I'm trying to learn Photoshop, and for me, it's not easy. I've just discovered an online TV show called Photoshop TV.
I can't say I really understand what these guys are saying, but I'm watching. Hopefully I'll get with the rythum sometime soon. I've already been using a free Photoshop program you may not know about called Photoshop Exress, and online only Photoshop program that works great.

 

The following is a list of regularly scheduled competitions for visual artists juried for inclusion and/or awards. The list is compiled for information only to artists looking for exhibition opportunities for their work. Inclusion on the list does not imply grant support from the Arts Council or any formal review of the policies and practices of the sponsoring organizations. Artists are encouraged to read competition guidelines carefully and contact organizers directly with questions. Organizations with competitions that would be appropriate for this list are encouraged to submit their information to jeff.pettus@ncmail.net.

Airlie Gardens of Wilmington
300 Airlie Road
Wilmington NC 28403
(910) 798-7700
airlieinfo@nhcgov.com
www.airliegardens.org
Airlie Arts Festival: Annual four-day juried arts event, providing a venue for artists in all media and featuring hands-on children's activities, music, and events. Booths provided for selected artists. All artwork must be available for purchase. Juried for entry by outside professionals in the field with purchase awards totaling $10,000. Call or visit the web site for entry information and application.

Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County
PO Box 318
Fayetteville, NC 28302-0318
(910) 323-1776
admin@TheArtsCouncil.com
www.TheArtsCouncil.com
Juried Artists Exhibition: Open to professional and amateur artists in Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, and Scotland counties. All media eligible.
Photography Competition and Exhibition: open to professional and amateur photographers in an 11-county region. Black and white, color, and digital/mixed media works accepted. See web site for details.

Arts Council of Henderson County
538-A North Main Street
Hendersonville, NC 28792
(828) 693-8504
www.theartscenterofhc.com
acofhc@bellsouth.net
TEAPOTS! Juried Art Competition: Open to original works of art in any medium. Artists may enter maximum of two pieces. Categories are: 2-D, 3-D, and photography. Deadline for slides is March 8, 2006. Entry fee for non-ACHC Partners. Cash prizes are awarded. 30 percent commission on all sales. Consult the web site for more information.

Arts Council of Moore County
Campbell House Galleries
PO Box 405
Southern Pines, NC 28387
(910) 692-4356
acmc@pinehurst.net
www.artscouncil-moore.org
Fine Arts Festival: An annual competition held in August. Open to all artists, ages 16 or older, working in the following categories: acrylic, digital art, drawing/pastel, mixed media, oil, painting, photography, printmaking, and three-dimensional art. Limit of two works per artist. Entry fees for submissions. Size and weight restrictions apply. Deadline is mid-July. More than $2,500 in cash awards. 35 percent commission on works sold. Consult web site or contact ACMC for a complete prospectus.

Arts Council of Wayne County
2406 East Ash Street
Goldsboro, NC 27534
(919) 736-3300
artscouncil@artsinwayne.org
www.artsinwayne.org
Annual National Juried Fine Arts Exhibition: A competition open to all artists at least 18 years of age. All media: paintings, graphics, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, and photography. Prospectus available upon request. Must submit original work; no slides. Entry fees payable with submissions. 30 percent commission on works sold. Entries accepted in May. Consult web site for more information.

Artspace
201 East Davie Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 821-2787
info@artspacenc.org
www.artspacenc.org
Fine Contemporary Craft: A biennial national juried exhibition recognizing individual craftspeople and artists involved in the design and creation of contemporary functional and sculptural craft. Entry fee, slide deadline mid-Oct, cash awards.
Regional Emerging Artist Residency Program: Provides emerging artists with time and space to explore their work in a supportive, thriving, artistic environment. One artist in his or her early professional career is chosen from a pool of applicants for a six-month residency. Application deadlines October 1 and April 1. The residency includes a private, rent-free studio with 24-hour access.
Summer Artist in Residence Program: Provides an established artist with a studio space for four weeks while participating as an instructor in the Artspace Summer Arts Program (youth and adult classes). Artist concludes residency with a 6-8 week long exhibition in our main gallery space. Paid residency.
Artspace Artists Association: Spring and fall jury process to select members for the professional Artspace Artists Association. Application fee. Benefits include opportunities for exhibition, gift shop representation, committee participation, studio rental if available. Annual membership dues.

