Sounds a little gross, doesn’t it?

Full disclosure. I know Ben Dunn. Ten years ago, I met Ben at a bible study. We all lead this new, para-church means of going through the bible. He was a kid and I was in my early 20s, but he had a candor that was older than his age and I had a frankness that he appreciated. As we sipped our beers and snacked on appetizers, we had a conversation, not just about the past, but about the present and the future. Ben has always had a good mind. He shocked us all when he dropped out of high school and though we should have been shocked when he was accepted into Mercer a few years later, those of us who knew him gave each other knowing looks. Of course he would get into Mercer. There, he took up philosophy, which was a path that those of us who knew him could see him walking, that this major was a long time coming. We were sure he was going to be a college professor, and we were proud of it. As we talked, even though I am furiously taking notes, the conversation led us through the harvest field of what became his life, the outcome of which brought him to painting.

When I considered doing the story and this review, I thought of two things: One, could I actually be fair to a friend while giving anyone reading accurate information and two, what the frak do I know about art?

What I know about art is whatever facts I have gleaned from my husband and, let’s face it, sometimes I’m not a good listener, but I know what I feel when I look at something.

It would be a mistake to read too much into Ben’s work. In fact, I’m not even sure that the paintings are about the subject as much as they are about the technique, the colours, the light, and capturing something truthfully, even if the depiction doesn’t seem right. Almost everything I thought about any of the paintings were my own feelings and my own interpretations of such.

The pieces are big. Well, some of them are what you think of as a normal sized painting. But some are just on a very large scale. My favorite piece is the one of his diabetes pen. It seems simple enough, but the yellow that takes up most of the canvas and the purple top edge complement each other in a very comforting way. Also, the pen, divested of it’s parts, appears benign, though it’s real function is not lost. Basically, something in my chest catches when I see it.

That may not happen for you. I fully admit that. But while we may approach art differently, I am blown away not only by the stories of how each painting came to be, but also the kind of work he has put into making each piece speak towards his creation. Once upon a time, a critic was someone who took the time to see what the chief aim of the creator was; they went to the dress rehearsals of plays, were on set for film production, listened to concert rehearsals, talked about the book with the author. Then they would take pen to paper and spell out how the creator’s final work appeared. Did the concept they describe make an appearance in what the audience eventually saw? The criticism was on the concepts and ideas in a very postmodern way. Criticism has now become a game of “do I personally like this”, which it was never meant to be.

The good news is that I personally like the work. Some of them reminds me of the many books piled in our office. One I like for the colors, in particular the green of the ashtray in the picture with the bourbon bottle and the extra long ash from the forgotten cigarette. But then again, it was not just Ben’s ability to capture the oddly opaque green, but my memories of that green in the early 80s from family drinking glasses that make this painting fascinating.

If you were to ask Ben which are his favorite parts of the paintings, he will inevitably point to a part of the picture where your eyes may or may not have focused, 3 square inches of space teeming with colors that he somehow manages to make distinctly their own color without all of the colors becoming one. The fact that it takes nearly a month before the painting is dry to the touch and 6 months or so before it is completely dry attests to the difficulty of that task.

Going to see Ben Dunn’s work at the 567 Cafe on Cherry Street will also net you the pleasure of hearing one of my favorite artist, Oh Dorian with special guest Nam Bui. Also, you get to see Ben’s mom, Susan, which is always a pleasure. I hope to see you tonight at 7pm for the opening reception of Apoquotidieosis. Tell me what you think!

Every now and then, even under deadline, I find myself at a place that has nothing to do with my writing, but everything to do with enjoying the pleasures this city has to offer. This time, that pleasure took me to the 567 on Cherry Street to hear Jared Wright (sans Rolys and Bots), Rova Zoetella (a new band) and Oh Dorian (aka Heather Kemp). What I found is that…Sometimes I forget what a great singer/songwriter Jared Wright is. I remember the first time I saw him, at the Singer Songwriter Showcase for the 11th Hour’s Reader Choice Awards. Since then, I’ve enjoyed Red Swill and also fallen totally in love with Roly-Bots. The biggest complaint I’ve heard concerning Jared’s singing is that some people don’t like his voice. I could name off a number of musicians that people don’t consider good singers who are, themselves, very good. I personally like Jared’s voice and it was in fine form Sunday night.

