GJ Willis' Art Notes

Yesterday, I went to the BSO pops concert. The show featured Doo-Wop music. In addition to seeing the concert I was curious to find out who the old guy that I usually sit next to was going out with. It seems as though every time I see a show he’s with a different woman. It now appears that he’s settled on one. This is the second time that he’s taken her to a concert. I wonder if I’ll see them again at the next show or if he’ll be taking out another woman? I swear this guy is like a major geriatric playa.

The concert overall was ok. I was entertained. The only weak spot I saw was the group of 20somethings who had the audacity to call themselves, The Marvelletes. True, the majority of the groups were filled with non original members. But for some reason the fake Marvelletes made me see red. I think it was around the time just before they went into a song and said, “Do any of you remember 1962?” My only thought was that none of them were even born in 1962! They were obvious fakes!

The first act of the evening was The Coaster. They were pretty good. None of the performers on stage as The Coasters looked old enough to be the original members. They did a good job of not reminding me that they were fakes. No one on stage shouted out, “Hey, remember 1959?” The 40something lead singer of The Coasters also served as the emcee of the evening. He did a very good job of keeping things light and upbeat.

The second act of the evening were the fake version ofThe Marvelettes. I believe I’ve already made my feelings clear about those three hacks. They all wore red sequined dresses and none of their shoes matched. Yes, I admit I hated them for being so young. They could have at least hired people in their forties. I feel if someone is in there forties then at least you could have the illusion of the possibility that they might have gotten a face lift and are actually in their 60’s or even 70’s. Those women weren’t woman they were girls. They were probably all born in the 80’s.

The third act of the evening were The Orioles . The Orioles were the only act where I can say that almost all the original members were present. Every last one of them had grey hair, except one. It brought a tear to my eye to see them perform. The Orioles have been together since the late 40’s. I wonder if The Rolling Stones will all be performing together for their 50th Anniversary like The Orioles?

The final act of the night was The Drifters. The Drifters did a very good job. Like the majority of acts that performed tonight they did some of the songs of other groups and singers to stretch out time. A glaring song they did that was not their own was Stand By Me (Ben E. King).

At the end of the show all the groups except the Orioles got on stage and sang a song called Stand Up America. According to the lead singer of the Coasters all the groups got together and recorded it along with The Platters in response to 9-11.

After seeing an evening of faux groups it makes me wonder, what is to prevent someone after I die from going around claiming to be me? I wonder if I can officially sanction someone to pretend to be me after I’m dead?

MORNING COMMUTE: This morning I caught the #2 bus. The driver had his baseball cap pulled jauntily to the side. I don’t know why but I found this unacceptable for an MTA employee. I guess he wanted to look hip and came off at least to me as looking silly, especially at his age. If he were younger and didn’t work for the MTA I wouldn’t have had a problem with it.

WHAT I’M WEARING:Today, I have on a rainbow waffle knit turtle neck, blue jeans, and blue suede shoes

MORNING COMMUTE:

The #2 bus was on time. The driver reminded me of Jeffrey Osbourn. The light rail and the shuttle bus were also on time.

CONCERN OF THE DAY: The Bus Window
On this morning’s shuttle bus I sat behind a crazy man. Well, that’s the way I perceived him to be.

This morning it was brutally cold outside. The first thing he did when he got on the bus was open the window as wide as it could go. I hate when people do this!! I feel that the only reason they do it is to annoy other passengers.

I’ve noticed that people who engage in this behavior tend to look angry and have a defiant look on their face. Their expression seems to say, “Yeah that’s right! I opened the damned window what you gonna do about it!” They have a look to them as if they’re itching for a fight. Of course no one on the bus ever confronts them or asks them to close the window because it’s freezing outside.

MORINING COMMUTE:
This morning I got on the #2 bus. The bus driver looked like Whitman Mayo who played Grady on Sanford and Son. The bus was also moving slower than molasses. I thought that the bus was on the verge of breaking down. Miraculously the bus kept going and going, albeit slow...

GOOD NEWS: Poster up on the web!

I got an email from Scotty today. He got the poster and describes it as being unique. I’m surprised he didn’t tell me it was lost in the mail.

Overall, this was the most ambitious poster that I have ever done. It probably won’t sell for much. It does’nt look very conventional. In fact it looks downright hideous looking. I don’t care. I had fun doing it.

The poster is basically, a giant collage. I usually do smaller collages for the mail art that I send out. I thought it would be fun to try and attempt to do one on a larger scale.

