RockScratch

Amy Winehouse Joins the Forever 27 Group

Today, Amy Winehouse was found dead at her London flat...only 27 years old, dead.  Sound familiar?

Maybe you recall Jim Morrison found dead at 27 in his LA bathtub.  Jimi Hendrix backstage, age 27 in a pool of vomit.  Janis, 27, dead.  Cobain, 27, convinced he couldn't take this world anymore, blew his brains out.  So much talent, so much youth, so much waste.

Conspiracy by the music industry?  I think not.  Rock & roll gods' mysterious scheme...possibly.  What is it about being 27 that causes the rock and roll Gods to claim this talent?  We can only hope to find out when it is our time.

Amy Winehouse's talent will be truly missed.  I wish we could have gotten a couple more albums out of her before she went.  I do not mean that to sound selfish or insincere.  I just really appreciated her strong pipes and musical intuition and hoped for her to commit to treatment/rehab which she had for so long denied.  

Hope you are at peace now Amy, love you, babe.

Fascinated With Phasinated.com (I know...pretty corny headline)

I was ust was turned onto this site by a friend.  Thought I'd try to get it out there even more!

www.Phasinated.com

CHECK IT OUT!

Kings of Leon PIGEONGATE Tees!

Just finished printing these Pigeon Gate t-shirts for the return of the Kings of Leon to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis, MO on September 25th.

The shirts have been added to my store and I AM  NOW ACCEPTING ORDERS!

I printed less than 50 of these things and they will go very fast...order now and you will be one of the first to sport it!

ENTER COUPON CODE: "pigeonpoop" AT CHECKOUT TO GET 25% OFF!

Art St. Louis "Seeing Red" Exhibit Now Open

RockScratch Work Who's Your Audience? is the Third Work From the Right

The 54 original artworks featured in this multi-media juried exhibit focus on the color red and/or address the theme of "Seeing Red," i.e. annoyance, frustration, and related issues of heated emotions, controlling anger, etc.

Join me at the Opening Reception this Saturday (May 16th) from 6-8pm!

555 Washington Avenue, #150 • St. Louis, MO 63101-1239 • 314.241.4810

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ABOUT ART ST. LOUIS

"Who's Your Audience?" Selected for Art St. Louis's "Seeing Red" Exhibit

My gouache & scratchboard work "Whose Your Audience?" (shown at left) was selected to be exhibited at Art St. Louis's "Seeing Red" show.

Works featured in this multi-media* juried exhibit focus on the color red and/or address the theme of "Seeing Red," i.e. annoyance, frustration, and related issues of heated emotions, controlling anger, etc. After the ASL Gallery presentation, portions of this exhibit will travel to Third Degree Glass Factory and St. Louis County Library, Sachs Branch (July-August 2010).

Juried by St. Louis artists Philip Hitchcock, owner, phd Gallery, St. Louis, and Janice Nesser, Assistant Professor, St. Louis Community College Florissant Valley, and President, National Women's Caucus for Art.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD EXHIBIT INVITATION

Art St. Louis • 555 Washington Avenue, #150 • St. Louis, MO 63101-1239 • 314.241.4810

www.ArtStLouis.org

Phish to Play NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"!

I'm not a fan of the show since Fallon took it over...it has funny parts, but overall its not that good.  Whatever the case...I AM a fan of Phish, especially when they are paying tribute to the Stones!  I will definitely be watching during this "Exile" tribute week....CAN"T FRICKIN' WAIT!!!!

Surfer Blood!

Do yourselves a favor & check out this band called 'Surfer Blood' from Florida. Saw 'em at a real dump in Philadelphia recently, & they play a short, yet killer set to a sold out crowd. In particular, the songs "Anchorage" & "Floating Vibes"...You're welcome ;>

Explanation of my Recent Absence

I wanted to take a second to explain why RockScratch.com has been virtually stagnant in recent weeks.  The reason is that I have been putting the majority of my efforts into building (rather starting) a career in illustration.  I am illustrating a children's picture book that I wrote called, Fishing for THAT ONE BIG ONE (My own way)...which you can read all about on www.wmarchant.com.  When I am finished with it, I will then devote most of my efforts towards getting it published.

So, for now, I can't really go to concerts and I don't really have much spare time to work on any new RockScratches.  I am by no means calling it "quit"s with all this, but it is essentially being put on the back burner for the time being.

I appreciate the emails of interest, praise, and encouragement...but, for now you can just follow me on www.wmarchant.com (if you are so inclined to do so).

Rock & roll my friends,

William Marchant

Black Crowes Pageant Concert and LOGOS at Halo Bar

Last night's Black Crowes' show was awesome as always.  Even though I've probably been to the Pageant 50 or so times...this was my first time having tickets for the upstairs balcony.  It was cool to be able to see a show differently than the usual "waiting 30 minutes for a drink and standing elbow-to-elbow in between two smokers".  Upstairs, it was much easier to get a drink and there was room to sit (during the slow songs)...plus the show was no-smoking, which was great for the lungs. 

The show was a good mix of Before the Frost...Until the Freeze and old stuff like Amorica and Southern Harmony & Musical Companion.  This seemed to be the shortest concert I've seen them play...but that might also be because I've been in Phish mode lately, expecting long sets.  It wasn't the best Crowes show I've been to...but its hard to go too wrong with the Robinson bros.

A real treat after the show was a indie-imaged three man band called Logos that played in the Pageant-connected Halo Bar.  They played some cover songs like you would expect at a bar, but their strength was their original stuff from their debut album Beautiful Disguise...very 70s rock influenced, Wolfmothery goodness.  I would have loved to see these guys on stage before the Black Crowes in place of the unexhilarating Truth & Savage Co.  I look forward to watching Logos on their rise out of the Midwest.

Click Here for the Black Crowes setlist from 11.11.2009 at the Pageant, St. Louis

Click Here for LOGOS

Click Here for Truth & Savage Company

Black Crowes Poster - The Pageant, St. Louis, MO

I just got done printing a batch of the poster I did for the upcoming Black Crowes concert this Wednesday night (November 11th) at the Pageant in St. Louis.

Every time I listen to a Black Crowes album, I can't help but dancing around, trying to imitate Chris Robinson (only I can never look as cool as he does).  If you have ever seen him on stage, he moves so freely, like a child dancing around in his/her own world.

That is the inspiration for this poster.  I wanted to show a child stomping around and dancing, not even really knowing why...just feeling the music.  The idea was furthered when my girlfriend told me how her dad used to dance around like Robinson with her and her sister when they were little.  Although I ended up selecting the image of a mother dancing with her child instead of a father, the idea is still there.

The perspective was chosen to include the two crows flying overhead in the sky.  I had to do some careful alterations to the figures' postures and expressions because it looked like a scene from Hitchcock's Birds at first.  But, with simple changes, I think I was able to get across the idea that they are happy and dancing instead of being terrified of the birds flying overhead.

Look for me around the venue on Wednesday night or BUY THIS POSTER NOW from this site and get a free gift!