JaZzArt en València

Mare meua! Eso nunca falla…

Vivienne might not be a painter/artist but she certainly was an artist. So I find it quite fitting that she be included in the Women’s Artists Series. She was born in Derbyshire, England in 1941. She passed away in 2022 in London. She was the designer of the Punk and New Wave movement. She had a shop in London, Sex, from 1974 to 1976 where she created what all the punks wore, or wanted to wear. The boutique, that merged fashion with music, was the centre of the Punk fashion. Actually her partner, Malcolm McLaren was not only a fashion designer but the manager of the Sex Pistols.Westwood was ranked by Sky Arts as the 4th most influential artist in Britain in the last 50 years. Vivienne was also an activist for a better world. She opened shops not only throughout Britain, but around the world with fashion lines to promote political causes that she supported such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, climate change and civil rights groups…She was the genesis of the punk fashion movement and once said, «I was messianic about punk, seeing if one could put a spoke in the system in some way» («Vivienne Westwood: Disgracefully yours, the Queen Mother of Fashion». The Independent. London, England. 2 June 2002. Retrieved 31 March 2010).

Being that I too greatly admired Punk aesthetics, I thought it quite fitting to feature Vivienne. I hope you enjoy it and if you are interested in art, design, music, or whatever, you might benefit greatly by looking up more on this very creative and brilliant woman.

CHEERS

Got to say that when techno-pop rolled around I was not too engaged with the sound, that is until I heard «West End Girls» (1985). Then I searched out everything about and of Pet Shop Boys. Phenomenal! I totally got hooked on their music and through them, I began digging on techno-pop…

Pet Shop Boys, the most successful duo in the musical history of the United Kingdom according to the Guinness World Records (1999). They placed 44 singles in the Top 30 of the UK, and that is to include 22 of them in the top 10 and four number one hits. The number one songs were: «West End Girls«, «It’s a Sin«,​ «Always on My Mind» and «Heart«.​AND to date they have sold over 100 million records world-wide. They have won three Brit Awards and have been nominated six times for a Grammy. Since they kicked off their career in 1984, they have recorded 15 albums and nine of them have made it to the Top 3 in the UK charts. Rather good I would say…

The boys started in London in 1981. And for the US, they were the leaders of the second British invasion. They are the true pioneers of electronic pop-rock. The duo is composed of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. They met in 1981 at an electronics store in Chelsea.

Nonetheless is their latest, and fifteenth studio album released in April of 2024. They are still touring and recording not just for themselves but for other artists, like Madonna… I guess this duo is never being boring… 😊

CHEERS

Here is a little review of some of the things I had done and was doing as of 2016 back in the days of Omnia Caelum Studios Miami…

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And the one song I will feature from this great artist from the US is «The Boy in the Bubble» from the Graceland album of 1986. The single was released in 1987. This song, which I really got into when it was released, was written by Paul Simon and Forere Motloheloa, a musician (accordionist) from Lesotho. The song’s light hearted melody and music becomes a counterpoint to its lyrics which deal with much darker issues such as starvation and terrorism. The song reached the top 30 in the UK.

Do you remember this song? What do you think? After all aren’t these the days of miracles and wonders? Or are they?

CHEERS

Got to say that when techno-pop rolled around I was not too engaged with the sound, that is until I heard «West End Girls» (1985). Then I searched out everything about and of Pet Shop Boys. Phenomenal! I totally got hooked on their music and through them, I began digging on techno-pop…

Pet Shop Boys, the most successful duo in the musical history of the United Kingdom according to the Guinness World Records (1999). They placed 44 singles in the Top 30 of the UK, and that is to include 22 of them in the top 10 and four number one hits. The number one songs were: «West End Girls«, «It’s a Sin«,​ «Always on My Mind» and «Heart«.​AND to date they have sold over 100 million records world-wide. They have won three Brit Awards and have been nominated six times for a Grammy. Since they kicked off their career in 1984, they have recorded 15 albums and nine of them have made it to the Top 3 in the UK charts. Rather good I would say…

The boys started in London in 1981. And for the US, they were the leaders of the second British invasion. They are the true pioneers of electronic pop-rock. The duo is composed of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. They met in 1981 at an electronics store in Chelsea.

