Elelator go up, elelator go down…keep going, no matter what; set 1
08/18/09
Three days.
THREE WHOLE DAYS!
I’ve never been so happy to be home in all of my entire life. Well, except for when I was in college, and I got to go home for the weekend after a brutal crew practice or something. But man, after being on the road almost constantly for two months, this is something special.
Things look different when you see them again after awhile, don’t they? Those things you take for granted on a day to day basis. The way the shadows play off the canopy in front of the house. The rapid expanse of trees behind. The way the wind whistles and winds through the leaves at night, when everything else has surrendered to the moon.
Three whole days.
16 Phish shows, Bonnaroo, Stonehenge, Gathering of the Vibes and then Camp Barefoot 3. It might look something like this if read as a setlist.
Set 1: Home>Fenway+>JB1>JB2*>JB3>Great Woods>Camden>Home,
Knoxville>Bonnaroo>Burgettstown>Stonehenge**,
Raw Dawg/Kings of Belmont, Private Party Jam>Vibes**
Set 2: Home>Red Rocks***>Shoreline>Gorge****>Camp Barefoot 3++>Home Reprise
+: w/flying painting jam (I’ll explain this in a second)
*: w/after show live painting in the lot
**: w/home teases
***: w/I Need a Miracle teases and Mock Rocks paint jam
****: w/confiscated painting jam and Stealing Paintings From the Faulty Redbeard teases
++: w/Movin’ On Up teases and triumphant artsplosions. At the end of the show, rainbows began shooting through the darkened sky and light triumphed over darkness. People reported being enlightened.
So let me explain a few things. Did I forget to mention, forget to mention FLYING PAINTINGS?? I can’t believe I forgot to add that into the last update. This summer has been amazing, hilarious, difficult, heart-breaking (at times), elating, wallet emptying and almost everything else in between. To say that it’s been inspiring and worth every second would be an understatement. To say it’s all been easy would be a lie.
I already told you about the police officer in Great Woods and the Bonnaroo entanglements. I also mentioned how it’d been rather rainy for the first leg (which really hurt my ability to get prints and art out of the car to make sales). But let me tell you about the beginning of it all, which I suppose I should have taken as an omen.
As my new friend Mike and I were driving up to Boston from Milford, MA, I thought I heard something a bit off at one point. I turned down the radio but heard nothing out of the ordinary. Mike’s car was ahead of mine and both of us were going a steady 70 mph in anticipation of reaching Fenway and the first Phish show in 5 years.
The Taurus is a bit small for transporting all of the art gear so, prior to leaving home, I’d decided to strap the turtle top on the roof to conserve space. I had paintings and a few other bags of paint up there and it had been secured and pulled taut.
In any event, you can imagine where this is going. I didn’t put the small locks on the turtle top, thinking the latches themselves would be plenty to keep the whole thing shut on the trip.
Wrong.
The top suddenly flies open, unhinges and sails through the air. I realize this in about two seconds and see paintings flying into the air like pieces of paper torn from a book by some invisible hand. I immediately pull over and watch in horror as cars traveling upwards of 75 mph drive over the paintings that have hit the pavement. I think to myself, “Which ones did I put in there?”, trying to figure out how bad the damage is going to be ahead of time.
When there are breaks in the flow of traffic, I race out onto the interstate and grab them two by two, hauling them over to the side of the road. After a few iterations of this, I had them all as well as the turtle top. Mike, his friend and myself carry all of the work and the top back to the car. I reattach the top and then check the paintings.
Despite several of them being run over by a number of vehicles, there wasn’t a scratch on ANY of them.
Needless to say, I was first relieved that noone was hurt and that an accident hadn’t occurred, but secondly, I was shocked and appreciative that nothing had been damaged.
So that was the intro to my summer. Actually, that was the SECOND incident of the summer.
The FIRST was something a few of us now like to call The Kang of Pants situation. This is all out of order because I’m sort of remembering things as they come and so much has been packed into this summer that it’s all a jumbled mish-mash at this point.
