The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Losing Focus: It’s A Good Thing

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(Pic #1) Sharp focus – dull image.

“Focus!”  We hear it from teachers, coaches, bosses even spouses.

“Focus!” Put all extraneous thoughts out of your head and concentrate on the task at hand.  Focus is that single-mindedness that allows us to achieve. Without it, the greatest of intentions often disappear into the mist of fanciful daydreams. Focus can be your best friend when you are vigorously attacking your to-do list. But it can be your worst enemy when it comes to creating art.

Don’t get me wrong, attention to detail is important in art, and I suppose that requires some focus, but the engine that drives the artist is creativity, and that often requires the exact opposite of focus. It requires letting your mind run free, tuning into the seemingly random, unconnected sights and sounds that inspire great art.

Often the focused, crystal clear view of the world can mask an incredible universe of beauty that emerges when we blur our vision a bit.

(Pic #2) Sparing the details: the beauty of losing focus

In Kindergarten, I remember asking my best friend Tana Klugherz if she could “look blurry-eyed” at something – and do it on command, as I could. It was such a thrill to shift the world totally out of focus – into a palette of soft colors.  It turned everything into a lovely abstraction. Now I get to explore and change my view with technology and a good camera. Maybe not as fun – but still pretty magical.

On top of the page (Pic #1):  a shot of a bougainvillea branch in our backyard.  Nice photograph, well composed, perfectly in focus. No interpretation necessary, no imagination needed. Picture #2 (above) is almost exactly the same shot, but purposely out of focus.  Suddenly the colors and shapes become ethereal, suddenly they invite — in fact demand  — the viewer’s imagination.

Lose your focus — find your inner artist.

 

Creative Collaboration: The Mystery Of Artistic Alchemy

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Mighty Sam McClain and Mahsa Vahdat

If you follow the news at all, you know that early this year scientists all over the world shared their euphoria over the discovery of Higgs-Boson, a sub-atomic particle they called “a completely new kind of object to never exist before.” And for a moment, even though it made no sense to us, even though the scientists communicated in a language we didn’t really speak, we understood that the end result was miraculous, and so we shared the excitement, and we saw the world a little differently through their eyes.

My recent experience with an unexpected and totally new amalgamation is certainly less important, but for me the euphoria was no less profound. It wasn’t science — but music — that provided that miracle for me. It wasn’t Higgs-Boson, it was McClain-Vahdat. An alchemy of totally mismatched virtuosos that produced a sound like nothing I had ever experienced. And how they got there, is the real miracle. An American Blues master from  Monroe Lousiana, who grew up under Jim Crow laws… and a Persian chanteuse who sought artistic freedom in Tehran, under Sharia law. Two incredible musical talents, and all it took to bring them together was a Norwegian poet. But I am getting way ahead of myself.

(Pic #1) Mighty Sam McClain and Mahsa Vahdat at the Skirball Cultural Center, November 8th, 2012

My lucky day:

I was driving on the 405 to L.A.’s West Side when I heard a song on NPR that forced me to pull over. It was called “Two Jewels” – and it introduced me to a kind of art that takes you to a special place – and you just have to tell everybody you know.

It featured the soulful voice of blues icon “Mighty Sam” McClain and a new sound – at least to my ears – that can only be described as hypnotic. While I didn’t know Ms. Vahdat, I recognized the complex, colorful Middle Eastern tones.  And somehow, paired with the rich bluesy 50-year-vocal-history of Mr. McClain – magic happened.

I had to know more.

After scouring iTunes to download everything from the duo I could find, syncing it to my iPod for a daily dose, I find out McClain and Vahdat are playing live on the intimate stage of L.A.’s Skirball Cultural Center. I felt like a kid – intent on grabbing front row seats, and inviting my Persian friend Fariba to share in the experience.

On stage, McClain shared a bit of background on this unique collaboration, and revealed that when he first heard Ms. Vahdat’s voice, “I had to turn it off.” Later, he said, “her music grew one me.” Like me, he was hooked.

(Pic #2 ) Mighty Sam McClain sings “Two Jewels” – Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

I asked Ms. Vahdat what happened when she first heard McClain’s music – and she said, “I just cried.”