If you are curious about the hideous poster I did, you can slick over to the Soweboarts website. The one I did is naturally labeled, Gail Willis.

SIGHT OF THE DAY: THE STAR WARS CUBICLE
When I got into work today the first thing I noticed was that supervisor Brian’s desk was decorated with all this Star Wars stuff. It looked as though he was the head of the Star Wars fan club. It looked awesome! Up were several posters and various Star Wars product tie-ins from M&M’s. Then I realized that it must be someone’s idea of a practical joke. He was due in to work today. He had spent the weekend in Indianapolis at the big Star Wars convention. It was doubtful that after leaving the convention he would have immediately headed back to work in the wee hours of the morning to put up all that stuff.

By early mid morning he had taken all of the things down. I was surprised to see that the Lego playset ofDarth Vader and Emperor Palpatine on his throne were gone from off his monitor. They have been there since... well since, a very, very, very, very, very, very, long time. I guess he felt a little too embarrassed to keep them around since earlier in the day his cubicle was turned into Star Wars central.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
I have on a mint green pullover, blue jeans, and blue suede shoes.

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning the bus I got on was the #2 bus. The driver looked a lot like Bookman from the 70’s hit sitcom, Good Times.

When I transferred to the light rail there were fourteen people aboard train not including me. This is the most people I have encountered on the train since I part of the light rail was discontinued for constructuion. I even saw the woman that I dubbed the makeup monster. I wonder what happened this morning to put so many people on the light rail?

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE DAY: Sowebo Poster Completed and Returned!!!

First off, I should let you all know that it was very windy outside today. The poster I did was a collage. I was very nervous about the possibility of the things that I glued down blowing away. Sadly, I decided not to bring my gigantic behemoth of a black portfolio case to safely house it in. On second thought I feel that I should have fought my instinct to avoid carrying the large portfolio.

Instead, to protect my artwork against the wind I placed it in two white trash bags. This did no good because three small sections of the diamond like purse strap that was glued to the poster fell off. Luckily, I went out armed with a bottle of glue in case such an emergency should occur on a windy day like today.

I first noticed as I was waiting for the #10 bus that the diamond like studs were missing somewhere inside the two plastic bags. A man named Charles whom I’d never met before that day, saw my predicament and helped me. I thought it was neat that he was humming the theme to Mighty Mouse, (Here, I come to save the day!) as he helped me. He told me that he was on his way to work when he saw me. He was carrying a big lunch pail with him. The only thing he wanted in exchange for helping me were cigarettes. Unfortunately, I don’t smoke. I’m a bit paranoid about engaging in any type of activity that might result in cancer. As I’ve written before, both sets of my grandmothers died of cancer as did all of my aunts on my father’s side of the family.

However, it just so happened that beside me on the bench was a pack of cigarettes. The only question was were they empty or still full? As luck would have it they were full. I gave them to Charles and he gleefully lit up. He even asked for my phone number, unfortunately, neither of us had a pen. It was likekismet I tell you! Then again, maybe I’ve watched one too many romantic comedies.......

The reason why I wanted to turn the poster in a day earlier than it was due is because I get off late in the evening on Tuesdays. There was a Baltimore Songwriters’ Association meeting being held at the Creative Alliance on the evening I dropped the poster off. I was told earlier in the day by a woman I spoke with on the phone that it would be ok to turn it in during the songwriters meeting.

When I made it to the CA I didn’t take much note if anyone was at front desk or not. I simply followed the signs on the outside wall of the building that led to the BSA meeting. Someone from the BSA let me in and I dropped off my poster that was still wet with glue from where I had to replace the three diamond like studs. I hope that they do not fall off on the night...

All in all I feel glad that the poster is off my hands. I hope that Scotty does not run into any trouble photographing it. I also hope that one day I will run into Charles again. Hopefully, the next time I see Charles he would have given up the cancer sticks.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a pink crocheted sweater, blue jeans, and blue suede shoes.

I spent five hours and 56 minutes down loading updates for Jaguar just so that I can give Internet Explorer the boot and use Safari instead.

The version of Jaguar I downloaded 10.2.8 The version I was previously running was 10.2 with no additional extensions.

Throughout the day I had to diligently stay by the computer making sure that the internet connection was never broken.

I’ve noticed that OS X will break connection without giving you a warning that goes beep beep. A silent screen pops up instead.

I wish there was a way to program it so that when a system pop up window comes up you get some kind of an attention sound like you did with previous incarnations of their operating systems.

Then again for all I know there could be way to turn that mechanism on. I just have to find it....