Blues and Brews

Well, Blues and Brews is around the corner, so I thought that I would do a couple of paintings of two of my favorite blues musicians. One is of Howling Wolf, who I named my dog Chester after. I found Chester abandoned at a park in Austin, Texas. He was scared to death when I brought him home. He would barely lift his head up to look at me. I decided to put this new Howling Wolf CD on for whatever reason, and he sat up, stared at the speaker with his head tilted to the side, and that is when his personality came to life. Howling Wolf's real name was Chester Burnett.

The painting of Stevie was really difficult and emotionally exhausting for me. I used to work for Texas Monthly Magazine in their New York City office. Once a month I had to call in advertising placements to this wonderful woman, and we became phone buddies. When I went down to Austin, Texas for business, we finally met in person and hung out. Little did I know or really care was that her husband was the drummer for Double Trouble in Stevie Ray Vaughan's band. She told me that the next time they came up to New York for a concert, I should come back stage...well, okay.

A year later it was my 21st birthday, and my dad took me out to one of my favorite Russian restaurants for dinner. He started drinking...he has/had a drinking problem, and he proceeded to get sloshed. He began, for some unknown reason, telling me about his marriage to my mother....how he never loved her, but married her anyway because the invitations were out....then he was going to divorce her, but found out she was pregnant with me...so he was stuck. I was sat there dumbstruck....all of my fears about my childhood were spilled out of my drunken father's mouth. I ran out of there and headed downtown. A friend of mine owned a bar not far from Madison Square Garden, and we decided to create a new drink...well, like my father, I got totally sloshed...beyond sloshed. I hated drinking....never liked alcohol at all....Actually, as I look back at it, I think I was trying to drink myself to death that night.

I guess the owner of the bar sent me home in a limo, and the limo driver carried me up the stairs and left me in my apartment on the floor next to my door. When I woke up, the pain I felt was excruciating and blinding. I couldn't stop throwing up. I was drinking bottle after bottle of pepto, and nothing worked. My friend called asking me where I was and reminding me that he had a surprise for me...to hop on the bus and get into the city. Ride the bus!!!!!!!!!

I somehow made it into the city without throwing up all over everybody on the bus. I somehow climbed into my friend's car and made it back to Jersey to the Meadowlands without dying. I remember praying to die...I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing back in Jersey, especially at the Meadowlands. I couldn't even talk to ask I was so sick. Slowly, we made our way to our seats...fourth row center. I sat there in misery praying for the end of whatever concert I was about to go through. I just wanted to hide in my apartment forever...

Then, it got dark, and then....one note of a bass dropped me to the floor so hard and so fast. I knew exactly who that bass note belonged to....Tommy Shannon. He was the bassist in Double Trouble. My friend brought me to see Stevie Ray Vaughan. Everyone was screaming above me, and I was down on the floor sobbing....Tommy's bass kept vibrating through me until it finally shook all of the sickness out of me. I told him this story a few times...Then I listened to Stevie play...to see him in concert, literally, was a spiritual experience. The way he played was not of this Earth....and then he started talking about his heroine addiction, and how horrible he had felt about himself...and I realized someone knew...I wasn't alone, and I didn't have to drink myself to death or hide in my apartment...he played it all out...and created beauty from it....so now I try to paint it all out I guess.

After he died, I travelled around with Chris from show to show in Austin. His wife asked me to, because she was bedridden for the rest of her pregnancy. I watched a lot of people go up to Chris and Tommy talking, sharing about how Stevie had changed their lives...trying to figure out what to say to make everything better...Stevie used to go to AA meetings and share his story with everyone he could, trying to show them that if he could sober up, they could do it too. People from the Dallas area to this day tell me about when he showed up at their meeting, and how it changed their lives...he was and is an inspiration. For me, he got me started on healing instead of hurting...I am forever grateful to him.

I have no idea if I captured him in this painting or not, but I know that this was one of the most emotionally charged paintings I have ever done.