Rediscovering Charleston, SC

I've had a long history with Charleston, SC.  My Aunt Susan says our ancestors immigrated here first. My mother, Elizabeth Baron, came here in the early '80s and made it her home where she gained a huge following as a medium on television and radio.  She embraced Charleston completely - as an artist, she painted the lighthouses, the famous Atlantic House (her prints still hang in many of the establishments on Folly Beach and Charleston), the basket weavers, and her children and grandchildren running on the beach. She was a colorful fixture on the scene where she was involved in ghost tours, working with the police on missing persons cases, and exploring the haunted plantations.

I lived on the outlying islands from '88 thru '91 when I moved to New York. I've lived in New York ever since, but always returned to Charleston to visit my family and friends. However, I neglected to explore downtown Charleston all those times in the past... until now.  Here are some of my photographs... a picture tells a thousand stories! [Go here to see my Charleston pictures.]

The Many Faces of Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando was arguably the greatest actor the world has known.  After watching Listen to Me Marlon, it's easy to see why he's thought of as the best.  This film is fascinating - a documentary telling his life story in his own words - via tapes he recorded throughout his lifetime.  He made Method Acting (the Stanislavsky Method) famous with his teacher Stella Adler.

I recently watched the first two Godfather movies, On the Waterfront and Last Tango in Paris - some of Brando's greatest work in film.  It was a great experience to revisit these films anew after having seen the documentary.

Marlon was also quite an activist and advocated for the rights of black people when it was very unpopular to do so... as well as American Indians.  He was so utterly human - through and through - which is what made him such a great actor: his intense empathy for humanity.

Here is a drawing of Brando playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire... I did when I was about 18:

World Premiere of "Painting Music"

Sandy Frazier, author of "The Mystic Artist" - has released her second full-length CD - "Painting Music." Described as "ArtRock" - each song is a Pop Cantata, a kind of poem set to music, colourful stories, like individual paintings. "PAINTING MUSIC is the theme of my life's work. I've written lots of songs about art and created lots of art about music."

You can now order CDs complete with original art, lyrics and full-color graphics here: https://www.createspace.com/2292191 ... or you can download at iTunes, Spotify, Google Play... and coming soon on Amazon Music!

The Fragile Men

This is an old song... I wrote it so long ago and include it on my current record in dedication to my mother who loved it and always asked me to play it for her.  Listen live on SoundCloud.

The Fragile Men

The fragile men I know, I love with all my heart.
They hate like hell to admit when I am just as smart.
Their fragile hearts can break as easily as I do
and break at every chance they get when not admitting to.

The faults they have are like mine, though equal we are not.
When we fight I understand his strength is what I want.
We eat, we drink, we play together every day.
He stays the same as I grow fat when doing things his way.

The fragile men are greater as vegetarians.
When they can’t put away the drink, they seem less masculine.
Well, that’s the way society goes, and that’s the way they see…
a man is only strong and brave when he is not like she.

Blue Memories

Blue Memories is a song I wrote about my memories of Miami Beach as a youth.  I always wanted to be able to sing it even though it's not really in my range.  Thanks to my wonderful engineer and producer, I was finally able to record this song the way I'd always wanted to.

Listen live on Soundcloud.

Here are the lyrics:

In turquoise, aqua blue, I’m free — swimming in a crystal sea.
It is a replenishment — cold, refreshing, innocent.
Splashing in a sparkling pool, the stinging of my eyes is cruel
Yet underwater I can see long past my eternity.

I closed my eyes to a blood red light.
I lay in sand and dreamt of night,
the summer sun, the cocoa scent and the waters’ refreshment.

Splashing in the mist-filled skies,
the stinging of my salt-filled eyes;
my days of youth on the beach
are too far away to reach.

But when I breathe the cobalt skies,
when I gaze in sapphire eyes
and the jade aquamarine
turns to royal or blue-green.

Cerulean waters, phthalo deep are the memories I keep.
Hidden in the midnight blues are the secret underlying clues.

I love blue –

And now I have released the pain –
bleating in the pouring rain.
The doors’ flung open to a dazzling light;
the shock erupted from inside.

Splashing in a sparkling pool,
the stinging of my eyes is cruel
Yet underwater I can see
long past my eternity.

