Monday, October 26, 2009

U2 Paints the Rose Bowl Green for Iran


U2 performing Sunday Bloody Sunday during their 360 degrees world tour at the Rose Bowl on October 25th, 2009.

As the song Sunday Bloody Sunday opens, U2 now scrolls the lyrics from the Rumi poem Azadi. The word Azadi itself simply means Freedom. U2 is supporting Artists 4 Freedom by using the Rumi poem which provides the lyrics to Dj Spooky and Sussan Deyhim's new track, Azadi (The New Complexity). U2's multimedia screens mash together the lyrics to Azadi along with photos of the protestors in Iran and artworks by Shirin Neshat. Inspiring stuff.

The Call - ندا -Neda

Azadi (The New Complexity) is a song based on a classic poem by Rumi, one of the poet laureates of Iran’s still vibrant poetic legacy.

Here is the original poem translated into English

SHOW ME YOUR FACE
by Rumi

i crave
flowers and gardens

open your lips
i crave
the taste of honey

come out from
behind the clouds
i desire a sunny face

your voice echoed
saying “leave me alone”
i wish to hear your voice
again saying “leave me alone”

i swear this city without you
is a prison
i am dying to get out
to roam in deserts and mountains

i am tired of
flimsy friends and
submissive companions

i am blue hearing
nagging voices and meek cries
i desire loud music
drunken parties and
wild dances

one hand holding
a cup of wine
one hand caressing your hair
then dancing in orbital circle
that is what i yearn for

i can sing better than any nightingale
but because of
this city’s freaks
i seal my lips
while my heart weeps

yesterday the wisest man
holding a lit lantern
in daylight
was searching around town saying

i am tired of
all these beast and brutes
i seek
a true human

we have all looked
for one but
no one could be found
they said

yes he replied
but my search is
for the one
who cannot be found


Read more: DJ Spooky & Sussan Deyhim - Azadi - The New Complexity
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

Make Your Voice Heard
Paintings for Iran

Artists 4 Freedom is international in scope and is located between London, Barcelona, Lisbon and Berlin.
Link Below:
Artists 4 Freedom

As a member of Artists 4 Freedom, I ask you to create a poem, a painting, a song for Iran and join the cause. The world is coming together in support of Iran.

(And a special message to Little Steven. Little Steven is touring right now as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. But Little Steven is also an amazing political songwriter who helped bring down apartheid in South Africa with his song Sun City and openly dreamed of a free Berlin, when others labeled him as naive, in his heartbreaking song Checkpoint Charlie. Little Steven, Artists 4 Freedom needs you to write a song for Freedom in Iran.)

Friday, October 23, 2009

Authors and Others Born On this Day › 23 October

Born
1491 Saint Ignatius of Loyola, author of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
1805 Adalbert Stifter, author of Rock Crystal
1831 Basil L. Gildersleeve, author of Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar
1890 Henrietta C. Mears, author of What the Bible Is All About
1913 Odd Eidem, author of Cruise
1918 Edward Rice, author of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
1919 Manolis Andronicos, author of Delphi
1920 Gianni Rodari, author of Favole al telefono
1922 Nicholas Stuart Gray, author of The Seventh Swan
1925 Radu Florescu, author of Dracula, Prince of…Life and His Times
1926 Gladys M. Hunt, author of Honey for a Child's Heart
1927 Leszek Kolakowski, author of Main Currents of Ma…Age, The Breakdown
1927 Philip Lamantia, author of Bed of Sphinxes: Selected Poems
1927 Michel van der Plas, author of Herinneringen aan Godfried Bomans
1930 Ned Rorem, author of KNOWING WHEN TO STOP: A Memoir
1942 Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park
1942 Tariq Ali, author of The Clash of Fundam…ihads and Modernity
1942 Douglas Dunn, author of The Oxford Book of…ttish Short Stories
1942 Anita Roddick, author of Take It Personally:…to Change the World
1944 Mike Harding, author of A Little Book of th…Man (Little Books)
1945 Gary L. Blackwood, author of The Shakespeare Stealer
1945 Christopher I. Beckwith, author of Empires of the Silk…Age to the Present
1946 Eric Kroll, author of Eric Kroll's Fetish…ls (Amuses Gueules)
1946 Graeme Barker, author of The Etruscans (Peoples of Europe)
1949 Michael Walsh, author of Butler's Lives of t…ts: Concise Edition
1952 Antjie Krog, author of Country of My Skull…he New South Africa
1953 Ira Steven Behr, author of The Ferengi Rules o…k: Deep Space Nine)
1954 Ang Lee, author of Sense and Sensibility (FILM)
1954 Fred Hunter, author of Government Gay (Ale…Reynolds Mysteries)
1958 Michael Eric Dyson, author of I May Not Get There…tin Luther King, Jr
1959 Nancy Grace, author of The Eleventh Victim
1960 Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture
1961 Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak
1963 Gordon Korman, author of No More Dead Dogs
1963 Eric Shanower, author of A Thousand Ships
1965 Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors: A Memoir
1966 Alex Flinn, author of Beastly
1969 Sanjay Gupta, author of Chasing Life: New D…You Age Less Today
1971 Setona Mizushiro, author of After School Nightmare, Volume 1
1974 Aravind Adiga, author of The White Tiger

