112 year old artist makes it big

 

Many crazed brilliant artists die penniless, receiving their deserved recognition long after their studio is dark.  Frank Calloway is getting his glory while he still can, at 112 years old.  Calloway was born in 1896 (pause to roll off all the things that didn’t exist then: cars, grandma, the first world war) and he has been institutionalized since 1952 for schizophrenia. 

 Using a crayon, marker, or a ball point pen Calloway transforms large stretches of butcher paper into murals of things ancient and forgotten.  Wooden paddle boats and horses laboring under the Alabama sun are part of the reason his art is suddenly a success, he draws the idyllic simple life.

 “I couldn’t get time to go to school much, stopped in the third grade reader, that’s all I could get, third grade reader,” Calloway said. “A school teacher put me to drawing a long time ago, drawing pictures.”

 Calloway’s work will be displayed in October at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore in an exhibition called “The Marriage of Art, Science and Philosophy.”

 Check out some of his work here and here.

Image from Birmingham news.  

 

 

 

A Journey Around My Room

Xavier de Maistre has plucked the disjointed thoughts from my brain and written them out in this cohesive 82 page volume.

  In 1794, under house arrest for dueling, de Maistre partakes on a 42 day journey around his room.  Everyday he writes about his travels, in a style remarkably similar to blogging (is that what people did before blogs, they wrote books?)

 Physically de Maistre could not roam far and so most of the travels were, indeed, leaps of the imagination — but he did find a surprising amount of material in his fairly comfortable room. He slowly leads the reader around it, describing the pictures on the walls, the vistas and prospects within and beyond the room, exploring and dwelling on objects that are otherwise taken for granted. And what he sees brings back memories, focuses ideas, and leads him to look at things anew.  He covers little in great depth—but it is just enough depth.  It’s not likely to be on Chapter’s bookshelf but you can order a copy here.  

About the publisher:  “Hesperus Press is committed to bringing near what is far – far both in space and time.  Works written by the greatest authors, and unjustly neglected or simply little known in the English-speaking world, are made accessible through new translations and a completely fresh editorial approach.  Through these short classic works, each around 100 pages in length, the reader will be introduced to the greatest writers from all times and cultures.”

Teenager finds bat asleep in bra – BBC headline

Seriously?! 

My favorite bit is the girl’s quote,

Perhaps I should have left it there and given it a good home

Abbie Hawkins

Barack’s Beats

Peaking on someone’s ipod is kind of like snooping around their room because A) you feel like you have some “in” to their private thoughts and B) there’s no such thing as an “in” to private thoughts unless they are your own.  So it’s a smart move for Obama to let us in on the core of who he really is through the music he listen’s to.  Amazingly he likes music ranging from Jay-Z (the hip demographic) to Sheryl Crow (the lonely demographic) to Bob Dylan (the everyone demographic). 

Barack is so into hip-hop-happening culture that he’s making a cameo performance on the rap singer Q-Tip’s next album. Fer realz.  I vote McCain rises to the challenge and hops on Lil John’s latest tour.  Lollipop?

  

- CNN headline

Support a band. Get a cool shirt. Give to charity.

 

All at once!  Yellow Bird Project has chosen 15 bands you like to design a $25 T-shirt and give all the profit to the charity of the band’s choosing. Guilt-free shopping, neat.  Bands include Stars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Shins, Wolfmother, Broken Social Scene, and Joseph Arthur.

 

The real world: Gerbils in Space

Russia just shot ten gerbils into space.  I can see it now – hampster dance on replay and the really fun ones givn’r on the big wheel.

Best of all – the ten fuzz balls are being filmed the whole time!  Here’s to hoping MTV buys the rights to that footage.

If only my late hampster Cocopuff was around to see this . . .

Hey, let’s kick it

Have you ever been in a car with someone when a beat comes on that makes you want to dance but you can’t because you are confined by the seat belt and the metal and the speed difference between you and the road?

 If you’re into that listen to The Sounds.  The song ’Tony and the Beat’ will take the head bob to a whole new level for you.

Rock&Roll

“Using and abusing passionate gospel, country sweetness and filthy guitar licks, the Kings of Leon are the kind of authentic, hairy rebels the Rolling Stones longed to be. ” The Guardian

 Listen to ‘King of the Rodeo’ and see what you think. I think they are pretty dang awesome (yes . . . I am aware dang is not a very rock and roll word . . .)

I can’t help but thinking, if Kings of Leon are what The Stones tried to be, and The Stones are considered the pinnacle of Rock, what is authentic Rock n’ Roll?

Check out this months Adbusters, it has some interesting things to say about authenticity, or lack there of.

Kings of Leon doing T in the Park, London

Geometry and Starbucks

I just love the buzz.  That surge of power you get when you were feeling completely lethargic and all of a sudden BAM! your back in action. 

I think the lady in line behind me loves the buzz too.  In fact I think she may have been an escapee from detox or something.  This woman was twitching.  Looking all around the store at a rapid speed from here to there to there to here.  Her finger was tapping a million miles a minute.  And we hadn’t ordered yet.  This is what she was like when her well was dry!

I was halfway through my very  complicated order (Yes, I do pride myself on it) when this lady jumps in.  “I’ll get a hexashot skim extra hot latte” “Excuse me?” The Barista and I both asked.

First of all, I am still in the middle of the best moment of my morning.  I am on specialization number six of my drink (Half sweet) and I am anticipating the barista yelling back alllll the things I just told her in perfect order to the guy with the dark rimmed glasses whose going to make it.  It’s not just personalized coffee – it’s personalized entertainment!

Secondly – HEXASHOT? Are you for real?  If anything you need a tranquilizer.

Miss rat-ta-tat-tat had robbed me of being the most shocking order of the morning.  For that I hung my head in shame and shuffled over to stand with the others who were waiting, eyes half closed, tongues hanging out. 

I guess next time I go I’ll have to pull out something really original.  Something that can trump hexashot. 

Perhaps I’ll request a dodecahedron of flavor shots. 

Why google should buy starbucks .