Robert Griffin as a Guitar God wandering the Wilderness playing Holy Music no one can Hear

I’ll admit it, I don’t know Robert very well. Before I really knew who he was I would hear about him from people like Steve Scariano and Joe Thebeau but I don’t recall ever really being conscious of him until I saw him play guitar at Off Broadway with Finn’s Motel. At first I didn’t even realize it was him, I was just floored by the guitar playing. I was hearing colors, seeing textures and was surrounded by a tone that could hold weight on the moon. My mind was literally blown. Later I found out that was Robert Griffin. This was maybe 6 or 7 years ago? Since then I have gotten to know Robert a little better but not really that much. I had already known he was the guitar player for a band called Prisonshake that was originally from Cleveland, OH. I knew about this band thanks to Steve Scariano who plays bass with them. Their double album “Dirty Moons” is really phenomenal. I had also figured out that he ran Scat Records which is probably best known for putting out Guided By Voices landmark album “Bee Thousand”. Then, while hanging out at the Royale for a while on Sunday nights, I put it together that he was the same guy making all the great drinks at the bar. Watching him make a mixed cocktail is just like watching him play guitar. His attention to detail and focus is tremendous. Everything is served in its due time. But that’s about as far as I’ve gotten with him. I’m much too shy to ever mention anything or ask him questions about music or playing guitar. But from that first time of seeing him play live at Off Broadway I snapped his photo and tucked it away for future reference.

 

So, fast forward to Nov 2012. I received and invitation to participate in a group show at Hoffman LaChance in March 2013. The concept of the show was to find a second hand/thrift store painting and add something to it of your own. On Dec 30 I went to Goodwill on Forest Park Parkway and found a large landscape oil painting. At the time I had no clue what I was going to do with it and was a little nervous about buying it cause it was so large but went ahead and got it anyway. That night I went to the Royale and had a wonderful time sitting and talking with Steve Smith and Joyce Gorrell. We discussed many things including, the value of musical theatre, the importance of taking vacations, what it means for an artist to do commercial work and at some point in the evening I showed Steve and Joyce the photo I had taken of Robert so many years ago. I told them when the time was right I was going to paint his picture and they both agreed that would be a good idea. The next day, while nursing a hangover, thinking about the previous night’s conversation and looking at the large oil painting I had purchased, I realized Robert’s image would fit perfectly in it and I immediately starting working on putting him in the painting. The result is the image above.

 

now playing - Prisonshake

Tower Groove Records Singles Subscription

                                                                          Ransom Note

At some point in 2012 a meeting was held at the Heavy Anchor with the principles of the local record label Tower Groove Records. This meeting was to inform everyone of the plan to release a 7 inch vinyl single for each month in the year 2013. Each record would feature 2 bands, a single song on each side. We were told the bands involved and the months the records would be released. The reason I had been invited to the meeting was to see if I’d be interested in painting covers for 3 of the releases. Since there are 2 bands for each release, that really meant 6 covers would be needed for each side of the 3 records. And that’s what I’ve been doing since September. The paintings needed to be completed by Jan 1 so they could be photographed and sent off to the printers in time for the release date. Just made it in time by the skin of my teeth.

In all, there are 4 artists who are contributing artwork for the covers. Jeff Robtoy, Adam Watkins, Mark Stephens and myself. My pieces will be featured on The Skekses/CaveofswordS, Tone Rodent/Kisser and Ransom Note/Nee records which are released in April, May and June. You can purchase the singles individually or you can get a subscription and receive all the singles put out for the entire year for only $60.00, that is 5 bucks a record. Sixty dollars may sound like a lot but you’re getting a limited edition of releases that were specifically recorded for this series as well as the original artwork that was done by all the artists. In short, it’s a great deal.
 

Your next chance to purchase a subscription in person directly from Tower Groove will be on Saturday Jan 19 at Off Broadway.  Old Lights and Demonlover will perform in celebration of the singles series being released.  As always you can buy online safely and securely from the TGR merchandise page - http://towergrooverecords.com/merch/

 

While in the midst of painting all these pictures, I was offered a solo show at the recently opened SOHA Gallery on Macklind owned by the wonderful Julie Malone. I thought this would be a great opportunity to organize a show of all the record/CD covers I’ve done over the years along with a few newer pieces. The artwork mentioned above will be included along with paintings done for bands like Bunnygrunt, The Dirty 30s, The Union Electric, The May Day Orchestra, Eric Hall, SHed SHot, and possibly some others I’m forgetting at the moment. The paintings will be on display along with the records/CDs they were used for and a “listening station” will be available for people to hear a song or two from each release.
 

I’m very excited about this show but also have a lot of work to do to prepare for it.

 

now playing - Ransom Note 

Shooter Jennings at the Old Rock House

A few months ago Shooter Jennings stopped in St. Louis for a show at the Old Rock House. I was there to snap some photos for a future painting. Not familiar with Shooter’s music, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised with his tunes and the crack band he had playing with him. Everyone there had a great time and he's genuinely a nice guy with a good following of fans.