After Jared, the very young Rova Zoetella came on the stage. The music at the start was atmospheric and the singer’s voice was melodic. Once they lulled you into a sense of comfort, coaxing you into the parlor in spider like fashion, they throw in the heavy guitars and the crashing drums and they move from emo to rock. Being fully aware emo is more about the lyrics than the music, I can’t completely rule out emo, but I can say that they fully embraced rock. Even in the noise, there is still a strong bit of melody. When I say noise, I don’t mean it in an old people listening to current rock way, but in that deliberate way that practitioners of noise rock perform. Yes, the noise was there, but so was the melody. Those of us native to Macon’s downtown scene have traditionally gotten our noise rock from Nomenclature and most recently Truffelina with Citizen Insane also dabbling. Rova Zoetella won’t be putting them out of business anytime soon. They are a little too practiced and not as experimental (on and off the stage) as the aforementioned groups.

The interesting thing about Rova Zoetella is that they are always on the verge of something. What I mean is they spent a majority of the show flirting with heavy metal riffs and hardcore screams. They walk the line between melodic and noise without being offensive to either side. They are taking this seriously because, though they are young, there is a lot of maturity in what they are trying to do.

I ran into Heather Kemp one night and she talked to me about how she was going to give up smoking because it was bad for her instrument, her voice. Tonight, the work she has done to keep her instrument tuned is very evident. Her voice was clear as a bell and the sacrifice she is making has only strengthened it. Also, the work she has done on the new songs has helped her transform her older songs. The music was beautiful and hearing new music was exciting. Now, if only she would become more comfortable and less awkward between the songs (though there is something a little endearing about that part of her, like the loud laugh, that just serves as a reminder that you’re dealing with the same old Heather Kemp), I think we would then have a dangerous musician on our hands.

Bragg Jam Part 2 will not be shown today. In it’s place, I’m proud to present to you the events of Saturday night…

Downtown was busy this past Saturday night. Drivin’ ‘n Cryin’ was at the Cox, the American Cancer Society Benefit was in the smoked filled Hummingbird (the only place I’ve ever had to leave because there was too much smoke and not enough ventilation) and Floco Torres and Al K!ng were at Envy with friends (which just so happens to be smoke free).I started out at the ‘Bird because City Council was on first. The $10 cover is nothing compared to the research that can be done for cancer. Having lost my dad to throat cancer this year, I would gladly have paid $20 if I’d had it. But poverty being what it is, I was glad it was $10.

I was kind of apprehensive about how City Council would sound without the band, but they laid my fears to rest. By the second song, I was glad I’d gotten there early. Jubee and Perry Valentyne have different rapping styles which really complement each other. I didn’t know the name of any of the songs they did (well, other than Cooler Side of Town), but they did a song about Macon that was good except it contained one flat out lie – it gets HOT AS HELL in Macon. Don’t try to fool nobody! They did a lot of songs they haven’t done with the Paper Street Band and I’m glad that I got to hear them alone. Yeah, I know who needs to make a CD… Red Swill, Roly-Bots and Hank Vegas all played at the ‘Bird, but I didn’t get to see them – we’ll get to why later.

So, I hop over to Envy to check out what’s going on there. Floco was doing his anniversary edition concert with Robot Folk Junkies, Blc Txt, and Al K!ng. He’d been telling me about Blc Txt, so I wanted to make sure I caught him. When I got there, Robot Folk Junkies was just going on. Al K!ng was at the door taking money and drawing smiley faces on our hands (mine had a halo). The bartender didn’t know what that meant.

