Curtis Santiago

The first time saw a Wil Murray painting I was standing in Zak Pashaks home on the East side of Vancouver. In that same room was Kim Dorland's "Highway 1" and an empty space where Curtis Santiago's "I have a recurring dream" would eventually sit. Immediately I asked Zak who had painted this texture color explosion. He said it was a crazy cat from Calgary named Wil Murray and that he and I needed to meet. The first time I saw Wil Murray he was standing in front of a great big shit making machine... No really, he was. It was Cloaca-no-5 by Wim Delvoye. The machine was grand. As impressive was the hair standing in front of it. There are people in my journey I have met that I use the term "hipster" to describe, and I use the term with the utmost respect. One could place these people in any time period and they would be ahead of the curve, seeming to know whats around the bend while reflecting the past . Wil is that Hep Cat. This past weekend was Wil Muthafucking Murray's weekend. I received notice from the facebook pigeon that he would be arriving in Toronto to attend a couple of art events where his work would be showing .Wil hit me up on the phone when he got to town extending an invite for me to come down to the events. The first was the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, presenting the 2008 winner, the two honorable mentions, and the rest of the finalists. I arrived to find myself in a new arena . I had never been to an art event of this nature before, it was a true depiction of when the ideas meet the money, pinstriped suits shaking paint stained hands. It didn't take but a minute to spot the hair in fine form. He was smiling and charismatic in front of his painting, named "Sexe maniac maniac maniac maniac maniac". The artists' work was presented by regions East vs West. I took a few laps around each room and observed. The styles of work varied from heavy to lean, free to structured, technical to simplistic. A couple pieces spoke to me and a few left me wondering how they made the finalists list. It was on my second look through that I noticed that Wil's piece had won one of the two honorable mentions. Not surprised at all, as a lover of texture and bold use of color, Sexe maniac maniac maniac maniac maniac would have been my pick for the grand prize, had I not even known Wil. Seeing that honorable mention tag gave me hope that I could one day be up on one of those walls with a little something by my name. After stuffing myself and drinking far too much of the bankers' wine, we ended up at The Ossington for a celebratory drink, and I stumbled my way home. Saturday night arrived with freezing rain on his arm. I was bundled and ready to venture forth, into yet another new experince in the Toronto art world. The word from Wil was that MOCCA was the place to be. The  Magenta foundation was releasing their book "Carte Blanche 2- Painting", and among the esteemed list in the book was Wil's name. Not only that, but he was to be shown as a featured artist at that night's reception. I walked into the MOCCA and the first thing I was impressed with was the amount of people in attendance. The who's who of the T.O. scene were out in full force. As we all know, most of the time the most interesting things in the room are the people, but tonight was one of those rare occasion where Art yelled back "PAINTING IS HERE BITCHES! BEHOLD". I heard the canvas' cries loud and clear. Having my mind blown time and time again as I circulated the large rooms about 4-5 times each, put so much in perspective: where I am as a painter and where I want to be. So many names I want to mention, but l will just make a separate blog and you all can check it out. Once again Wil's piece shone in a room of stars. I am very honored that this Hep cat thinks I'm on the right track with my work. Thanks Wil for letting me be a part of the Wil Muthaf@#king Murray weekend.

http://wilmurray.com/

Apparently Xmas shopping season is upon us...so today I learned that I need to start avoiding malls. But I also learned that Toronto is beautiful in the fall. So many colours and trees turning colours. Not a lot of evergreens here like there is in Alberta and BC. Plus I love fall in general. There was a time when I hated fall. I thought it and spring should just disappear and that winter should just change into summer dirrectly. Now I appreciate the subtlety and the slow change that fall and spring have to offer. I have learned to appreciate the medium point to the journey's of life...including fall.

I also have learned to appreciate the middle point of a song which is exactly where me and Curtis are at with the new track for the mix tape. This thing is gonna be a monster!!!! I'm so stoked to drop it on the world. I can only hope that everyone else is as into it as I am.

