Rick's World Blog:
July
2010: At my CD Release Celebration at Has Beans in Eureka, on July 4th,
I'll be joined by the Fabulous Doug and Lori, from just over the rise
there in Myrtletown, he on harmonica and guitar, fresh from the
Jambalaya Jam and the Pump Station Jams, and she on vocals, providing a
little Lucinda Williams "Can't Let Go" tuneage while I noodle away on
slide guitar in the background. That one is at 11 AM on Sunday, the
Fourth of July, and don't forget the Very First one, at Has Beans on
Friday July 2 at 3 PM.
The new CD is receiving airplay in the Sierras: tune in KFOK
Internet Radio out of Greenwood, CA, and check the time for "Fat Kat
Country," the show airing the tunes. And in case you forgot, the CD is
"Mr. Gen-U-Wine Plays Bottleneck Slide Guitar," remastered and with one
new tune recorded by Mike Kapitan at "Groove Time" Studios here in
Arcata, then duplicated by McKinleyville's "Bongo Boy" Studios,
who also provided the graphic work on the CD cover. So it's "Locovore
Slide" we'll be playing, folks!
My art exhibit in Greenwood (what a coincidence!) is now in
place. One painting has sold ("Last Days of the One Lane Bridge"), and
ten more pieces are on display, a few of them never previously
exhibited ("Disproof of Evolution" is one of these, a petrified and
framed 25,000-year-old fossilized war ribbon, showing that this
species, at least, hasn't evolved much recently). I made the trek to
Greenwood, 20 miles above Auburn in the roasting foothills, in my
31-year-old Honda Civic, the Bluesmobile, which survived the
700-mile,108-degree return through Redding and the mountains of 299
better than its driver...
Watch for new photos from the exhibit. At least 6 of the
paintings previously displayed there have been revised, some of them
substantially, and there may be a surprise or two when the veils are
withdrawn! That is not all, quite yet - the 11 tunes from the CD have
now been transcribed, in tablature and notation, and I'm hard at the
copy work for the method book to accompany the CD.
Kindest Regards, Rick
Read archived
blogs.
Music News:
June 2010: The new slide guitar CD, Mr. Gen-U-Wine Plays
Bottleneck Slide Guitar," has now been printed. Rick
has advance copies at $10 for the CD only, while he is still working on
the book to accompany the CD. Contact
Rick Park to order the CD only, or wait for the full package of CD,
booklet and slide. View CD image.
July 2008: Only a few dozen copies remain of the
second edition
of Rick's latest major musical work, Shakespeare
and
the
Sonettes:
The
Bard's
Blues.
On this CD, there are five songs telling the stories
of
the great plays
in blues form and five actual Elizabethan guitar pieces. Rick has since
written two new Shakespearean blues songs: "MacBeth's Blues" and
"Julius Caesar's Blues", the latter actually telling some of the story
of Antony and Cleopatra as
well, the tales being continuous. "MacBeth's Blues" was debuted at
Peacemas '07. There is certain to be a third edition of the album, and
it may include these 2 new pieces. Read 3 reviews of
this CD. Please see Recordings Page
to listen to songs and for more information on all of Rick's recordings.
The CD is available on this website's Order Page for $16.95, which includes
shipping. It is also for sale in a number of stores: Music
Millennium, the biggest music store in Portland, Oregon; Buffalo
Brothers Guitars in Carlsbad, CA; Folk Music
Center in Claremont (East LA), CA; Central
Coast Music in Morro Bay, CA; Down Home Music
in El Cerrito, CA; Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco, CA; Bookpeople in
Moscow, Idaho; and BWI
Distributors, who specialize in marketing to libraries.
Rick Park is accepting guitar
students in the Arcata area! Rick is beginner-friendly, can
teach note-reading and tab, but
can also teach advanced melodic fingerstyle a la Hurt, Kottke,
Kaukonen,
and in slide guitar. Musical styles include blues, folk, standards,
some
jazz and classical. Call Rick
at 707-826-0357 or contact
Rick by email for more info or to set up a lesson. Listen to Rick playing guitar.
Art
&
Poetry
News:
July 2010: Rick's "Cowboy Haiku" 3 poem suite, as published last year
in The Idiom, the poetry magazine out of New Jersey, have now been
anthologized in the (more or less annual) Idiom anthology. Google The
Idiom, and navigate to the publications list.