Nonetheless is their latest, and fifteenth studio album released in April of 2024. They are still touring and recording not just for themselves but for other artists, like Madonna… I guess this duo is never being boring… 😊

CHEERS

A veces me parece que vivimos en un mundo de idiotas, que la gente del Siglo 21 (y también muchas del Siglo 20) no tiene materia gris y que toda la normalidad, la razón, la lógica (y mira que tu sabes, querido diario, que a mi la lógica me la suda) se han ido corriendo al coño de la madre que las parió. Mare meua! En lugar de disfrutar, celebrar, agradecer, y gozar de la libertad, de la paz, de la abundancia, el hombre opta por la mierda, el atraso, la guerra y la esclavitud. En Polonia pisan la bandera de la UE y la queman. En la India hacen la guerra con Pakistan. Y no se, ni me interesa quien tenga la razón en ese nuevo conflicto tan peligroso entre dos potencias nucleares. Por otra parte los palestinos, los yemeníes, los grupos terroristas, los evangélicos, los nacionalistas, los madridistas, etcétera etcétera… Aranceles, broncas, cambios de nombres, religion, la economía, la pésima educación que le están dando a los chicos, la moda hortera, la adicción al móvil, los influencers… Basta ya de tanta jodienda! Paso, paso de todo esto! Porque no nos acercamos al espejo y así, mirándole la cara al que más queremos, en lugar de quejarnos tanto, o repetir eslóganes y boberías, cantemos junto a Don Giovanni así…

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Sometimes I think we live among fools, that the people of the 21st Century have no grey matter as is the case with many of the 20th… that all sense of normalcy, reason, and logic (and you know Dear Diary that I don’t give a shit about logic) have gone to hell in a handbasket. Good grief! Instead of enjoying, celebrating, appreciating and being thankful for freedom, peace and abundance, mankind opts for shit, for backwardness, for war and slavery. In Poland an Eurodeputy has stepped all over the EU flag and then burned it. India and Pakistan have gone to war, and I don’t need to tell you how much we do not need another war, especially between two nuclear powers. And I could care less who is right or who started it. On the other hand you have the Palestinians, the Yemenis, terrorist groups, evangelicals, nationalists and supporters of my most hated football club, etcetera etcetera… Tariffs, fights, name changes, religion, the economy, the terrible way children are being educated (at home and at school), the horrible fashion trends, the addiction to the mobile phone, the influencers… Enough of all this shit! I pass! I can do without all of it! Why do not we, instead, approach our mirror and looking into the eyes of the one we love the most, instead of complaining and bitching, or repeating stupid slogans we sing along with Don Giovanni, like this…

GRACIAS – CHEERS

Life is what you make it, that is what some say. I prefer to say that life is a cabaret (old chum), but regardless of your preference, life is a tangible thing. It is not something ethereal, neither is it a fairy tale… To an artist life is a series of paintings. Think of how Picasso documented his entire life in his thousands of canvases. Well, do not be surprised but all artists do that in one way or another. Sometime, as in the case of one like Picasso, it is quite obvious. Other artists camouflage their diaries on canvas quite well. But all artists always paint the same thing. You just don’t notice it.

CHEERS

Always was a fan of this band that I have always thought that with The Allman Brothers Band and the Charlie Daniels Band, was the best US band. And of course I am talking about The Grateful Dead and today of their big hit (only top 40 hit) «Touch of Grey» from 1987. Not only a top 40, but a smash video on MTV… The single is from the album In the Dark. A song with somewhat dark lyrics set to a very upbeat pop style arrangement. The chorus/refrain, «I will get by; I will survive» is changed at the end of the song to “We will get by; We will survive” which makes the song an anthem for dead-heads all over the world… Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics and Jerry Garcia wrote the music… «Touch of Grey» made it to the top 10 on Billboard, and was number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This has been the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts… The video, smashing good I would say, was directed by Gary Gutierrez, the same onw who had created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie. It was filmed at Laguna Seca Raceway after one of the band’s concerts in May 1987.

I think you will like this and remember the MTV (when they played music) video. I certainly do. And don’t forget to tell me what you think…

CHEERS

Art Digital is not the same thing as a simple AI generated image. You have to create it as you would on paper or canvas, but with digital tools… Sometimes you can take one that you have drawn by hand and enhance it. Let us not forget that all these «things» are tools, just like the pencil sharpener and the rubber…

CHEERS