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Posts by David

You and Your Perfect Life

You and Your Perfect Life
(playing time  5:18)
music by David Palmer / words by David Palmer (except *from Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby)

This song was inspired by the Nick Hornby novel Juliet, Naked. The story involves, among other things, an American singer/songwriter named Tucker Crowe, who mysteriously disappeared from the music scene in the late 80s after the release of his legendary breakup album Juliet. Over the years a cult following has developed, and twenty years after his disappearance, a CD labeled Juliet, Naked arrives in England at the home of Duncan, an avid fan and blogger, with a note claiming that this is the guitar and vocal demo Crowe recorded when he first wrote the songs. I won’t tell you what else happens in the book (there are reviews on Amazon), but I found it to be quite a page-turner.

Tucker Crowe is compared by his fans and the media to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen. The album Juliet is described in great detail in the book, along with a track list, but there are no songs. So I thought it would be fun to go ahead and write some of them. I started with the final track on the album, You and Your Perfect Life, which chronicles the end of his affair with a married San Francisco model and socialite. There are three lines of lyrics for this song in the novel, so I used those as a starting point and wrote the rest of the song around them. My guitar. vocal and harmonica recording is in the spirit of Crowe’s demo. All of the lyrics refer to situations and events in the book.

Torch (new song)

not a bus

Oh That Explains Everything

detail of wallpaper panel, 8 x 3 feet

detail of wallpaper panel, 8 x 3 feet

I collaborated with my friends Jonathan Nodrick and Anita Modha of ROLLOUT Custom Wallpaper in Vancouver on a project that’s currently on view in Toronto. The exhibition, entitled Radiant Dark 2010, is on view January 21-24, and runs concurrently with the Toronto International Design Festival.

The theme for this year’s exhibition is Assets & Values. Our entry, entitled “Oh, That Explains Everything”, consists of 3 digitally printed wallpaper panels, each 8′ high x 3′ wide, that emulate chalkboard diagrams. The drawings, charts and formulas explain everything you would ever want to know about the economy.

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Oxygen

48" x 60", 2010, acrylic & ink on wood panel

Oxygen, 48" x 60", 2010, acrylic & ink on wood panel

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4 new paintings

2009, acrylic on wood, 48 3/4 x 36 3/4 inches

Kimono, 2009, acrylic on wood, 48 3/4 x 36 3/4 inches

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Channel Surfer Girl

channelsurfergirl.jpg
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Urban Light / Chris Burden @BCAM @LACMA

Burden_BCAM_LACMA_3

The first phase of the dramatic expansion at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) has just opened, featuring a new building for contemporary art, BCAM (Broad Contemporary Art Museum), and large-scale sculptural installations by a number of artists including Charles Ray, Richard Serra, and others. Here are some photos I shot this evening of Urban Light, a sculpture by Chris Burden that incorporates more than two hundred restored cast-iron lampposts from Los Angeles County.

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