Enderlin, Bob Dylan and Steve Irwin

Lemony Field, 2006, Oil on Panel, 12x12










The opening at Enderlin Gallery went very nicely. There were people there when I arrived and it was still going strong when Doug and I ducked out a bit early. Roxbury is about two hours away from where we live so obviously it is a whole different crowd, and we didn't really know anybody there. However, I have been in several group shows earlier this year and so a few people came in that I had met previously as well as a couple of people who had bought some of my work and wanted to meet me. I also spent a lot of time talking and comparing notes about art with the other painter in the show, Sara Harris. Sara and I have similar backgrounds, an arts education, working in related art fields, taking a number of years away from art to do other things and both of us have come back to painting just in the last few years. She also does landscapes and has a very strong color sense. I particularly liked her more abstract imagery (you can see her work here). One of my pieces (Lemony Field, above) sold during the opening, and if I had been interested in selling a painting at half price I could have sold another (I declined that offer, happily I am not so desperate as to sell my already rather inexpensive paintings at such a discount).

So as I said, Doug and I left a bit early so that we could head up to Cooperstown in order to catch the Bob Dylan concert. We saw him two years ago in the same venue, on Double Day field and this show, like that one, was awesome. We managed to get much closer to the stage this time and a lovely couple next to us loaned us their binoculars so I was able to get a good look at Dylan. His voice sounded shot, but he seemed much more animated than usual. Even though he was playing keyboards and facing to the side of the stage he often looked at the audience and even smiled a few times. Pretty good for Dylan! Most of the music he played was from his new CD, Modern Times, which I have but haven't had a chance to really listen to yet. The older songs that he performed were It's Alright Ma, Highway 61, Lay Lady Lay, I Don't Believe You, Younger Than That Now, Simple Twist of Fate, and Like a Rollingstone, All of the music had a kind of Texas swing, and maybe rockabilly blues sound to it, which really gave the old songs a different sound. Most of the time he was well into a song before I recognized it. I like the concept of changing old arrangements and finding new ways to perform the same songs, in fact I feel that's what I often do by painting the same subjects over and over, finding new things to say about them each time. But I must admit that I would have liked to hear some of the songs in their original form, uh, mostly so I could sing along a little bit. So sue me. I am fairly new to Dylan and am used to hearing the recorded music. He was also all decked out in country style attire (the whole band was), cowboy hat, boots, black suit, and a white shirt with sparkly rhinestones on his collar and cuffs. He looked almost normal, kind of smooth but a little flashy too, so that was interesting after having seen some of the get ups he's had over the years. The band was also great by the way, they are the same band that played on his new album and they seemed pretty tight.

The crowd was thin and very well-behaved, at least in our immediate area. Unlike the last time, this show was not sold out and it was also really crappy weather, cold and drizzly. There was much pot around us and at some point I could smell some incense burning so that was a real flashback to college for me.

I guess our concert season is over for this year, unless something else comes up. I am very happy that we've been able to fit all of these shows into our busy schedule and it's been fun to write about the shows. Hopefully I will be able to retain the experiences better after writing it all down.

Am I the only one who has trouble remembering stuff anymore?



PS. I just wanted to add that we were all pretty sad here to learn of Steve Irwin's death. Our oldest son has always been extremely interested in animals and has seen every everything regarding the Crocodile Hunter and we all enjoyed his stupid, yet enjoyable and silly movie a few years back. K's goal in life is to work with animals, (had to break it to him that there aren't really any jobs catching crocodiles and boa constrictors, at least not locally) so Steve Irwin has been a very informative and entertaining part of our lives for the last ten years or so. I used to tease our son by saying "crikey", it was always good for a little smile and eye-rolling at how embarrassing mom can be.