When I started the painting I was listening to some of his songs but then slowly started to move on to some other country tunes by the likes of Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and yes, Shooter’s famous father Waylon Jennings. It’s been a long time since I’ve really sat down and listened to some country music. It’s not that I don’t like it, I really love it but usually my preference is for Rock and Roll. After going through a few Johnny Cash albums, I started in on Waylon and I was surprised at how many tunes I knew. That got me thinking about other country musicians like George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Jerry Reed, etc. In our modern age we can simply type in a musician or band on the computer and queue up some tunes, so I did. I was astonished, I knew so many songs by these musicians but I haven’t listened to them in years. I started thinking about it and realized that when I was young, 6, 7 and 8 years old, this was about the only music I ever heard. Growing up in Southeast Missouri in the late 70s/early 80s gives you little options as to what type of music everyone is going to be listening to. And thankfully for me it was these artists and their tunes.

Especially when I was hanging out with my grandmother. She always had the radio on or the TV tuned to country music videos and she loved all these musicians. She also came of age in the 50s and loved the Rock and Roll of that time, Elvis, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, etc. When you think about it, there’s not much difference between the rockers of the 50s and the country stars a few decades later. Hell, Waylon Jennings was in Buddy Holly’s last band. So, for me, they all go together very well and their music was always played in my grandmother’s house. This is how I know all these tunes, it wasn’t by choice but I’m sure glad it happened that way. It’s some of the greatest music ever created.

In the early 00s Willie Nelson played two shows at Mississippi Nights. The two shows sold out quickly but not before I was able to snag 3 tickets for my grandmother, her friend and myself. The day of the show we stood in the long line waiting to get in. I had been use to standing in the Mississippi Nights’ line before but this time I was with my grandmother and I could tell her and her friend were a little uncomfortable but they never complained once and you could tell how excited they were. I was a bit nervous cause I knew how hard it could be to get a good seat in MN and I wanted them to be able to enjoy the show while sitting down and still see everything. The doors finally opened and as soon as we got in the doors, I told them to hang on to my shirt and follow close by. I made a beeline for the seating area just left of the stage. I was able to grab 3 seats in the second row of chairs they had set up. The view was perfect. We could see everything and when Willie came out and started up with “Whiskey River” the entire place erupted with cheers. It was my most favorite concert at Mississippi Nights and it means even more to me since my grandmother was there also.

So, here I am, the child of real country music fans painting the child of a real country music star.

now playing - "Goin' Down Rockin'"

Tower Groove Records Singles Subscription

The beat goes on, as they say.  Above is the cover for the Skekses 45 split with CaveofswordS which will be released in April of 2013.  You may recall me talking about the Tower Groove Records Singles Subscriptions a few weeks ago.  The subscription takes 12 bands and matches them up with 12 more bands to release a 45 single every month for the year of 2013.  This promises to be an exciting snapshot of active St. Louis bands and you have many chances to sign up to receive the whole series for a mere $60.00 (that’s 5 bucks a record).

Your next chance is Dec 9 at Euclid Records.  Tower Groove bands will be performing live in store and they’ll have a representative there to take your orders.  If you can’t make it to the in store, then all you have to do is click this link for a super easy and secure online ordering process, really super easy if you have a PayPal account.

In addition to the local music that’s available, each record will feature original artwork from either myself, Jeff Robtoy and Adam Watkins, both of Tone Rodent and the great Mark Stephens from the band Accelerando.  The series is sure to sell out so shop early and shop often.

Now playing – The Skekses

Poetry Scores 8th Art Invitational

 

Friday, Nov. 9 from 7-10 p.m. at Mad Art Gallery, 2727 So. 12^th St. in Soulard.  Poetry Scores presents 50 artists visually interpreting Andreas Embirikos’ poem “Phantom of the Dreams’ Origin”.
 

 For the last few months the idea of doing some linoleum prints was appealing to me for some reason. Not sure why, but that’s what my mind was on. I came up with a plan to do a small series of four film directors, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and David Lynch. After a quick powwow with my old high school pal Eric Woods of the world famous Firecracker Press, I was off and running with my first print. In the midst of all that I got the reminder that the next Poetry Scores event was coming up and I had committed myself to a portrait of the event’s feature poet, Andreas Embirikos. So instead of painting an individual painting of the poet, I decided to exploit my new self-driven obsession of doing linoleum prints and print his portrait. The result is fine. I did two different cuts, on the second cut I used a few different colors. There are a total of 38 prints and they’ll all be available at the event along with art from other artists listed below.

