also by his own admission, he has �never, ever missed one day of painting.� Bowen continued then and continues today to make a compelling and original body of literally thousands of works in oil, collage, assemblage and other media collected by international patrons, and shown all over the U.S., Europe and Asia. He was included in a major 1996 traveling show originating at the prestigious Whitney that sampled and contextualized the so called Beat Generation, and his archival art books chronicling his art and times are prized rarities that sell for hundreds of dollars. He apprenticed under and befriended Keinholtz; he hung out with Hermes and other now famed names in the Laurel Canyon art district of the early 50s, when L.A. artists lived in studios at $10 a month, ate canned tomato soup with saltines and slept on floor bound mattresses. Those were the days when Bowen and his circle--first around the now fabled Ferus Gallery in L.A., and later within a budding, equally famous bohemian nexus in San Francisco--began to make art from any manner of detritus: old cars, found junk, magazines, collaged photos, you name it. In the midst of post World War II consumerism and suburban lock-step convention, Bowen and the remarkable people who have surrounded and been impacted by him decided to redefine and expand our notions of both art and life. Art was anything the artist decided to call art; and life was experience lived to the edge, awash in unrestrained and innocent sensuality and full throttle creative license. Rauschenberg and Pop art set the stage for this freedom in thought and materials. Like Rauschenberg, whose close association with Cage at Black Mountain College lent him a strong belief in Zen, in chance and the metaphysics of creativity, Bowen too inherited a healthy respect for creative transcendence tempered by good painterly knowhow. Unlike so many of his circle who were not from art fields and fell into making art when the 60s suddenly opened the doors to all, Bowen was making art or thinking about it seriously since his youth. Bowen had no interest in the then popular clich� of the self-taught artist. He was a tenacious student of drawing and at 17, rejected his parents, their life style and enrolled in drawing classes at Chouinard Art School. True to the constant quest of his era for stimulation and life experience, Bowen made his way to San Francisco from L.A. in the 50s. The Beat fringe culture there included now renowned writers like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as William Burroughs, Norman Mailer and dozens of other pivotal minds, all dropping out, and in one way or another linked to Michael Bowen. "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked�burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Ave. . . ." So went Ginsberg�s poem, Howl. When Howl was censored and strip tease banned in S.F., Bowen saw the repressive writing on the wall and headed south to Mexico. There with a series of mentors and teachers, Bowen continued a lifelong interest in metaphysics, non Western spirituality, expanded consciousness and universal symbols � dimensions of human expression that Bowen feels yet today are inextricably entwined within the ageless, almost magical ritual of art making. From Mexico, he made his way to New York, met Leary, Warhol and in the 60s became active in the anti-war movement. To counter the aggressive war policies of the late 60s, Bowen coined the term �Human Be-In�--people gathering to just be together. Bowen hatched the ten thousand strong Be-In at the Lincoln Memorial in Oct. �67. That paradigmatic Time magazine photograph of hippies putting daisies in the gun barrels of riot police intersects at Bowen�s indelible mark on this shape shifting moment in American social history. Determined to drop two hundred pounds of daisies on the Pentagon that day as an emblem of the make peace/not war philosophy, Bowen found the plan foiled and so he packed what flowers he could in his car, passing them out at the D.C. demonstration, transforming the daisy in the gun into a timeless icon of non violence. Bowen�s staying power extends beyond a good many of his better known Beat peers, and grows out of dedication, an exuberant, youthful energy that�s taken this artist to live, work and study in India, Thailand, Meso America, Florence, Italy. Bowen has rigorously studied American Indian symbology with Ram Dass, mysticism with Sufi masters, parapsychology, and though he will tell you in no uncertain terms that his deeply rooted spiritual life fuels his art, Bowen is loathe to come off as a New Age fanatic in a sea of fads. He is careful and thoughtful when he talks and we take him all the more seriously as an artist and thinker because of this. He is a superb, instinctual colorist. Hues are lush and moody in turn. For every stroke that seems freely associative, there is an underlying rigor, a careful concept. If DeKooning�s fractured surfaces made the female somehow frightful and carnivorous, Bowen�s archetypal Woman uses liquid hues and lyrical strokes to turn the feminine into fecund nature personified. In Lovers, we see that he is a master of almost classical, well-controlled line: confident marks on a black ground limn two faces, and describe with the sparest of means the complexity of passion. In the final analysis, one cannot help but notice that behind the whimsy and good will of Bowen, behind the stories and the lore, there is virtuoso skill and an abiding belief in humankind that is timeless, childlike, and today more than ever, hopeful and inspiring. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bowen" Categories: Wikify from May 2006
MIKE WATT POLAR BEAR 2007
people, I did a wild new year's gig in boulder last night but the flight got me back in time to do the polar bear thing. I know it's cali weather out here but it was still intense for us cali cats. there were pedro folks there who also did the plunge and had great spirit, it was great to share it w/them. happy new year's to everybody. honey bear watt
PETER EDLER
Stuck with America and Happy New Year 2007
here's the opening to Stuck with America, my new piece - painting and writing in one, using digital painting software ... ---a bientot Pete
Mike Watt
saltwater plunge off pedro to bring in 2008!
folks,
my seventh one in a row... happy new year everyone!