So prior to the Bonnaroo debacles, prior to the tomdickery of the Great Woods police, prior to Jones Beach (where the straps on aforementioned turtle top caused water to leak into the car and damage many posters) and PRIOR to the flying paintings, there was the birth. There was:
THE KANG OF PANTS!!!
So, driving from VA to Milford, MA isn’t necessarily for everyone. It’s only for truckers and weirdos like me, really. People that, for some reason, can stay awake for long hours on the road, listening to strange A.M. radio programs and doing it solo. I love my friends and I love my Julia, but the open road…the solo adventure, is still something I very much cherish.
On the eve of getting to Mike’s place which would then lead to me painting a live painting for his radio show, I left a bit late from home. I ended up driving all through the night to MA and got to his place around five in the morning. I pulled up and parked (he lives in a pretty nice neighborhood) and gave him a call on my cell. No answer. Not wanting to bother him or his parents, I decided I’d just sleep for a few hours in the car and then call in the morning at a more decent time. Mistake number one.
Mistake number two is the funnier of the two, something that I’m sure my Dad will be proud of if he reads this site. I put the car seat back and reclined for comfort and tried to get in a sleep inducing position. I realized that my belt was biting into me a little, so I unbuckled it and unbuttoned my pants. Shortly after this, I drifted off, my last thought being…I wonder if someone will see me and call the police or something.
I have the most terribly amazing manifestation powers.
A few hours of fitful sleep later, I wake up groggily and see a car pass me. I fall back asleep.
About another hour later, I’m suddenly awake and confused, not knowing where I am or why my heart is racing. I look to my left and see a police officer standing over me, tapping the window of the glass.
I quickly look for my keys in a foggy, groggy haze and am initially unable to find them. I don’t want to keep the officer waiting, so I open the car door about halfway.
“Morning, officer!”
The officer looks at me sorta puzzled. At this point, I look a bit wookish (even more so than usual) as my hair is down and I’ve been…well…sleeping in the car.
He replies, “Hey there…ah…so what are you doing?”
“Well, I drove up from Virginia last night to Mass. to meet my friend but I got here really late and I didn’t want to disturb him or his parents and he didn’t answer his cellphone,” I ran on relentlessly trying to get it all out in one sentence, “and I was planning on calling him this morning after sleeping for a few hours like I said I wanted to not disturb him, ya know, be polite and…”
He interrupts, “So, wait…he lives here? What’s his name?”
“Mike,” I quickly reply.
“Mike what,” he asks.
“Well…I’m not sure, actually. I just met him. I’m an artist and he invited me to come up here to paint a live painting for his radio show.”
“But you don’t know his last name?”
Another police car pulls up. Remember. My pants are unbuttoned and my belt unbuckled. This is rapidly becoming a situation that I’m worried about explaining.
“No sir…we met via the internet…you know how crazy the internet is…through a message board and he likes my art so invited me to come up before the Fenway Phish show in a few days…here. I’ll try to call him again and see if he’s up.”
He nods, “because here’s the things…you sleeping out here…it was scaring some of the neighbors.”
I laugh and say, “Yeah, I guess with this big beard and long hair I might not look too neighborly.”
At this point he laughs and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Well why don’t you just go up there and knock on the door?” he asks as I get out my phone.
The light is suddenly blotted out by a cloud the size of the mid-west.
“I…hold on…let me just call him…it’s ringing…,” I say, all the while thinking rapidly, if I have to stand up, my pants are going to fall down and dear God what then? WHAT THEN???
The ringing stops. I hold my breath. The phone flips over to Mike’s voicemail.
The cloud grows fangs and eats the crap out of the light.
I begin leaving a message, with the cop in the background saying, “Well, just go on up there and knock.”
I press END on the phone and I think, ha. That’s funny. End. I’m going to stand up to go to the door because that’s what they cop is expecting, and he’s going to get acquainted very personally with my boxers.
I stand, behind the driver’s door, wondering how I can at least get my belt buckled, or somehow hook my thumb through a loop so I can keep them up as I walk. At this very instance, Mike comes out, half asleep himself and approaches both of us (the second car then drives off) and says, “It’s okay! He’s with us!!!”
“He’s with you guys? You vouch for him?”
