One Of Those Sounds Like A Train In The Distance

On This Day In History
1838: Samuel Morse demonstrates the telegraph

Quote Of The Day
"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
(A.A. Milne)

A few days ago I chanced upon a Facebook link to Jean Michel Jarre's New Year concert, Welcome To The Other Side from Virtual Notre Dame. Although I did not experience the fully immersive VR experience, simply watching it on the 15cmx12cm screen of my i-Pad, this concert still managed to blow me away and project me back to all those other times during the course of my life when this man's music and live performances have simply staggered me.

There was the first time I heard Oxygene issuing from the bedroom window of my best friend when I was about ten years old. I had never heard music like that before and I was enraptured. I hunted the LP down and listened to it over and over again, always wearing headphones for the fully immersive experience. 

Fast forward to  1986 and JMJ blew me away again with his Rendezvous: Houston concert. I remember getting the cassette recorder on my stereo system and video recorder ready to record the simultaneous broadcast on Radio 1 and BBC 2. I literally could not believe my eyes and ears; what an amazing (and deeply moving) concert that was, celebrating the greatest of N.A.S.A.'s and mourning the loss of the space shuttle Challenger.

Jump ahead to September 1986 when one of my dreams came true and I went to see the Destination: Docklands concert in London. Mind blown again; who cares about a little bit of rain.

So, inspired by the New Year concert, I decided to try and capture all the excitement and energy of a JMJ concert in a painting. That is today's blip. I painted this yesterday. Today I plan to do a painting of Welcome To The Other Side. Tomorrow, Destination: Docklands. I hope you enjoy viewing my paintings as much as I do creating them.   

Here's to the next fifty years.