Rick Danko: When I Paint My Masterpiece--Literally

As I've written here before, The Band and their music were influential not just to other musicians, but to artists of all types--poets, writers, sculptors, and painter. Of course, there have been scores of artistically uninspired though commercially successful likenesses of mainstream superstar names-from kitschy black-velvet Elvises to psychedelic day-glo likenesses of Janis, Jim, and Jimi--but that's to be expected.

It's different with The Band. There's something about these five guys--their personalities, their energy, their charisma, their magic--that almost compels creative people who've discovered them to find an outlet for their feelings. The Band is not just "a group." Discovering The Band, hearing them for the first time and really "getting it" is a powerful experience, like making love for the first time. And for many, discovering The Band--not just singing along on the chorus of "The Weight" or yodeling along on "Cripple Creek"--is life-changing.

For an inherently vibrant, creative person like 32-year-old artist and music biz professional Jason Gluskin, The Band proved to be a particularly powerful muse.

"Over the past year I've just been obsessed with the Band," says Gluskin who, by day is Manager of Digital Communications for SIRIUS XM Radio. "I've always known their music-- the hits, The Last Waltz, and I've always been a huge Dylan fan. The 1966 Royal Albert Hall set is one of my favorites. But, embarrassingly, I didn't know The Band as well as I should." But then, says Gluskin, he attended one of Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles. "My best friend and his dad are fanatics and we all went up to Levon's Ramble in January of '09. That show was outstanding!"

The show, the experience of being in Woodstock and seeing Levon in person, "kicked off something inside of me. I bought Rock of Ages and was just hooked." Gluskin immersed himself in the music of The Band. "When I get into something, I go deep and now have their whole catologue. I've also gotten deeper into Rick's music and love his first solo album and Cryin' Heart Blues.  "The more I was exposed to, the more I fell in love..."

In December '09, Gluskin decided that he "wanted to get the warmth of The Band's music" onto canvas. "I started this piece over Christmas and actually spent way more time than I usually do on my work. I wanted it to be really finished and right. I knew the feeling I wanted to get down but was having a hard time getting true representations of the gang. I was working from album covers and web shots and it just wasn't there. Then, I made my roommate (this cool Aussie girl) watch The Last Waltz, because she was digging The Band as I'd been playing them so much. I hadn't seen the movie for seven years. It all clicked by watching them live in action while I was painting in my apartment. I was able capture their personalities--how they carried themselves and moved."

As you can see, Gluskin's spirited painting (24" x 36"; acrylic on canvas), aptly titled "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and exuding not just warmth but Expressionistic--and some vague Impressionistic--influences, does capture their personalities (love Rick's happy, quirky body language and goofy grin, and that puff of smoke encircling Robbie) as well as the joyous, almost idylic, bucolic, homey vibe--real or imagined, or a little of both--that surrounded The Band and Dylan in Woodstock circa The Basement Tapes era. It's whimsical without being cutesy, sweet without being cloying.

"I think I really captured Rick's persona," says the Hoboken resident, whose work can be seen in various spaces in and around New York and New Jersey. "He seemed like a really cool, light-hearted guy... suave and with a lot of soul. It seemed like they all had real soul and authenticity." You got that right, Jason--he was and they did (and do).

If you'd like to see this painting or other work by Jason Gluskin, check out his site, Jason Gluskin, where you can buy prints, cards, and more.

What do you think of Jason's painting? Let me know in the comments.