Review: The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl

June 18, 2008

Matthew Pearl is a gifted writer, as I discovered a couple of years ago when I read The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. I was a little behind the times because Mr. Pearl’s first novel, The Dante Club, had been published in 2003. These two novels are among the best I’ve read. Mr Pearl [...]

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Big Bill Broonzy — The Key To The Highway

June 2, 2008

Many years ago, I heard a song that fascinated me. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had bought an interesting Eric Clapton album — an import, I think. It was part of a collection of four albums. First was a Cream album with colorful cartoon images of Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Then each individual member of the group had his own compilation album with the same representative cartoon image, but minus the band mates.

On that Clapton album were several cuts from Derek and the Dominos, including a nine minute 40 second version of Key to the Highway. I couldn’t understand all of the lyrics. For the longest time I thought Clapton sang, ‘I got the key to the highway way down in my soul.’ Years later I heard him sing it acoustically and then understood the lyric to be: ‘I’ve got the key to the highway. I’m billed out and bound to go.’

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The Fascinating Art of Bruce Holwerda

May 11, 2008

“My passion as an artist has been the wonder of experimentation and the thrill of seeing the results of a finished piece.” — Bruce Holwerda
One of the most talented artists I met at the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival was Bruce Holwerda. He paints the most intriguing character studies I’ve seen in a long [...]

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Li Wang’s Paintings — Peaceful. Tranquil. Harmonious.

April 30, 2008

“Advocating tradition and admiring great masters, but remembering art itself is to discover and create.” — Li Wang
I was drawn into the booth of Li Wang by his colorful chiaroscuro paintings. I felt a powerful emotional impact from his landscapes and still life paintings. Something about the visible brush strokes and the way he laid [...]

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Kinetic Sculptor — Jeffrey Zachman

April 26, 2008

“Art should affect and change a viewer. I try to reawaken the child inside that person, putting them back in touch with the ‘play’ that is inside of each of us.” — Jeffrey Zachman
As I wandered through the artist’s booths of the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival I was captivated by the work of [...]

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Pascal Bouterin — An Imaginative Artist

April 25, 2008

Born in Avignon, France, Pascal Bouterin is a passionate artist and a personable host. As I stepped into Pascal’s tent at the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival the artist was explaining his approach to painting to several interested patrons. He paints from his imagination not from reality. That’s not to say that his work is [...]

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Festival Goers Stand Out With Exceptional Casual Style

April 19, 2008

You don’t have to have to dress up for a festival as if you are attending worship services or dining at a four-star restaurant but there is no reason to look as if you slept in your clothes or retrieved them from the laundry hamper. For the most part though festival goers were appropriately dressed. [...]

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Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival — My First Impressions

April 19, 2008

 
My first impression of this years Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival are that it is an immense success. Eight or ten blocks of Main St, are lined with music and visual art and performers and artists. The crowds are massive too. I was elbow to elbow with my fellow festive neighbors.
This is all great [...]

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