"Michael Garfield has some absolutely amazing chops...the
So said the first official review for Alive With You, my album of highlights from the 30,000 miles of touring I did last year. Of course, they also said that "just when you start to get lost in Garfield's abilities" my rants about aliens, lucid dreaming, and sex in space break the flow, and that "without the stage banter, this album would be a definite winner." Apparently they didn't much care for the storyteller format - and plenty of people probably agree - so I've uploaded an alternate playlist without the talking for everyone who just wants the music. You can listen to it here:
Before I go any further, I want you all to know that this newsletter is an experiment and I'm thankful to you all for following along with me as it unfolds. Some of you came to me through my music, some through my art, and so I cannot possibly hope to please everyone all the time when one or the other of those strands temporarily takes over my life. (To put it another way, I'm like the Obama of Art...only without international banking family connections.)
This week is heavy on the tunes and light on the views, but it's only because I've been working on an epic new live painting (some of you have seen it in progress at the Praang and Invisible Allies shows...my friend Danny Litin took some amazing pics of me at work on it, which you can find on my facebook profile). I have also started curating a new gallery of my sketchbooks from over the years. Both of those things will show up very soon, so thanks for holding tight! In the meantime...
- "Offering Hands" (Unplugged Across America) -
It's finally online: the last of five unplugged, spontaneous road-side music videos I filmed while on tour last fall. Out of the five, I think it's the finest performance...in no small part due to the ludicrous natural beauty that surrounded me and the relief that two months of touring had finally come to a close. Here's my percussive anthem to finding our common ground in the shared joy and suffering of human experience:
Video Link: http://bit.ly/offeringhandsontour
Download This Song Free: http://bit.ly/mgunplugged
- This Week! -
• 8 Feb, Everywhere - Live@Lunch on KRFC FM 88.9 (Fort Collins)
12 - 1 pm MST, instudio performance/interview
My first instudio radio performance...you can listen via the dial anywhere on the Front Range, or online anywhere on the planet (and in space, although you might have to wait). I'll have a recording up soon for anyone who can't hear it live.
• 10 Feb, Everywhere - Progressive Radio Network
2 pm EST, guest on Expanding Mind with Erik Davis
Expanding Mind is, without question, my favorite radio talk show - a fearless exploration of the fringes of human understanding, guided by author Erik Davis' encyclopedic literacy of the occult and innumerable esoteric subcultures. I was half-joking when I asked him if I could be a guest...and now it's happening! I'm not sure where the conversation will take us, but it's guaranteed to be both profound and bizarre. I highly recommend you tune in if just for Erik's end of the discussion...
• 11 Feb, Boulder CO - 1111 Wellness (on The Hill)
7 - 9 pm, Time Spiral: A Live Art Reception
Oh, you live in Boulder? Well, awesome! Come out to my first legitimate art show and meet some kindred spirits in the suffuse glow of fourteen of my live paintings. Live music and snacks will be served unmercifully as you bathe in the delightful aroma of one of Boulder's finest medicinal dispensaries. And Lord only knows when you'll get to see this much of my work in one place again.
- Recent Publications -
• My friends at LostInSound.org recently republished "Live Art Is Nonsense," part five in my ongoing series of essays about performance painting. Here's a preview:
Most art forms are kept hidden in the studio until some dramatic Moment Of Unveiling. Instead, the transparency of performance makes this strange behavior distinct enough to deserve a name that will set it apart in people’s minds from the rituals and religions of conventional studio art. Process becomes an obvious, living part of the piece. Journey and destination take on new meanings. Since music, dance, and theater evolved in context as public entertainment or ritual, they belong in a separate category (especially those composed beforehand). In fact, it is the very change of context that makes something like performance painting strange in the first place.
People have taken to calling this kind of thing “live art.” It is probably better than nothing; but insofar as it is used to realistically distinguish one kind of creative expression from the rest, “live art” is nonsense.
• Thanks to Jonathan "Seymor" Sandberg, who has joined The Field Guide To Live Artists with his recent interview about how he got into live painting and what inspires him to keep rocking out for his friends & family in Detroit...
"I see live painting as a turning point in live entertainment that will offshoot into other new ways and combinations of perception. I see actors, comics, light-operators, photographers, writers, musicians, the unnamed and the not-yet-invented sculpting a new media for an awaiting audience."
Thank you, everyone, for your time and attention. I'm a lucky guy to get to share myself for a living like I do, and I'm always happy to hear from you (be it questions, or comments, heckling, commissions, or whatever) so drop me a line any time...and have a wonderful day!
"I see live painting as a turning point in live entertainment that will offshoot into other new ways and combinations of perception. I see actors, comics, light-operators, photographers, writers, musicians, the unnamed and the not-yet-invented sculpting a new media for an awaiting audience."
Thank you, everyone, for your time and attention. I'm a lucky guy to get to share myself for a living like I do, and I'm always happy to hear from you (be it questions, or comments, heckling, commissions, or whatever) so drop me a line any time...and have a wonderful day!
