{"id":351,"date":"2019-09-10T13:25:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T12:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=351"},"modified":"2019-09-10T13:25:16","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T12:25:16","slug":"painting-by-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/09\/10\/painting-by-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"PAINTING BY \u00b4NUMBERS\u00b4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Track\nlistings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nEyes Of a Painter by Kate Wolf<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rene\nand Georgette Magritte by Paul Simon <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\nThe Picture Paint Itself by Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe\nI Can Paint Over That by Guy Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matchstalk\nMen & Matchstalk Cats And Dogs by Brian & Michael<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mona\nLisa by Matt Monro<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Painter\nSong by Norah Jones<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Painting\nBox by The Incredible String Band<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sketches\nOf Spain by Miles Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nI Paint My Masterpiece by Bob Dylan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are building our series of Sidetracks\nAnd Detours playlists by concentrating each list on a revenue-funded art form\nsupported by the Link4Life financial arm of Rochdale MBC. If you are wonder how\nmuch good for the community can be achieved by such organisations check out https:\/\/communityartsunwrapped.com<\/a> \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site has archives dating back to 2014 and includes writers of the quality of Geri Moriarty. The front page currently on display was of tributes to artist Mic Smith, who died earlier this year, and discussed topics like \u2018culture, democracy and the right to make art.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the revenue funded art forms\navailable in Rochdale were featured at some time or another at Touchstones Arts\n& Heritage Centre in Rochdale has, among its three exhibition rooms, a\nPeople\u2019s Gallery annually housing \u2018The People\u2019s Art\u2019 exhibition. The main\ngalleries have delivered multi discipline work and even collaborative work by\ninternational artists. The venue also remains the home of Rochdale\u2019s largest\ncreative writing group and incorporates a museum, arts and heritage galleries\nand local studies and tourist information centres all under one roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also delivers a successful and unique annual\neducation programme for local schools each year. I am proud to have been a\nlong-serving practitioner there for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Touchstones was and is primarily an\nexhibition centre for the visual arts, especially paintings, and it is paintings\nthat are the focus of today\u00b4s suggested playlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spoke at my dad\u2019s funeral in Rochdale\na few years ago, to convey his sense of humour, his love of music and passion\nfor work, but it is hard to retrieve moments of light heartedness when your own\nheart is so heavy with grief. How difficult it must have been, then, for the\nlate Kate Wolf when writing a song celebrating a grandfather who was obviously\nvery special to her. She managed that \u2018celebration\u2019 perfectly, though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who ever attended any creative\nwriting courses I delivered will know I often talked about \u2018the perfect\nselection of the precise word\u2019 and as I listen to Kate\u2019s song again now, I\nrealise I would cite The Eyes Of A Painter as being the perfect example of that\nskill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
the late Kate Wolf<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That phrase, \u2018the eyes of a painter\u2019 seems\na practice of the maxim to \u2018show don\u2019t tell\u2019 as we visualise the perceptive eye\nfor detail but, like all great writing, it leaves room for us to paint by\nnumbers as we \u2018colour in\u2019 the pupils. Kate then caps even that with a line that\nsays \u2018he had the heart of a maker<\/em><\/strong> of songs.\u2019 Did she mean he had\nher<\/em> heart? Who knows? And maker<\/em><\/strong>,\nnot writer, of songs is another perfectly fine distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate died tragically young from Leukaemia\nbut there exists today a prestigious folk festival held in the States in her\nname. The venue is Beautiful Black Oak Ranch, in Laytonville, California and\nthis year\u00b4s event was held in June, with a line-up that included Kris\nKristofferson and John Hiatt. Those of you living in Rochdale, and playing in\nthe town\u00b4s ukele band, might like to know that this Sunshine State festival\nalso featured a ukelel circle jam session facilitate by Jerri Miller ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u00b4s headline guest was Madeleine\nPeyroux. Now known as a jazz pianist and singer writer, Madeleine grew up\nbusking on the streets of Paris before becoming a recording artist of\nbest-selling albums of her own songs and excellently selected covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her debut album of fifteen years ago\nincluded her version of Dance Me To The End Of Love and a performer at her own\nsold-out concerts and now helping to perpetuate the song-writing traditions of  artists like the late Kate Wolf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon And Garfunkel, for me, had all the right production\nvalues for contemporary folk music. They had lyrics of Cohen-esque calamity,\nJames Taylor\u2019s triumphs and Beatles-ish bounce. The melodies were always\nglorious and beautifully played and not all, perhaps even not many, of their\nsongs were love songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memories plays tricks in that they never fall to rest in\nthe chronological order of their occurrence, so whether Vincent, Matchstalk Men\nAnd Matchstalk Cats and Dogs or Paul Simon\u2019s solo recording, on his Hearts And\nBones album, of Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War was\nthe first song to introduce me to visual arts I cannot honestly say. I\u2019d have\nto look up composition dates and release dates and stuff, but I\u2019d rather work\nwith an unreliable memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song was clever, artsy even, and included a French\nphrase, with lyrics through which Paul Simon took it upon himself to introduce\nme to doo wop,\u2026\u2026.. and even though I\u2019d \nheard its faint echoes in pop music, I couldn\u2019t have then identified it.