Arts United for Davidson County
220 South Main Street
Lexington, NC 27292
(336) 249-7862
www.co.davidson.nc.us/arts
Spotlight Juried Exhibition: Annual competition open to all artists at least 18 years of age. All media are eligible. Work must be hand-delivered. Entry fee. Size and weight restrictions apply. Sculptures that require special installation may be entered, but AUDC may reserve the right to reject entries that cannot be accommodated. Works due in early June. $400 in cash awards. 30 percent commission on any works sold.

Associated Artists of Southport
130 E. West Street
Southport, NC 28461
(910) 457-5450
nationalshow@franklinsquaregallery.org
www.franklinsquaregallery.org
Annual July National Exhibition: Open to artists 18 years old or older. Eligible media include sculpture, pottery, painting, drawing, and mixed media. Entries are selected from slides, which are due in March. Cash prizes, material awards, and purchase awards. Send a SASE to organization for prospectus or download from the web site.

Associated Artists of Winston-Salem
226 N. Marshall Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(336) 722-0340
staff@associatedartists.org
www.associatedartists.org
Dimensions: A national juried art exhibition open to professional and amateur artists. Eligible media include painting, drawing, hand-pulled prints, sculpture, and photography developed and printed by the artist. Slide entries only. Send a SASE to organization to be put on the mailing list.
Fall Juried Show: a national juried fine art exhibition open to artists 15 years and older. Slide entry. Send a SASE to be put on mailing list, or see web site.

LINK TO SOURCE PAGE

Here's an interesting site I happened upon which feathers arts events and local artists in the eastern parts of North Carolina:

Regional Juried Exhibition--Cultural Crossroads

Cultural Crossroads
A Regional Juried Exhibition featuring Fine Art from the Southeast

October 16 – November 26, 2008

Entry Deadline: August 29
Completed entries must be received in the office by 5:00 PM, EST
This is NOT a postmark date. Late Entries Can Not Be Accepted

CALL FOR ENTRIES: “Cultural Crossroads” Artists are encouraged to consider many aspects of the theme - from their own traditional historical cultural perspectives to the ways in which travel or other cross-cultural experiences have influenced their expression and creativity. “A crossroads is a point of transition and exchange, a place of concentrated power and creative potential.


LINK TO PAGE

I'm not a guy who cares all that much for PBS and I consider most of the stuff on PBS boring but there are some exceptions.One of them is the History Detetctives a show that has "experts" taking what may or may not be genuine historical items owned by ordinary people to authenticate (or not). There are historically important items everywhere when you think about it and that old tattered coat you have could be worth a fortune if the person who owns it now becomes famous.


 



I've been watching this show since it's inception and while it's not quite as good as it was the first year, it's a great summer replacement series for history buffs. The concept is thus: people send in information on what they consider valuable "historical" items and the History Detectives Crew pick out the ones they consider worth researching and try to prove or disprove the authenticity of that item. The show usually features three "items" that are first presented to a member the History Detectives Team, and then the show follows the leg work concerning the research involved in the process of authentication of that item. The list of stuff is getting long since the show has been on for a while now but some of my faves have been an art forger who forged George Washington portraits and Napoleon sword found in Louisiana that turned out to be fake. If you happen to read this before June 14, the next show will have fabric possibly from a hot air balloon used in a Japan attack against the United States.



This is a show worth watching.




 

When I saw the headline "No Contract Needed To Buy The New iPhone" I was thrilled, until I read the entire article. The stupid two  year contract with AT&T and the rip off per month price is just stupid. I love Macs, but the iPhone has long way to go to get me to buy one. Here is the article and the many reasons to not by a new iPhone.

