At the beginning of this year I was contacted by Melinda Cooper, musician extraordinaire, about artwork for a CD her band was working on. The band she’s in, Town Cars, was in the process of completing recording sessions and she was interested in having some paintings included in the CD packaging. I had known Melinda for some time, first meeting her when another band she’s in, Union Electric, opened for Theodore at the Old Rock House. For that particular show Melinda was playing drums. As far as I knew she was a bass player but apparently their regular drummer was unavailable so she moved to drums and they had a guest, Celia Shackattack, play bass. I had seen Union Electric many times and wasn’t sure what to expect. I was blown away by Melinda and her drumming. Over the next few years, when I would see her perform it was always on bass again, and she’s an amazing bass player as well. Then during a special event at Off Broadway, “Label Day” for Tower Groove Records, I got to see a side project of hers called Town Cars. She was playing acoustic guitar and had a drummer plus a keyboard player. Again, I was blown away by her singing and playing. At that point I was convinced she can do anything musically. So when she contacted me about possibility of using paintings for the CD packing of the new Town Cars album, I was all for it.
We talked about what she had in mind
and worked out a deal. She sent me photos she had taken of her rehearsal
space and I based the paintings off of those photographs. To keep
things interesting, I used small canvases and painted in oil.
Normally I use acrylic but wanted to mix things up a bit and do these
pieces in oil. I did four pieces in all and was very happy with how they
turned out. Three of the pieces were used through the packaging of the
CD and the whole thing turned out great, the
best part being the tunes, of course. Seriously, the songs on the CD
are truly great and Melinda continues to amaze me with her abilities and
talents. The thing I love most about these songs are the melodies,
tremendous melodies and counter melodies throughout
this disk.
A CD listening and release party for
the CD, titled “Hearts and Stars”, has been slated for Saturday Oct 11
at the newly opened Tick Tock Tavern on Magnolia St. In addition to
hearing and getting a copy of the CD, the four paintings I
did for Melinda will be on display at the party. The CD is being
released through Extension Chord Records.
