What if Jacksonville suddenly woke up?

[globatron]

Oh also,

You might find this interesting for the Southern Rock museum. 
http://www.globatron.org/uncategorized/update-on-sam-durants-proposal

A very famous artist that teaches for CAL Arts.  He put together a proposal
for a project at Friendship park. 

If we could get this installed it would be a great starting point for starting that type of
pride I think we need to develop.  I have his email and was supposed to get back to him
after finals were over last semester but didn't follow up.

[BridgeTroll]

Welcome globatron!  Great website from what I had a chance to see.  I will explore more later...

[ProjectMaximus]

welcome to the site, globatron. I took a look at your link and would be very interested to hear his back story.

[globatron]

Thank you so much.  really appreciate the kind welcome. 

Here's the project summary that Sam sent me.

Sam Durant

Proposal for Monument in Friendship Park, Jacksonville, FLA.
2000

This project consists of a theoretical proposal for a monument to Southern Rock in Friendship Park in Jacksonville Florida.  The park was the site of Sunday afternoon jam sessions in the late sixties in which members of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd participated.  Other young musicians (who went on to form bands like Blackfoot, .38 Special, Grinderswitch and Wet Willie) would watch the jam sessions and sometimes participate.  Arguably this park was the birthplace of Southern Rock.

My idea with the Proposal for Monument in Friendship Park, Jacksonville, Fla. was to have a place for people to play music in the Park.  I built a country shack back porch and a rock garden with fiberglass rocks and trash cans.  The porch has rocking chairs, a large collection of Southern Rock records and two record players (which play both forwards and backwards). The fiberglass rocks and trash can in the garden have loudspeakers in them, which connect to the record players.  As you play the records on the porch the sound gets mixed out in the garden.  The rock formations in the garden are based on the pattern of the Ryoanji Temple Garden in a “figure eight” or infinity pattern.  This idea of no beginning or end is echoed symbolically as you play the music both backward and forward.

During the research for this project I began to see some connections to the work of Isamu Noguchi.  I am very interested in his gardens and parks.  Friendship Park looked like a site for a Noguchi park.  It is an urban plaza; more concrete than grass and trees.  It reminded me of Noguchi’s park here in Little Tokyo at the Japanese Cultural Center.  The  Cultural Center also has a traditional Japanese garden adjacent to Noguchi’s plaza.  In his writings Noguchi referred to the rocks in a traditional garden as being protuberances and that they connected below the surface to the primordial mass.  I found this idea very interesting as I imagined all the elements in my project to be connected by the music; porch to rocks to trash cans.

I am also very interested in his stage sets for Martha Graham’s dance performances, in particular her “Appalachian Spring”.  Aaron Copeland’s score is an emphatically American and particularly Southern work.  It is a hybrid, mixing American vernacular music into the European Symphonic form.  This seemed to be a parallel to Southern Rock (itself a hybrid) with its mixing Appalachian and country music with blues and rock and roll.  Noguchi’s sets for Graham’s dance included an abstracted shack and porch and a stylized rocking chair among other elements.  These became a basis for my porch and specially made rocking chairs.  I also liked the idea that the Proposal was itself a kind of set with a stage inside of it.  If the Proposal were ever to actually be built in Friendship Park the porch would serve as a stage on which people could jam with the sound being amplified throughout the park from the loudspeakers inside the rocks and trash cans.

Sam Durant

.....................

He was into talking about possibly a permanent install of the project.  I'm thinking it would be a perfect installation to start some of the ideas / concepts Stephen began to outline.  I'm betting with an internationally known artist interested the city might take interest.  Possibly?  Who knows.  I didn't get back to Sam but if we could get more folks interested and begin to rally around the project I bet he'd be more interested in investing his own time in it as I'm sure he is very busy (as are we all).

Thanks again for the welcome.
                                                   

[globatron]

nevermind. sorry.  that project description was on the original post. 

[globatron]

Nice vision Stephen.  I'm honestly not aware of many of the artists that you speak of.  I'd be interested in doing interviews with them.  Would you?  How would I pursue an interview with them?

Also, how could we pursue the Friendship Park installation?  Does anyone know the appropriate team to get together to pursue such an endeavor? 

Glad to be involved in such a dialogue.  Amazing to see it happening.   

[globatron]

Well good .  I don't feel too that out of it.  50 percent of the folks you speak of I'm fairly well acquainted with along with their state of mortality. 

What about the project?  Do you feel it's wroth pursuing?  I mean I think everyone involved in the arts in town could pick five-ten artists we think should be involved in the Who's Who of Jacksonville art, and get keys to the city, etc, but where to start? I myself am not too sure why you continually speak of Lea Harvey so fondly.  I know more than a handful of artist locally who feel anytime he's around he sort of spoils the scene. I mean we all have our friend and buddys, especially in the arts.

Lee Harvey has called me names and threatened me physically all through a thread on Globatron all of which have made me question his sanity.   Of which I often don't do as I myself was in a military mental ward for a nice two week stay for depression.  The best two weeks of my life.  I definitely think your opinion of him is quite biased as nearly everyone I speak to thinks completely opposite.  I'm confused as I really respect your opinion on nearly everything else.

The Friendship Park project is one that's already popularly exhibited by an artist that is more well known internationally than any local Who's Who.  We might need to tap artist outside of Jacksonville for anyone to take us serious for a monumental installation. 