Ever hear of "The Futurist Manifesto"? It was first published in 1909, and it wasn't what people today would view as "politically correct". It wasn't even a fuzzy wuzzy tome on the arts. Here is is for those who are interested. There is a lot of information on this on the web, but here is the original along with a link to a web site devoted to the The Futurist Manifesto.

The Futurist Manifesto

F. T. Marinetti, 1909


We have been up all night, my friends and I, beneath mosque lamps whose brass cupolas are bright as our souls, because like them they were illuminated by the internal glow of electric hearts. And trampling underfoot our native sloth on opulent Persian carpets, we have been discussing right up to the limits of logic and scrawling the paper with demented writing.

Our hearts were filled with an immense pride at feeling ourselves standing quite alone, like lighthouses or like the sentinels in an outpost, facing the army of enemy stars encamped in their celestial bivouacs. Alone with the engineers in the infernal stokeholes of great ships, alone with the black spirits which rage in the belly of rogue locomotives, alone with the drunkards beating their wings against the walls.

Then we were suddenly distracted by the rumbling of huge double decker trams that went leaping by, streaked with light like the villages celebrating their festivals, which the Po in flood suddenly knocks down and uproots, and, in the rapids and eddies of a deluge, drags down to the sea.

Then the silence increased. As we listened to the last faint prayer of the old canal and the crumbling of the bones of the moribund palaces with their green growth of beard, suddenly the hungry automobiles roared beneath our windows.

`Come, my friends!' I said. `Let us go! At last Mythology and the mystic cult of the ideal have been left behind. We are going to be present at the birth of the centaur and we shall soon see the first angels fly! We must break down the gates of life to test the bolts and the padlocks! Let us go!

LINK TO THE FUTURIST MANIFESTO WEB SITE

I'd never heard  of Robert Ferrrigno when I stumbled onto the first book I've ever read by him, Prayers of the Assassin, about a Muslim takeover of the US in the mid 21st Century. When I picked up the first book I expected it to be mainly about politics and religion but found it was much more an adventure book with Islam as the background, and found that book to be a great read. It wasn't until about halfway through the first book that discovered there was a sequel, Sins of the Assassin.

Both books were good, but the second was even better than the first, a rarity in the world of sequels. One of the great things about both books is that they are combinations of hard action, a slight bit of science fiction and religious dogma. The premise is that there is a "behind the scenes" political "master" trying to create an Islamic Caliphate in the US but keeps getting thwarted by what is essentially an American Islamic secret agent, or in this case a "Shadow Warrior", Rakim Eppes, also the main character in both books. Mix in a drug crazed End Times Army wanting to destroy the entire world (for the sake of God, or course), an ex General looking for the now buried doomsday weapon of the defunct American Empire, and you've got a mixture for a great book. And, oh yeah, an assassin or two here and there. To me, this book is bit like Dune with nukes, one spicy read. This book is rare in that it's actually exciting to read, especially  at the end. The cool thing to me is that it also reads like a movie. I doubt this will ever get made into a good movie, but if it does, it won't need much adapting, since it's almost screenplay like in it's descriptions of events.

There is supposedly one last book in the series, and I'm sure I'll read that when it arrives. There are lot of unanswered questions left in this book I want sewn up, and if the last book is as good as the first two, it will be a winner.

I've always considered Frank Zappa the ultimate rock and roll genius. To me there were a lot of good rock talents out there, but only one true rock and roll genius, Zappa. His son Dweezil is a great guitarist but to me, he's just not as good as his Dad (but still really great), and is now doing a legacy tour of the music of his famous father, and below is an interview with Dweezil.  

If you like Zappa, you must read his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book.




Dweezil Zappa has a pretty cool résumé, including gigs as an MTV VJ, actor ("The Running Man," "Pretty In Pink") and TV show host (the Food Network's "Dweezil and Lisa").

Yet, all that really matters to Zappa is his guitar.

So it's not surprising that Zappa is obsessed with the music created by his icon father, Frank Zappa. For the last two years, Zappa -- who calls his late dad Frank -- has been focusing on his pop's tunes. His aptly named tribute band, Zappa Plays Zappa, will reverently showcase Zappa material tonight at the Lincoln Theatre.

