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I don't know if he copied this from a book or a picture or from his travels. It’s on my mantle because it reminds me of him and my mom, as do the flowers that rest beside it.
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I’ve been painting a lot since early summer, late spring. Teach English in the public school 3 days a week, teaching guitar ensemble 9 am to noon Saturdays. Getting ready for a performance October 26th. - and when I’m not doing any of that, evenings, Thursdays Sun and Mon I’m guitar making. After finishing the work in the guitar shop at 10pm I go into the studio and paint for 90 minutes.
I’m having a show of painting Nov. 16th. Looking forward to the year I quit teaching English so I can torture myself full time with guitar making and painting and drawing.
There will be ten paintings in the show. Here’s a sneak peek at two of them and a watercolor from a different group of drawings.
Boy with a Barracuda and The Fish Witch
Really like your paintings, particularly Boy With Barracuda, and Show Off on the Dock and the one above it. Lovely work.
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The early bird catches the worm. But the second mouse gets the cheese.
D del G reminds me of a guy in Akune named Nakano-san. He’s the head of the fisherman’s association, which issues commercial fishing permits and monitors seasonal limits between different fleets based in Akune port. Every year the association puts on a fishing fair at the big commercial landing, they use the pumps on the ships to fill up large pools they construct by making a brick circle and line with heavy plastic sheeting. They stock the pools with foot long mackerel. The kids take turns getting shin deep in the pool and try to grab the saba by hand.
Nakano then does a tuna cutting demonstration with a huge yellowfin tuna, he narrates how it’s done and uses various knives including the famous tuna cutting blade that looks like a samurai sword. Then after he finishes a bunch of guys start cutting sashimi from the pieces he broke apart and for 3 dollars you can line up with a plate and go through the line as many times as you want.
Nakano-san constantly talks everywhere he is, and everywhere he’s flanked by several old men who sit and grunt in approval of what he preaches, often times with a large glasses of beer in their hands, which Nakano buys rounds of. He reminds me of Diego because he’s in his turf and he knows his turf, at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo there are 100 Nakano dudes, they are all characters who head the fishing association and discourse nonstop. Nakano is a big cheeseburger at a small lunch counter. But at his lunch counter he’s king, and it’s good to be the king.
Once a few years ago I saw him in a restaurant and he was silently drinking his shochu, glancing around looking in his glass. Listening and not speaking. His kids were there too. I leaned back craned my neck around and asked him why he’s not talking, because I said to him I’ve never seen you not talking ( and he’s loud too) He sipping his drink his says quietly “Tonight I’m with my wife.”
Speaking of flamenco hair, someone who I’ve always admired as a hair god was Moraito. This is a little grey tone study of his face I made and maybe someday I’ll do a series of flamenco artist heads. This one is 28 x 22 cm so you can get an idea of scale.
As for my own admonition of not tempting fate, people in my family seem to hold onto their hair fairly well into their 90’s and I have no doubt I will as well, but there is no sense taking any chances by casting bad milk onto those who are becoming chrome domed. Or who have unruly or outlandish hair if they are a flamenco artist. The one exception is Pitingo, agggh. And like Ramzi, I’ve decided should it ever happen that I’d get part bald, I would shave my head. But unfortunately for me I have a rather large mole on my scalp on the back right side of my head. It would be very difficult and somewhat dangerous for me to attempt to shave my own head. So if I ever do get in the situation where I have so little hair that head shaving would be neater and more honest I’d have two basic options: one get a really good dermatologist to remove the mole, which could solve the self shaving situation. Or have some really attractive bespoke beanie hats made for me, because I look swell in a beanie.
Rob your dad was a good painter. He could glob it on there with the best of ‘em.
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I saw him perform in a concert honouring the late great dancer Manolete from Granada a few years back. Of all the performers the two "modern" ones, him and Arcángel, were the most entertaining. I don't ever listen to Arcángel albums but his voice sure sounds good live. Pitingo just comes across as a consummate entertainer, sharply dressed in a three-piece suit while standing there crooning away like Sinatra. I'd happily go see either of those two again.
My friend Laurie Cahn is American songwriter Sammy Cahn’s daughter. She knows everyone in jazz on a first name basis. She can walk up to Ron Carter and start talking about something. I was at her house some years back and we were talking about music, she was recommending jazz guitarists for me to listen to. Her brother is a guitarist, Steve Kahn. Topic changed to crooners and in passing I said I didn’t care much for Frank Sinatra, she said yeah I get it, but Uncle Frank’s royalties paid to my dad bought this house, so I’m partial to Uncle Frank.
Her house is at the top of Potrero Hill in San Francisco, it commands a 280 degree view of the city. She refers to her house as ‘The Cahnderosa’
66 and still have my hair but during the height of Covid I asked the wife to cut it and since her skills were not up to the task I ended up like this. I was fine with it. But she didn’t care for it. Steve Khan- great guitarist. Diego….no comment but I respect the opinion of the folks I know who were there.
