Painting: Oil on Canvas.

Painted: 1992-1993

Size: 18” x 14”

Owner: In storage

Music Selection: “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

I grew up on rock and roll. My hair was long, my pants were bell bottoms, I wore sandals, and my glasses were round.  My art is more rock and roll than Beethoven. If Rembrandt’s work is classical music mine is pop-rock or bubble-gum. I remember my first concert, and I remember it with fondness. My world, when I was young, was filled with politics, drugs, music, parties, and death. The high point of everyone’s existence was attending a concert. This is one of those moments of childhood that we cherish. My generation has only one thing that bonds us together and that is the first rock and roll concert we went to. We all have some story, either good, bad, or totally ludicrous, that makes us smile. This painting is a tribute to that moment long ago.

In the background the ambiguous city scape represents the location where most of these concerts occurred. No one cares where the concert happened. They remember the friends the high or the loss of consciousness. Girls remember exactly what they wore while guys are lucky to remember if they were clothed at all, and unfortunately at times, well…. they might have lost their clothing. Leaving the concert could be a chore, especially if you forgot where your car was parked or even if you had a car at all or if you could not feel your feet. Walking after a concert is highly overrated. As a viewer, do you have one of these moments?

Unfortunately, my generation, we would later learn, was filled with foolishness. Our grandiose desire to burn it down and rebuild was stupid. Once we gained control of the government, we became more corrupt than those we deposed. Under our leadership we’ve engaged in more wars and sold out to counties that hate us for personal wealth. Our focus moved away from love and peace to wealth and power. Our biggest mistake was passing our foolish ideas down to our children. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that.