/  by Michael Arthur

joespub:

[Over the next several months leading up to the celebration of our 15th Anniversary in October, Joe’s Pub will be highlighting drawings from archival artist Michael Arthur who has captured the likes Amy Winehouse, Pete Townshend, Alicia Keys, Carly Simon and many more on our stage. Read about Michael’s story, and stay tuned for details on how you might earn the opportunity to work with Joe’s Pub as an archival artist by submitting your artwork via Tumblr.]

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LEONARD COHEN

This was drawn during Anjani’s show back in  April of 2007. Anjani also performs as one of the backup singers to Leonard Cohen and he was there to support her and guest on a song or two. He watched most of her set from the booth, where I was also drawing. Sometimes on nights like this, a lot of people used to gather in the booth if they were involved with the show but couldn’t sit in the house. They still do. It’s a good place to watch a show. But for me, it means there are frequently people watching over my shoulder while I’m working. Anyway, I spent most of the show not really aware that Cohen was up there with us. He happened to be looking over my shoulder when I finished this one (I had started it while he was on stage, but I finished the background stuff after the song ended). Bill Bragin, who was running the Pub at the time, brought the drawing to Cohen’s attention. Cohen looked it over and said, “You’re pretty talented” and I was completely speechless. Bill laughed and said, “When Leonard Cohen says you’re talented, you say, ‘You are too.’”

 

SARA BEESLEY

Sara Beesley is the Associate Director of Joe’s Pub, but I think when I met her (and drew this), she was an intern. I think she came in a bit before me, but we arrived at the Pub roughly about the same time. Sara’s now one of the bookers at the Pub, a rabid karaoke singer and one of the all time great people in the world, there I said it. Anyways, like I mentioned above, the booth is the place where some of the Pub folks watch shows. Sara was sitting over by the light board, watching Eilen Jewell and I did this drawing of her. It’s one of my favorites because Sara loves music in a way that’s kind of religious and she loves the Pub likes it’s a holy place and I guess I always think of that when I see this drawing. That’s the truth. As a side note, I did another drawing during this same show of Eilen Jewell and her band and it ended up as the back cover photograph for Jewell’s Loretta Lynn inspired album, Butchie Holler. 

 

SAM SHEPARD

This was drawn during a talk sponsored by the Paris Review. Shepard was working in the Public Theater at the time on his play, “Kicking A Dead Horse.” That’s one of the nice things about the Pub and the Public Theater. So many amazing people come through and the Pub stage has hosted so many amazing conversations and stories in addition to all the great music (although, thinking about it, Shepard’s band played another night while I was at the Pub). I don’t remember a lot of the details about Shepard’s talk—drawing while listening to a person talk is different from drawing while listening to music. With music, I tend to get lost in the tunes—the rhythm and feeling of the music tend to play out in my line work and sort of carry me along. With words, it’s a different challenge. I do remember Shepard talking about writing music with Bob Dylan though. It was a really precious thing to get to hear him describe that creative process. I admired the way he managed to reveal a little something about co-writing with Dylan, while maintaining a respectful awe and protective stinginess of detail. Shepard struck me as both rough and elegant. After I drew this, I remember Oskar Eustis (the Artistic Director of the Public Theater) telling me that he liked it a lot. He might have said that he thought it was one of my best. If I’m honest, I guess I’d have to say that I’m not always great at capturing exact likenesses—I think I’m shooting more for the energy of a moment than an exact copy—but this one turned out pretty good on both grading scales.

 

 

Captions by Michael Arthur.

JOE’S Pub features more of my drawings from over the years…