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| Sunday, December 02, 2007 |
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Grace Slick Exhibit
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 I was refreshed by a 68-year-old woman this weekend.
Grace Slick, former singer for Jefferson Airplane, was in Atlanta. I learned of her visit as I was enjoying my session of morning lust with Suchita Vadlamani on Good Day, Atlanta. Slick (her real last name!) was here to show some of her paintings at Phipps Plaza and Perimeter Mall. Shopping malls sounded like Everyman enough locales that I wouldn't feel out of place visiting. Plus if it's got anything at all to do with Classic Rock, I have to be there.
The location was Wentworth Gallery, which I was thinking would be a special wing built onto Perimeter Mall for cultural events. Nah, it's a little store where you go to buy pictures to go over your couch. The posting on the Internet said from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. would be "VIP." I found it funny she was apparently going to just shake hands with people who opted to pay big bucks to meet her, then disappear after an hour, after talking on Good Day about how the Monterrey `67 festival had been so open and social, with no "corporate involvement."
Once I got there it looked like people were just wandering in, so like Dion I began to wander, too. Then some security guy said, "Are you on the list?" I said no, I had been waiting to see if someone would ask me if I was on a list, because I wasn't on one. He said I'd have to wait outside. The brotherhood of man! HA!
You could see most of the stuff from outside the store, so I started wondering if I should even bother with this. Then I decided if I'd gathered my ass bone and driven down there I may as well wait until 6 p.m. when we riff raff were allowed in.
After 6 p.m. Grace Slick was still there and talking to people who were filing in behind a ribbon to meet her. The small crowd, I noted, were mostly bunched up in front of the table staring at the former singer with that "I've seen this lady on TV and I think I've heard that 'Somebody to Love' song on the oldies station once" look in their eye. Wasn't the point the paintings?, I thought. So I spent most of the time looking at those.
The paintings mostly revolve either around Jerry Garcia or the story Alice in Wonderland. I had to wonder if she really had a fascination with Alice in Wonderland or if she just painted that because one her two biggest hits was "White Rabbit." She takes scenes from that children's story and relates it to life at large. One of the descriptive cards actually resonated with me more than the painting itself:
The Tea Party exists in your best and worst dreams. It is all of your own making. You are such an inventive creator. But timing and controlling your ideas is arbitrary. So since the editing process is illusive, just enjoy the amazing journey that you are taking your self on. Alice did.
It sounded like something from a fortune cookie, except too long for a cookie, but I liked it.
Some aspiring art student in line sounded to be asking her how he could get somewhere in the world of painting (I think she replied by asking him if he'd ever been to the Caribbean?). I would tell him, "Notice there are about 50 people standing behind this ribbon, and one person in front of it who is the focus of the attention. This ratio will persist throughout life."
This was another moment when I wondered how comfortable I would be if I actually became well-known. She was sitting there under hot, bright lights having to listen to the random ramblings of total strangers, while other total strangers stood with expectant looks in their eyes waiting to hear what she would say next, evaluating every word as it left her lips. No thanks! I would shake hands for 15 minutes with people who paid at least $500 to meet me, then bolt ASAP.
So as I left the little fortune cookie-type placard was still in my mind, and I felt inspired by seeing this woman who had followed a creative path all these years, and could draw a line of gawkers to her ribbon because of it. I wasn't there to see a `60's rock star, I was there to observe someone cut from a similar cloth, and to be assured it was good cloth that could succeed. I should spend more time being a creator rather than a gawker myself.
"Rock stars. Is there anything they don't know?" -- Homer Simpson
* TRIVIA: Robert Plant was singing "Somebody to Love" when Jimmy Page first saw him at the teacher's college in Birmingham, England and decided he was to be the singer for Led Zeppelin. I thought if I talked to Grace Slick I would see if she was aware of that factoid, although maybe she doesn't consider the role she played in launching Robert Plant's career to be her greatest achievement. It's great, though! |
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Posted by Art | 12:45 PM EST |
3 comments
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I'm also glad to read you are comfortable with what you are you "...twisted old fruit". Only as God made you.
Yeah, maybe you would've liked coming down to see ol' Grace, and it wasn't too far from your neck of the woods. Guess I should've called.
A refreshing personality who lived the true rock star life. If only her brain cells and cervix could write their own book.