Cartoon holds final performance - Voices of Central Pennsylvania

24
July / August 2012
Cartoon holds final performance
by Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
On July 13 and 14, local acoustic band
Cartoon will play its last shows. For 32
years, Cartoon has been playing local venues such as the American Alehouse and
Café 210, but these shows will be the last
time that lead guitarist Jon Rounds, guitarist Glenn Kidder and bassist Randy
Hughes will take the stage together. Jon
Rounds discussed the band’s history with
Voices. The following is the question and
answer interview.
Voices: Tell me about Cartoon. When did
the band get together, and what was it that
brought you together? Who is the songwriter among you, or do you all take up the
role (noticed in the release that you play
original music)? What sort of musical
backgrounds do each of the band members
have?
Rounds: Cartoon formed in State College
in 1980 when four State College performers—Randy Hughes, Glenn Kidder, Kevin
Dremel, and Jon Rounds—began sitting in
on each other’s shows, drawn to the same
genre of harmony-rich acoustic music and
each committed to performing original
music. We are all songwriters. (And all
Penn State grads.)
Randy Hughes, a State College native,
now in Pinehurst, N.C., was bass player
and vocalist for Morningsong, a popular
State College folk-rock band of the 1970s
whose debut album was reviewed in
Billboard and won critical acclaim. Randy
also played for many years as a solo performer in State College clubs. He is the
vocal arranger for Cartoon and plays guitar
and bass.
Glenn Kidder, from Pittsburgh, now in
Milton, Mass., is a prolific songwriter
whose influences include singer/songwriters such as Jonathan Edwards and Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young, but is also drawn to
music with a beat— R&B and Motown.
Glenn was a popular solo performer in
State College clubs at the time Cartoon
formed. Glenn plays guitar and percussion.
Kevin Dremel, from Altoona, Pa., now in
Keene, N.H., is likewise a prolific songwriter who was a popular solo performer in
State College clubs in the 1980s. His influences are eclectic. You will hear strains of
contemporary folk and alternative rock in
his tunes, which are strongly narrative and
occasionally whimsical. He wrote “Lady
Jamaica,” a State College hit of 1981.
Kevin plays guitar and percussion. (Note:
because of other commitments, Kevin cannot attend this year’s show.)
Jon Rounds, from Yardley, Pa., was a
member of the Rounds Brothers Band, a
1970s State College rock band who performed all original music. He continues to
write songs with a folk-rock and countryrock flavor. His influences include early
Dylan, The Byrds, The Band and Rodney
Crowell. He plays guitar.
Jamie Rounds from Yardley, Pa., now in
Nashville (special guest at this year’s
show), was also member of the Rounds
Brothers Band and later, Backseat Van
Gogh, for whom he penned the regional hit
“Catch a New Wave.” His influences
include the Beach Boys, the Beatles,
Smoky Robinson and contemporary country artists. He plays guitar and bass.
I think the two key features of Cartoon’s
appeal are vocal harmony and original
songs. Go to any college town, anywhere,
and you’ll find bands with great lead
singers and hot instrumentalists who can do
cover tunes note for note. But tight harmony singing is a rare commodity. For one
thing, it takes a good ear just to hear three
parts around a melody. Then you have to
design the parts, which in Cartoon has
mainly been the role of Randy Hughes.
And it also takes more rehearsal time to
work out the parts because—unlike lead
guitar licks, which you can practice on your
own—you have to practice harmony as a
group.
Being committed to original tunes is both
a benefit and an obstacle. The obvious ben-
see
Cartoon, pg. 28
Winters paints portrait of emotional turmoil
by Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
In September, the Bellefonte Art
Museum for Centre County will host an
exhibition of oil paintings by local artist
Veronica Winters. Winters is a veteran
exhibiter, but this show will represent a
departure from her usual shown work
and a frank demonstration of her recently discovered courage in bringing to the
fore emotional turmoil.