I think in the bigger venue of Envy, I enjoyed Robot Folk Junkies. Sometimes, at the bookstore, everything he does gets a little too busy for that small space. Well, at least when someone else said that, I agreed because generally, I’d found him too noisy. But Saturday, he was flat out entertaining. I know it was a weird introduction to the rest of the show to some people, but for me, it was perfect because you really don’t ever know what to expect from Floco or Al K!ng.

After RFJ got off the stage, I checked the time and thought, okay, if this is Blc Txt, I can see the first half of his show and then run to the ‘Bird to catch the last half of Roly-Bots, but the next artist was Life the Great. He was a surprise guest who came up with Blc Txt and he was good. His last song was about wanting a woman like Michelle Obama. Basically, all you other rappers can have that girl on the pole – nothing wrong with that, but he wants a wife. It warmed my heart and it was enough to make me stay.

Blc-Txt was next and he came onto the stage to music from Star Wars. I liked the guy immediately and suddenly, I knew that I would not be catching the rest of the show at the ‘Bird.

In a way, it was okay because I did get to see Roly-Bots at EJ’s loft. For those of you who haven’t been to the second floor of 481 Broadway, you are missing out. It was hot up there, no central heating, but it got hotter (for the better) when Roly-Bots started to play. The crowd was a little sedate to start, but we got more into it as the songs got started. Some of the people there hadn’t heard them since their first time playing, the first Bring Your Blankets benefit. Because my husband and I are big fans, we’ve traveled a bit to see them (if you can call driving to Milledgeville at night traveling). Only one or two songs were new, but all of the songs are good. I was talking to a friend about what I did this weekend and was planning to do and he lamented the lack of music scene in his town, which is only a little smaller than Macon. We are very fortunate to have Roly-Bots (and all of these guys) as part of our music scene and I’m sorry I didn’t get to see them again Saturday night.

But OH.MY.GOD. what a great show at Envy. Everything was good, but Blc Txt really kicked it off. He was so entertaining, from his between song banter to some of his lyrics (which I couldn’t quote now, but will learn because he gave away free cds). You all make me love you because you’re lots of fun, because I like what you have to say and how you say it and because you’re stand up guys in general. I have to say, however, that I would definitely pay more than $5 dollars to see all of these acts again and possibly individually. I will buy their CDs, not because I know them, but because they are good and because, if you listen to live music, it will pay off when you can get involved in the songs.

And involved we got. Floco started his set with a song off of his Anti Valentine’s Day Color is Green mixtape, Houstalantavegas, then moved into a few songs from his new CD, Psychadelphia, with Tommy Superior on guitar and Travis on drums. The band part of his show is still pretty new. They still have a lot of kinks to work out. Say what you will about the sound the first time they were together, but that first show was their best. I think it was something about the fact that Tommy Superior didn’t sound polished and it looked like he didn’t care. Notwithstanding it was a good show. After Floco finished with his set, Al K!ng came on stage. After doing a few fan favourites, Freakshow and Beer in a Wine Glass as well as Phantom of the Arcade, he and Floco came together to do tracks from their Social Collision CD. I haven’t heard Chicks with Kicks live since they played the Monkeywrench (remember that???), but it was good here. Of course, the night ended with Floco and K!ng bringing Tommy Superior and Travis back on stage to do the rock version of Hot Like The Sun (with the remix from Al K!ng). Yes, we, the audience got so into it that we basically ended up on stage. Envy’s good for that since the stage is about a quarter of an inch higher than the floor (I kid, Jason, I’m sure it’s a good 2 inches above the ground). I’m also glad I wasn’t the only one dancing in front of the stage. In fact, the crowd got so wild that I wasn’t sure if I would survive. It was, to borrow a phrase from the 80s, rad.

After that, I showed up at the ‘Bird for the last half of Hank Vegas and managed to catch the end of the song with a Blues guitarist who was sitting in on the song. I don’t know who, what, or why, but it sure sounded sweet. Judging by the number of people still left there after 2am, the American Cancer Society might have gotten a good haul.

