| 2008 Noel Rockmore Insider Update #1 The Adventure begins again.... |
Greetings!
Happy 2008! Thank you for attending our 1st Rockmore Get Together on November 24th at Preservation Hall and/or wanting to be be included on this adventure by email! Each of the underlined links will take you to a picture or web site when you click on them. December 15th is Rockmore's birthday - he would have been 79. Happy Birthday Noel - welcome back!
Most of you received our invitation that had the background letter of how we came to be doing this project. In a nutshell, Rich & Tee Marvin uncovered 1200+ works of the artist Noel Rockmore (1928-1995) in Shirley Marvin's storage in New Orleans a year after Katrina. Shirley Marvin felt that Noel Rockmore was an unrecognized Master American Artist of the 20th Century. Shirley felt the only way to help him get recognized was to keep a large body of his work together. For a year, Rich & Tee have researched, catalogued and documented Noel Rockmore's work. We have visited Rockmore's family and friends to try to get our arms around this important artistic archeological discovery.
The Noel Rockmore Project has taken on a life of its' own as we have uncovered a fantastic story about what we consider to be the First Family of American Artist. We decided to gather interested people together with our 1st big Get Together at Preservation Hall in New Orleans on November 24th, 2007. We are now sending you the Insiders Summary of that first event. |
| November 24th Preservation Hall Get Together |
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The first Get-Together for The Noel Rockmore Project went great.
Early in the proceedings, Rich read a quote from Shirley's diary about Larry Borenstein who was at the center of getting these characters together.
"Noel, as you and I walked over to see the Homage painting, we spoke of The Quarter and how we feel about it, not only the of Quarter, but how our whole world is slowly being changed here. And at least, in spite of his uncanny ability to irritate, Larry is very much the center of our world. And I am one of Larry's people, and so are you. And you know exactly what I mean by that. We are all Larry's people and his feeling for you Noel is at the very center of Larry.
Rich then spoke on how important the Jaffe family was in picking up the ball from Larry's world and carrying it to the present day. In all the documentation we have seen, whenever characters of the Quarter were desperate and really needed help they called Alan Jaffe. He was always there and refused recognition for his acts. Never has this spirit been needed in New Orleans more than today and The Jaffe family certainly carries it on. We hope to as well. |
| Guests and Organizers |
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Guests arrived and had cocktails and food in the courtyard where a mini Noel Rockmore display of 25 paintings was setup. The rain held off and after an hour of socializing, "old home week at the hall"- some called it, we gathered in the Hall for our first meeting. Welcome statements were made by Shirley Marvin, and then Chris Davis (Noel Rockmore's son) fresh in from NYC followed by Tee & Rich Marvin.
Gypsy Lou Webb, Rita Posselt and Mary May Impastato, three very special women from Rockmore's life, were then introduced. Gypsy Lou Webb was Rockmore's friend, confidant, good luck charm and favorite art subject throughout his life in New Orleans. She is currently the subject of a Film by Wayne Ewing "The Outsiders of New Orleans: Loujon Press" and a book by Jeff Weddle " Bohemian: New Orleans The Story of The Outsider and Loujon Press."
Many people helped organize, setup and provide names for the invitations and we can not thank you enough in your effort.
Sacha Borenstein Clay with daughters Tatiana Clay and Megan Marino were supportive from the moment we met them. Tatiana brought her friends who are new Rockmore fans to the event. Sacha's sister Rachael of the Borenstein Family also joined us. Dodie Smith-Simmons and her husband John "Kid" Simmons were essential in putting the guest list together. Many who are in the Insiders group have Dodie to thank including JoAnne Smith & Bruce Brice. Also, Don Marshall Executive Director from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Executive Assistant Shana Hudson-Stowe and Edward Anderson director of the Intitute of Jazz Culture at Dillard were Dodie connections.
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| The Presentation for Gypsy Lou |
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We had a special presentation for Gypsy Lou Webb in our opening hall session. Gypsy Lou had one painting of herself on her wall that Rockmore had given her. One day he brought a lady patron in and sold the painting of Gypsy to her right off Gypsy's wall for $5000. "Don't worry," he told her, "I'll paint you another," but he never did. Shirley presented a 1970 Noel Rockmore watercolor to Gypsy Lou, of Lou and her husband Jon Webb.
Rich Marvin read this Jon Webb 21st anniversary quote from Lou's new book, Bohemian New Orleans to Lou and also to his wife Tee, whom he has been married to for 21 years. "Doesn't seem like a whole 21 years ago and I only wish to God I could have half as much as that more to go with you, you sweetest and most beautiful girl in the world, and the most understanding devoted, honest and clean. I love you, love you, more than ever and will always love only you darling." Not a dry eye in the Hall. Jon was to die 11 years later in 1971.
By the way, Dec 6th was the Premier of "the Outsiders of New Orleans: Loujon Press," Gypsy Lou Webb's movie at the Prytania Theater. It was packed and those that were in attendance said it was fantastic. Rumor has it Gypsy Lou might have found a rent free place in the French Quarter as well.... to be continued. |
| The Show & Tell and FREE raffle and DVD Giveaways |
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We ended the first hour with a Show & Tell of books and magazines that had been essential for our research on this project. The Tom Bethell book " George Lewis: A Jazzman from New Orleans" gave us our clearest picture of William Russell and the jazz scene at the time. Tom Sancton, who attended with his family, has a book Songs for My Fathers that gave us an insiders look at Preservation Hall and growing up in New Orleans. Tom, who was a writer, editor, and correspondent for Time Magazine for 22 years, was kind enough to sign 3 books that were raffled away for free. His wife, Sylvaine Sancton, currently has a sculpture exhibition at Cole Pratt Gallery.