PETER EDLER
Happy New Year 2008
happy new year from Mamie & me
Mamie Van Doren (star of �The Beat Generation�) poses with me & my newest book It�s All a Movie.
Alex Gildzen
Santa Fe
blog: Arroyo Chamisa http://www.arroyochamisa.blogspot.com/
videos: You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/gildzen
website: Gildzen http://www.cybermesa.com/~takis
Pallet Knife
Hammond Guthrie
2007
West of Eden (108x180cm, acrylic on canvas) This painting evolved over 3 months late last year and early this, 2008. It comes after a period of experimenting in black-and-white that produced my Goya-Bush series of 4 canvases. In WoE color is returning to a natural world in turmoil. At sunrise a distant city by the sea is in flames. On a hill in the foreground a group of 4 figures at rest � a woman, a man, a leonine creature and her two cubs. Two birds wing away from the sun and the burning city. To me this painting relates to sleep and the peaceful dream states we all experience despite the turmoil and destruction that disturb the world. The leonine creatures symbolize an innocence, power and eruptability that protects the sleeping humans who can easily be imagined as modern cousins of Adam and Eve, securily dreaming West of Eden, their blue skin tones hinting at immortality. Pete Edler, February 2008
From: Chuck Treece
To: bofus?
Subject: LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:59:48 -0500
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
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LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVVE OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
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LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVVE OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVVE OVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
INFINTE LOVE FOR ALL MANKIND
ALL WORLDS
ALL WALKS OF LIVE
ALL GROWTH OF LIFE.
POSITIVE EMOTIONAL FARMERS OF LIFE...
LOVE NEEDS MORE LOVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUNb2mwdWhY
Mike Watt
fuck, forgot...
happy fuckin' first day of spring!
Peter
power (107cmx107cm, acrylic on canvas) To me, this is a picture of tranquility, contemplation and reflection. The nudity of the image with its pendant genitals projects a feeling of security as well as vulnerability - a combination suggesting non-aggressive power and pride. The figure's wide-open, languorously feminine posture enhances its masculinity, while a luminous environment of land, sea and sky suggests harmony with nature and self. The bracelet on the right wrist and bluish skin tones imply spiritual aspiration with a hint at immortality - a pro-male statement to challenge contemporary clichés.
here's a canvas I just finished. I call it power - Pete
Mon. 17 Mar 2008
VERSOSOROTOS
by
emilio tamez
the wordI am
far away do not exist
more often
more any
more other
her
She,
the word AM I
exist so close
so close
so close extint these close
feel
in-sensation of her
while the train for her
life running
free blood in to Her
my will my pain My my
so close away
so close goodbye
so close
she may wonder why
closing an eye
clashing awake
extint far more
exist some more
exit no more
you, whose readings
get to close
to find a word
the right word the wrong world
awakening doesn´t awakes
Me my My
far close so lose lost lush so loose
She
her willing pain
full of blood in running away
life
while in life alive train
wire skin made of thought
in other words:
AM I, I ?
"Cell Phone Service" - 2007 Hammond Guthrie
Erni Baer
Dharmada Zengarten 1997
PETER EDLER
le feminin
Wed 30 Apr 2008,
Ciao Rinaldo - here's my new painting -
le féminin (122x144cm, acrylic on canvas).
This is how I see and feel the feminine principle.
Ciaociao, Pete
I thank you a lot Hammond for the pics... 2008
MIKE WATT
"hey, mister oh-nine!"
people,
pedaled down to cabrillo
foot sprung me from sand
dunked after I dove
aware I was most AWOKE
"hey, mister oh-nine!"
then back home
I pedaled
my first gigs of the year:
mike watt + the secondmen
saturday, january 3 at 11 pm
at the old towne pub
http://www.myspace.com/oldtownepubpasadena
66 n. fair oaks
pasadena, ca
(626) 577-6583
sunday, january 4 at 11 pm
at the casbah
http://thecasbah.com
for their 20th anniversary celebration!
2501 kettner bl.
san diego, ca
(619) 232-4355
peter edler
2012
Ciao Rinaldo
here is a painting I just finished, I hope you like it and post it your site. Hope you're well and happy.
ciao ciao da Pete
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last update december 26, 2020
