Legends and Idols (2022) Movie Script
1
In order to manifest,
you must first
have the vision.
You have to then put
all your thoughts and energies
and vision into
visualizing your thing
and bring it to yourself.
In order to be
its highest and best,
you have to be doing it not
at the expense of others,
not just to visualize it,
but to modify
all of your behavior.
So, all of your purposes,
all of your behaviors,
are for the manifestation
of that desire.
Hi, I'm Willard Snow.
I'm an artist
from Redondo Beach, California.
I paint rock star portraits,
I paint musical instruments,
giant guitars,
and so much more.
After completing my MFA,
Master of Fine Arts degree
in San Francisco,
which is like a doctorate...
a Ph.D. in art,
I worked as a graphic artist.
I worked as a faux finisher.
I've been a metalsmith,
which was really awesome.
Heck, I even sold
ice cream for a while,
while I was
dreaming of painting
and starting
an art community.
More recently, I was
living down by the beach,
splitting things between
web design, graphic design,
building a business, trying to
have an income, and painting.
And I was managing
my web design clients
and had one big client,
and they had a major piece
of engineering
that they wanted.
And it was paying the bills,
but it wasn't
what I wanted to do.
I wanted to get
back into painting.
You know, I was
looking to get back into art
instead of doing
what was practical.
It reminded me
of that ice cream gig.
I was raising kids,
we were raising the family,
I really needed the money,
and the job was good.
But I really needed
to get back to my art.
And my boss
was sensing my frustration.
And had a talk with me.
And I decided to quit.
And when I got home,
my wife at the time
told me she was pregnant.
And I thought that I had
just made the biggest mistake.
But working there all
day just was not what I wanted.
You know, my heart
definitely wasn't there.
I had a friend
who knew a gallery chain owner
with high-end clientele.
Beverly Hills, Las Vegas.
So, we got
excited and tried to get
an appointment to show my art.
- Hey, Douglas.
- Hey, Willard, how are you?
- Good to see you.
- Come on up.
We met at
his office hoping to schedule
an introduction
to the gallery owner.
They talked on the phone and
all the owner wanted to know
was which galleries
I had already been showing in.
It was a familiar catch-22.
The meeting went nowhere.
Undeterred by
the catch-22, Willard did what
he always does when
confronted by setbacks.
He dove back into a painting
he'd been working on.
It was the culmination of
many of his ideas and drawings
that he had been
doing for quite a while.
Then he got a new idea.
When he started
painting these abstract,
black and white paintings,
you know, they were amazing,
very brilliant.
And I was
looking at him thinking,
"Wow, it's like there's
something trying to come out."
There's like, a face,
or an animal, or something.
Like, I could see it in there.
I decided
to start painting portraits
of, uh, rock and roll legends.
I was ready to make
some changes to my life.
I kept hearing about people
finding free places to work,
or these great spaces to work,
these live-work spaces.
Artist's lofts, warehouses.
And that's what
I needed: More space.
He tapped into
his vast network of friends
and let them know
that he was looking
for a free place to work.
And within a few months,
it popped up.
I called a friend to say hi,
and I was shocked to hear from
his wife that he had dementia.
So, we talked,
and she offered me her garage.
So, I had a temporary studio.
And, uh, she was an artist.
She understood my need.
And so, she wanted to help me.
In April of this year, I was
introduced to Mike Bradford.
And he asked me if
I wanted to show my paintings
at his CD release party.
Um, that was pretty exciting.
And then it was more exciting
because the CD release party
was at
the Gibson Guitar Showroom,
which is a beautiful venue.
And while I was there with my
work, uh, Linda Hayden really
enjoyed my work and asked
me if I would like to paint one
of these
10-foot Les Paul guitars.
So, then, you know, the
Guitar Town curator called me
and told me he'd get me the...
Actually, he didn't call me.
He just sent me an email
saying he was going to send me
the application, that I needed
to fill the application out.
And, uh, you know, that they
would get back to me
and they'd, you know, get me
a guitar by July 11th
or something. And I was like,
"No, no, no, no, no.
I'll fill out
the application and everything,
but you gotta
get me a guitar now."
