Speed of Life

photo by Gregg Chadwick (Los Angeles Christmas - Apple Store, Santa Monica)

Gregg Chadwick Deep Song 38"x38" oil on linen 2005 Ars Poetica #100 I Believe Poetry, I tell my students, is idiosyncratic. Poetry is where we are ourselves, (though Sterling Brown said “Every ‘I’ is a dramatic ‘I’”) digging in the clam flats for the shell that snaps, emptying the proverbial pocketbook. Poetry is what you find in the dirt in the corner, overhear on the bus, God in the details, the only way to get from here to there. Poetry (and now my voice is rising) is not all love, love, love, and I’m sorry the dog died. Poetry (here I hear myself loudest) is the human voice, and are we not of interest to each other? -Elizabeth Alexander Poet Elizabeth Alexander Elizabeth Alexander Audio Files

A New Day - Barack Obama Gregg Chadwick's Portrait of Barack Obama 48"x36" oil on linen 2008 "Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." -Barack Obama (included in TIME Magazine's Person of the Year Issue online) More at: My page in TIME Magazine at: Gregg Chadwick - TIME Full Person of the Year Issue at: Barack Obama - TIME Magazine Person of the Year Chadwick Portrait of Obama on TIME Site

Gregg Chadwick's Portrait of Barack Obama is included in TIME Magazine's Person of the Year Issue online. Yes We Did! My page in TIME Magazine at: Gregg Chadwick - TIME Full Person of the Year Issue at: Barack Obama - TIME Magazine Person of the Year

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY Executive Summary “What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight… is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect. While we are warriors, we are also all human beings” -- General David Petraeus May 10, 2007 FRANCISCO JOSE DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES Spanish, 1746-1828 The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El Sueño de la Razon Produce Monstruos) Plate 43 of Los Caprichos ca. 1803 Etching and aquatint. 7 1/8 x 4 3/4 (U) The collection of timely and accurate intelligence is critical to the safety of U.S. personnel deployed abroad and to the security of the American people here at home. The methods by which we elicit intelligence information from detainees in our custody affect not only the reliability of that information, but our broader efforts to win hearts and minds and attract allies...

photo by Norbert Miguletz "Great art is always a mystery." -Michael Kimmelman Michael Kimmelman has a wonderful piece in the New York Times entitled Unraveling a 15th-Century Whodunit . Great art i s a mystery and the knowledge of the hands that created many of the paintings and sculptures in museums across the globe remains lost.

Sea Breeze, Bombay by Adil Jussawalla Partition's people stitched Shrouds from a flag, gentlemen scissored Sind. An opened people, fraying across the cut country reknotted themselves on this island. Surrogate city of banks, Brokering and bays, refugees' harbour and port, Gatherer of ends whose brick beginnings work Loose like a skin, spotting the coast, Restore us to fire. New refugees, Wearing blood-red wool in the worst heat, come from Tibet, scanning the sea from the north, Dazed, holes in their cracked feet. Restore us to fire. Still, Communities tear and re-form; and still, a breeze, Cooling our garrulous evenings, investigates nothing, Ruffles no tempers, uncovers no root, And settles no one adrift of the mainland's histories. (From the Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry ) When tragedy strikes, art has the power to connect. While searching my files for artistic connections to the events in Mumbai, I found the thoughts and writing...

"Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead. But we can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln"s first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity; by reaching for " and working for " new horizons of opportunity for all Americans. So this weekend " with one heart, and one voice, the American people can give thanks that a new and brighter day is yet to come."--Barack Obama. Two years ago, I posted these thoughts on Thanksgiving : I have been reading Barack Obama's new book, "The Audacity of Hope" on this Thanksgiving. Obama's astute words on Abraham Lincoln brought to mind the ongoing need for healing, thanks and humility in the United States. On October 3, 1863 as the Civil War raged, President Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday in November: "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea...

Darren Aronofsky's latest film The Wrestler already was awarded the Leone d'Oro given for best film at the Venice Film Festival. I am a huge fan of Aronofsky's films and find it interesting that after the rich spirituality of The Fountain that he is mining a flinty Hopperesque American scene for The Wrestler . Edward Hopper Girly Show (strip tease) oil on canvas 1941 Bruce Springsteen's The Wrestler : full song More at: The Wrestler Trailer: HD and Ipod The Wrestler Official Site

"In general, I don't like definitions, but Minimalist is a term that means elegance and openness, so I would prefer to be called a Minimalist than something else." -Ludovico Einaudi Ludovico Einaudi's music has been described as ambient, meditative and introspective. His piano based works combine the influences of minimalism, world music, film scores, and contemporary classical music to create sounds of incredible space and poignance. Gregg Chadwick The Poet's Dawn 38"x28" oil on linen 2008 If you are free tomorrow, November 18th, and in Los Angeles drop everything and head over to the Largo at the Coronet for an evening of inspired music. I will be there. November 18, 2008 Ludovico Einaudi - The Solo Concert Largo at the Coronet 366 North La Cienega Los Angeles, CA, 90048 310-855-0350 Tickets at: The Largo More on Einaudi at: Decca Site on Divenire Ludovico Einaudi Website

A Marine Corps glider being towed by a power plane from Page Field, at Parris Island, S.C. photo by Alfred T. Palmer color transparency 1942 May Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. In my family it is not uncommon to miss a birthday greeting here and there. But woe to the family member who forgets November 10th. In that spirit I wish my dad a fervent, "Happy Marine Corps Birthday!"

Barack Obama - A World That Stands as One

A New Day - Barack Obama 48"x36" oil on linen 2008 "Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." -Barack Obama Here in Santa Monica, the streets are wet with a new rain washing away the stains of the last eight years. A new day dawns. "Good Morning Mr. President" - January 20, 2009 12"x12" oil on linen 2008

Thanks Bruce for your talent and vision. Yes We Can! Don't forget to vote on November 4th for Obama/Biden.

Bruce Springsteen & Patti Working On A Dream

It seems that everyone loves a winner. The latest to jump on board with Barack Obama is Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan's former chief of staff. Duberstein offered his endorsement this morning and then moved on to MSNBC, where, as seen in the video below, fiercely questioned McCain's judgment in selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Download for free Bruce Springsteen's brand new song for Halloween: A Night With the Jersey Devil Download Watch the video at: A Night With the Jersey Devil Video Full lyrics: A Night With the Jersey Devil by Bruce Springsteen/Robert Jones/Gene Vincent Hear me now! I was born 13th child, 'neath the 13th moon Spit out hungry and born anew Daddy drag me to the river tie me in rocks Throw me in where it's deep and wide I go down, I don't die Hole in the river bottom, I crawl through Come back kill six brothers and sisters, kill papa too Sway down Mama, sway down low They gonna know me wherever I go Into my bed with her kerosene my mama creep Set my flesh to burning, whilst I sleep I burn, burn, burn, till my soul burn black Black rains fall, I come back, I come back Get down Mama, get down low They gonna know me wherever I go 16 witches, cast 16 spells Make me guitar outta skin and human skull Sing you a song like the wind in the sandy loam Bring you baby out'cha your...

If you missed Obama's thirty minute television special last night, or just want to watch it again - here's the full video.