Speed of Life

Full Text of President Obama's State of the Union Address ( as provided by the White House) Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility. And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle. It’s tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were times that tested the coura...

photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, unveils the iPad. Price Starts at $499: 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB Wi-Fi $499 $599 $699 Wi-F 3G $629 $729 $829 Here's the link to Apple's official iPad page: Ongoing commentary at Brad Stone's Bits Blog Specs: Half an inch thin. Weighs 1.5 pounds. 9.7-inch IPS display — super high quality, great angle of views, Mr. Jobs says. Full capacitive multi-touch screen, same as the iPhone — “super responsive, super precise,” Jobs says. The iPad is powered by Apple’s own custom silicon, Jobs says — a 1 GHz A4 chip,, 16 GB of memory, 32 or 64 Gigabytes of storage. There’s Wi-Fi, 802.11n, and the latest Bluetooth. 3G wireless on the most expensive model. Accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone.

Eddie Vedder Haiti Relief Single Eddie Vedder’s full audio performance of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City Of Ruins” from the recent Kennedy Center Honors is now available for purchase through Ten Club and iTunes for $.99. Proceeds from the sale of the track benefit Artists for Peace and Justice Haiti Relief. Benefit Single is available here from: Pearl Jam's Ten Club Also available on iTunes: "My City of Ruins" for Haiti From Eddie about the song and the cause: About Artists for Peace and Justice Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), established in early 2009, is a fundraising effort founded by Paul Haggis and friends that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world. Over the past year, APJ has directed its efforts to raising enough funds to fully sponsor three schools in Haiti in support of the initiatives of Father Rick Frechette and his team. These schools aren’t just a place to learn but prov...

Gotham - mvt 1, excerpt from Bill Morrison on Vimeo . Excerpt from “Gotham”: film by Bill Morrison, music by Michael Gordon. Composer Michael Gordon has an inspiring piece on art, family, home, and music in today's online New York Times: Once, at my last piano lesson before heading off for vacation, I asked Mrs. Kutzen what her plans were for the summer. Her reply: “Michael, musicians don’t take vacations.” I filed this line away in a special part of my brain, an informal collection of “accidental music lessons.” My interpretation of Mrs. Kutzen’s words has changed through the years, like a Talmudic discourse that is argued from different points of view: 1. Musicians just don’t ever feel quite right going an extended period of time without playing their instrument. 2. Music isn’t a job that you punch in and out of. It’s an obsession, a calling and your purpose in life. 3. Musicians don’t make a lot of money and you’re not going to be able to afford a vacation anyway. -January 25,...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Quality), 1983 Oil paintstick and ink on paper, 19.5x15.5 inches Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's father, Gerard Basquiat was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and his mother, Matilde was born in Brooklyn of Puerto Rican parents Trailer for Julian Schnabel's inspired film on the life and art of Basquiat. Jeffrey Wright's performance is amazing.

Bruce Springsteen Sings "We Shall Overcome" at Hope for Haiti Now Jennifer Hudson Sings "Let it Be" at Hope for Haiti Now Telethon

"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear." (Martin Luther King, Jr.) An August Dream 18"x36" oil on linen 2009

Gregg Chadwick Kyoto: March (for Gary Snyder) 36"x48" oil on linen 2010 Kyoto: March BY GARY SNYDER A few light flakes of snow Fall in the feeble sun; Birds sing in the cold, A warbler by the wall. The plum Buds tight and chill soon bloom. The moon begins first Fourth, a faint slice west At nightfall. Jupiter half-way High at the end of night- Meditation. The dove cry Twangs like a bow. At dawn Mt. Hiei dusted white On top; in the clear air Folds of all the gullied green Hills around the town are sharp, Breath stings. Beneath the roofs Of frosty houses Lovers part, from tangle warm Of gentle bodies under quilt And crack the icy water to the face And wake and feed the children And grandchildren that they love.

Kenneth Noland (1924 -2010) Spread 117" x 117" oil on canvas 1958 Gift of William S. Rubin, Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection. © Kenneth Noland / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY From the exhibition “New York Cool” held at the Museum of Art, Brunswick photo by Tommy Wilcox for The Bowdoin Orient "Mr. Noland’s signature motif was a radiant target made of rings of pure color strained directly on raw canvas, with that canvas contributing a wonderful sense of breathing room between each band of color. The power of the colors, their often discordant interaction and the expanding and contracting rhythms of the bands of paint and the raw canvas, could be stunningly direct and vibrant." - Roberta Smith on Kenneth Noland. "But beautiful ideas are rarely entirely wrong, and something close to Lorentz’s idea is embodied in modern QCD. Quarks carry color charge, and generate color electric fields analogous to the ordinary electric fields around electrons....

