Several months ago I was in a coffee shop catching up with one of A Life’s Work’s cinematographers, Wolfgang Held. I snapped this photo of this painting —
I put it on my computer’s desktop. I looked at it everyday. I wondered if it were for sale. Finally, I decided to inquire. I sent an email to the coffee shop. A week later they responded: they thought it was for sale, but weren’t sure. They gave me the artist’s email address. I sent him an email: a week later the artist, Dylan Speeg, directed me to his web site. The painting, one in a series of imaginary albums by unlikely collaborations, was indeed still for sale and the price was right. It now hangs in my bedroom.
The guitars are the link: Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Angus Young are famous for playing Gibson SGs.
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But the painting’s real genius is the co-existence of the sacred and the profane. It’s a big theme with me. And here it is on one panel, and it inspires one, or me at least, to consider the dual (duel?) nature of humankind in a light-hearted, almost anti-Kubrickian way. And I welcome that, because why does thinking about such ideas have to be so solemn?
Also, I enjoy listening to AC/DC (the Bon Scott years) and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and it’s fun to imagine what this pairing would have produced in “Dynamic Stereo.” Heaven’s Bells is as good a title as any and could be the stand out track. The subtitle, obscured by the man’s head, is For Those About to Fit (sic) the Battle of Jericho, We Salute You. Another decent title.
Okay, my clever friends, tell me what other tracks might be on this imaginary album.
Thank you, Dylan Speeg, for painting this. I’m so happy to have it in my home.