Saturday, February 18, 2012

76th Acoustical Jam - Paul Henry's Art Gallery

This was a cool evening.  Again different in many ways.  A lot of new faces for me, and some first timers to the JAM.  This is also the first time I have been there when there were plenty of artists to keep us busy just for one set from 7:00-11:30!

I see things.  Okay, I see things in my manufacturing world that others don't see.  I see the root cause to problems.  Why?  Exactly that . . . Why? / I keep asking Why? to myself, or to others, pealing back the layers of "symptoms" people would perceive as the cause.  I have become very good at that.  So why am I writing this?

I observe.  I observe people, surroundings, I take it in, I look at the good, the joy, and make it my own.  Yes it is shared because there are inputs from all around, yet I can make it my own because of how I interpret.  This interpretation, this learned sense, is what makes each of us a unique individual.  It comes from all around.  This becomes inspirational, all that is around and imaginative.

I made up a phrase one day when a respected peer of mine came up to me and said, "you're smart, you know a lot."  That knocked me backwards because I do not think of myself that way.  What I said back to him from my own thought was, "I know all there is to know, because what I don't know is not known to me yet."  The key work being "yet."  Through observation, taking it all in, enjoying, I am seeing what I do not know yet, which instantly becomes a known, a new joy, a new rhythm in life.  Which leads me to my other phrase that has been my own written motto for some time, "Carpe Diem! Contribute to the play of life."

There is a purpose to writing all of that. My photography is giving me a new way of observing, of peeling back the layers of surface observation that people see and react to, and looking further to a joy I see. Nothing is to remain perfect. Those who claim to be at the top of their game, whether art or business, will soon fail. For that instant it was observed as perfection, the next instant it became out of date, and if you would have looked at it as a future event, it would still not be perfect. Yes, I enjoy Ansel Adams work a lot. If he were alive today, I would think that even he would look at his work and suggest he could do better. This is My drive, which includes having fun at all I do.

What brought me to this thought? Well a couple of things. First and foremost was the experience at Paul Henry's 76th JAM. Second, I was driving around a saw a very interesting building that I would have enjoyed photographing. However after seeing further, I found I jumped at the first layer of enjoyment, similar to that first layer in problem solving, thinking "that's it!". I continued to look, I began to see the telephone poles, the wires, all of the cars passing by, and thought "this is not the photo I want to motivate me". The image of the building motivated, but not all that was around. People tend to photograph what first brings joy to them, later to realize they never noticed the other layers right in front of them; the wires, poles, cars.

Thursday night, like the other Thursday nights at Paul Henry's, was different in many ways. You still had the "norm" which I admit I fall into. Meaning coming and taking photos, listening to the artists perform, taking in that first layer. You have to stop and "see" in order to make it your own.

The photo lost is the one never taken. The skill is being able to only keep what felt to be "your vision", as imperfect as it might be. So these photos are "my own", not perfect, but "my own." To share them means I am hoping to give you knew knowledge for you to make it "your own".

When I arrived there was a lot of mingling going on, pecking at the keyboard, discussions on cameras. As I walked through the gallery, faces started popping up all around me. Not the people, but the people in the art. Here are some photos.

I swear I see David going thbbbb at me . . .


Now thinking of it, these photos of other's art, is showing how they observe, create, giving us more knowledge to "see" . . . then . . .








I saved the best for last, because it is my mom's (not at the gallery).  This is a black and white oil painting done by her in 1971.  She painted under her maiden name of L.D. Moore.  You will not find any of her paintings on the Internet, until now.  You may find on the Internet some poetry she had written.


Her painting sort of reminds me of a Norman Rockwell.  Which reminds me, I need to get my Rockwell's back on the wall.

Now, the Thursday night JAM photos.  To warm us up was Rich Hall, later joined by Melissa Welch.



Then Chris Langer, who's last piece played he had written, and it was very good . . .




Next, John Vezmar who is the owner of The Blue Room Cafe, and who has very graciously provided our coffee for Thursday night JAM.




Then one of my favorites, Mr Skull himself . . . drum roll please . . . Lou Shields.




Next up, our returning young man Tommy McDermott who played and sang "Hey There Delilah", and very well done . . .



Next K. Douglas playing jazz guitar . . .




Next, Brian Lunsford, Dan Serapin, and Adrian Rameirez.  Then later Brian stepped out to leave Adrian and Dan have at it.






This next young lady impressed me a  lot.  She has this glow, energy, internal voice.  Here is Brittany O'Keefe . . .





And then there were three, three great musicians, three great artists, and three great jams feeding off each other into one . . . Rich on piano, Melissa on alto sax, and "Doc" Haney on tenor sax. (Hope I have the saxophone names correct.) Please forgive me for not taking a group photo!



Now this is where the real fun kicked in for me.  Both sax's jamming, and a surprise for Melissa and the audience . . .



Melissa's expression says it all . . .





Doc got up so high that he made that tenor scream alto . . . talk about a whaling jam session.  And, you can tell by the number of photos, it just wasn't a one time hung out there, he was hanging all ten out there (check your surf board notes . . . lol).



I like this next artist too, Angelena Marie Centille, who sang A cappela.  I glad I had a front row seat to listen.





Next, Rich on piano, Richard Alvarez on bongos, Thomas Matecki on flue, and later joined by Doc on sax.




As usual, the audience was all around the gallery, and intensely tuned to the music . . .






Next, Maureen Garison . . .



Followed by Mike Callahan, who later brought up Lou for vocal . . .




Then Ed Smaron came up, who later worked with Dan and Adrian.  And later joined by Melissa.






Then Melissa and Don Taylor hooked up, and later Don and Christine Murphy.






A very talented lady, Kat Joel was next . . . I am very glad she came . . .!!!!!




Carl Strain finished us off for the first set.  He started with a story, one that explains why he will not be at the gallery as often as he was.  Lets just say it's all about some special letters . . . Carl did end with one song.



I will end this blog with some miscellaneous photos from beginning to end of the evening . . .











By chance, did you see a theme in this last set of miscellaneous photos? Are you thinking shoes? Nope. Are you thinking Sophia Rapata? Yep. (Sophia will be the lady just above with the red guitar.) Okay, I'm laughing at myself again. I have enjoyed looking at Sophia's work. This night something about this lady fell into the groove I had, that I wrote about at the beginning of this blog. Of all things, it was not until this morning when I asked David to I.D. this lady for me, that I found out is was Sophia!!! Laughs on me again!





Click on this line for my copyright.

2 comments: