Sounds from the Studio

Jerry Gooch at Laney College who was dismised by SFAI for (   ) and Jerry Hatofsky adored by models who

The Corona pandemic brought changes.  A glance meant a plea of don't move, stay right there. Suspicious patina of grey seemed to cover the buildings and the pavements and finally the innocent people as well.   In spite of danger I walked into a newly opened secondhand record/book store one afternoon. And came across a couple of Sarah Vaughan cds. I first heard her distinct voice through a blurry, damaged black and white tv set many many years before.   The program was recorded in the latter part of her life,  mercilessly exposing her physical and musical deterioration on stage. Watching her in this extreme situation was a shock to me and I couldn't go near her music until that day.  On the rack was a CD(SarahVaughanBallads from SOLDORE), with the cover photo featuring her girlish, shiny self in vivid reincarnation. Nearby shelf was SarahVaughanBalladsCD (fromGalaxy) . Between these two albums,  recorded in the 40s and the 50s,  the essence of her magic is beautifull

A Village Romeo And Juliet. From around the mid-1980s into most of the 90s, I had to split my time between Seoul and New York.   And as a way to live harmoniously with the chronic jetlag, I decided to leave the decision of when to work and when to sleep entirely to the body clock. Eventually my painting time had been set, while in New York, to start at sunset and end at dawn. I usually started with a cup of black coffee and a bag of Chips-A-Hoy from the Lina's Deli that was located just around the corner and open 24 hours. Past midnight,  I would tune in to the Columbia University Radio for  background music that were perfect for a mid-night reveries at the studio.          Music heard were mostly vintage jazz, or the turn of the century classics, including operas and occasional organ recitles. An early discovery was Delius . One night, all of a sudden, I was subjected to two of his operas, played one right after the other. These two operas,  Village Romeo a

Summer of 1996. On a summer afternoon, while strolling down St.Mark's Place, towards First Avenue,  I picked up a cassette tape from a street vendor. What brought the cassette to my attention was the cover photo that reminded me of the darkly lit Spanish portraits that I was often encountering at the Met and the Frick etc. Around this time, I was buying cheap cassettes and playing them on my new secondhand audio set(CoralSpeakers, RadioShackAmp etc.) while painting at this huge, well lit space that I was temporarily occupying.              (PS: My apologies to the gentle artists who allowed me the use of the space and then regretted for a good reason!  I hope to make it all up to you♡) The cassette was priced at 4 dollars, which was way beyond the norm.                   A recreation of the vendor's table. But the vendor looked sincere,  so I didn't haggle.                                        Later, a thought came to my mind that he the vendor lik

A tiny little lvory colored spider  rushes towards  my audio setup.

My mother and I landed in L.A. in mid-July. After unpacking at my aunt's house in San Diego, my mother started looking for a job and also began driving lessons School wouldn't open for a few more weeks. So I began scouting the neighborhood mostly and also watch tv. Then TV was broadcasting the Watergate Hearing for hours eachday. Coming from a country that was then under military siege, it was surreal watching the congressional proceeds unfold and flow so gently for days (and weeks?)on end and finally agree on the penalty appropriate to the current president of the state.  A removal from the office. All Contents Copyright by Sungjoon Joh. 2022. Q