According to Winters, the shows she
has done previously are landscapes or
decorative art, but this one has a surrealist tone that she often invokes when portraying more emotional elements.
“When I work on my surreal stuff, it’s
very personal and it’s often misunderstood and I tend not to exhibit it,” said
Winters. “I feel vulnerable about it; a lot
of people don’t understand it. They ask,
‘What’s happening in your head?’ It
stops me from exhibiting my personal
stuff. But I thought I would do it this
time around, as a change.”
In these surrealist works, the artist
makes a deft use of symbolism to convey
the intertwined currents of women’s
roles, loss, and broken relationships.
Winters’ “Feeling the Pinch” references
the dichotomy of the stereotypically feminine versus the “unfeminine” desire for
physical comfort and practicality through
the juxtaposition of a high-heeled shoe
and a sneaker. The artist stated that she
found her inspiration in her own foot
pain, which prevents her from wearing
high-heeled shoes for prolonged periods.
“There is always a trade-off,” said
Winters. “It’s a choice—do you want to
suffer and be beautiful or feel okay and
be kind of unattractive? I think this feel-
“Feeling the Pinch” by Veronica Winters
ing could be shared with lots of women;
lots of them feel or think the same way.”
Embodying this sense of pain and
beauty are the works within the series
that directly refer to loss, and frequently
feature the image of the artist as the focal
point. In a manner that Winters described
in her blog as “intimate and heart-open-
ing,” these paintings represent what she
deemed a “response to my wild emotional roller coaster I had this spring.”
The painting “Pain” is fundamentally
about the broken pieces—of the artist
and the home.
“I wanted to express this deep feeling
of pain,” said Winters. “So the broken
pieces mean broken heart.”
Winters notes that the image of “the
broken heart” is cliché, so in her series
the feeling of loss is communicated
through an open torso. In “Pain,” that
open torso is surrounded by its pieces,
but the figure’s profound sense of loss is
read through the dark clouds.
“The dark cloud [means] gloom, hopelessness,” she said, pointing to the fun-
see
Winters, pg. 26
25
July / August 2012
Color and texture enliven White’s collages
by Veronica Winters
Lisa Dawn White is a smart, successful
artist who works from her studio in
Pennsylvania Furnace. For more than a
decade, the artist has been creating floral
collages, gift cards and jewelry pieces.
These pieces can be compared to little
inspirational notes of nature found by the
artist and captured under glass. Layers and
layers of hand-made paper, paint, and dried
botanical specimens are uniquely arranged
into beautiful landscapes.
The artist projects her affinity for nature
through weaving patterns of colorful
papers, real dried flowers and delicate
feathers.
“I’ve always enjoyed art and craft-making since I was a child,” she said.
White’s artistic sensibilities have grown
as a result of her masters degree in horticulture. As part of her studies, the artist had an
internship at the arboretum a few years
back, where she began pressing plants and
flowers.
“I own several plant presses that allow
for the right amount of air flow and temperature to preserve color in specimens,” she
said.
The plant press resembles a giant old
book of multiple layers of newspaper and
carton sandwiched between two wooden
covers with attaching belts that hold it all
together. The artist collects flowers in full
bloom and presses them immediately.
Some of them get cut to press, a very timeconsuming but necessary process.
Filaments or anthers are removed from
flowers prior to pressing.
“I perform a flower surgery in a way,”
she said.
The artist has produced eight major
series of collages. Although each piece is
unique, all artworks in each series follow a
specific theme captured in a replicated
design. Her best-seller series is titled
“Appalachia.”
Reminiscent of a Pennsylvania landscape, it consists of layers of hand-made,
collaged papers, dried elderberry flowers
In the Studio
and moss. By painting over papers with a
thin layer of acrylic paint, the artist unifies
hand-made papers in color. The series has
six different sizes, ranging from 1 by 3 feet
to just 12 by 12 inches.
