I’m taking my wife in a few weeks to see Billy Idol in Vegas. He’s her second favorite singer after Frank Sinatra. Of course, Sinatra died a long time ago so we never got to see him.
But no way we’re going to miss Billy Idol. My wife has been a fan of his forever.
I’m more into Metal and Classical music. Classical music is not going anywhere. For Metal, we finally saw Iron Maiden last month. Yeah, I missed them in their heyday. But better late than never, right?
Who are you your favorite bands? And more importantly, have you seen them perform live?
I’ll go to my grave regretting never seeing Prince or Dio. I got the opportunities to see them both (not together of course) multiple times and didn’t go for whatever stupid reason. Now, I can’t. They’ve both passed on.
I got a chance to see Dio in a small club, a club one of my former bands actually played at. It was cheap too. I really had no excuse whatsoever. I just didn’t go.
Prince – even worse. He played a small club four nights in a row and the show we should have gone to, Carlos Santana jumped on stage and jammed with the band for a few songs. Imagine seeing two Guitar Gods on one stage.
Prince died later on that year.
So if you get a chance to see your favorites, definitely go. It’s something you must do while they’re still around.
And it’s not just death. Bands break up all the time.
I did get to see Pink Floyd in 1994 and Judas Priest twice, once with each singer. Yeah, a lot of Judas Priest fans don’t acknowledge the Ripper years but I thought Ripper was fantastic. Of course, nobody could ever replace Rob Halford. I’m just giving credit where it’s due.
Judas Priest is my all-time favorite band. I do regret not seeing them in the 80s. But I was broke back then.
Work with live models
If you’re an artist, and you’re serious about it, then you absolutely need to work with live models. Some things, you just can’t pick up without them.
In this painting in progress, you can already see some personality seep through. Jin is on the left and Allie is on the right.
It’s funny because Jin’s actually an introvert. Allie’s more an extrovert. Both fascinating girls. Totally different personalities though.
Like I said, personality will seep through into your paintings. That makes the paintings that much better. We are all human after all. And when we paint humans, they want to see humans.
My favorite paintings with people all involve models that you’re wondering what’s going on in their heads. Like Ophelia with Lizzie Siddal. I even wrote a neo-Classical tune called Lizzie’s Opium Waltz after Lizzie Siddal. Inspired by a painting.
She died on opium at the young age of 32.
Don’t worry. Jin and Allie are both doing quite well.
Love
Love is underrated. It seems like so many people nowadays are scared of it. But without love, can you really truly be an artist?
OK, even worse. I think you should get your heart broken. Let’s be real. So many great songs were written after the songwriter got his or her heart shattered. Right?
So yeah, don’t be afraid to love and lose. You only get one life. And your biggest loss may turn into your best pieces of art.