As well as:
Adlai Ewing Stevenson
Vice President (1835)
John Heisman
football coach (1869)
William D. Coolidge
inventor (1873)
Gertrude Ederle
swimmer (1905)
Johnny Carson
entertainer (1925)
Pele
soccer (1940)
Ang Lee
director, writer (1954)
Dwight Yoakam
singer and actor (1956)
Sam Raimi
filmmaker (1959)
Ryan Reynolds
actor (1976)

oh and me ...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Higher and Higher: Springsteen and the E Street Band Help Close Down Philly's Spectrum


Springsteen and the E Street Band Perform "Higher and Hiigher" at the Philadelphia Spectrum on October 20, 2009

Listening to Bruce cover Jackie Wilson's classic is getting me ready for my birthday on Friday.

Americans Want A Public Option in Health Care


Heather Graham Stars in a Spot Promoting the Public Option. Narration by Peter Coyote.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Acclaimed Poet W.S. Merwin to Read at Hammer Museum on Thursday, October 29th

HAMMER MUSEUM

Poetry Reading

W. S. MERWIN

Thursday, October 29 at 7 PM


Photo: Mark Hanauer

In a career spanning five decades, W. S. Merwin has become one of the most widely read and acclaimed poets in the United States. His first book, A Mask for Janus (1952), was chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Younger Poets Series, and his most recent volume, The Shadow of Sirius (2008), was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (his second: the first was for The Carrier of Ladders in 1970). His many other honors include the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the Bollingen Prize, and the Ruth Lily Prize.

Admission to the event is free. Please arrive early. Dedicated to the memory of Doris Curran, this series, which has provided a stimulating forum for nationally and internationally known poets for forty years, is co-sponsored by the Friends of English, the W Hotel, the UCLA Office of Cultural and Recreational Affairs, and the Office of Instructional Development.

10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

13 Geisha (13芸者)

Sea of Spring 春の海 (Haru no umi)
Gregg Chadwick
Sea of Spring 春の海 (Haru no umi)
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Japan has been a continual theme in my life and artwork. At age 10, I began my artistic dialogue with Japan before I even exited our arriving plane in Okinawa. On that journey I sketched the new world around me and have continued to do so over the years. My latest body of work was inspired by an artistic pilgrimage to Tokyo and Kyoto in March and April 2009. At that time, I was privileged to be in Kyoto at the height of the cherry blossom season.
Young geisha in training (maiko) and full geisha brought their own color and timeless beauty to the city.
The word geisha in Japanese means arts - person ( gei - sha). The flower and willow world of these caretakers of Japan's traditional arts seems to be as fragile and impermanent as the cherry blossoms that bloom so quickly then fall each year.

Gion Night
Gregg Chadwick
Gion Night
85"x37" oil on linen 2009

karyūkai ( 花柳界)
Gregg Chadwick
Karyūkai ( 花柳界)
85"x54" oil on linen 2009

Maiko's Night
Gregg Chadwick
Maiko's Night
36"x18" oil on linen 2009

Studio with Karyūkai ( 花柳界)Gregg Chadwick's Studio with Karyūkai ( Flower and Willow World ~ 花柳界)

Santa Monica Art Studios 5 Year Anniversary Event Tonight

Takekurabe  (Growing Up)
Gregg Chadwick
Takekurabe (Growing Up)
80"x80" oil on linen 2009

Santa Monica Art Studios is celebrating its 5 year anniversary tonight at the Santa Monica Airport. And Speed of Life also celebrates its 5 year anniversary. Stop on by tonight from 6-9 pm to celebrate and preview my new work. I'm in Studio 15. Hope to see you there!

Santa Monica Art Studios
3026 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, California 90405

Saturday October 17th 6-9 pm
Sunday October 18th 1-5pm

Saturday, October 03, 2009

L.A. Museums Free-For-All Saturday-Sunday, October 3 and 4, 2009.

MUSEUMS FREE-FOR-ALL
24 Los Angeles and Orange County Museums
Free Admission Days October 3 and/or 4, 2009


In a joint effort to present the arts and culture to the diverse and myriad communities in Southern California, the Museum Marketing Roundtable announces the fifth annual "Museums Free-For-All" Saturday-Sunday, October 3 and 4, 2009. The following museums - presenting art, cultural heritage, natural history, and science - will open their doors wide and invite visitors free of charge.*

Participating Museums:

*Regular parking fees apply. General museum admission only. May not apply to ticketed exhibitions.
**Timed tickets are required. Visit www.getty.edu.

Thursday, October 01, 2009