April 2008 --

One of the Coolest People I Ever Met

The evening after I saw, in disbelief, one of my illustrations actually published in a curated annnual, my ukulele broke. The bridge popped right off. I know, it's kind of funny. The word, "ukulele" is already kind of funny. That's why a broken uke is a sad sight in its own very special way. This probably only happens when a person has some kind of conficting feelings like "happy disbelief." But that's how I met Carl Thompson.

I began googling guitar shops in my Brooklyn neighborhood to find someplace I could walk to the very next day and get the uke fixed. The first number I called was Carl Thompson Guitars. I had no idea, but Carl Thompson is a famous guitar designer and luthier. His shop turns out to be less than 2 blocks from my home, hidden in a brownstone basement. But I called him up and asked if he could fix a broken ukulele.

Well, Carl, who among other things is very unpretentious, right away told me that he'd been playing all his life, and that when he was a little kid he played a ukulele until his hands got big enough to hold a guitar. I told him that the reason we have ukuleles is that my toddler son loves guitars, so I bought him a toy uke. Then I had to learn to tune it and play a few chords, and I got hooked and had to go get my own ukulele. It's a pretty cheap one, but I love it. Carl invited Jack and I to come visit his shop. So I walked over there in the pouring rain with my baby in a stroller and my broken uke in a plastic bag. What an amazing place! Three men, the master and his team, were constructing these works of art. You should look at some photos. They've been called the Stradavarius of the electric bass. They are amazing to hold. Each guitar is unique and custom, and there is a two year waiting list to have one made. Jack sat shyly on my lap while we hung out and visited for close to an hour.

Anyways, Carl, Pete, and Joe took the time from their immense workload to fix my humble uke. The spirit in which the whole episode happened was instructive. The lesson for me is a reminder that what's important is the joy of making music (and art). At the end of the day, it matters more than our talent or even our ambition. I'm a ways yet from what you would call an accomplished uke player. It's really thanks to Jack that I'm having the pleasure of making music again. That someone at the highest levels of the professional music world would honor that makes me realize how lucky I am in all sorts of ways. I made this picture for Carl to thank him.

The Chuck Jones of Dance

I've had the pleasure a few times now of seeing New York Theatre Ballet's "Dance on a Shoestring" performances held in their midtown studio. There are always excerpts from upcoming attractions, something performed by children of the School, and short works that you may only see in "Dance on a Shoestring". One of these is called "Stoptime Sketch", choreographed by Chase Brock especially for company dancers Kyle Coffman and Mitchell Kilby in the spirit of these studio perfomances. I hadn't heard of Brock before seeing this piece, but the comic timing and shape of the action instantly reminded me of a Chuck Jones cartoon. Chuck Jones is not just my favorite animator, but one of my favorite artists. I made this illustration to go with a thoughtful review by Nicholas Birns which appeared on the Dance Insider.

Ben and I took Jack to see NYTB's live production of the PBS television ballet show "Toy Castle". Jack is already a Toy Castle fan via DVD. One of the first things he said was, "They're dancing! And it's so dark." He was so happy, until the show ended! Then he was devastated for a few moments. It was very special for all of us.

March 2008 --

Time goes by too fast, and this update is long overdue. In November I got a call from the Dance Notation Bureau to learn a Martha Graham solo from Notation score for the purpose of checking the score. Hmmm, to learn a Martha Graham solo. I guess I wasn't going to say, oh no, I don't do that anymore! But there was more to it than that. In cooperation with the Martha Graham Ensemble I was to teach the solo to a member of the Ensemble, and then it was coached first by Virginie Mecene, Director of the Ensemble, and then by Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Company (and incidently one of my dance-world heroes). This was more like a real staging, and felt like a lot of pressure, especially since I really hadn't done much with Notation in about 5 years. I was not allowed to look at any films, since the idea was to check the Notation score for any problems or mistakes. I made a few reading mistakes due to rustiness, but overall the project was very successful and certainly useful. Notator Sandra Aberkalns made very few mistakes. In the days when I was an employee of the Bureau, funding was never appropriated for checking scores. The Graham Company was also not very accepting of Labanotation. I am glad I lived to see both these things change. In fact, working with the Graham organization was delightful, and I certainly could not have had a better, smarter dancer than Amelie to work with.

This is all by way of a long introduction to the illustration I made about the solo, which is titled "Satyric Festival Song." This is me hopefully finally being able to tell you more about a dance in one illustration than you can get from one photograph. It also represents a personal performance of it for me, or a least a public demonstration that I really know this dance.

One of my pieces can be found at the very end of the "conceptual" category in the recently released "Illo 8". This is an invitation-only Illustration Directory curated and published by 3X3 Magazine.

Next up I have a new Illustration with text out on The Dance Insider, about the recent visit to BAM of Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia. That's former Soviet Union Georgia! When I don't know the dance inside and out (I only got to see it once) it can't be so much about the actual dance as my impression of the dance. That's helpful in a review, though.

Jack is two years old now, and he's hooked on my old copy of "Curious George at the Ballet". I'm an H.A. Rey fan, and the book seems to be a collection of stills from a film;the art looks kind of terrible. Jack is forgiving of that, though. He says, "Ballallet".

Portfolio 27 is out! The School of Visual Arts Illustration and Cartooning Class of 2006 Annual has finally been published. My picture of my friend Dalia dreaming on her couch made it in.

It feels great to finally have news to put on a news page! Over the past month lots has happened. I found a studio space in which to work thanks to kind artist neighbor Launa Beuhler. At the same time, Staci of Slub Design hired me to draw some farm animals for a design project (one of my sketches, left). And today, my first illustration-and-text article appeared on The Dance Insider. Thanks to Launa, Staci, and Paul!

To further ratchet up the excitement, my son crawled across the floor on his belly for the very first time at the moment I was posting The Dance Insider Illustration.