eted:bLog

Activities are mounting even more!

Since I wrote my last quick update here I have been asked to join the cast in Jacksonville of the thriller, “Wait Until Dark;”  I was also asked to perform in “New Salem Harmony,” at New Salem by the man who wrote it, Mark Mathewson;  I was invited to speak before “The People Speak,” at the Liberty Brew and View showing of that documentary at Capitol City Bar & Grill;  our electro-acoustic combo, “Hot Bag O’ Donuts,” was asked to perform at “A Rally for Nonintervention,” on the Capitol steps in Springfield;  I was asked to host an open mic at Broadway Nites;  and I was asked to create a portrait of Lincoln using soybeans which will be auctioned off at the Macon County Fair to rival the Butter Cow at the Illinois State Fair.

Add to this the previous work of Access 4 Producers Group organizing and website maintenance;  my other music project I am working on, Rebel Bass, is working to release the recording we made last Fall and preparing for a mini tour this Summer;  the radio shows;  and trying to finish up my portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln.

See my website at http://www.TedKeylon.com for dates and times of these events if you are interested.

Well the Decatur Celebration is behind me now and I am working on a bLog about it on my bLog at http://www.LincolnPaintings.com. I want to tell the whole story so that entry is coming in bit by bit.

The event was well worth it although I did not sell as much as I would have liked to. However, I made some good contacts and got some great ideas about how to proceed with the remainder of the Lincoln Bicentennial year. I also ended up on the TV news and the paper both!

Next I have to set up some more auctions (I was able to get one going on ebay which is still active as of this writing) and get the new posters designed by John Griffin to Tinsley Dry Goods. I also am looking forward to finishing my new portraits of Mary Todd Lincoln and Harriet Tubman which were severely delayed by the two plays I was in back to back, “As You Like It,” at UIS Theatre and “Heritage,” at New Salem’s Theater in the Park.

I have been working on a production of a play called “Heritage” which opens this Friday, July 17th at the Theater in the Park at New Salem. I will be portraying Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas. The play is primarily about the women in Lincoln’s life.

Because of this I have been bad about web updates. Let’s see if I can summarize what’s going on since my last post.

In addition to working on the play I have been continuing learning songs on my ukuleles, I have three ukes now, my main one is a tenor I just purchased. It is an archtop design with f-holes and is another electric-acoustic model like the soprano I bought that looks like a Les Paul. That soprano is made by Mahalo and the tenor is made by Kala.

The trio is coming along, with a bass and percussion to add to my uke and singing and I have played my first paying gig out at New Salem as the opening act for the last play that ran, “Forever This Land.” I had to play alone because the trio is not ready yet, but hopefully they will be ready in time to do one of my upcoming shows at New Salem, one Friday, July 24th and another August 22nd.

I am getting ready for the Decatur Celebration where I will be part of the Lincoln Writers and Artists section in the “Lincoln Heritage” area. I will be there as an artist selling my Lincoln prints.

Prints have been selling well at Tinsley Dry Goods in downtown Springfield and I have them available at Prairie Archives bookstore as well now. We started new editions of 5″ X 7″ on paper which are priced at $30 retail.

We have been getting some more work done on the house. We had all the windows fixed so they don’t need to be propped open (that has probably never been done in the 110 years the hosue has been standing!) plus we had some tuckpointing done in the basement. During this we found out we needed to have the coil replaced on our central air unit, something that really affects the value of the house) and it ended up costing a little over $900!

I decided a while back to cancel my political talk show on Restore the Republic / Revolution Broadcasting. It came down to where I had to cancel something and that show just required too much advanced preparation to fit into my already overburdened schedule.  Also, I really felt that I was spinning my wheels with it and that I get more accomplished just by posting news articles on Facebook. I wish them all well at the station though as they fight the good fight.

I am still in a quandary about the Basement Radio Network. We still simulcast all our remaining shows that we do from the home studio on BRN, but I have been concerned about how the station is affecting my reputation with potential art customers and those in the political activist community. Most of the time, if someone were to tune in at random to the station they would most likley hear something that was not only offensive, but entirely ignorant, hateful, and dishonorable in nature. Because of this, I have been relunctant to promote our involvement with the station in anything other than a minor way.

Actually I celebrate the New Year on April 1st, but since everyone else celebrates it on January 1st I may as well look ahead and see what’s coming.

The Lincoln Bicentennial is the main thing. I need to get my shopping cart in order, I have a poster by Jon Griffin that is to be completed soon, I have two more Lincoln-related paintings to finish, I will be opening a Cafepress shop pretty soon as well (that might take the place of the shopping cart of my own for a little while - thanks to artist Mary Hillier for encouraging me to start one), I will be auditioning for “As You Like It,” at the UIS Theater, the prints of my Lindsay portrait, “Holy Desire,” will be getting finished up, our old band, Black Ops, may be starting back up again with Joe Hensley from Decatur A.K.A. Agent Orange, I am finally finishing the transcription of Anna Ella Carroll’s pamphlet, “The Relation of National Government to the Revolted Citizens,” and posting it on the AnnaEllaCarroll.info website, we will be recording a new episode of our cable access show, Blowing the Whistle, and a new Internet radio initiative will be launching from our home studio to simulcast all our shows on the Basement Radio Network.