/  by Michael Arthur

"Hey, Baby! It’s The Fourth Of July!"—Dave Alvin (X) Ever since I lived in Chicago, X’s version of Dave Alvin’s 4th of July is the first thing I want to hear upon waking on July 4th. I blame Tom. 4th of July was in my head this morning w…

"Hey, Baby! It’s The Fourth Of July!"—Dave Alvin (X) Ever since I lived in Chicago, X’s version of Dave Alvin’s 4th of July is the first thing I want to hear upon waking on July 4th. I blame Tom. 4th of July was in my head this morning when I drew this. See How We Are from the same X album always alternates on my internal playback machine…

/  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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Alicia Keys

Most Mondays, I look at the Joe’s Pub calendar to see who’s playing and then I plan the rest of my activities around who I want to see and draw. Sometimes, if there’s a blank spot on the calendar or a listing that says, “private event”, I’ll write to Sara Beesley to ask what the private event is. This is basically how I got (sort of) invited Yoko Ono’s birthday party, how I first saw Busta Rhymes and how I ended up at Melissa Etheridge’s last album release show. It’s also how I found myself drawing this portrait of Alicia Keys during her last-minute announced (if secretly planned) fan-club show at the Pub. It was an intimate affair, announced in the morning for the first hundred people who could get to the Pub to buy tickets and a handful of lucky fan-club members. Keys credits the Pub as a major influence on her early career and she treated the show as a home-coming. I especially love the drawing of a fan, standing near the stage, enraptured by the experience.

Hot Club of Cowtown

I’ve been a fan of Hot Club for years. I first heard them when I lived in Chicago and was instantly an admirer. After Chicago, I lived in Austin, Texas for many years and enjoyed their development there, so I was excited when they played the Pub for the first time. Years later, I met vocalist and fiddle player Elana James at another show and she told me how much the band liked this drawing. Recently, she wrote me and asked to use the drawing on the back cover of their newest album and T-shirts. It’s funny the long life a drawing can have …

Glen Hansard

This drawing was made when Hansard was the musical guest for Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading and Music Series which ran at the Pub for several years. Towards the end of its run, I became a regular part of the show, drawing along on stage with the readers and singers. It was a lot of fun. My favorite memory of this particular night is sitting up in the booth when Hansard was introduced to a crowd that applauded enthusiastically, despite the fact that he did not walk out on to the stage as expected. I was the first person to realize he was still in the dressing room—no one had told him he was about to go on—so I ran out of the booth to a room down the hall, completely unaware that he was supposed to be on stage. It’s good when my previous life as a stage-manager comes in handy.

This week’s Joe’s Pub stash of drawings….

/  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.]

Probably the best thing I get to do—the most fun I get to have—is performing as a member of the indie band, Balthrop, Alabama. My role in the band is to draw  during shows, the drawings projected on a screen behind the band as I draw them, like a live cartoon. This collaboration first started at Joe’s Pub and has led to many similar collaborations, both on and off the Pub stage.

Six years ago, Balthrop, Alabama was a group of friends who mostly met through the now departed Fall Cafe in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The band initially evolved around the songs of Pascal Balthrop and then later, his sister, Lauren Balthrop (Dear Georgiana, The Bandana Splits). I was a big fan and had recommended that Shanta book them at the Pub. She heard their music and liked them, but I don’t think things really moved forward until I had the idea of drawing along with them.

The first show we played together at the Pub was sold out and sort of magic. The band was about to go out on their first tour (opening for Dawn Landes) and so I went along, getting a chance to practice the live drawing nightly. Over the years we played many more shows at the Pub (as well as all over the country). I never expected to be a touring member of a rock band, but life is funny when you don’t have a plan.

Soon, other musicians began asking me to draw along on stage at the Pub. I’ve had the pleasure of performing live drawings with Michael Leonhart, Paul Brill, Clare and the Reasons, The Spring Standards, Elizabeth and the Catapult, Benjamin Cartel, Toshi Reagon, John Wesley Harding and many others.

At that first Balthrop show, my cousin asked me if I was scared to be drawing live in front of so many people, and I remember saying, “not really, they’re my best friends and there’s no place I feel more comfortable drawing than Joe’s Pub.”