The Hawaii-inspired design “Island
Pikake” (Hawaiian for peacock) is a
vibrant arrangement of peacock feathers
and orchids. Orchids are the only flowers
artist buys from a local farmer, while other
specimens are either grown in her garden
or collected on hiking trips and from
friends’ gardens.
Due to the variety of flowers and papers
used, as well as an application of modern
aesthetic and influences, White’s collages
are far from being sentimental.
“My dry floral arrangements have a contemporary aesthetic, unlike Victorian-era
images,” she said.
White is very particular about the
enhancement of color in her art. She paints
leaves and flowers with metallic pigments
to add shimmer and dimension, and uses
other acrylic paints closely matched to the
natural plant coloration. Because green
fades in leaves over time, she uses floral
spray paint to replace it. White also paints
over petals with a small brush to match colors perfectly and make them look natural.
“Color is vital to my process, as it represents my feelings,” she said.
The brilliant colors and textures that
White favors in her pressed-flower collages
are also found in her paper works. She
makes her own paper from recycled paper
that has no ink on it. As the process is
incredibly messy and time-consuming,
White reserves a week of her time to
devote to it. Then, the artist paints over her
papers to bring textures to life.
White’s jewelry-making is closely related to her collages, carrying on the same
natural themes with either square or rectangular miniature landscapes made of colorenhanced flowers or plants.
Sealed with glass-like resin,
they are little expressions of the
environment, evoking feelings
of love, warmth, and comfort.
The pendants attach to either a
simple ribbon or chain with a
few beads that pleasantly complement colors of petals or plants
frozen in one piece.
The artist will exhibit her collages and jewelry pieces at the
Central Pennsylvania Festival
for the Arts in a booth number A25. To contact the artist directly,
write to: [email protected] or call: 814-571-3379.
To see her artwork, visit:
whitedawndesigns.com.
Photo by Veronica Winters
Lisa Dawn White holding one of her collages from her best-selling “Appalachia” series.
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26
from
July / August 2012
Winters, pg. 24
“Pain” by Veronica Winters
“Communication” by Veronica Winters.“
nel-shaped cloud reaching from the foreground to the background. “It’s a never
ending turmoil. Those little pieces are
the pieces of the broken house.”
Some of Winters’ most compelling
paintings in this show are the ones that
feature no figures at all. One such
poignant work is the painting
“Communication,” which focuses on two
laptops on a bed. The laptops, she said,
serve a dual role in her symbolic language—as representations for the absent
figures and as the means of communication.
“It’s about communication,” said
Winters. “Communication is through the
internet. The link gets broken between
two people.”
“When something gets broken between
the two people it’s very painful and hard
to repair,” wrote Winters via email.
“Both persons need to be open for
change to preserve the relationship. So,
these paintings depict my pain and struggle to come to terms and understanding,
to find acceptance and love.”
While producing this series was emotionally challenging and left the artist
with a sense of vulnerability, Winters
also sees art as an outlet to “express feelings in a positive and meaningful way.”
In her vision of a breakdown in communication in marriage, she also sees the
seeds of repair in the recognition of that
breakdown and the subsequent admission
of mistakes.
“...these paintings depict
my pain and struggle to
come to terms and understanding, to find acceptance and love.”
Veronica Winters
“I also think it’s important to admit the
mistakes we make and find balance in
honest talk with each other about problems (between a husband and wife),”
wrote Winters. “Thoughts and feelings
often get hidden and eventually the conflict occurs.”
However, Winters says that not everyone can establish “mutual trust and honest communication with each other about
things that matter.”
In addition to creating art, Winters also
teaches it. She gives private lessons, but
also teaches at the Art Alliance, where
she will be teaching a beginning oils and
acrylics workshop August 13-17. As
well, Winters teaches for Galaxy, an educational program that places artists in
schools as teachers.
“Teaching is a very big part of my
daily existence,” wrote Winters via
email. “I enjoy being with students at my
studio or at the Art Alliance. Students
often challenge my abilities to explain
things and I also learn from them, believe
it or not.”