And then I kind
of told them why,
'cause we were doing the shows.
Gibson sponsors, uh,
the Sunset Music Festival.
As part
of the Sunset Music Festival,
they give these guitars
for the Guitar Town Museum
to artists to paint.
They asked me to participate,
and I wrote a proposal
that I would paint Bob Marley,
Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia,
and Marc Bolan on these
10-foot Les Paul sculptures.
So, Willard grabbed
four of these guitars
when they were offered to him.
And I thought, "God, he's...
I don't know,
he's maybe biting off
a little more than he can chew,
because there was
a deadline and his work
can be very detailed.
He gets really
into, uh, the process.
You can see a lot
of detail in his work,
and he didn't
just paint the fronts.
He also painted the backs.
Again, a lot of them
with very intense detail.
It was a lot of work.
And I remember
going over there one day
and he had been up
all night trying to finish
one of the guitars.
And he was just, like,
totally burned out,
couldn't push
a paintbrush anymore.
And it still wasn't done.
And the deadline was, like,
a couple days away.
It was coming up pretty quick,
and he still had
a lot more work to do.
I've always listened
to music when I did art
"cause it creates
the creative space.
There was a time
when I wouldn't even
look at a television program.
It was just music,
art, and the television might
be on just as a moving picture,
but we didn't... I never
paid attention to it.
It's probably because
of music that I'm an artist.
I have a background in,
you know, academic art,
but the thing
that inspired me was music.
And the thing that inspired
me to get into the bands
that I listened
to was the album covers.
The sixth grade, my friends
are playing Yes' Fragile.
And, uh, you know,
I was hooked.
Um, and then all those artists:
Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
You got H.R. Giger, and
then got Yes with Roger Dean,
and you've got, uh, just so
many bands
who had a visual theme
that ran kind
of parallel to their music.
And that's turned me on a lot.
And then on top of it,
they were great.
My art is an outgrowth of that.
You said it's done?
I keep working on it.
Oh, yeah.
- Too much.
- Yeah.
Wow, it's... it's
looking like it's almost done.
Just the neck,
I gotta finish the neck.
Ah, it's coming out good.
So, I had
my free space to work in,
but no income.
And I saw
an opportunity, you know,
to go in a new direction,
do something profound
that I couldn't do by myself,
but could with a major
musical instrument company.
Although Gibson
paid for the paint,
the Guitar Town gig
was a non-profit for charity.
It was hard spending all night
and day painting
towards the deadline.
Luckily, I have good
friends and I've helped them,
and they stepped
up and helped me.
It was two o'clock last night,
four o'clock the night before.
Coming out really nice.
This one I think
is your best one so far.
Yeah,
I think so too. I gotta paint.
So, we got the hu... beach
reporter guy com...
What time is it?
He's coming over here noon.
- Eleven.
- He's going to be coming
in an hour.
So, we gotta clean
this place up a little bit.
"Cause it's total entropy.
I actually did four portraits:
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix,
Jerry Gar... no, Bob Marley,
and, uh, Marc Bolan.
And then, uh, a friend
of mine named AC Alexander,
who's a lead guitar
player for, uh, Mike Bradford.
Um, Mike Bradford
has produced Madonna,
Dave Stewart, and Deep
Purple, and Kid Rock, and...
AC showed him my paintings
and suggested that I show
the paintings at
the CD release party at Gibson.
And, uh, these are going
to sell, um, at auction...
end of the year,
beginning of the year.
And they'll probably
sell for about $20,000.
It all kinda dovetailed...
about junior high,
'cause I've always
been drawing.
You know, my sister
had me drawing
uh, these patterns
that looked like fire.
And if you look at
my... the Johnny Cash painting
that, uh, I sold to Peter,
that is one of the first kind
of pattern designs that I...
I started drawing that when
I was, like, six years old
watching Star Trek
with my sister, Jeannie,
'cause she was doing it.
And she would
write words and fill pages
with colored pen,
and... and I would copy her.
And I started
copying anatomy drawings,
and I was always attracted
to this biomorphic stuff.
And I just got
more into pattern.
And then, yeah,
we get into rock and roll,
and we're giving
each other album covers.