Each knew they were destined to work with each other. Norwegian producer/poet Erik Hillestad (known for his controversial recording, “Lullabies From The Axis Of Evil” – a compilation of traditional lullabies sung by women from Iraq, Iran, and North Korea) brought the two super talents together with his own poetry and the poems of Iranian Mohammed Ibrahim Jafari. Their melodies are based on Iranian folk music, mixed with bluesy English and classical Farsi vocals. It was pure adventure.

(Pic #3) Persian songstress Mahsa Vahdat, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

What a gift to see and hear this Iranian gem perform. Because the sobering truth is – after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, in Iran the female voice was banned in public and even now female singers can only perform for “women only” audiences or alongside a male voice, and they can never publicly sing solo.

Vahdat and her sister Marjan  recorded a concert in 2008 in Tehran, at which the two performed without veils in a statement about oppression of women in their country. Mahsa’s bold resistance earned her the 2010 Freemuse Award – which advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.

On stage Vahdat told her audience, “Politicians may try to drive us apart. But art and culture can bring us together.”

Miss Vahdat is right — art and culture, like those unknown sub-atomic particles — can sometimes collide, and in that moment, in some small way, the world changes.

(Pic #4) Lonnie Lardner and Mighty Sam McClain, Skirball Cultural Center, November 8th, 2012

The pair has recorded two albums together:  Scent of Reunion (Love Duets Across Civilizations) and  Deeper Tone of Longing (Love Duets Across Civilizations). Highlights:  So Blue, Silent Song, Deeper Tone of Longing,Two Jewels, and Sun of Iran.

 

Halloween’s “Secret Santa” For Children Of South Central

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(Pic #1) Sharing a hug with my unsung hero, Tommy Tapia. Through his benevolence, he and the Tapia family in the San Fernando Valley have made joyful holidays for thousands of inner-city children. (Photo by Josh Kaplan.)

You’ve  probably never heard his name, nor have the thousands of children whose lives are a little bit brighter because of his generosity. So I was thinking it’s well past time I introduced you to Tommy Tapia — the Secret Santa of Halloween.

(Pic #2) Young artist decorates her pumpkin during Saturday’s workshop at Denker Rec. Center, South Central LA


In October of 1989, I began holding art workshops for children and teens in the beleaguered South Central section of Los Angeles. I hadn’t a clue how to organize such things, and while the L.A. City Parks Department welcomed any supplemental enrichment programs, with city budgets perpetually tight,  I had to rely on the kindness of others to make it happen. Happily for me, that’s when I met the Tapia family.

All in the Family

(Pic #3) Tommy Tapia handing over pumpkin “minis” for Foster Mom Charmaney Bayton, of Inglewood

The makeshift structures, hand painted signs, assorted critters and funky farm equipment show these three generations of crop producers are the real deal. Tapia Bros. is an extended family operation that began with their grandfather nearly 80 years ago. Tommy Tapia works with his brother Felix, Jr. and they make sure visitors — especially kids — leave with a smile.

(Pic #4) A tennis court full of little masterpieces at one of our early workshops, Green Meadows Rec. Center, South Central Los Angeles

The Tapia Bros. Farm stand on Havenhurst in Encino has been a part of (what’s pain relief left of) the San Fernando Valley’s agricultural landscape for nearly 30 years. You’ll find strawberries, tomatoes, and oh-so-sweet corn during the summer, and by fall you’ll discover tasty squash, pumpkins, corn mazes and  hay rides — just because.

I remember asking the patriarch of the family, Felix Sr. if he wouldn’t mind donating a few pumpkins to our cause — and without hesitation he gave me a thumbs up.

We saw 40 kids attend our first workshop. Most of them were so excited to be given “their own” pumpkin to decorate. But the thing that stands out, and the thing that has driven me to keep these sessions going for nearly a quarter century now, was at the end of the day, when child after child came up to me to ask permission to take their pumpkins home with them. It was a really big deal to them, and a bigger  big deal to me. It actually changed my life. And it wouldn’t have happened without the Tapia Brothers.

Most of the pictures you see here are from last week, when Tommy Tapia came through for us again. Only this time it wasn’t 40 pumpkins. See, our little workshop has grown some over the years. On Saturday roughly 350 kids painted their hearts out, and yes, every one of them got to take home their masterpiece. But what they might not know —  is that they also took home a little piece of Tommy Tapia’s heart. That’s ok, as he proves to me every year around this time — there is always more where that came from.

(Pic #5) Left: Tommy Tapia “hauling happiness” for hundreds of young artists. Right: Brother Felix Tapia, Jr.