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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Find Your Centre

So living in a not-so-populated place you wouldn't expect to find a thriving art community. But not so in Grande Prairie! This was further made evident to me at the Third Annual Art Board Auction and Show where the Centre for Creative Arts here in town invited artists in the community to make a skateboard deck into art for their Healing Arts Program. My board was there along with over 40 others. Check them out on their website (and even bid on one if you are so moved to!)

image from http://creativecentre.ca/


In other news- I will soon open my etsy shop! I know I planned to earlier than now, but I am not quite ready yet. I am aiming to have it open by Sunday, June 14. Keep your eyes open for a grande opening promotion! In the meantime, here is a pendant that will be for sale in my shop.

It's called Tangled up in Blue, one because it looks like blue string all knotted up, and two because I sang Tangled up in Blue the whole time I was making it- in my totally awesome Bob Dylan impersionation.

Tangled Up In Blue

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

The Indigo Girls also did a cover of Tangled up in Blue. Haha- get it? Indigo? Blue?

6 comments:

Mr. Condescending said...

aw that looks awesome! I love blue

the girl with the pink teacup said...

Nice one - you are so talented! A great Australian band called The Whitlams (named after a 1970s prime minister who was very progressive, but was controversially kicked out after only a few years in office) do a nice cover of this song as well.

And you know I LOVE etsy, so will definitely swing by your store when it's up :)

xo

the girl with the pink teacup said...

And speaking of songs (random, yes, but bear with me), I always get that Amy Winehouse song 'Valerie' in my head when I read your posts :) It's a good thing I like the Wino :)

xo

Valerie said...

Thank you Condesending

And thanks The Girl- I'll have to check out the Whitlams. Pretty funny you get that Winehouse song stuck in your head! Its always what comes up when I google my name!

Archana said...

Oh wow, that's really neat. How do you do that? :) Should be interesting once you open up a store, I'd love to buy something unique like that. That blue is absolutely gorgeous.

Valerie said...

Archana- soon I will have some posts about the process- and soon a store too! there just seems to be hurtles appearing in my way at the moment :)