Despite what she describes as a difficult jobs climate for artists, Winters considers herself fortunate to be financially
secure enough to continue her creative
endeavors.
“You can be born as an artist but never
develop as one,” wrote Winters. “It takes
years of hard work to achieve the desirable result of what you want as a person
and an artist. It took me years of
patience, perseverance, and financial and
moral support from my husband to be
where I’m today.”
Clearly Winters sees making and
teaching art as part of her greater quest in
finding purpose.
“I’m searching for the purpose in life,”
wrote Winters. “I came close to understanding the concept of Buddhism, as I
enjoy its peaceful approach to selfimprovement. I think most of my paintings are quiet, peaceful, and meditative in
a way. I want them to be beautiful, so they
would bring joy to others. Unlike landscapes or still lives, even symbolically
painful paintings could be beautiful.”
More information about Winters’ work
can be found at http://www.veronicawintersart.blogspot.com/
and
at
http://www.veronicasart.com.
She will also be selling her work at
stall A 58 at the Central Pennsylvania
Festival of the Arts.
27
July / August 2012
July / August calendar of A & E events
July 1
Art Alliance: Art through Touch Exhibit
at Foxdale Gallery (through August 24)
Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre
County: Photographs from NASA: From
Earth to the Solar System (through July
15)
Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre
County Community Gallery: Ellie
Tarraborelli
Green Drake Gallery: Plein Air—
Painting in the Moment
Saloon: Atomic Supersonic (10:30
p.m.) (Atomic Supersonic plays the
Saloon every Sunday night.)
Websters: Sunday Music Brunch (11
a.m. to 2 p.m.)
Websters: Art exhibitions by Mary
Vollero and Kristina Gibson
Zeno’s: Miss Melanie and the Valley
Rats (9:30 p.m.)
July 2
Websters: Community Yoga with Karen
Sepia (6 p.m.)
July 3
The Saloon: Hotdog Cart (10:30 p.m.)
(Hotdog Cart plays the Saloon every
Tuesday night)
State Theatre: 1776 (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
July 4
State Theatre: 1776 (2 p.m.)
July 5
The Saloon: My Hero Zero (10:30
p.m.) (My Hero Zero plays the Saloon
every Thursday night.)
July 6
Bar Bleu: Low Jack (10:30 p.m.) (Low
Jack plays Bar Bleu every Friday night.)
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain, Captain America (9 p.m.)
July 7
Bar Bleu: Ted McCloskey and the Hi
Fi’s (10:30 p.m.) (Ted McCloskey and the
Hi Fi’s play Bar Bleu every Saturday
night.)
The Saloon: Mr. Hand (10:30 p.m.)
(Mr. Hand plays the Saloon every
Saturday night.)
Websters: Second Winds jazz (7 p.m.)
July 10
Websters: Nittany Valley Writers open
mic
July 11
State Theatre: Babe (12 p.m.) (Part of
the Read It, Watch It series recurring
every Wednesday at 12 p.m.)
State Theatre: Community Percussion
Circle (5:30 p.m.)
Websters: author Keith Nelson (3 p.m.)
July 12
Central Pennsylvania Festival of the
Arts (July 12 - 15)
July 13
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
State Theatre: Syncopation (3 p.m.)
Websters: Sizzle Sticks (7 p.m.)
July 14
Websters: Live music Natalie J. Plumb
(7 p.m.)
July 15
State Theatre: Brio Dance Company (1
p.m.)
Websters: author Barry Kernfield (3
p.m.
July 20
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Randy Travis (8
p.m.)
July 25
Websters: Muriel’s Repair (7 p.m.)
July 27
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain Ampitheatre: Toad
the Wet Sprocket (7 p.m.)
August 1
Green Drake Gallery: Under the
Influence
August 3
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: Tarzan (9 p.m.)