\nI fell in love not just with the music, though, but even the names of the\ngroups,\u2026. The Orioles and The Five Satins and The Moonglows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rochdale artist John Cooke has always\nkept very close to his chest what might be his formula, even if indeed he has\none, in producing his unique, vivid photographs or paintings of the town. He\nseems to imply that he just lets the process unfold, or as one of my favourite\nsongs has it, he will just \u2018let the picture paint itself.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodney Crowell had been an outstanding\nperformer with Emmylou Harris And The Hot Band for several years before he\nreleased a solo album in 1994 of that title. Although he became a major country\nmusic solo act in the years that followed, neither this album, nor the three\nsingles released from it (Big Heart, I Don\u2019t Fall In Love So Easy and the title\ntrack) registered at all on the American Billboard charts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album also includes Rodney\u00b4s collaboration\nwith Guy Clark, Stuff That Works, seemingly sharing similar sentiments with Let\nThe Picture Paint Itself. Both songs seemed to advocate a que sera attitude to\nlife,\u2026. the kind of \u2018let\u2019s wing it, it\u2019ll be ok\u2019 philosophy that many artists\npretend to adapt to disguise how hard they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songs as good as Crowell\u00b4s later Keys To\nThe Highway, however, didn\u2019t happen by accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crowell\u00b4s great friend and occasional\ncollaborator, Guy Clark, was another of the Austin, Texas based song-writing\nenclave of the nineteen eighties and nineties. Might have shared his let\u00b4s just\npaint it and see attitude. Nevertheless, Guy later wrote a song called Maybe I\nCan Paint Over That, a metaphor for the mistakes we make in life, perhaps.\nNevertheless the title and the attitude of the song reflected on an attention\nto detail that well served all his songs even if it made him a little less\nprolific than his peers. By painting over any blemishes, however, Guy showed a\ndesire for perfection that would well reward, even today, any new listener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure what pop songs become adapted by\nRochdale football fans for chanting at Spot land, (drop<\/a> us an e mail to our info@ address, please if\nyou me know any) but I will never forget the look on the face of American\nsong-writer John Stewart when I told him that his Daydream Believer was sung by\nSunderland supporters, with a lyrical re-write, as \u2018Cheer Up Peter Reid.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I would imagine that Michael Coleman might\nhave been surprised to hear his Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs\nre-interpreted by Celtic fans to celebrate a long ago hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the song was<\/em> homage, to Salford artist L.S. Lowry, who saw football as part\nof the community, with one of his most famous paintings being inspired by the\ncrowds arriving at Burnden Park every Saturday. (Crowds<\/em> watching Wanderers, by \u2018eck !)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song was recorded by Michael Coleman and\nKeith Parrot (Brian for contractual reasons) who had previously worked together\nin various line ups. They were joined here by St. Winifred\u2019s School Choir and\nthe Tintwistle Brass band from Derbyshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lyric captured Lowry\u2019s style that became\nsymbolic of Rochdale and the rest of Greater Manchester, with its \u2018kids on the\ncorner o\u2019 the street \u2018oo were sparking clogs.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a short story, about a man who,\nin a public place, loses his temper with a woman and begins shouting at her.\nThings become increasingly heated and suddenly he is brandishing a knife. As he\nmakes a lunge at her he is intercepted by security guards who lead him away and\ncall the police. He struggles against their grasp and turns to look at the\nwoman as they tighten their grip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve changed\u2019\u2019 he shouts over his\nshoulder to her, \u2018you\u2019ve grown hard.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She doesn\u2019t reply and her expression never\nchanges as he led out of the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mona Lisa is a song my dad and my Uncle\nSid used to sing when I was maybe ten or eleven and aware of versions on the\nradio by the likes of Nat King Cole and Matt Monro. Those guys were really\nsquare, though and their music meant little to a young pop fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, of course, I recognise Nat\nKing Cole as one of the great jazz pianists of the twentieth century and I find\nmyself belting out From Russia With Love to accompany Matt Monro when my wife\nplays his greatest hits almost nightly through her i pod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norah Jones is \u2018pretty high cotton\u2019 for\nan ordinary Rochdale bloke like me. She has sold over fifty million albums and\nwas voted the top jazz artists of the noughties. Not yet in her forties, but\nwith nine Grammy awards already, Norah is the daughter of Indian sitar player\nRavi Shankar and