 

 

Hannah Bailey
Kevin Belford
James Blackwood
Jeff Brawn
Hunter Brumfield III
Dail Chambers
Bill Christman
Jen Collins
Jon Cournoyer
Heather Corley
Mikey Davidson
Deb Douglas
Dr. Andrew Dykeman
Jennifer Saenz Dykeman
Julie Evanoff
Thom Fletcher
Flowers to the People
Marth Rose Green
Paul Hartman
Sue Hartman
JoAnn Houle
Alexa Hoyer
Rick Jordan
Chris King
Leyla Fern King
Julie Malone
Tim McAvin
MSTR Gringo
Carmelita Nunez
Mike Pagano
Hap Phillips
Thomas Plunk
John Pruitt
Jeremy Rabus
Tony Renner
Kim Keek Richardson
Cindy Royal
Stefene Russell
Lorna Scobie
C. Scott
Janiece Senn
Derek Simmons
Dana Smith
Robin Street-Morris
Brian Styles
Mark Swain
Andrew Torch
Ipek Tuna
Wayne St. Wayne
Jess Witte

 

now playing - Rolling Stones

Tower Groove Records Singles Subscription

Tone Rodent/Kisser

During the summer of 2011, in the grueling heat, weekly meetings began happening in the backyard of Jason Hutto’s house. The meetings were eventually moved to various bars around town but the subject always remained the same, Tower Groove Records. The first order of business was how to get a double LP released and that eventually led to the Tower Groove Carnival which did indeed raise enough money to release the double album.

 Now the agenda is a 7 inch singles club subscription series which promises to be every bit as ambitious as the double album. They’re taking 12 bands and then adding 12 more bands and releasing a vinyl 7 inch record each month for the year of 2013. If you purchase a subscription to the whole series you can get a break on the price of each record. Your first chance to sign up for a subscription is coming on Saturday Oct 20. From 2pm-7pm right outside of Apop Records on Cherokee Street they’ll have bands playing, food cooking and beer drinking all for your enjoyment. While you’re there you can let your intentions be known that you plan on subscribing to the record series thus saving yourself some money at the Tower Groove Records booth.

 In addition to the 24 bands, there are 4 artists who have been slated to create artwork for 3 of the releases each. Jeff Robtoy gets first crack with Jan-Mar releases, next up will be me for Apr-Jun, then it’s handed off to Adam Watkins (artist for the double LP cover) for Jul-Sep and clean up will be Mark Stephens for Oct-Dec. All this makes the subscription series special and a one-time thing with a limited number of each record being printed. The painting above will grace the cover of the Tone Rodent/Kisser single.

 

Here’s what you get for the subscription

 

Jan: Old Lights/Demon Lover

Feb: Doom Town/Black for a Second

Mar: Bunnygrunt/Trauma Harness

Apr: Skekses/CaveofSwords

May: Tone Rodent/Kisser

Jun: Ransom Note/Nee

Jul: Maximum Effort/Shaved Women

Aug: Magic City/Jungle Fire

Sep: Peck of Dirt/Little Big Bangs

Oct: Bug Chaser/Troubador Dali

Nov: Accelerando/Humdrum

Dec: Sleepy Kitty/Middle Class Fashion

 

 

July: Maximum Effort/Shaved Women
August: Magic City/Jungle Fire
September: Peck of Dirt/Little Big Bangs
October: Bug Chaser/Troubador Dali
November: Accelerando/HumdrumThe event on Sat Oct 20 promises to be a memorable one with a great live line up. Stop by, have a beer, some food and get a subscription before they’re all sold out.

Tower Groove Records Fall Informal
Saturday October 20, 2 PM to 7 PM
Bands include: Accelerando, Bug Chaser, Jungle Fire, Kisser, Shaved Women, Skekses and Trauma Harness
Local Harvest will provide food.Tower Groove Records Fall Informal
Saturday October 20, 2 PM to 7 PM
Bands include: Accelerando, Bug Chaser, Jungle Fire, Kisser, Shaved Women, Skekses and Trauma Harness
Local Harvest will provide Tower Groove Records Fall Informal

Sat Oct 20, 2012
Apop Records (outside)
2pm-7pm
Live performances from: Accelerando, Bug Chaser, Jungle Fire, Kisser, Shaved Women, Skekses and Trauma Harness

Local Harvest will provide food and drink

 

now playing - Tone Rodent

Gringo Star Trio

In the back of their van painted 2005

at Radio Cherokee painted 2007

at CBGB painted 2012

 

I was dutifully working on large paintings of Eric Johnson and Shooter Jennings when I noticed Jaime Lees letting people know NPR was streaming the new Dinosaur Jr album so I clicked and gave a listen.  Prompted by that record, I completed a painting I had started a while back of Peter DeLorenzo playing guitar while in the band Gringo Star.  The photograph I was working from is back when the band had a gig at CBGB (STL) probably in 2005 or 06 or 07, who knows now.  After finishing it I thought back to the other paintings I had done of them and decided to post them up. 

 

now playing - Dinosaur Jr.