Where The Buffalo Roam

Where The Buffalo Roam, I wasn't thinking of the line from the song Home On The Range but instead was reminiscing about the 1980 movie starring Bill Murray. As movies go it one of the more obscure sideshow trivia question and answer productions out there. Bill Murray got to be Hunter S Thompson in a script that loosely combines several of Thompson's articles and the 1972 presidential campaign.

Critics panned the movie -I remember liking it.  Thought to be honest that's about all I remember -it was also the 3rd or 4th date with Jane, who would become my wife. So maybe during the Christmas break I'll have to rent it and see how much my tastes have or haven't evolve.

The evolution of perspective, the arch of a person's story line and how it's represented has always been fascinating. The commitment to make your life your art and your art your life is a complete gamble where every change along the way invites taunts of being a sell out and every refusal to change threatens to turn your work into a caricature of self parody. I've always liked the myth of Hunter S Thompson but without a doubt the real live man must have next to impossible to deal with. Then again maintaining the myth might have been the monster too big to handle and the inspiration behind his self directed exit strategy.

Change is scary because it can destroy and negate all past successes and in the end leave you nothing. One of the features of Where The Buffalo Roam is the art work of Ralph Steadman, his surreal roadkill doodles danced around the margins of the film and represented the thought balloons of Bill Murray / Hunter Thompson.

Ralph Steadman is still known for his splatter specimens of "Gonzovision" illustrations but has evolve into other styles. His most recognized work remains the movie poster of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas but Ralph Steadman has been behind new illustrated editions of Alice In Wonderland, Treasure Island, Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451.

One of my favorite drawing is this one to the left, where Freud shows his wife what it's like to be around a "big strong man all filled with cocaine".

Artist can be trapped in the amber of their own notoriety, the tar pit of being a celebrity. Being a celebrity is not the same as being whatever it was that got you famous in the first place.

Jackson Pollack stretched the boundaries of modern art with his iconic drip paintings. Critics call him Jack The Dripper but his work endures. One of his big break through moments was the 10 minute film by Hans Namuth, Jackson Pollack 51. It shows the painter at work and for the 1950's it gave legitimacy to the idea of pure expression. Jackson Pollock suffered with alcoholism his whole adult life and he was unable to sell his painting after changing his style and branching off in new directions. This rejection only made his drinking problem worse and probably hastened his death.


Peter Max on the other hand became a pop icon in the late 1960's and never really strayed far from what made him famous. Supposedly Peter Max rankles at the question of being relevant but then again I'm told he's relatively sane, happy and well off.  

The toxic effects of fame always remain a cautionary tale where the temptation to sell your soul or the occupational hazard of being devoured and spat out dead is steadfast constant.

Before Jimi Hendrix's death, he was working on a whole new direction in his career. He wanted to drop the psychedelic acid rock persona and return to his spiritual roots of Mississippi Delta Blues.

To this day there is over 300 hours of Jimi Hendrix master tapes that remain unedited and still tied up in legal limbo. Rumor has it the tapes are filled with virtuoso recordings of traditional blues. Not the type of music Hendrix is known for and no one from the record company or the Hendrix family is sure how to market the music or is willing to take the risk and pay the production costs up front.