William Carter's book "Preservation Hall" let us know everything about how Preservation Hall came together and who was involved. The B&W "Preservation Hall Portraits" book by Rockmore, Borenstein and Bill Russell is a great resource and collectors item for any jazz fan. Many have expressed that they would like to see all of these original Rockmore jazz portraits in color. Part of our project will involve trying to track down, identify and document the 700+ jazz oils and sketches.
Ebay has been a great research tool and Rich exhibited many of the Life Magazines featuring Noel Rockmore (actually Noel Davis when he was in Life - he changed his name right after that - we'll cover that another time) and his parents Gladys Rockmore Davis and Floyd Macmillan Davis.
We finished our 1st hour with a FREE raffle. Sacha Borenstein Clay provided 4 Original Programs from the 1964 Rockmore Show that were a coveted prize win. We gave away 3 of Gypsy Lou Webb's new book and Gypsy Lou won one herself which she signed and gave to Rita.
At the end of this session everyone in attendance got a FREE DVD of the 30 minute Noel Rockmore documentary that Shirley produced while Noel was alive in 1992. If you were not there but would like one of these FREE DVDs see Action Item #1 at the bottom of this email. |
| More Guests & the Final Slide Show |
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| We took a quick break with more cocktails and food in the courtyard. Many folks were there with literary and media backgrounds including Carol Gelderman - author, Frank De Caro & Rosan Jordan - authors, Jack Davis - managing editor of Figaro in the early '70s then an editor at The States-Item, the Picayune and Chicago Trib & publisher of the Hartford Courant, Doug MacCash - Times Picayune Art, Greg Breeland and Lori McWhorter - Bryant Galleries, Steve Steinberg & guest - CBS then ABC TV & Nightline Producer, Lars Edegran - music, Brenda Maitland - wine expert, and friends of Rockmore like Nona Bernard and Bruce Brice - artist, David Snow & Sadie Gentry and new collectors like Myles & Anne Robichaux.
We reconvened back in the Hall for a slide show of some 500 of Rockmore's work covering his lifetime and including many of the following periods: Early 50s, Coney Island, New York City, Early New Orleans, Jazzfest series, Sister Gertrude, shipyards, medical, Pass Christian, Mexico, San Francisco, Morocco, Israel, Paris, Venice, Haiti, Civil War, Hippies, Scrapbook, Nature, Immigrants, Mardi Gras Backstage, Sculpture, Grid series, Egyptian series, Tall & Short people, Tubes, Family Portraits, Self portraits, Famous Portraits, prints and much more.
Rockmore has a talented sister Deborah and talented children Robin, Emilie & Chris. In 1958, he chose to divorce Betty ( Elizabeth Hunter), leave the children (they were 5,3 and 2), move to New Orleans and change his name. He would not reunite until later when they were young adults. We enjoyed meeting and visiting with them this summer. The following are samples of the works of Deborah Davis, Chris Davis, Emilie Rhys- Heller. Emilie has a unique family portrait on display at Bryant Gallery. Daughter Robin Kelly is not an artist, she is a very talented veterinarian and loves animals.
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| Thank Yous and Next on the Noel Rockmore Project |
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Special Thanks to the following: Noel's family, Mary May, Chris, Gypsy Lou, Rita, & Sandy for being there, Sacha and her family for taking us in, Andy Antippas for his encouragement and insight, John & Dodie for putting us in touch with the right people, JoAnn Clevenger - Upperline Rest. - who really believes in Rockmore and the project, also Rex Rose and Nona Bernard for their ongoing help. Thank you to Anton, Leon & Mary Kenyon and Joy Sonnier & Ed Moseley for going beyond the call of duty for your friends.
Thanks to Gene Daymude who is always taking his time to dream along with us. Gene gave us a heads up early on and advised, "you will hear many personal stories about Rockmore that you won't believe possible. The task is to STAY FOCUSED ON THE ART and finding the art and then you will know who Rockmore is and not just how he acted. Rockmore's gift to the world is his art."
Thanks to the following family members who came and worked, Paul & Sondra Mayon (Tee's sister) who did all travel logistics and setup, Anne Swanson (Rich's sister) - videographer, Ken & Macy Litton (our daughter) who did setup and reception, Sam Marvin (our son) who did technical work and support, Cady Litton (granddaughter) and Taylor Rose Marvin (daughter) - who did the photos and to Tory (son) and Mary (daughter) who were there in spirit. Special, special thanks to our moms, Marie Abadie and Shirley Marvin who make all things seem possible. They believe in us the same way Shirley always believed in Noel Rockmore.
We believe in you - helping us with this project!
Next on the Noel Rockmore Project
March 26-29, 2008 - Our Next big New Orleans Rockmore event to coincide with the National Art Education Association National Convention in New Orleans - details to come.
July 2008 - 1st Cape Cod Rockmore Get-Together
September or October 2008 - 1st NYC Get-Together
November or December 2008 - New Orleans Get-Together | |
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Action Item for you!
This includes spouses, family members, friends, coworkers and people you know who like this sort of adventure. They can sign up as Insiders at the bottom of this email. The ability to get the word out is the critical factor to the success of the Noel Rockmore Project!
Email us for the following items:
1) To Get your FREE Noel Rockmore DVD if you missed out
2) To Have us schedule a visit to document your Rockmores in person
3) To Let us know about the Rockmores you have, want or wish to sell
4) To Share an idea, suggestion, experience or Rockmore story especially about any of the paintings.
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