Jim Thorpe

Last-minute shopping down Main Street | PoconoRecord.com

Last-minute shopping down Main Street | PoconoRecord.com

I miss Baseball season!

Juke's still jumpin': Main Street Jukebox has survived (and thrived) after fire, bad economy ... and iPods | PoconoRecord.com

Juke's still jumpin': Main Street Jukebox has survived (and thrived) after fire, bad economy ... and iPods | PoconoRecord.com

"The Bell Tower" a new photo that I have displayed for a group art show at Starbucks in December.

Go Frank!!

Grand Master Frank Frazetta's cover painting for the Lancer paperback, Conan the Conqueror by Robert E. Howard, sold this week to a private collector for a reported $1,000,000. The previous record price for a Frazetta painting was the $251,000 All Star Auctions fetched for the cover to Escape on Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 2008.

There has always been something of a mystique surrounding Frazetta's Conan covers; partly because they were the "first" successful Conan paperbacks and the first exposure to the character for the Baby Boomer generation of readers; partly because Frank got the assignment at the time when his painting skills had improved significantly and he felt he had something to prove; partly because the Frazettas had kept all of the Conan covers for the last 40-odd years (except for Conan of Aquilonia, which was stolen from Lancer's office when the publisher went bankrupt). Burroughs and Vampirella paintings came and went, but Frank and Ellie wouldn't even entertain offers from interested buyers for the Conans.

The covers only rarely followed Howard's descriptions or story situations and when asked if he had ever read the books Frank recently replied, "I didn¹t read any of it. It was too opposite of what I do. I told them that. So, I drew him my way. It was really rugged. And it caught on. I didn't care about what people thought. People who bought the books never complained about it. They probably didn¹t read them."

A little Frazetta swagger decades after the fact, but he was genuinely excited by the opportunity at the time (and relied on friend Roy Krenkel to feed him descriptions and plot summaries) and it shows in the resulting covers – with Conan the Conqueror perhaps the penultimate painting in the canon.

And, yes, people did read the books.

All of the Conan covers have been displayed at the Frazetta Museum in East Stroudsburg over the last decade. Whether the others will be offered for sale in the future isn't known at this time.

More galleries mean more opportunities for up-and-coming Pocono artists | PoconoRecord.com

More galleries mean more opportunities for up-and-coming Pocono artists | PoconoRecord.com

This was a total surprise that made my day. A review of some of my photos from the Dreamland show.

Tom LeFevre

Photography

Dreamland exhibition

Fall 2009

Stroudsburg, PA.

Any new photographic voice is automatically suspect. The development of modern technology has left all photographers baking under the heat lamp of Photoshop, digitalization, image manipulation, and cell phone camera over use. Besides these contemporary tools, the shadows of Streichen, Strand, Adams, Witken, Mondotti, and Weston, respectively, are permanently lurking as perpetual influences. This said, the photography of Tom LeFevre attempts not only a reconciliation with the historical influences and an acceptance of modern techniques, but a break with the idea that the initial image is the final statement, something many of these past visionaries also shared and understood.

In photography it is difficult to establish a personal vision. It seems as if all of the images have been taken and reworked. LeFevre, however, has found an eye. He has developed within his series of photos a direction that warrants serious further investigation and development. Hidden in the series of typical beach scenes and animals (well done in their own right) is a true artistic statement. Focusing on the beauty of decay, echoed in the work of Strand and Matta-Clark, and connected further to the painted canvases of native Pennsylvanians Charles Sheeler and John Moore, LeFevre's focus on dilapidated buildings and the beauty evident in their decline becomes his work's epic moment. The buildings not only sit on the landscape, they sprout from it. The focal angle fits each building. And through the use of cutting edge photo-combination and manipulation he is able to present a history of the structure rooted in the present.

The image's details not only leap off the page, but shimmer in their presentation; the viewer is instantly captured by the splintering wood, rusting metal and broken glass. The ages of the structures are not important. The photos become examinations of not only the environment, but the history. LeFevre forces the viewer to confront the circumstances that have produced the decline. He stands outside the lines, and focuses his vision on the permanence of history, and the debt owed to those who have come before. He first loves the scenes he takes; they become art later. However, without the initial image, all the technology in the world could not produce the artistic vision.

The difference between Tom LeFevre and the millions of photographers taking millions of images is that between his eye and the shutter button leaps the instinct to produce images that speak to a deeper understanding of time and space, and the beauty evident in all things, at all times, in all places.

James Lansing

Curator

Tonight at the Jukebox, come on out and meet Earl Kessler an amazing artist who has over 40 pieces of his awesome work displayed for the month of November. Opening reception will take place from 7-9 pm.

Dewey Decimal And The System

My submission to a mask themed photo show opening October 3 2009 at Pocono Community Theater.

A very cool Photo/Art Show I am a part of opens October 3 2009

Ritchie Murder Live from Main St. Jukebox

Lewis & Clarke

On Thursday July 30, 2009 at 7 PM we are very proud and excited to be helping present an evening with Lewis & Clarke with Caroline Weeks live from the McMunn Planetarium located at East Stroudsburg University. Dr. D. Buclkey will also host an amazing star show. We will be selling a very limited number of tickets at the Jukebox. Tickets will go on sale Monday June 19 at 10 am. Tickets are $8 in advance and will be $10 at the door. Come on out and support some great indie music and show some love for our local talent.

http://www.myspace.com/mainstjukebox

Group Photo Show August 2, 2009

The Main St. Jukebox "Gets Decked"

Saturday August 1 2009

Over 20 artists have lent their talent to customizing skate decks for charity.

There will be a silent auction held the night of the event and a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to Camp Papillon Animal Adoption and Rescue Group. Stop on out to the Main St. Jukebox and help support local artists as well as contribute to a great organization.

Main St. Jukebox

606 Main St.

Stroudsburg, PA

18360

570-424-2246

A Day at the Lake

"My Boy"

My boys in Endzone playing the grand opening of The Inside Scoop in Coopersburg.

Steve McDaniel Band Tonight at Sarah Street Grill in the Burg!

"Ruins"

"Abandon" - Wilkes Barre, PA.

Slaying Dragons in New Hope, PA.

Tim from Strand Of Oaks and Lou from Lewis and Clarke playing the Jukebox on Record Store Day.

This Saturday April 18, 2009 is "Record Store Day!" Come on out to the Main St. Jukebox and help show support for indie record stores everywhere! The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.  This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. 

Main St. Jukebox

606 Main St.

Stroudsburg, PA 18360

570-424-2246

Wilkes Barre, PA.

FLORBLANCA SANTA TERESA, COSTA RICA 

Sunday Drive

Hiking the "AT"

Lake Lenape

Nicole Erin Carey performing live at Main St. Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA

Beach Paradise in Costa Rica

The Best Dog in the World!!

New work to a picture that was taken this past summer at "Founders Day" in Delaware Water Gap, PA.

Photo Exhibit

The whole month of March myself as well as my good friend Fake111 will be showing our photography at Starbucks on Main St. in Stroudsburg, PA.  There will be an opening reception on Saturday March 7 from 5-7 PM.  

Fake Photography