I love blue –

John Lennon 75

I attended the opening champagne reception of The Art of John Lennon in Soho last night on what would have been John Lennon's 75th birthday at the AFA Gallery on Greene Street. It was the perfect Manhattan evening and great to hear all the old John Lennon and Beatles' songs while viewing many of the pictures I'd seen many years ago again.

Thanks for the memories, John!

The Awakening

"The Awakening" - a song inspired by 'The Blue Bird’ by Maurice Maeterlinck - is a labour of artistic determination! Go here to listen now: https://soundcloud.com/sandyfrazier/the-awakening

Here are the lyrics:

The Awakening

I burn the candle at both ends
in the forest where the lights go
when they are blown out.
My life could be the story
so beautiful from beginning to end.
But instead it stings my senses,
awakening in me
emotions so long dormant, so seldom seen.
It’s the flashing light of the awakening.

And this is the palace of happiness.
And these are the days of the daydream.
Go on to the night of the bedlam.
“Oh gaffer! Your blackbird is blue.”

Sound the note of infinity -
the note of a fragile phantasy.
So all the world’s a song.
It’s the war inside that tries to take me
and the helpless feeling God can’t wake me.
This black foul!
It’s the flashing light of the awakening.

Water cleans it all away.
Monster dreams disappear when the light comes on.
Rulers of my destiny
go away when I release them to the wind.
I’m drugged by fools! This black foul!
Weighted with malevolence!
This black foul!
Till I create no more.

When with the awakening, they let me live.
Let me live – truer to myself.

This moment contains all the love.
This moment contains all the hate.

"Torment Saint" By William Todd Schultz

Unlike the recent documentary, Torment Saint brings Elliott Smith into focus as a true American artist who made music simply because he loved music and was passionately moved by the musicians he admired.  I've read a lot of biographies in my life, but with the advent of YouTube at my disposal, reading these words while at the same time being able to listen to and watch all the performances and songs was exciting and inspiring.  

As a musician, myself, I understood the passion Elliott had for recording right from the start... his urgency to tape everything that popped into his head while the concept was still fresh and alive... the scuffling about - so young - from Radio Shacks to musicians' clearance houses trying to find any old equipment he could use - anything that would get the job done there and then... duplicating homemade cassettes and inserts with original art and photographs... trying to get those cassettes into the right hands.  

Schultz's empathetic, compassionate style is warm and heartfelt throughout; he made me smell the Portland rain and the NYC dive bars... he made me ebb and flow with Elliott's highs and lows.  He introduced me to all of his friends, his family and musicians - the characters and stories that inspired his songs. He knew Elliott lived his songs and the lyrics were his life story.

Elliott lived a short life that was filled to over-flow with experiences that take most of us a lifetime to have.  He was focused because he knew who he was and what he wanted to do; he knew his limitations and understood his talent and his shortcomings. Unlike most of the megastars today, he played all of his instruments and wrote, sang and performed his tracks. There was no pretending; he didn't care if he fit in, he didn't care if he was a hit.  He just knew what to do, how to do it and got it done. Elliott's site.

The Art of an American Girl [FINAL]

Amy! Amy! Amy!

The new film about the life of Amy Winehouse is almost unbearable to watch.  It seemed her entire life was filmed and videotaped... so you're able to actually watch her go from a young, gifted, vibrant girl to a skeletal, bulimic, drug addicted shell of herself right before your eyes.

You see her vibrant personality - and likable she is - in the beginning... a sweet young girl who possesses a gift that everyone can plainly see.  Her face lights up like a candle.  She opens her mouth to sing and out comes Billie Holiday!  You're completely in awe... and then she talks, walks and lives... and you can't believe she survived to 27.  She looked so fragile.

Loving Amy is easy if you haven't seen this film... she wrote songs as if she'd lived 100 lifetimes... and, as she sings in "Back to Black," she'd died 100 times.

Nonetheless, I find it very hard to feel sorry for her, even though the director obviously wants you to. She had all the opportunities in the world handed to her at a very young age - just for being there. Millions of dollars backed that golden voice.  She had the best musicians, producers, promoters.  She threw it all away... for a guy, for another hit of her drug of the moment... and though she was very ill and needed help... it's not like help wasn't offered.  She was just born to be tragic, sing like a jilted lover and die like she'd always belonged in the 27 Club.

I love these songs of Amy's:

In My Bed

Amy Amy Amy

What Is It About Men

Tears Dry on Their Own - one of her better performances - masterful!