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Just a bit of guasa Stu , I'm not good with the emoji use.
Yes it's cool. That's how I took it! I'm full of contradiction and something I say today maybe bs tomorrow!
I love those paintings Stephen. I especially like fish head. Is it meant to be a kind of absurdist thing going on? Or something more serious? Either way. Really good art!
My friend Laurie Cahn is American songwriter Sammy Cahn’s daughter. She knows everyone in jazz on a first name basis. She can walk up to Ron Carter and start talking about something. I was at her house some years back and we were talking about music, she was recommending jazz guitarists for me to listen to. Her brother is a guitarist, Steve Kahn. Topic changed to crooners and in passing I said I didn’t care much for Frank Sinatra, she said yeah I get it, but Uncle Frank’s royalties paid to my dad bought this house, so I’m partial to Uncle Frank.
Stephen, It sounds like you are maintaining a full plate: Luthiering (Is that a legitimate word?), teaching, member of an ensemble, painting, etc. Your paintings are very good and the subject matter is interesting. Do you still do aircraft drawings?
On Frank Sinatra, he has always been one of my favorites. I've always enjoyed his singing, and I particularly like the fact that he enunciates clearly and doesn't muddle his words. My two favorites of Sinatra are "It Was a Very Good Year" and "The Summer Wind." Different strokes for different folks.
On hair, hair is thinning but not yet bald. Turning to silver. Never looked so distinguished in my life.
Mark2, during the height of Covid my wife and I cut each other's hair. Actually didn't look bad after the first couple of sessions.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
I love those paintings Stephen. I especially like fish head.
I like them all, but if I had to choose only one I'd have say "Boy with Barracuda" is my favourite, too. I predict it's going to be a successful exhibition. A lot of fun, too.
If Brook Zern were alive he’d wash your mouths out with jabon, spank you and send you to bed without a supper. Morante, you ****ing trouble maker.
I drummed up the issue honestly, sorry. Morante had posted about cante in good faith, with his focus on Fernanda. Unless he covertly wanted the likes of me to take the bait, and THEN post the fandango por soleá? And this has all happened before (in the past without me) on internet chat universe?
Anyway, Brook seemed to be a down to earth and smart guy. I thanked him the one time I met him, for cleaning up 72 episodes of Rito for DVD. In his lecture he pooped on Pepe Marchena which at first rubbed me the wrong way, until he gave an anecdote for perspective. He explained his criticism of Marchena to Fernanda who listened to him, then said, "you .... are an idiot". . I thought was very cool that he put that in, that opinions may STRONGLY differ.
About the hair again....Rito producers knew very well about his hair miss hap and the fandango chords, but they CHOSE to keep that in deliberately. I call that a passive aggressive thing, like play dumb about it but in reality THEY are the ones stirring up trouble. They infact bring the American issue to light by questioning Diego about it in the interview, and later an episode devoted to the American hippy girl singer. And I know they did this to purposely expose the issue because there are too many other spots in the thing where they paint people into a corner with certain loaded questions.
The issue is simple and I have explained it before as an American myself. Pohren's book are/were the only ones to be found in ENGLISH, in public libraries in USA as of 1997 or so. I had learned on my own quite a bit by the time I found that book that covers artistry until 1962. That plus a companion book very similar were, to me, great sources of info, despite the opinionated lens we are forced to look through. I was perhaps a rare case of someone that can completely ignore the opinions to get at the facts, and contextualize the Diego thing etc.?, honestly when Pohren admits he hurt his hand playing rasgueados for dance, I did not respect any opinion he had about guitarists in his book.
One big quote stuck with me was that when Pohren hired Jerez cantores they flat out refused to work with Moron guitarists....for him it was an example illustrating snobbery in Jerez where as to ME I could see that it is about getting the correct chords and compás etc. Then he sneaks in that UNLESS it is Diego himself at the guitar....once again putting the context out of place. Like was that because of respect? or because he actually did the job that was required.
In the end I learned there is not a universal toque, singers prefer to work with people that make them feel comfortable in general. And Spaniard flamencos and aficionados are FOREVER impressed by any American who seems to have a clue what is going on, which is warranted and frankly embarrassing.
I didn’t watch the video (I’ve seen it before), but I imagine if Diego makes a mistake, it’s because he was drunk. I’m not trying to put him down: he drank a lot, and it’s evident in some of those videos.
Diego has always been loved and respected by Spanish aficionados. Madrid’s a different crowd, another kind of afición. In Andalusia and other parts, he’s always been popular, especially among aficionados with deeper roots (because they’re older or because their parents taught them to like flamenco).
quote:
where as to ME I could see that it is about getting the correct chords and compás etc.
If Brook Zern were alive he’d wash your mouths out with jabon, spank you and send you to bed without a supper. Morante, you ****ing trouble maker.
I drummed up the issue honestly, sorry. Morante had posted about cante in good faith, with his focus on Fernanda. Unless he covertly wanted the likes of me to take the bait, and THEN post the fandango por soleá? And this has all happened before (in the past without me) on internet chat universe?
