On and On is a Tom-ah-to, Camels in Paris, Mess the Judge and other New Wave classics
- kleenwhale
- Oct 28, 2022
- 4 min read
I've already mentioned that I listened carefully to lyrics, and was very literal, but I was also a kid and didn't really put together if things made sense or not. On and On is a Tom-ah-to (British pronunciation of tomato) is a lyric I had wrong, but also stubbornly insisted it was correct. I can't say exactly how old I was - The Flock of Seagulls album came out in 1982, which would make me 6, but it could have been after that. Anyway, I was not prepared to accept that "Modern Love is Automatic" made a lot more sense. That album also had the classic Mess the Judge (Messages). The Fixx album Shuttered Room featured the major hits Camels in Paris (Cameras in Paris) and The Fall (The Fool) - "Kneel, stand or fall"(Here stands the fool).
I think my mom and dad's friend Brian (another Brian with amazing musical taste!) was the person who introduced my parents to all the great New Wave stuff. He listened to super interesting music and I totally admired him! I actually still feel a twinge of embarrassment when I remember explaining to him that the words were most certainly "On and on ..." Somehow I have a picture of the two of us being in the back seat of the car when we were having this conversation. Remember, I did not see myself as a child, all my parent's friends were simply my buddies, the same as they were to my parents. I had hero worship for all of them of course, but I honestly just didn't get it that I was a kid.
I am very sentimental about those days - the shack on King George Highway days. I am adding another couple albums to this sentimental journey. Split Enz - Waiata (1981) and Flock of Seagulls - Listen (1983) and Ultravox - Quartet (1982). Waiata had the song Ghost Girl on it, and you can imagine how visual this was for me, and I absolutely loved it.
We had all these albums on vinyl, but they were all recorded onto cassettes so we could listen to them on the road, we went camping a lot, and these tunes came with us. They were whole albums, and it is even more of a pain in the ass to find tracks on a tape than it is on a record, so we listened to the whole album, and sometimes there was a bonus track hidden if there was extra space on the cassette. Worlds Away by Strange Advance made an appearance on one of these tapes. Whenever I hear Visions in Blue by Ultravox (Quartet), it always sounds wrong because it is missing the skip from the record when it was recorded to tape.
I'm pretty sure those tapes looked like this, with my mom's neat printing.
The Business of Art is still an Art
I think I have already mentioned how much work there is involved in selling art, that has nothing to do with painting. Packaging is something I have to think about, and I often make my own custom boxes. Photography is also a challenge, and it's not that I don't like these things, because trust me, I love them, but it is the time consuming nature of putting it all together, and the lack of focus I have because I keep trying to do it all at the same time, with extremely untidy results. As an addendum, I just read over my blog history, and I seem to whine about this a lot. Geez. Get over it Laura. You wanna sell your art, so do it and stop bitching!
This week I had a big win and a little loss. Labelling can be expensive, and while it is important to represent your brand, you have to be sensible. For example, circular label stickers are nearly 50 cents a piece! Well, if I am selling an ornament for $5 for example, that is 10%! Yikes, no thank you! For some reason address labels are significantly cheaper, and I ordered some yesterday, as well as a custom stamp, which was pricey, but lasts a long time and works well on the back of canvases, bottom of boxes, etc. The website says that it is same day pick up if the order is made by 12:00, but I think it was 1:00 by the time I got it done, so I went back to my photography, and didn't notice until evening that my order was done at 3:00! I went to pick it up this morning and it just made me so flippin' happy.
I am less pleased with my acrylic risers, where I was sure I selected ones that included 5 and 7 inches. I clearly missed something, because these are really small. I know they are not supposed to be frosted, but I haven't pealed the protective sheet off because I might send them back. (They are however, working quite well for my current photo shoot.)
Anyway, I have been busy as a bee trying to get my stuff labelled and priced and packed away ready for next weekend. Its looking so good!
I am in booth 12 in the Gym at Clarke Theatre in Mission on November 5 and 6, I am excited to get set up and make my little store look beautiful!
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