Zappa, 38, called to chat about the impact of his late father, his unusual upbringing and remarks made by Project Object, a Zappa cover band.

Q: What inspired Zappa Plays Zappa?

A: I don't want Frank's music to be forgotten. There are a lot of younger people who were never exposed to his music. And then there are the casual listeners, who just know "Dancin' Fool," "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Valley Girl." Frank was much more than those songs. Those songs don't give you one sixty-fourth of what he was all about. There was no one like Frank, and there is no one remotely like him today. That's why I'm out there playing his music.

Q: How do you even put together a set list? The Zappa canon is so diverse and immense.

A: He composed and recorded so much music that what I pick for shows is endless. I look at that as a good thing. The first thing I did when I started this project was listen to everything Frank did in chronological order. There are so many special details in his music.

Q: Project Object takes exception to your work. This is what PO's Andre Cholmondeley said recently: "Our band is the closest to how [Frank] Zappa did it. We leave room for experimentation. Zappa Plays Zappa plays it by the book. There's a gross misunderstanding there. Zappa kept it tight, but he kept a window open." Your thoughts?

A: There's no reason I should take anything they say as valid. To try to turn this into a competition is stupid. They're trying to make a living off of material that's not their own and they're doing a poor job.

Q: So you treat your father's music like an orchestra treats Mozart?

A: That makes total sense to me. Do some of these bands think they're going to make my father's music better? That's not going to happen. Do orchestras take Mozart and rip it apart? Of course not! Frank did things a certain way, and that's the way we present the material. This project is so important to me.

Q: You add an extra element that Project Object or any other band tipping the cap to your father can't bring, which is Frank Zappa. He performs posthumously courtesy of audio/video synchronization, which is trippy.

A: Yes. He's on multiple tracks playing and singing, and it really works well. It's something you have to see to believe.

Q: When did you realize that your dad was different from everyone else?

A: I think it was pretty obvious early on. I would go to friends' houses, and they were run rather differently. Most kids wanted to come to our house because it had a very different kind of structure. The kids had freedom. At our house there wasn't a real issue how you expressed yourself. We didn't go out of our way to use profanity. There was an appropriate time and place for that language. It was used to best make a point.

Q: You take the taboo out of it.

A: Exactly. We did that about everything. Look at the way my family grew up as opposed to other Hollywood families. I've never smoked a cigarette, never taken a drug, never been drunk. Compare that to the rest of the Hollywood kids, many of whom have been in jail or rehab. They say, "Life has been so miserable." Give me a break. But people figured that my siblings and I with the screwed-up, crazy names would be the troubled kids. We ended up being smart and creative due to how we were raised. We learned right from wrong. What I left our house with was the belief that no matter what you do, do it the best you can and be of some value to society.

Q: When did you realize that your dad was a music icon?

A: It never was something that I thought about it. I knew that's what he did. It became important for me to realize it. That's been brewing for a long time. I decided to do this tour four years ago. I had to take two years to make a lot of changes in my own guitar playing style.

Q: What was your greatest adjustment?

A: I physically played guitar for over 20 years. I had to adjust how I attacked the strings. It was the equivalent of learning how to walk in a different manner. Frank approached things differently. He wasn't a traditional guitarist. He started as a drummer and then studied to be a composer. He didn't worry about texture or instrumentation. He didn't worry about things that went together. He was about deviating from the norm. That's how he approached everything, and that's why his music is so unique.

Full story here

My art has come down from the walls after a month  at Flynne's Coffee Bar in downtown Southern Pines. It was nice to have it there in that town, and below are photos of it when it was there.

Here's the link to Flynne's  myspace page.  Stop in and tell her you saw her listed on my site and say "Hell" from me!!

Southern Pines is a lovely town that must be seen to be appreciated.


Flynne's Coffee Bar
115 NC Broad Street
Southern Pines N.C.
910-693-1999


Here is the place from the outside:



Here is my art hanging inside:




















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