New Oil Painting

untitled
24 X 24 inches
oil on canvas

New oil painting Book of Dreams

Book of Dreams
oil on canvas
40X40 inches

New oil painting - Internal Landscape Series

The Other Side
oil on canvas
40X40 inches

New small painting - Internal Landscape Series

Sunday's Dream
oil on canvas
12X12 inches

Reception next week

Sirus B CD release party May 3

Hope to see you there! Tickets are only $8, and there's a teaser burlesque show... here's a link to buy either tickets or a cd. Tix are cheap at $8 in advance, $10 at the door. I hear drinks are cheap.

You won't find more absurdist bang for your buck anywhere, not to mention more gypsy folk punk funk!

Obama at Independence Hall

Madonna of the Totems

40 X 10 inches
oil on canvas
©2008

Another Internal Landscape

Half a Day
40 X 40 inches
oil on canvas
©2008

details below:

One more landscape-y abstract

The Single Pool
12 X 12 inches
oil on canvas
©2008

detail images below.

New Internal Landscape Painting

The Other Half
12X12 inches
oil on canvas
©2008
detail below:

Bill Moyers speaks the truth yet again

The job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place. We journalists are of course obliged to cover the news, but our deeper mission is to uncover the news that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden.

Read the rest of Moyers' acceptance speech for the Ridenhour Courage Prize here.

The quintessential lesson of my life came from another Texan named John Henry Faulk. He was a graduate, as am I, of the University of Texas. He served in the Merchant Marines, the American Red Cross and the U.S. Army during World War II, and came home to become a celebrated raconteur and popular national radio host whose career was shattered when right-wingers inspired by Joseph McCarthy smeared him as a communist. He lost his sponsors and was fired. But he fought back with a lawsuit that lasted five years and cost him every penny he owned. Financial help from Edward R. Murrow and a few others helped him to hang on. In the end, John Henry Faulk won, and his courage helped to end the Hollywood era of blacklisting. You should read his book, Fear on Trial, and see the movie starring George C. Scott. John Henry's courage was contagious.

Before his death I produced a documentary about him, and during our interview he told me the story of how he and his friend, Boots Cooper, were playing in the chicken house there in central Texas when they were about 12 years old. They spotted a chicken snake in the top tier of the nest, so close it looked like a boa constrictor. As John Henry told it, "All of our frontier courage drained out of our heels. Actually, it trickled down our overall legs. And Boots and I made a new door through the hen house." His momma came out to see what all of the fuss was about, and she said to Boots and John Henry, "Don't you know chicken snakes are harmless? They can't hurt you." Rubbing his forehead and his behind at the same time, Boots said, "Yes, Mrs. Faulk, I know, but they can scare you so bad you'll hurt yourself."