“Yeah yeah,” says Mike, “He’s with us.”
And the light is getting brighter now!!!
The police then apologizes explaining he had to come and check…you know…safety and all and I told him I understood. He was actually very nice about the whole thing.
With the officer gone, I quickly batten down the ship, so to speak and head into Mike’s place with my first tour story under my (now buckled) belt. And thus began the legend of the Kang of Pants.
So, that brings us up to speed, yeah?
In summation: first leg was amazing but terrible for business. The police almost saw my undies and I almost got arrested for painting. My paintings themselves learned how to fly and Bonnaroo’s corporate gormand tendencies won’t be sticking their money grubbing hands into my pockets anymore.
We left Burgettstown after camping the night and waking to more rain. After packing up a soggy tent, we drove immediately towards Stonehenge, a place that might as well be home. This is one of our favorite festivals of the summer season. Some of the kindest folks in the world run this thing and we get to see MANY of our favorite people in general. Mug and Kim, we seriously love you guys and the atmosphere you’ve created over the last 19 years. We pulled in, wet and weary, and found that the coordinators had learned I was coming and set aside a booth space for us. After the beating we’d taken on first leg, this meant the world to us. A place where we were appreciated and waited for…it really meant a lot. Mike, Tom and Sara were all other friends that made the more difficult parts of the tour seem to dissolve from my memory. Friends, I reckon, could beat the blues out of the sky.
We ended up sleeping most of that first day, only catching some of The Juggling Suns‘ first set, which sounded amazing as usual. I awoke later in the night to hear U-Melt ripping a great encore cover of Tom Sawyer. It was nice to hear that floating through the air, knowing that I could fall back asleep and rest…no driving the next day.
I got up early and dragged all of the art supplies down to the field in the hopes of getting some work done despite the misty rain that was coming down. I’d promised Jordan from the Roy Hobbs Agenda that I’d paint for their set, next to his keys. I started to work on a piece, but because of the rain, it kept getting watered down and hard to work on. I also donated a canvas to Ryland, a friend’s son who wanted to paint who’s about 11 or 12 and could sell ice to an Inuit. I’m not kidding. This kid is going to be rich one day. He’s tenacious.
So Ryland and I painted and moved the canvases under a tree where we got better coverage from the rain. RHA finished up and The Point came on, which includes members of The Reckoning. Because the canvas was still unfinished from RHA, I decided to complete it during The Point.
It started to look like a baby animal to me. A sheep to be exact. As I was painting I started to meditate on love and I started to think of the lamb of God as the animal introduced itself to me. So I was thinking about Jesus, long answer short. As this thought entered my mind, The Point started playing a song that included lines from Yeats’ poem, The Second Coming. “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
It’s moments like these that truly amaze me when painting. When everything seems to be crystallized and coming through the tube at once, aligning perfectly. And as I thought about the Christian Son of God, the celestial sun burst through the cloud in perfect synchronicity with The Point’s tune Octagon Sun (I would later be told this and added the octagon sun seen below to the painting).
Being merely the story teller and vessel of water passing through, I give this small tale to you to decipher as you will. I know what it means to me, but hand this literal Rubik’s Cube to you, dear reader, to unlock for yourself.
The painting is named Sun Shepherd and went to Mike Katzman, the keys player of The Point and The Reckoning. Matted and framed prints are available for $60 + $10 shipping/handling.
Painted live to Roy Hobbs Agenda and The Point at the 19th annual Stonehenge Music Festival
I then teamed up with my Kuzsin to rock a small canvas to the Juggling Suns…it’s called Bekuz of Friends…here’s how it turned out…
Painted live to the Juggling Suns at the 19th annual Stonehenge Music Festival in Kellyburg, PA
Finally, I ended the weekend with a an art duel between turtle and pig as Turtle Soup and Unexplained Bacon closed out the weekend.
I’ll post a pic of it as soon as I have an updated version. I ended up working on it a bit more during U-Melt’s 4th of July set at The Stone Pony, after moe. had played. Believe me, this will be discussed.