August 5
Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre
County Community Gallery: Kim Gates
Flick
August 10
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
August 17
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
August 20
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: Hugo (9 p.m.)
August 24
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof
(7:30 p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: The Smurfs (9 p.m.)
August 25
Art Alliance: Juried Show (through
September 2)
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof (2
p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
August 26
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof (2
p.m.)
August 29
Websters: Muriel’s Repair (7 p.m.)
August 31
State Theatre: Monty Python and the
Holy Grail (4 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.)
Items for upcoming events listings can
be emailed to the Arts and Entertainment
Section editor Elizabeth TimberlakeNewell at:
[email protected].
28
efit of an original band over a cover-tune
band is that you’re offering a unique product, not just a version of something people
can hear anywhere. The obstacle is that a
lot of the music audience wants to hear the
hits, the stuff they know.
Voices: What are your musical influences?
Rounds: We were lucky to arrive on the
scene at a time when the singer/songwriter
tradition was well established in mainstream American music, so all college students were familiar with the music of writers like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Steven
Stills, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Carole
King, James Taylor, et cetera.
We too were influenced by all these people, but we also drew from the countrybased sound of Guy Clark, Willie Nelson,
Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris.
Going back even further, you can hear
in our harmony style echoes of the folk
music movement of 60s, in both its commercial vein—Peter, Paul & Mary,
Kingston Trio, Chad Mitchell Trio—and
the more rootsy sound of Gordon
Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, and early
Dylan. We’ve even been accused of having bluegrass influences.
July / August 2012
Voices: How do you feel about the live
music scene in State College and the surrounding area?
Rounds: I loved the State College music
scene when we lived and played there
because along with the rock bars, there
were clubs like Rego’s, Highway Pizza,
and Café 210, where people actually came
to listen.
We were fortunate to have an expert
soundman, Jim Thorn, at the helm of a
good PA system, and we took pride in producing crisp, professional shows. You can’t
do acoustic music over the din of 200 students who came to drink beer and hang out,
so listening clubs are crucial to our kind of
band.
One of the drawbacks of State College as
a musical home base is that it’s a cultural
island in the middle of a big, rural state. If
you’re a local band trying to expand to
regional—as we were—it means getting in
the van and driving back and forth to places
like Lancaster, Pittsburgh and Philly. It
wears you out.
Voices: What sort of venues has the band
played?
Rounds: We’ve played many clubs in
State College (some of which are now
Photo courtesy of Jon Rounds
Cover art from “The Chapel Sessions,” the 2010 release for Cartoon.
gone): The All American Alehouse in
Toftrees, The Phryst, Rego’s, Highway
Pizza, Café 210, The Sheraton and many
others. At the Arts Fest—Schwab
Auditorium and the Festival Shell.
Voices: Can readers buy your music
online or on CD anywhere?
Rounds: (All CDs are sold out.) [Our
music] can be bought as digital albums.
Voices: Why are these your last performances?
Rounds: It’s just time. We set pretty high
standards for ourselves, and each year it’s
more of a challenge getting the callouses in
shape to play guitar for hours and the voice
in shape to hit all the notes. We’re the luckiest band in the world when it comes to
fans, employers, and venues.
Our fans listen closely, they know music,
and they’ve been very loyal—Schwab is
packed every year. We’ve also had the
good fortune to work for two excellent Arts
Fest directors, currently Rick Bryant and,
before him, Phil Walz, who’ve been supportive and accommodating. They put us in
Schwab, after all, which is as good as it
gets for an acoustic band. Tom Hesketh,
who assembled the house PA and coordinates sound, is a real pro.
With all the support we’ve received from
folks like these, we think we owe them a
good show.
………………………………………
Local acoustic band Bookends and harmonica player Richard Sleigh will be joining Cartoon on stage for their performance
at Schwab Auditorium on July 13.
Performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Arts
Festival button is required for admission.
Cartoon will also be playing the
American Alehouse on July 14 from 9 p.m.
to 11 p.m.