A Tribute to James Mazzeo: 1944 - 2022

"Deja Blue"
w/ James "Bandit" Mazzeo, ZUMA & Greendale Album Cover Artist - 2015
Remembering The Warmth & Love of Bridge School Concerts 

 (Click photo to enlarge)

 

Here is a tribute to the late James Mazzeo: 1944 - 2022, the artist who painted Neil Young's album cover Zuma, as well as, the Greendale album cover and stage set designs. 

I Met Mazz through Paul Ziegler back in 1995. Paul was always late so I ended up hanging with Mazz for hours watching him paint and just BS-ing. After multiple times of this, I started to see Mazz's personality and general being show up through his art. 

One day I was in SF, walking around in the wharf and stumbled into an art gallery. An abstract artist was on display and instead of saying my usual......"I could do that, just a bunch of colors in a random fashion.." .....I really stopped to look at the work, thought about Mazz and then looked a little deeper into the paintings that this artist had put her time into. When I told that to Mazz he said "Wow, that's the greatest thing you could have said", "not that you loved my art, but that I helped you appreciate art"

I was really taken back by the statement, we became great friends and spent 1-2 days a week together for the next 8 years, hanging out in one of the many spots where he lived, always discussing the promotion of Mazzeo!

I helped him launch his first website and was fortunate enough to take a road trip to LA when Greendale was being released and search for a gallery to promote the release of Greendale and also the works of Earl Green! What a fun night, totally surreal for me, same thing with backstage at the Greendale concert at Shoreline. 

Most memorable was driving Mazz to Neil's 60th birthday party which took place in the Redwood Room in SF. Something I'll never forget. 

Mazz was received love by everyone we met, all the time. He loved driving around Santa Cruz, pointing out all the places he used to hang when he was in his heyday. Easy to hang out with and talk about anything with. 

I will miss you Bro!

Jeff Trusso

Thanks so much for sharing the "Mazzeo memories" Jeff.

That's quite incredible about how you learned to "see" art.  We treasure our "Mazzeo memories" deeply as well, like so many other rusties who befriended Mazz over the decades. 

Our favorite "Mazzeo memory" was when he explained to us why his paintings took so long to complete.  The painting above --"Deja Blue" -- took him many, many months to complete because of the paint brush type he used.  He went into his studio and pulled out a brush that was tiny, tiny with very few bristles.  He said the painting was comprised of 100's of thousands of strokes of colors.  

Like you, we peered deeply into the painting to see each stroke.  Again, the revelation where there is more to the picture than meets the eye.

The Bandit. We miss Mazz madly !

More on  James Mazzeo: 1944 - 2022   (UPDATED: Statement by Neil Young).

via Neil Young Archives

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"God Save The Queen" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse | Americana

"God Save The Queen" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2012)
Art by Gary Burden and Jenice Heo "The king queen is gone but he's she's not forgotten
Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?"
--Neil Young
 

Last year, when Prince Philip died at age 99, we ran this post which generated a fair amount of discussion about royals and who needs them.

So here's the video of "God Save The Queen" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from album Americana (2012) featuring Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth. The video contains astounding historical footage.

 

  

 

From the Liner Notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

God Save The Queen

Written in the 18th century with possible melodic roots in the 17th century, this anthem has been sung throughout the British Commonwealth and may have been sung in North America before the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence in 1776, which rejected British sovereignty. The Americana arrangement draws from the original melody and changes some melody and lyrics in the folk process, also adding lyrics of the same melody taken from “My Country ’Tis Of Thee”, in recognition of the war of Independence and America’s transition to freedom.

Now that is interesting that the melody of "God Save The Queen" and
“My Country ’Tis Of Thee” are the same?!  How could that be? (See comments on original 2012 post)

"God Save the Queen" by: Thomas Augustine Arne

 

Long May She Reign 

 God Save the Queen 

 God save our gracious Queen 

 

 Long live our noble Queen 

God save the Queen 

 Send her victorious 

Happy and glorious 

Long to reign over us 

God Save the Queen

 Long May She Reign

 

 O Lord and God arise

 Scatter her enemies 

 And make them fall 

Confound their politics 

Frustrate their empty tricks 

 

On Thee our hopes we fix 

God Save the Queen 

Long May She Reign 

God Save the Queen 

 

My country ’tis of thee 

Sweet home of Liberty 

Of thee I sing. 

Land where my fathers died; 

Land of the pilgrim’s pride; 

 

 From every mountainside, 

 Let freedom ring! 

Let freedom ring! 

Let freedom ring!

 

God Save the Queen, 2012
Mixed media (stencil, silkscreen, and collage) on canvas
43 1/2 x 30 inches
Image courtesy of the artist and Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Los Angeles.
© Shepard Fairey/OBEY GIANT ART
(See Shepard Fairey and Neil Young: The 'Americana' Collaboration ) 

UPDATE: See more reaction and discussion @ VIDEO DEBUT: "God Save The Queen" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.  Also, see God Save The Neil Young Fans (& Thrasher's Wheat).

Be sure to check the astounding comments on this video back in 2012.  or God save the rusties.  Well, things certainly were livelier around here back in 2012, for sure. wow.

(You can  order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

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Hey, Hey: We're Back!

thrashette and thrasher - self portraits
"They were hiding behind hay bales,
They were planting in the full moon"

 

After a much needed reprieve off the grid, we're finally back home safely. 

thrashette and thrasher are refreshed from our planned sabbatical (as opposed to last year's unplanned sabbatical) and getting ready for our Farm Aid pilgrimage down to the Carolinas. 

It feels so good to do an annual digital detox and escape from the grip of the black mirror.

We're looking forward to seeing all of our FarmAidian and Rustie friends very soon.  It's been way, way too long.

Find us so we can catch up and look for the FA "Magic Bus" in the parking lot!

The FarmAidians & The Magic Bus

(See Farm Aid 2019 - Alpine Valley Music Center, East Troy, Wisconsin: 34 Years and Where Do We Go From Here?) 

(Click photo to enlarge)

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