As I was taking a break and strolling around in Kensington today I snapped some photos. There was this one

And there was this one

And this one

In anycase I was listening to this great band Ghostland Observatory...check it out on myspace at myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory

Lata

M

It has started to sink in a day after the historic election in the U.S. I just experienced one of the best weekends in my life in an unexpected place. Locals call it the "Mistake by the Lake" otherwise known as Cleveland, Ohio. What brought us to Cleveland that fateful weekend was a career changing gig at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When Mike and I walked into the building we both were overcome by the sense of greatness that filled the rooms, the halls and the air. They had a wall titled “Here and Now” filled with contemporary artists and their outfits, writings and guitars. It was such an amazing feeling to see Feist’s blue sequined jumpsuit from 1,2,3,4 on the wall. The show went off beyond our dreams. The energy on the stage was flowing between Mike and myself and the crowd like wine. It was as if the vibes from Jim Morrison's Christmas cards, Jimmy Hendrix battle scene drawings, Mick’s red knee pads and Iggy's duct tape shorts were in the air to breathe in breathe out. After that we thought that was the climax of the weekend, I was ready to come back to Canada that night. When we heard the amazing news that Sunday afternoon at 3:45 Senator Barack Obama would be speaking his second to last speech before the election we knew we were obligated to be there. So we got in line for nearly 3 hours with 10's of thousands of others and waited, moved a few feet and waited repeat that for another hour. Some sang, some chanted, all just smiled. We laughed collectively while entrepreneurs made some profit selling everything buttons reading "Barrack in the day" while sporting images of him in high school. There were skull caps, posters "Yes we can" towels and "No Bush" panties. Look at him all ready creating jobs the Americans so desperately need. After clearing the security scanners and pat downs we found a place and nestled into the crowd about 150 ft away from the stage. The excitement was magnetic. People of all ages, races, shapes and faces coming together in a call of hope and change. When Bruce Springsteen took the stage to start the rally it became so real the significance of this moment and how much we all were a part of it. In his white collared shirt, blue jeans, Harmonica around his neck and guitar in hand he looked like Dylan to me. With his sleeves rolled up to the elbow he looked as if he was about to repair the dream machine that had been jammed for the last 8 yrs. His sand paper voice stripped away the grime as the strumming of his guitar prepared the valves to be oiled . The song about Youngstown, Ohio stays with me still. His delivery made me feel proud for Americans. The sense of history, the significant role Ohio had played in thwarting rebel soldiers advances. The battle that was being fought now was clear to the crowd. Everyone knew that Barack could not win unless he won the State so the stakes were high. When the Obama's finally took the stage the crowd erupted in cheer and immediately started chanting "yes we can" yes we can"! To feel the belief of 40,000 + was moving. In the video my hand is shaking. I really feel that was the energy of the crowd. I could not steady it as hard as I tried. His presence was so strong and reassuring he silenced the crowd with just his hands. He felt like a preacher with out preaching. His message was clear. America I will work on getting you jobs, I will work on providing you with affordable health care and I will work on getting you back in your homes. But he also made it clear it is not going to be easy and he requires all Americans to work together. That right now in face of one of the countries toughest hours that they as people all need to unite. He spoke of peace and just treatment for all. I was moved and I believe a new day has come. Only the future knows what cards history is holding.

I didn't get to roam around Cleveland too much due to my cold but what I did do was awesome. Played a show and killed it. The show was for the New Music Seminar and the stage was inside the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame which was amazing to check out. I fell in love with a few items of clothing there...it was intense to see the Billie Jean glove or Iggy's duct tape pants or the letter that the police wrote to Jim Morrison's parents after his arrest. Anyone near Cleveland needs to go check out the hall of fame. It was amazing to say the least. Everyone really dug the show and were very responsive which is always great. During all the craziness a mixtape landed in my possession from this group called The Kickdrums. Really dig their sound and their tracks. You should all go check them out at myspace.com/thekickdrums

We did manage to luck out in one other way and attend one of the last Obama rallies before the election. Surreal. Fifty thousand people, rooftop snipers, metal detectors to enter. Intense. Springsteen played and it was amazing. Obama is so good at speaking. Very charasmatic. Very poised. Very ELECTABLE!!!!

Anyway...it got me wondering about what it would take to get that many people out to a rally in Canada...and I figured that the election would somehow have to involve hockey or the annex of some province by the US to bring that many people out...

If you happen to be in Toronto we're playing the Drake Hotel tonight at 10ish...it's gonna be sick.

Lata.

M