half-sister of Anoushka Shankar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She came to global attention in 2002\nwith her debut solo album Come Away With Me to which I paid attention because\nof the inclusion of great covers of writers as disparate as Hank Williams, John\nD Loudermilk and Hoagy Carmichael. She also featured some of her own\ncompositions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child, she says, she played \u2018over\nand over again\u2019 one particular disc out of an eight disc anthology of Billie\nHoliday, who has featured on a previous aata playlist, celebrating photography,\nwith Strange Fruit. However, Norah also offered on this album a version of\nPainter Song, a title which was always going to end up on this aata virtual\nplaylist celebrating the Rochdale visual arts scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, I was a little late to the\nparty, not really being convinced of her innate good taste until her second\nalbum saw her cover a song of my friend Townes Van Zandt. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we used to tune in to John Peel\u2019s Radio\n1 show over the weekends, in the last century, we\u00b4d hear musicians like or\nTractor, from our home town of Rochdale, or The Incredible String Band who gave\nthe first live gig I ever saw at the end of the sixties. It was the line-up\nthat included Liquorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson as female vocalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISB chart in our Sidetracks And Detours;\nVisual Arts playlist with the appropriately titled Painting Box. Despite that\nphrase, and the jollity of the tune implying a child-like simplicity, it was,\nas ever with songs written by their members, a complex and somewhat darker tale\nof \u2018purple sails\u2019 and a \u2018little ship that is sinking.\u2019 However, the singer \u2018kind\nof likes\u2019 the sea he\u2019s on \u2018and I don\u2019t mind if I do drown.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Heron was the band member to write\nthis song but other regular contributions came from Robin Williamson, Clive\nPalmer and Malcolm Le Maistre. This psychedelic folk band played in varying line\nups for more than five decades and even gave an incredible performance at the\nWoodstock Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw them play one last time, old men\nwith the merriment and invention of children, at Wrexham in 2006. For a much\nwider view of the ISB check out our archives of Guest Writers for Dave Espin\u00b4s\nreport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any writer exiled on Lanzarote compiling\nmusical playlists to celebrate Rochdale\u2019s visual arts culture would surely contrive\nto include Miles Davis seminal Sketches Of Spain. For me, though, a real link\ndoes exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mile Davis
Sketches Of Spain
and so does Steve Bewick<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first visitors we had here in Playa\nBlanca were a couple well known throughout the Borough Of Rochdale. The Bewicks,\n(Steve and Marlene) came over to stay and thereby hangs a tale.  Steve and I had been mates for a few years by\nthen and, indeed, co-presented a weekly all across the arts programme on\nCrescent Community Radio. A far more experienced radio presenter than was I,\nSteve also delivered, and still does, a weekly jazz show, Hot Biscuits, for\nfcum radio, <\/em>https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/FCUM-Radio<\/a> \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His love of jazz was deeper and far more\nknowledgeable than mine. In fact my relationship with jazz at that time was\nmere flirtation with some of its more popular products. I was only vaguely\naware of, but somewhat enchanted by, the work of Miles Davis, particularly an\nalbum called Sketches Of Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One morning, during the holiday Steve\nsat himself down on the patio with pencil and paper, drawing the view and\ncreating his own incredible Sketches Of Spain !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of Touchstones and some other\nRochdale creative writing groups might remember how I would frequently question\nthem verbally about what they were writing and why. I was always pleased when\nreplies showed an awareness of what their current work entailed and their\ndetermination to finish it. Alliteration can be effective but those who dilly\nand dally are usually not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work of Bob Dylan continues to be\nturned upside down by those determined to find new meaning and unidentified\ntechniques in his writing. My advice to those people would be to look at the certainty<\/em> with which he writes. He\ndidn\u2019t shilly shally about whether the sixties were a revolution or merely\nevolution, but shouted that The Times They ARE<\/strong>\nA Changing and nor did he dawdle or dither with small talk about the weather\nbut said, with certitude, that A Hard Rain\u2019s GONNA<\/strong> Fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many aspirant writers look away\nembarrassed when asked about their ambitions but Dylan talked of the day WHEN<\/strong> I Paint My Masterpiece, and he has\nwritten many songs worthy of such a description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That title, of course, is a perfect fit\nfor our aata<\/em> playlist about the\nvisual arts. However, if you wish to send us your own version of a Painting By\nNumbers playlist of ten songs celebrating famous artists or their works, please\ncontact us via our info@ connection elsewhere on site. We\u00b4ll publish and\naccredit if you\u00b4d like us to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Track listings The Eyes Of a Painter by Kate Wolf Rene and Georgette Magritte by Paul Simon Let The Picture Paint Itself by Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris Maybe I Can Paint Over That by Guy Clark Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats And Dogs by Brian & Michael Mona Lisa by Matt Monro Painter Song […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}