We are past our prime, my husband and I. That being fact, consider that in the past 23 years we went from social butterfly workaholics to semi-retired cruisers who went to bed by 10pm. I spent the years of 2001-2009 painting portraits for a living and volunteering as an art teacher to Sudanese refugees, and decorating for fund raisers for my son's school, while raising a perfect teenager along the way.
In 2009, as I had just taken a volunteer position with animal expert Joan Embery, the art market crashed. The phone stopped ringing. Life as we knew it stopped.
I had to get a job.....at age 53!? A REAL job..... ?
Ok...being very resourceful (I'm from NJ) I came up with a plan. I would take one of the unused rooms in the back of our hair salon and I would learn how to do waxing!! YES! Waxing....ripping the hair out of people by the roots! I was excited. I took a course over a weekend and the next week I plugged in my wax warmer, donned my smock and there I sat among all my sterile stuff.....for 6 hours.
This went on for weeks, with the occasional brow wax here and there adding a mere $15 to my wallet. Not easily discouraged, I stuck it out for 3 months until one day a light went on.... A ROCK MUSIC SCHOOL!! Our son had quit his music program a few months earlier because he needed more of a challenge. sThat was a blow to us, because it was his only real social activity. My wish was that he continue to work on his music skills, and socialize. This was PERFECT! I said to Paul, "we can do this! We have the rooms! You're a musician!!" And he was...a guitar player with several bands he'd started in the 1990's, Dead Flowers, Smoking Caterpiller......well, you get the idea. So we interviewed some people and found one who we REALLY liked to head our program-Omar Lopez, who is still with us. Soon we had transformed waxing rooms into music rooms! Omar brought in some of his friends, who brought in some of their friends as we grew. So then we wanted to take over some more space so we wouldn't have to rent a space every time we needed to give our students a performance. We took over the back of the building where there were tenants who were not very good for our community. A few benches, some Moroccan lamps and 3 months of blood, sweat and tears have brought us Electric Ladyland Art and Music Center, an extension of Electric Music Studios.
So now we work 24-7 and my advice? Be careful what you wish for when you're 50 something!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
THE HALLWAY OF TRAGIC FIGURES
When we finally took over the back of our building in OB, husband Paul and I had had enough of transient activity in our adjoining hallway, so with the permission of our landlords we set out to make this corridor safe and pleasing for kids at Electric Music Studios. First the walls were textured and painted in faux red, then the floor was painted black, and the corridor was lined with silk and Persian rugs. I began to paint portraits, first on thin plywood, later switching to canvas because of adhesion issues. In a past life (from 1997-2008) I was a portrait artist and made my living painting the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf....but now I was painting enormous images of all the fallen heroes of rock music, including Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa, and many of the tragic fallen of our time.
Today, as I began to paint our latest "lost" crooner, Amy Winehouse I began to reflect upon all the superstars we have lost at such an early age. Twenty-seven. I recall being on top of the world at the age of 27. What is it that haunted so many of these beautiful young stars that would tip their worlds and send the flying over the edge to their doom? I used to refer to my beautiful hallway as the Rock Hall of Fame, but today I am thinking it is more like the hallway of tragedy.
The next time you venture down that corridor to Electric Ladyland, please stop and reflect on how precious a gift life is, and how rock and roll should not be about tragedy, but about the joy of creating music.
Today, as I began to paint our latest "lost" crooner, Amy Winehouse I began to reflect upon all the superstars we have lost at such an early age. Twenty-seven. I recall being on top of the world at the age of 27. What is it that haunted so many of these beautiful young stars that would tip their worlds and send the flying over the edge to their doom? I used to refer to my beautiful hallway as the Rock Hall of Fame, but today I am thinking it is more like the hallway of tragedy.
CHRONONAUT Steampunk at Electric Ladyland
I posed the question to the Queen of Chrononaut, Ingred Chamberlain and she directed me to a plethora of films, including those based on the novels of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, "But," she advised me, "the #1 movie in terms of design and overall theme is City of Lost Children." I proceeded to locate this film and although I had to watch it in increments, it gave me a peek into the dark, mysterious and always inventive world that is "Steampunk." It seems to be the merging of machinery and living organisms into outrageous and creative fantasy beings.....and settings. It's the machine age turned topsy turvy! Combine old time Victorian dressing with futuristic design.....but wait, there's gears, and steam! Think Edward Scissorhands.....and the way Tim Burton has put this alien-like creature from the past into 60's suburbia.
Anyway, you don't have to "get it" to enjoy Chrononaut! Just do what I do, don a corset, decorate a top hat, cut the fingers off of your gloves, put on some sensible boots and come on out and soak up the zany cultural experience! PS The music's good too!
DARK CABARET AT ELECTRIC LADYLAND
I'm hoping that with their recent performance at Bar Sinister in Hollywood, combined with the event at Ladyland, their fame will spread rapidly via FB and blogs. They are worthy of fame...then they can look back and say "London Below had one of their premier performances at humble Electric Ladyland in Ocean Beach."
OCEAN BEACH MUSIC FEST
Electric Ladyland Events: ALTERNATIVE WEDDINGS
Electric Ladyland Events: ALTERNATIVE WEDDINGS: Electric Ladyland OB is a place for AMAZING events! We recently hosted (July) a wedding reception that featured burlesque dancers in perfect...
ALTERNATIVE WEDDINGS
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