Against the Light - سهراب - Sohrab 29"x69" oil on screen 2009 (detail) "Also arrested were the mother and brother of Sohrab Aarabi, a young Iranian man slain during protests in June." - Los Angeles Times - 28 December 2009 Leading Iranian dissidents arrested, body of Mousavi's nephew missing "This is a very important moment in Iranian history, and it is probably time to start asking whether Iran's uprising could become a Berlin Wall moment. It's not just an issue of the sporadic protests once or twice a month... It's also one of the most vibrant and imaginative civil disobedience campaigns anywhere in the world." - Robin Wright, author of "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East," from a conversation with CNN.

Photo by NASA Happy Holidays to all! *Note to DC residents - be careful throwing snowballs ...

photo courtesy Christie’s Rembrandt Portrait of a Man, Half-Length, With His Arms Akimbo 421⁄4" x 341⁄4" oil on canvas 1658 Carol Vogel in the New York Times reports that the mystery buyer of Rembrandt's Portrait of a Man, Half-Length, With His Arms Akimbo at Christie's last week was casino mogul Stephen Wynn. The $33.2 million is a record for a Rembrandt at auction. The painting has an interesting recent provenance and after its donation by George Huntington Hartford II hung in the President's office at Columbia University in New York for ten years from 1958 to 1968. My hope is that Stephen Wynn will put the painting on public display in the near future. After closing his private gallery at the Wynn hotel, Las Vegas lost an intimate collection of important paintings. I enjoyed the Wynn collection immensely and as a non-gambler I was intrigued with the mix of great art within the glowing and at times tawdry Vegas of American pop culture. photo courtesy Reuters ...

Very nice 3D animated video of the planned Michigan State University Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum slated for groundbreaking on March 16, 2010. Opening in 2012. Architecture by Zaha Hadid. For more on the project: Michigan State University Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum More on Zaha Hadid and her work at Zaha Hadid

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience" -MFK Fisher This week three of my greatest enjoyments come together in a rich mix: painting, food and film. Opening this week in New York State is a brand new restaurant headed by Executive Chef Chris Brandt, and Sushi Chef Satoshi Yamaguchi. My painting Silk was commissioned for the space. Also this week, the film La Cucina , in which a number of my paintings are featured, is being shown on Showtime. The Blu Ray is on pre sale at Amazon and the Dvd is available at Turner Classic Movies. The film stars Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Joaquim de Almeida (24), Leisha Hailey (The L Word), Rachel Hunter (Supermodel), Clare Carey (Crash), Oz Perkins (Star Trek), Michael Cornacchia (Hannah Montana), Kala Savage (8 Simple Rules), Cinematography by Alan Caudillo (Day Without a Mexican), and Ian Ball (Gomez) scores the film. Gregg Chadwick Silk 7'x5' oil on linen 2009 Executive Chef Chris Brandt, and Sushi Chef Satoshi Yamagu...

Leo Ballate, the Head of Information Systems and Services at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art goes on vacation for a week and finds upon his return ... Full story at: SFMOMA's blog Open Space

photo by Richard Perry / New York Times Pictured in the New York Times is my courageous family member Hannah Johnson tearing up as she applauds a New Jersey Senate committee vote on a bill to legalize gay marriage. The bill cleared the committee, 7-6, and will be voted on by the full New Jersey Senate on Thursday. Last night on his website Bruce Springsteen lent his voice in support of marriage equality: A BRIEF STATEMENT FROM BRUCE Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, "The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law." I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who...

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) Above the Narrows 48" x 32¼" tempera on panel 1960 Andrew Wyeth's Painting "Above the Narrows" sold for $6,914,500 at Christie's. Wyeth's painting is an evocative portrait of his son that captures the mysterious journey from boy to man.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need For this bright morning dawning for you. History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage, Need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon The day breaking for you. Give birth again To the dream. -Maya Angelou Twenty years ago on December 1, 1989 the first Day Without Art was held to spark dialogue and create a day of action concerning the AIDS crisis. At least 800 museums and galleries across the United States closed their doors, shrouded artworks or removed them from view as symbols of mourning and loss. The goal was to show that AIDS can touch everyone. And it worked. Today on December 1, 2009 museums are again engaged in remembrance for those lost to AIDS and are actively marking the gains that have been made so far. In 1997 the day became known as A Day With(out) Art to reflect the force art can bring to the cause. Today, A Day With(out) Art has grown into a international collaborative project in wh...

