Butthole Surfers - Pepper

Music Appreciation

For me, 1996 was a great year for alternative rock music.

You had Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, Cake, Spacehog, Stone Temple Pilots, and many many others. But in the mix of all this was Butthole Surfers, an American rock band that originated in San Antonio, Texas.

Released on May 18, 1996, Pepper was Butthole Surfers' biggest hit that reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock tracks chart.

Their music video even featured actor Erik Estrada, best known as Ponch on TV series CHiPs.

Source: Wikipedia

Poison - Talk Dirty to Me

Music Appreciation

When I was about 11 years old, I spent a lot of my time at Wal-Mart playing video games or buying record singles. One of those record singles I bought was Poison's Talk Dirty to Me.

I remember playing this record on my Fisher-Price record player over and over and over again. But did I know what the lyrics were about? Absolutely not.

Watching guys look like girls rocking on MTV was cool; so, I really didn't care about what the lyrics were. It just sounded good.

Talk Dirty to Me was released on February 18, 1987. It's considered Poison's first biggest international hit. The glam metal rock band was formed in 1983 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Original members of the band included Bret Michaels (lead vocals), Matt Smith (who was replaced by C.C. DeVille as guitarist), Bobby Dall (bassist), and Rikki Rockett (drummer).





Source: Wikipedia

Genevieve Naylor

Photography Appreciation

Genevieve Naylor was best known as a fashion photographer. However, Naylor was also a photojournalist; she was one of the first women hired by the Associated Press.

Many of her work appeared in fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue. She was also Eleanor Roosevelt's personal photographer.

You can learn more about Genevieve Naylor HERE and see some of her many pictures HERE.

Tippi Hedren (1954) via flamingodancer

George Wettling and Hot Lips Page, Eddie Condon's Floor Show (1948) via jazzlives

via tsutpen

Jones Beach (1945) via brabournefarm

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/25/obituaries/genevieve-naylor-74-photographer-dies.html
http://www.staleywise.com/collection/naylor/naylor.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53035820@N02/sets/72157625076543783/
http://brabournefarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/love-genevieve-naylor.html
http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/2012/05/shutterbug-friday-11-genevieve-naylor.html
http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/tag/genevieve-naylor/
http://flamingodancer.net/2011/05/page/3/

Carl Schweninger Jr.

Art Appreciation

Before photography, paintings gave us a visual recording of yesteryear. Paintings have aided Hollywood in replicating historical settings and recreating fashion from that time to make movies.

I recently came across paintings by Carl Schweninger, Jr. in a couple of blogs I follow. The Morning Star caught my attention that I needed to learn more about the artist. Unfortunately, not much has been written about Carl Schweninger, Jr. or at least not on the web.

The information that I did find was that he was the son of the famous German landscape painter, Carl Schweninger and he was born in 1854.

You can find some of his paintings on Pinterest HERE or at the links below.

The Letter via iamachild

The Artists Studio via conchigliadivenere

The Morning Star via conchigliadivenere

Sources: 
http://www.iment.com/maida/family/mother/vicars/carlschweningerjr.htm; 
http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Carl-Schweninger--Jr-/D539CDE44B6FFE6A; 
http://conchigliadivenere.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/carl-schweninger-jr-1854-1903-austrian/; 
http://iamachild.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/carl-schweninger-jr-1854-1903-austrian/;
http://23silence.tumblr.com/post/34421754932/carl-schweninger-1854-1903-the-morning-star

Peter Cetera - Glory of Love

Music Appreciation

If you are my age, then you'd remember this song and associate it with Daniel LaRusso and his love interest Kumiko in The Karate Kid II (1986) movie.

Shortly after leaving the band Chicago, Peter Cetera recorded his solo album Solitude/Solitaire. "Glory of Love" was his first hit single and peaked at number on on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1986.

Source: Wikipedia

Marko Mavrovich

Art Appreciation

When I was a college student, I enjoyed going to museums and looking for the works by impressionists like Henri Matisse or Camille Pissarro. To me, impressionists want their viewers to be participants in their work.

For example, one can easily picture themselves in Marko Mavrovich's painting titled Angels Over Venice or strolling along a road in Avalon. The paintings purposely allow the viewer to add their own emotions and interpret their own experiences.

I came across American impressionist Marko Mavrovich while walking through a gallery on a cruise ship. The painting on display was Resting in the Studio, which depicts the painter's brushes along with a bottle of wine. Perhaps the wine was in celebration of completing an art piece. Maybe the wine helps the artist paint. It's up to the viewer to make the story.

Mavrovich gets much of his inspiration from the Mediterranean painting oceans and hillsides.

You can see more of his work HERE.

Resting in the Studio

Angels Over Venice via doina-touchinghearts

Avalon via doina-touchinghearts

Red Chairs via liveinternet.ru

Sources: http://gallerymarko.com; http://doina-touchinghearts.blogspot.com/2012/07/marko-mavrovich-paintings.html; http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/tulyachka/post166572681/

Maná - Como te Deseo

Music Appreciation

"Mariposas bailan en mi pecho, El calor no se dispersa amor..."

I'll be honest. The only Mexican music I knew was my dad's music. He'd listen to Juan Gabriel or José José. These guys were known for romantic ballads. Meanwhile, my mom would listen to Tejano music such as El Grupo Mazz or Selena.

So, personally, I didn't care for my parents music. Instead I turned my attention to MTV. As a teen, rap and hip hop was the thing and boys like me liked it. So, imagine me, a short Mexican American, wanting to be like Mike (Michael Jordon) or the Fresh Prince (Will Smith) wanting to leap as high as possible to touch the rim and rapping at the same time.

It wasn't until college when I was exposed to Mexican rock. The first song that I heard was Como te Deseo by Maná. I became a fan very quickly of Mexican rock and even Mexican pop music.




via WarnerMusicMexico


Source: Wikipedia