A week for Art and Guitars, starting with a trip to Bond Street…

ONE SOLACE IN ART
Searching for something to lift my spirits on the ninth of November, I turn first to the Halcyon Gallery in New Bond Street for the latest in Bob Dylan’s series of exhibitions there (it’s on until December 11th). I tried to feel what a rather over-emotional Jonathan Jones did when he reviewed it for The Guardian, but didn’t come up trumps. I liked some of the large canvases, and it was entertaining, but fell slightly short of compelling. There was a cool wall with Daniel Kramer’s On a Triumph in Woodstock shot, a video player and a set of stats… I was leaving as one of the visitors got into a rather intense discussion of the merits of Bob’s style with the curator. Her point – if it wasn’t Dylan who had done them, they would not have merited a large and fulsome West End showing. I stayed long enough for the blood to be mopped up and the combatants to agree to a draw.

TWO MORE SOLACE IN ART
Then to the Bowie show, right across the road at Sothebys. It’s interesting to see how well auction houses now display their sales. This had full-wall graphics and comprehensive captions, and a nicely displayed selection of objects that ran the gamut from painting to, uh, furniture (mostly Ettore Sottsass and Memphis objets, including his red Valentine typewriter for Olivetti, of which he said, it was “the sort of thing to keep lonely poets company on Sundays in the country”).

The audience for this melange was a fascinating bunch – wild-haired men from the fringes of rock, mingling with Eurotrash art dealers, busy edging their way past German art students and Japanese tourists. Oh, and there was the odd East End Camp Criminal-type, all shined shoes and classy cashmere coat, to give it the full Performance vibe. It was as catholic a collection (people and art) as you could imagine, Bomberg to Basquiat, via St Ives.

THREE IT’S NOT ART…
but you gotta love this. Vintage Reggae record sleeve photography geographically located in the here and now. And how lovely to be reminded of the fabulously named Smiley Culture. It’s one of those name that makes you break into a grin if you say it out loud, much like the name of Michael Jackson’s one-time spiritual guide and rabbi (I know, I know) Schmuley Boteach, does.

FOUR I MENTIONED GUITARS…
So check out these babies, from an auction a couple of weeks ago. These were my favourites, but the one on the left takes the biscuit: Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar, 1954, serial no. 5238, with Parsons-White Pull-String, owned by John Beland, Flying Burrito Brothers. It is signed extensively, including Roger McGuinn, Chet Atkins, Thumbs Carlile, Ricky Nelson, James Burton, Ray Price, George Jones, J.J. Cale, Charlie Pride, Glen Campbell, Dickey Betts, Merle Travis, Roy Nichols, and others, with case.

Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar, 1953, the body with hand-tooled leather wrap, with flight case stenciled WAYLON/NASHVILLE TN and bearing the tag of Waylon Jennings’s trucking company, Road Inc. Fender Musicmaster II/Mustang Prototype Electric Guitar, 1967, from the workbench of Leo Fender, Daphne Blue body, Candy Apple Red headstock, the body exhibiting prototypes for the three-bolt Micro-Tilt neck adjustment and a Jazzmaster-style tremolo system, with hardshell case. Gibson Style U Harp Guitar, 1908, serial no. 8618, factory order no. 1004, with original hand tooled leather case. Their estimates were all pretty high and all 4 went unsold.

AND, FINALLY, FIVE A SHAMELESS PLUG
Rocksbackpages’ excellent new compendium of Joni Mitchell articles and interviews is now available – go here. As Barney says in his introduction, “Included in Reckless Daughter are some of the most open and thoughtful interviews Mitchell has ever given, as well as some of the finest snapshots of her complex, often spiky personality.”

If you’re receiving the e-mailout, please click on the Date Headline of the page for the full 5 Things experience. It will bring you to the site (which allows you to see the Music Player) and all the links will open in another tab or window in your browser.