Gregg Chadwick In the Gion Rain 20"x20" oil on linen 2009

Moby 'One Time We Lived' by Mark Pellington

President Barack Obama's Thanksgiving Day proclamation, as released by the White House: What began as a harvest celebration between European settlers and indigenous communities nearly four centuries ago has become our cherished tradition of Thanksgiving. This day's roots are intertwined with those of our nation, and its history traces the American narrative. Today, we recall President George Washington, who proclaimed our first national day of public thanksgiving to be observed "by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God," and President Abraham Lincoln, who established our annual Thanksgiving Day to help mend a fractured nation in the midst of civil war. We also recognize the contributions of Native Americans, who helped the early colonists survive their first harsh winter and continue to strengthen our nation. From our earliest days of independence, and in times of tragedy and triumph, Americans have come together to celebrate Th...

California Lawyers for the Arts will be presenting a free workshop on Health Insurance geared to self-employed artists and their families on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 7:00-8:30 p.m. at the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Michael Grodsky will be leading the evening. REGISTRATION: Call CLA at (310) 998-5590, or email Angela (please include your contact info and specify the workshop date(s)) at: clasocaled@aol.com More info at: Aquarius Financial GYST Workshops are made possible, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the California Community Foundation. Addition support provided by the California Arts Council.

The Muppets Perform Bohemian Rhapsody Thanks to David Silverman for pointing this out!

Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" Time Lapse Video From Austin Created by JH Jackson

"Ragged, jagged melody."

Gregg Chadwick The River Dreams 16"x11" oil on linen 2009 I am reading WS Merwin's recent book of poems - The Shadow of Sirius - and thinking deeply about the mystery of our place in the universe. I had a chance to chat briefly with WS Merwin after his wonderful reading at the Hammer Museum on October 29th. We spoke of elephants and mystery and nature. Inspiring stuff. Professor Stephen Yenser is doing an amazing job with this series of poetry readings at the Hammer. And Mona Simpson's favorite writers series is also top notch. Tonight, YiyunLi, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers , will be reading. More on WS Merwin: WS Merwin Profile More on the Hammer Museum: Watch and Listen More on elephants and why we must protect them: Elephant Reflections - new from UC Press Photographs by Karl Ammann and Text by Dale Peterson

Helden: November 9, 1989 TwitPaint 20 years ago today as images of the fall of the Berlin Wall streamed across televisions around the world, I played Little Steven's poignant song Checkpoint Charlie . Little Steven's 1984 song openly dreamed of a free and united Berlin. On November 9, 1989 that dream began to come true. Today as we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, I also dream of Freedom in Iran and the fall of the Iran Curtain. The Berliner Zeitung has a nice series of images and articles about the history and fall of the Berlin Wall: 20. Jahre Mauerfall John F Kennedy in Berlin: "Ich bin ein Berliner." "This film shows video footage taken in April 1990 plus still image photographs taken in December 1989 and July 2005. There is footage on both sides of the wall, although for reasons of personal security the footage of the Eastern side of the crossing point is somewhat minimal. Nevertheless it is possible to see the arrangement of frosted glass screens whic...

An amazing version of one of my favorite songs.

DreamScape , curated by Jerri Levi and Brent Turner, opens at the LOOK Gallery on Thursday evening. The exhibit is described as: "A conceptual design exhibition that explores the symbolic references of our personal spaces through the interplay of fine art and high design. Seven top Los Angeles design firms will collaborate with a roster of LOOK Gallery artists to realize a series of installations within the gallery, incorporating various art media of surrealistic expression woven together with an array of choice home furnishings and accessory products available through LAMDC showrooms. Provocative and aspirational, the dream-like spaces serve to engage the spectator in the design experience, offering a glimpse to the unfettered vision of superior design talent and the artistry of fashioning interiors as interpretive expressions of our inner selves." The opening reception is Thursday, November 5th from 6-9pm. RSVP at 213.763.5813 or ltsironis@lamart.com DreamScape is open to ...

Van Gogh's Meeting Across the River? Tip from the Van Gogh museum

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. 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”...

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 J urassic Park 1942 Tariq Ali, author of The Clash of Fundam…ihads ...

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.

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

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...