June 2010: "Last
Days of the One Lane Bridge" sold in May 2010. It will join the
collection
of Cathy Rohm of Greenwood, CA, who is already the owner of "Patriotic
Toothbrushes". Cathy has arranged a small exhibit of Rick's paintings
at
the KFOK radio station during the month of July. KFOK is reachable by
internet radio. The exhibit will be in Sierra Foothills, in a radio
station building in Greenwood, CA (above Auburn and near Cool). Rick
has significantly revised seven of the paintings, including the
prize-winning oil painting (he changed a perspective detail on the
right-hand side of painting). See Art
Page for more details.
May
8, 2010: HSU literary magazine, Toyon, was released with Rick's poem "I Never Told Her I Saw
Her Naked,"
in
it.
It's
a
very pretty 92-page publication, and while stuffing his
face with some wonderful catering, Rick was invited to read his piece,
to a kind and enthusiastic reception, and afterwards relax and bask in
the music of the quartet, "Seven-Oh-Heaven," whom Rick has been wanting
to see and hear for some time. Rick was able to nab 15 copies of the
magazine, so while they last, he can make them available to those of
his friends who are interested in supporting his poetry habit, at $9.95
postpaid if he has to mail it.
Rick
completed
his first-ever oil painting in January 2010, a simple front
view of the Wagner House, in which there are the offices of KHSU radio.
They were having a contest. Rick entered the painting
and won some sort of as-yet-unnamed prize, but the main thing was to
learn how to use oils. It was exhibited during Eureka
Arts Alive! and a similar event in Crescent City. KHSU
has scanned the painting and will sell prints of it to their listeners.
See
Rick's
oil
painting
debut:
Old KHSU building, the
Wagner House.
Read
Rick's
64th
birthday
poem, which contains some of his thoughts on aging.
August
2009:
The
summer
issue
of
the
Haight
Ashbury
Literary Journal published Rick Park's poem, "Some Lines for
Margot." This
is Rick's fifth poem publication of 2009.
July
2009: Rick
has mounted
another "found" sculpture, part of the "Proof of Evolution" series.
This one is a "disproof of human evolution," a "Petrified
War Ribbon," age 25,000 years...the idea being that while the rest of
the life-forms evolve, humans keep entering into the same stupid
anti-evolutionary war displays. It's a small metal ribbon, bent and
folded exactly like those bumper-decals, the yellow-ribbon type.
April
2009 issue of The Idiom magazine published
Rick's three-poem suite, "Cowboy Haiku Trilogy." The third
one had never been published before. The Idiom, out of New Jersey, is a
feisty and spiritedly independent little publication. You can check out
their website and access his poems online. Rick has
hard-copies of the magazine, which you can get from him for $5
(1000-7th St. #8, Arcata CA 95521). If you wish, he'll autograph it for
you.
"The Sad Songs Contest,
Collected Poems 1964-2006, a 60th Birthday Anthology". Rick
Park has created a lifetime poetry collection of 59 poems with 14
original illustrations in a 32 page book. l8 of the poems have been
published over the years in a number of literary magazines. The first
sold-out edition was named "Coming of Age", for his 60th birthday. For
the second edition, which sold out, it was renamed with its current
name, "The Sad Songs Contest, Collected Poems 1964-2006, a 60th
Birthday Anthology". The third edition sold out. Rick is now
working on the fourth edition of
his
poetry
book,
which
will
probably
be
re-issued
in October 2007. It will sell for $5.95 ($6.65
with postage & handling). It is now being carried at 2 bookstores: Bookpeople in
Moscow, Idaho and Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco, CA. Listen to a
clip of Rick reading "Plastered in Stratford" at his CD Release
Party at Bird & Beckett Books on February 20, 2006. To order, contact Rick by email,
call him at 707-826-0357, or mail him at: 1000 7th Street #8, Arcata,
CA 95521.
Joel Dunsany emailed and wrote
"I've been meaning to find a moment to e-mail you & tell you that
your COLLECTED POEMS are simply A MARVEL. I couldn't have enjoyed them
more! They are sparkling & shimmering. They are music. They are
insightful & full of the stuff of life. Like they say about the
astronauts, you've got the RIGHT STUFF!!!"
If you would like to order anything on this
site, please go to Order Page.
When you are ready to order, there is a link to a shorter
printer-friendly order form on that page.
For folks who do not have a printer, you can write down and mail the
essential information. Allow 7 - 10 days for delivery.
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Rick Park. Contact
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