[globatron]

Yes, opinions, personalities.  I totally agree.  We all have our favorites, etc.  The work remains, I completely agree.  And instead of talking about who I feel is in my top ten, I think you were on the right, on your last statement when you began talking about the infrastructure needed to pull any of this off. 

I think the most needed element is a walkable gallery district.  Having just come from the Wynwood Arts District in Miami just three weeks ago now I'm amazed by what they've done with a ghetto run down warehouse district with many a crack head making it the the home on a permanent basis. 

Art Basel has woken up Miami to a degree I bet they would have never imagined eight years ago.  The Wynwood Art district has turned run down dilapidated warehouses into high dollar rentable art spaces, with neighboring  condos going up in towers right next door.  Art is the center of this transformation. 

The city could start this easily by allowing artists groups to maintain downtown buildings that are empty or in between leases.  Allow them to have shows for Art Walk, etc.  Just doing this one event would be noticeable withing a short time. 

I have no issues with any local artists.  I however, am not the one starting virtual fist fights.  I am in no situation to fight anyone.  I'm just glad to be alive as you pointed out.  Thankful for every breath.  Brain tumors are quite deadly Stephen.  I've been given a short prognosis and will start on chemo within the month. None of the tumor was removable. Of course they tell you not to listen to the statistics.  My issue is the tumor is in an inoperable area.  So we have to keep our fingers crossed and wait for the miracles of modern medicine to progress.  I've been given teen years on the high end.  2-5 on the average.  As I stated earlier I'm very happy to be alive.  I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you last night, and I'm glad you think my Cancer is My Super Power project would be interesting.  I'm very excited to begin volunteering at the Children's hospital.  I need to look more into that and get involved asap.

I respect all of the artist you named and I definitely think some of them should be given more respect, more press, etc.  My question now though after have gotten some press in town myself, is what does it do for you?  Nothing for me so far.

I read this whole thread, and for the ones who think this is a great city to live in, and don't understand where Stephen is coming from with the lack of pride he speaks of, I seriously doubt you are trying to improve this city, or are involved in anything culturally speaking in Jax at all.  If you were, you'd realize how little pride local artists have here. 

[globatron]

http://jaxcal.blip.tv/file/1595762/

Here's the surgery that Stephen mentioned.  Please be advised it's not for everyone. 

If you can't stomach Discovery Health, don't watch this.

enjoy.

Byron

[globatron]

Oh Stephen.  One clarification.  I've only used two screen names on Globatron.  One for Globatron the alter ego character, and one for myself.  It's an art project, and I would think Lee would respect that and understand it.  Afterall, you think he's the best artist in town correct correct?  Wonder why an art project would piss him off enough to call me baby hitler?

Here's is a description of the project:
http://byronking.com/portfolio/portfolio/globatron

Here is the questionable commentary from Lee:
http://www.globatron.org/featured/the-green-kids

How can you stand by someone like Lee so firmly when he conducts himself like this so often?

I've been nothing but nice to him in person, and done nothing to him to warrant such reactions.  I actually
went to his art show at Fuel and documented it for him adding to his dismal web presence. Of which I even offered to design him a web site for free?  And on top of that posted the interview that you did with him, even though he obviously didn't take it seriously.

http://www.globatron.org/photos?album=18&gallery=25

I would think he'd be thankful for someone documenting his work, instead, he has called me names numerous times and threatened me physically.  It's really mind boggling.

A lot of us are going through hard times (health issues) but I don't think that gives anyone the right to be out right rude and hurtful to people, online or in person.  I mean speaking your mind is one thing, but to say what he said in the thread above is out right unforgivable. 

[globatron]

Roger that Stephen.  I completely agree with you.  You always seem to rise above and are a true example of how to conduct oneself through these threads.  I completely respect your opinion and how you approach things from a lighthearted "turn the other cheek" perspective. 

Mark Creegan has also been a great example of how to rise above via the commentary on globatron, and I need to let bygones by bygones but I hold onto things and don't forgive easily.  Especially when I feel I've done nothing to deserve such treatment. 

As far as Owen Holmes and the Black Kids, if you read the entire thread, I was opening the door for criticism of the band.  Not personally attacking them.   

You are developing some great content on here, and I'd be happy to do some cross posting from what we're doing over on globatron.  I really think others should read this article myself.  It's a real inspiration of the types of ideas and concepts that could change Jacksonville and turn it into the type of city we all are proud of and decide to stay in.  I believe I'll post a shout out to this article asap. 

[JaxNative68]

If a historic building in downtown Jacksonville falls down to make way for new buildings pretending to be old ones, does it get noticed?

[Doctor_K]

^ Only by us, the vociferous minority.

[JaxNative68]

Architecture for the times you live in is all I ask for.

You can't trade one for one on buildings and expect your city to grow.  At the rate this city is going the downtown area will have the same number of buildings and a lot less history to show for its existence.  Architecture is the true fabric of any city.  You can't keep repeating the same pattern expect to have a city with any character. 

[ProjectMaximus]

and maybe lynyrd skynyrd would be spelled correctly on guitar hero.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/new-guitar-hero-game-misspells-quot-lynyrd-skynyrd-quot-/1289712