I love it when a weekend comes together!

What a game Sunday, hmmm?!? We were all screaming at the top of our lungs for like the last 10 minutes of the game. How did your Super Bowl Sunday go? Did you get the 3-D glasses for the commercials? Did you watch Chuck in 3-D on Monday? Ah, well, that’s for another blog.

First of all, if you were at the 11th Hour’s Readers Choice Awards last Thursday, you were definitely a part of a magical night. Those of you who went to one of the after parties obviously had a good time. I hear the stories. Hell, I’m telling some of them.

This week will be a busy one for me. First up, it’s Tuesday night’s wine tasting at Wine Styles. If you’re a Wine Club member, tonight’s wine tasting is free and you get to pick up your two monthly wines.

Tuesday is also cult movie night at Envy and this week, we’ll be watching The Neverending Story. Keeping with the themed drink tradition started last week, I’ll be paying $3 for Nothing and I’ll like it.

Since I didn’t get to do it before, I’ll be checking out Envy’s Wednesday night dance party. I hear they have guest djs, guest bartenders, and a lot of fun.

Moving to Friday, First Friday, I’ll be at the Contemporary Arts Exchange for most of the night, although I will fill my belly at Market City and maybe catch a little BSG there while I’m at it. I can taste the thin crust pizza, chocolate cake and sci-fi right now.

Modern Skirts is going to be at the Cox Capitol Theatre and I heard a rumour that Oh Dorian was going to be opening for them. I certainly hope it’s true. I like Modern Skirts okay, but I really, really enjoy Oh Dorian.

I’m not sure what the weekend holds, but last weekend was a nice, soothing Saturday with my in-laws and, with The Honey getting Saturdays off, we finally managed to make it to High Street Church on Sunday. We may also head up to Atlanta, which will make one of my best friends happy.

What does this week hold for the rest of you? If you know where I should be hanging this week, leave it in the comments!

Okay, it’s not midnight. It’s more like 2am, but I couldn’t go to bed without talking about the past few nights.

First of all, I love that the 4th was a Friday. That meant 3pm Thursday was the beginning of a long weekend. A long weekend that included 1st Friday. A long weekend that included our normal Saturday night dinner, a visit from my sister, and just general hanging about.

First off, I understand why people who hang out for First Friday wouldn’t go to the Contemporary Arts Exchange. It’s hot as hell in there. But if you had gone, you would have met a guy who didn’t understand how anyone born after 1970 would be into Dylan. Bob Dylan. This guy also told me that the story I was writing was wrong – even though it is a complete work of fiction written by me. But other than that, there was just the usual brand of good conversation, beer, and hanging out until much to late into the night.

Saturday Night Dinner – an event that now requires capital letters – similar to BAB Night at the Hummingbird, but involving cooking dishes, theme nights, and plenty of wine, stories, and people being nerds. Our nerdiness this past Saturday was sponsored by Risk 2210. Usually, it’s comic books. But we are just a group of people who enjoy food and love to talk and find getting together on a Saturday night to be a pleasing pursuit.

And I could not end this post without talking about the most fantastic potato soup I’ve ever put in my mouth this far into my life. It was the Potato Leek Soup at the Shamrock. I was in a Guinness mood and a comment by last week’s kickballers made me think of the Shamrock. I couldn’t go then, but I could this weekend, so my sisterly visitor and I headed there for food and drinks. We didn’t know what to get, but opted to split the nachos and get a cup of soup as well.

The Potato Leek soup was in a cup (as it should be) with nice healthy chunks of potato, a creamy blended potato and leek base (in the traditional potato soup vein, I suppose) topped with crunchy, freshly made bacon, chives, and shredded cheese. Not to be too poetic, but the flavours fairly danced on my tongue. I also heard that the french onion soup should not be missed.

I always enjoy it when food is the centerpiece of my weekend!