John Fahey - Vols. 1 - 4

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John Fahey (1939-2001)

Volumes 1 - 4

(Takoma, recorded 1959-1967)

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THE PAINTINGS OF JOHN FAHEY AND OTHER MATTERS

I have an ongoing, intense relation with the music of guitarist / composer / painter / writer John Fahey, who I heard and met in Boulder, Colorado (where I was going to school) in a student beer joint called Tulagi. This was around 1969 when John was just entering his period of fame (but a fame which had not yet reached the audience that night at Tulagi). I remember my excitement when I learned that John Fahey would be appearing, but was apprehensive over the location of the scheduled concert, which had a reputation at the time among the students I knew as a regular hang-out for upscale, rowdy, party-going types (and which, in retrospect, I'm certain that John was not aware of in advance).

Here is what I wrote to someone about John Fahey some years ago:

"What can I say? For the first half of Fahey's Tulagi engagement, it was very loud, smoky, and no one seemed to be listening or paying attention to the guy with the guitar. The large room was filled with tables (all occupied by at least 100 people); and these were constantly visited by young waiting-women selling, carrying or asking if you wanted to buy some beer (sold at best in large pitchers). This never stopped along with the noise of the crowd. It was like the music was totally beside the point (the point, of course, was to drink as much as possible ... and whatever else fraternity members do together).

When the first half was over, Fahey left the performance area (after not really having played anything - he mostly just tuned his guitar). The next thing I remember is asking someone who obviously worked at Tulagi if I could say a few words to Fahey - and I was shown to a large attic room - something like a store room with a single light bulb hanging from a wire in the ceiling, but empty outside of a small table with a chair where John sat alone with his guitar.

It was very easy for me to talk with John Fahey ... he was completely open, very relaxed and genuinely friendly - but clearly angry about the noise, constant beer-selling young women ... about the crowd of students who were not in the least interested in the kind of music he made (and when I think about it now, I have to conclude that I don't think that any of them had any idea of who Fahey was - or even cared).

... I continue to be extremely sad that John Fahey is no longer with us. Leo Kottke simply said, 'John made us all happy' ... and there are not any more like him as far as I can see ... at least, with his 'realness', clarity and burning directness fused with humor and irreverance. (But life goes on ... and who knows who may appear out of nowhere the day after tomorrow? On the other hand - and there is no getting around it - everyone is an unrepeatable quality.)

Yes. John Fahey loved Russian music: Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, etc. He unapologetically told me so along with the admission that he tried to incorporate it in his own way into his music - but that no one seemed to hear any of it (all I could say was that I loved this music as well); while in the opposite direction, John appeared to be quite pleased to tell me that I was first person to date - that he knew of, at least - to notice his use of the Gregorian chant 'Dies Irae' from the mass for the dead (after the 13th Century used by composers from Paganini to Rachmaninov) ... but TRY to talk to John Fahey enthusiasts about this and you'll immediately discover that they may have some trouble relating to it ...

WHO does one talk to any more about ANYTHING? I really don't know... "

We talked about what amounted to our love lives so far; Fahey complained about how he'd finally been forced into relying on 7-Up for liquid sustenance (referring to the six-pack next to him); and when I mentioned my home state, John enthusiastically related the story of what he called his greatest blues find in a sleepy Arkansas hamlet during his 78 rpm collecting journeys. We talked until the call came for the second part ...

During the second part, somewhat more attention was payed to John's playing than during the first part. Maybe the beer helped a bit, after all...

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OK. A book of Fahey's paintings has recently (at long last) been published. What I've seen prior to this publication clearly demonstrated to me that Fahey's genius was of the rare multi-sided variety (I have yet to buy a copy). But I was not in the least surprised when I learned, many years after the fact, of John's later paintings. I like very much that John successfully gave many of his paintings away (I've done this with as much of my own work as possible - but John seems to have been considerably better at it; given the number of people who religiously believe that something you don't pay money for is somehow spiritually worthless, it's not as easy as one would think to give one's work away - let alone SELL it under it's so-called "market value"... yes, the reader can correctly assume that another quote-unquote "abstract" painter / musician / occasional writer writes these lines). I've often wondered what would have happened if I'd been able to share with John what I was painting at the time I met him in Boulder. But more often I have to think that perhaps everything happened exactly as it should have - and right on schedule at that.

Now John is very famous as a "great guitar player" who wrote some tunes which countless guitar players the world over just love to get their fingers into. But the John Fahey I met was someone far more interested in communicating what can be called "the message of art" than fame ... the kind of fame one gets from giving people what they like without reflection. So, it doesn't matter what medium one uses (as it's never mattered for the painter / musician / occasional writer who writes these lines). The only thing which matters is that the message of art is heard, seen and received by the mind and senses.

"The aesthetic principle is the same in every art; only the material differs", wrote composer / critic Robert Schumann. And, just by the way ... Fahey's part-fictional Blind Joe Death - among Fahey's numerous other subterfuges - was a direct descendant of Schumann's part-fictional "Davidsbund" - among Schumann's numerous other subterfuges; and in both cases, people were led into believing in the literal, non-fictional existence of much they wouldn't have normally imagined on their own (however, in a world controlled by the blind and deaf, it's often difficult to circulate the message of art without an occasional deception or two).

What do I think about Fahey's paintings? The best ones are as good as pretty much anything you'll find by anyone. But it's also like the painter Eugène Delacroix wrote in his last Journal entry:

"The first quality of a painting is to be a delight for the eyes. This does not mean that there need be no sense in it; it is like poetry which, if it offend the ear, all the sense in the world will not save from being bad. They speak of having an ear for music: not every eye is fit to taste the subtle joys of painting. The eyes of many people are dull or false; they see objects literally, of the exquisite they see nothing." (June 22, 1863)

I'd like to think that John might appreciate this last observation from Delacroix.


http://www.amazon.com/review...odeID=283155&store=books

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LP transfers of above material. Includes covers, labels and notes.