Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Peter Clothier's scurrilously witty new novel "The Pilgrim's Staff" explores lust, lecherousness, and love through the voices of two men from two disparate centuries. David Soames, a contemporary figurative painter living as an ex-pat in Los Angeles, receives a curious package in the mail from an English cousin. Wrapped in layers of tape and memory is the two hundred year-old journal of an English gentleman, who begins his tale with the words,"I am no Rake!" "Rake" is a wonderfully antiquated word that refers to a man caught in the snares of immorality, particularly concerning the charms of the opposite sex.  William Hogarth A Rakes's Progress:3 The Rake at the Rose Tavern 62.5x75.2  cm oil  on canvas 1734 Collection Sir John Soane's Museum , London Writing this on the 10th of November, in a coincidence worthy of Clothier's novel, I am reminded that the 18th century English painter Wi...

by Gregg Chadwick You've Got It (Song by Song Review of Bruce Springsteen's New Album - Wrecking Ball) "She is beautiful, and more than beautiful; she is surprising. Black abounds in her, and everything she inspires is nocturnal and deep. Her eyes are two caves dimly glittering with mystery, and her gaze illumines like lightning: an explosion in the darkness." - Charles Baudelaire , The Desire to Paint from Le Spleen de Paris, trans. by Edward Kaplan Gregg Chadwick Golden Gate 30"x22" monotype on paper 2011 Springsteen's  You've Got It  (Listen Here)   is a call to a union of a different kind. The song begins with a simple understated guitar and vocals vibe that sounds as if it could have come from a lost demo from his audition at Columbia Records for the legendary John Hammond. No one ever found it, ain't no school ever taught it No one ever made it, ain't no one ever bought it Baby you've got it, baby you've got it Come...

by Gregg Chadwick You've Got It (Song by Song Review of Bruce Springsteen's New Album - Wrecking Ball) "She is beautiful, and more than beautiful; she is surprising. Black abounds in her, and everything she inspires is nocturnal and deep. Her eyes are two caves dimly glittering with mystery, and her gaze illumines like lightning: an explosion in the darkness." - Charles Baudelaire , The Desire to Paint from Le Spleen de Paris, trans. by Edward Kaplan Gregg Chadwick Golden Gate 30"x22" monotype on paper 2011 Springsteen's You've Got It (Listen Here)   is a call to a union of a different kind. The song begins with a simple understated guitar and vocals vibe that sounds as if it could have come from a lost demo from his audition at Columbia Records for the legendary John Hammond. No one ever found it, ain't no school ever taught it No one ever made it, ain't no one ever bought it Bab...