Anyway, Brook seemed to be a down to earth and smart guy. I thanked him the one time I met him, for cleaning up 72 episodes of Rito for DVD. In his lecture he pooped on Pepe Marchena which at first rubbed me the wrong way, until he gave an anecdote for perspective. He explained his criticism of Marchena to Fernanda who listened to him, then said, "you .... are an idiot". . I thought was very cool that he put that in, that opinions may STRONGLY differ.
About the hair again....Rito producers knew very well about his hair miss hap and the fandango chords, but they CHOSE to keep that in deliberately. I call that a passive aggressive thing, like play dumb about it but in reality THEY are the ones stirring up trouble. They infact bring the American issue to light by questioning Diego about it in the interview, and later an episode devoted to the American hippy girl singer. And I know they did this to purposely expose the issue because there are too many other spots in the thing where they paint people into a corner with certain loaded questions.
The issue is simple and I have explained it before as an American myself. Pohren's book are/were the only ones to be found in ENGLISH, in public libraries in USA as of 1997 or so. I had learned on my own quite a bit by the time I found that book that covers artistry until 1962. That plus a companion book very similar were, to me, great sources of info, despite the opinionated lens we are forced to look through. I was perhaps a rare case of someone that can completely ignore the opinions to get at the facts, and contextualize the Diego thing etc.?, honestly when Pohren admits he hurt his hand playing rasgueados for dance, I did not respect any opinion he had about guitarists in his book.
One big quote stuck with me was that when Pohren hired Jerez cantores they flat out refused to work with Moron guitarists....for him it was an example illustrating snobbery in Jerez where as to ME I could see that it is about getting the correct chords and compás etc. Then he sneaks in that UNLESS it is Diego himself at the guitar....once again putting the context out of place. Like was that because of respect? or because he actually did the job that was required.
In the end I learned there is not a universal toque, singers prefer to work with people that make them feel comfortable in general. And Spaniard flamencos and aficionados are FOREVER impressed by any American who seems to have a clue what is going on, which is warranted and frankly embarrassing.
There are things I’d have to write to you in PM to explore this further, but a few thoughts-
Porhen wasn’t the best aficionado, and the most astute aficionados among the Americans, the English speakers who were fluently bilingual did not write books at the time. And those who are left who are in their 80’s now never will write books. Pohren was writing about a scene in a corner of the triangle and his view is not completely adaptable to other flamenco regions.
Brook Zern was really interesting and humble enough to remove his own biases in order to tell a story from a fair distance without bias, before loading his own bias back into the story, for flavor. If you emailed him with a question about a figura he’d take the time to answer you question. He also took guitar lessons from Nino Ricardo, which he explained once in an ass kicking post on the old forum. His dad Ed Zern was a writer, ecologist and a founding member of a fishing association that advocated for nature preservation. Ed Zern’s writing was often comedic and he had a feature page in Field & Stream Magazine called ‘Exit Laughing’ ( it was the last page ) and I read this every month when I was in elementary school as I had a subscription to Field & Steam because I was interested in fishing. I told Brook I knew his dad’s writing very well and he was greatly surprised, and maybe liked me for that. They were both interesting talented writers who shared a gift of explaining without annoying.
In 2000 I was spending a lot of time with David Serva because his wife Clara had a Fulbright grant to study Gitano women’s genealogy and cultural history. She focused on women in Lebrija. So while she was conducting interviews, I went with them and kept David company in guess where? A bar. And he told me flamenco according to Dr. Jones. I got two months of pretty much one on one David history about flamenco. Once in a bar in Sevilla a guy from Barcelona was sitting next to us and said he was in vacation. When the guy realized David knew something about flamenco a big conversation started. Eventually the Barcelona dude asked David if the story about Diego del Gastor was legitimate, did he carry on a kind of older unique toque etc.? David said for him yes, it was true adding that he came about five or seven years before Moron was known through The Donn’s or David George’s books were available in U.S. libraries at the tail of the 1960’s. I think David went to Spain in 1959 when he was 18 / if remember right. He said Diego helped him a great deal and that when on top of his game, he was not only a charismatic player, but also highly technically skilled. David always said he thought older toque was more difficult to play convincingly than newer styles. Minus the virtuoso picado.
Aside, Jonesy said a lot of interesting stuff, like that sabicas’ picado was better than Paco’s. Just saying he said that. He also said he learned more about cante accompaniment in NY by going to a bar after his gig at Man of La Mancha. Sabucas’ brother was always there and he knew all the cante accompaniment. Several guitarists learned by either watching hir with him standing back behind the singer shooting chord signs to the guitar player.
I wasn’t there obviously, but am close friends with David’s lifelong buddy Paul, who’s 85 now. I learned the rest of the stuff from him. He’s quite the aficionado.
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I'm full of contradiction and something I say today maybe bs tomorrow! 
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