With Stonehenge coming to a close, we headed home for about a week (more like three days, really) and got ready for Gathering of the Vibes. Sandwiched between Vibes, however, were some jaunts up north, first for moe. on the 3rd and 4th of July, along with Newton Crosby (thanks for the invite, Hoagie!!!!), Turtle Soup and U-Melt.
I love me some Jersey shore peeps and this was about the best time I’ve ever had at The Pony. I set up with my fellow live painter Dogmatic and started a canvas during Newton Crosby. This would then travel outside to the left of the summer stage and I painted throughout the evening to moe.
Coming back the next evening, I got in a bit late and caught Turtle Soup’s amazing set (as usual) but didn’t get to paint. I opted instead to set up outside in anticipation for the 4th fireworks and moe.’s second show in as many days. The music the night before had been amazing and the crowd was filled with familiar faces. I even saw Green Man, who ended up making it into my painting. Comin’ Around jumped onto the canvas after moe. nailed an amazing rendition of the Grateful Dead’s The Other One.
This one ended up being called Cannonball Coming Around. As Al was walking off stage, I held the painting up for him to see. Another fan was chatting with him and he kept looking over at the work, finally pausing and saying, “Man…that’s awesome!”
I asked him if he’d sign it and he agreed to! I thanked him for the past two night’s inspiration and he thanked me for painting.
This work is being sold for $1000 and is 24 x 36, signed by Al Schnier on the back. Prints are available of this work as well at $70 ($60 + $10 S/H).
Painted live to Newton Crosby and moe. on the 3rd and 4th of July @ The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
The following weekend saw me at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY for wunderkindphenomenons the McLovins. I cranked out one for Basslovin’ and another to U-Melt (the U-Melt painting has since found a home as well). Big thanks to the McLovins family crew and Jeff, Jason and Jake. I’ve got mad respect for these guys and what they’re doing. Be on the lookout for me to create more and more work with these upstarts who’ve been touted by the Rolling Stone magazine. A quick stop at the Triumph Brewing Company on the way home saw me make up for the missed Turtle Soup set on the 4th of July. Big thanks to Ben for the crash space and everyone else in TS. Every show keeps getting better.
Painted live to Turtle Soup at Triumph Brewing Company, New Hope, PA on o7/11/09; 24 x 36; $500
Finally, we hit the Vibes for the end of the first set. It was great to see everyone there and spend our time in Nancyland. Big thanks to Crash for keeping me in great conversation during the rainy points and a huge thanks to Terrapin and everyone involved that helped run the festival. I painted a bit during Lettuce and created a new one to the McLovins Sunday set, arguably the most inspired of the weekend.
In true Disco Biscuits dyslexic form, I painted for Kings of Belmont and Raw Dawg in Charlottesville. This went down in June…I told you I’m all out of whack with the sequence of things, right? Well I wasn’t lying. This piece was created just after Michael Jackson passed, hence the crown and elephants, I think. Not sure where they came from, really.
Painted live to Raw Dawg and Kings of Belmont at IS, Charlottesville, VA on 06/26/09; 24 x 36; $800
Matted and framed prints are available of the above for $70 ($60 + $10 S/H)
Okay…back to the future…
Huge thanks to Gregg Mello as well who hosted a private party and had me paint to Roamer and The Juicy Grapes. The commission helped us get ready for set 2, brother! We love you!!!
And thus ended set 1. A lot of craziness, some near scares and some art damaged. No sales, then a few friends like Gregg and Mike Katzman coming through in the cluth…it was much like a great set of music indeed. A set that makes you soar, pulls you down, gives you hope and then slouches toward a darker jam…teaches something, passes something on. Highlights of set one? Destiny Unbound, Curtis Loew, the debut of Ocelot and Light in Fenway. Night two of Jones Beach. Camden Sand and Lizards, all of Knoxville, seeing Bruce and Trey on stage together, all of Stonehenge, painting a live one to Mike’s radio show, and multiple appearances with my favorite bands…a painting signed by Al from moe…good times. Set 1 we shall dub, The Flight of the Kang of Pants.
Tune in for set 2: Mock, Stock and Two Smoking Barefeet.