And then in junior high,
I start working, uh...
for the newspaper,
doing art for the newspaper,
and just getting steered
in the direction of being
the creative tool.
So, "Oh, yeah, we need that.
He... Billy Snow can do that."
And then it just
kept on, you know?
We're giving each other
album cover... albums and...
And getting all
turned on to that.
And then, um, I'm copying it.
I do some work for
the newspaper, and everybody,
all my friends and,
you know, my parents,
and teachers are all,
"That's... that's the thing,
you know,
that you're gonna do."
Hey, there's
a nice girl coming over.
All my friends were
coming over
to see the guitars,
and bringing food,
and helping out.
And I had recently met Irene.
So, I invited her to
come over and paint with us.
And when she saw
what I was doing, she said,
"Oh, so, this is what
suffering for your art means."
And then she painted with us.
And it was fun.
It was interesting.
It was something different.
It was something
that I didn't know about him.
You know, at the time,
she also needed
help painting her cottage.
So, I went over there
and I painted her cottage.
I finished painting
the cottage and...
and then I never left.
I was talking
this guy about your project.
He said, "Aw, I'd
like to get a guitar painted
by the event,
and get a picture.
- And.
- What event?
By the event...
The Sunset Music Festival...
Painted by who?
By you, and he said
he would pay 1,000 bucks.
For next year?
No, he wants it tomorrow.
Yeah, okay, 1,000 bucks, I'll...
When were you talking to him?
That's what I told him.
I said he would do it,
'cause, you know,
he... he needs to make
a little more money right now.
So, he's kind of stressed out.
But I said he would do it.
So, I brought the guitar over.
You wanna see it?
Yeah! Ha ha!
There it is.
1,000 bucks?
He'd pay 1,000
bucks to paint that?
What do you think?
- Oh, that's awesome.
- Can you paint that?
With nail polish.
Willard must've really
hit it off with her,
because soon after,
they were a couple.
I have a friend, AC Alexander.
He was a lead
guitarist in a touring band,
and I had built
a website for him.
I'd known him a few years.
And one day he called
and asked me if I'd paint this
custom-made guitar
that he was having built.
I was excited, for sure.
And, uh, he sent me the body,
and after I was
finished with the body,
I shipped it off
to the guitar maker.
- Hey!
- Hey.
- Steve.
- Will.
Will, nice to meet you.
Come on in.
- Hey, hey! What's up, Will?
- Hey.
Good to see ya, man.
How you doing?
- Good.
- Check it. Here she is.
My heaven prime baby,
ready in action.
So, tell us what you've done.
- Um...
- What'd you do to it?
Well, what has been done
that's new... wraparound bridge.
Right in there.
And to get around, I wanted
the Gibson element to be
able to do the ace freely.
Check, check,
check, check,
check, check, check.
Wanted to be able to do
that because I'd have the space
and I didn't want to do
anything within the art
from the body
that was pre-drilled.
So, a handy little
kill switch.
Just put it in
and it blends right in there.
So, what is that, a...
So, what that does,
it allows me to up go
bup, bup, bup, bup,
bup, bup, bup, bup, bup, bup.
Allows me turn the tone
on and off, on and off,
on and off like a cut circuit.
I can't do that, there's not
a room and a crowd in here,
and it was already pre-done.
Yeah. So, I didn't want
to drill
anything more,
- put anything else.
- Sure.
It was the same thing too,
within... coming within this,
because
we tried other companies,
but the studs
were already drilled.
Ah, shit.
And so, for this
bridge right here...
This is the TuMcrow's bridge,
it's what fit.
Because to fill in
dowel and redo would...
Now I'm drilling into art.
Well, the most important thing
is that it's a quality piece.
As long as it's
a good quality piece,
you're going to get some
good tone out of it, right?
Seeing Willard and getting
to know him and his art,
it was absolutely fantastic.
So, I tracked him down,
and phoned him, and I said,
"Willard, I'm having
this guitar custom-made.
It has all
of these things, you know,
that I'm combining
into it that, you know,
other companies
have done that I
all wanted in one guitar,
and I want you to paint it.
And I'm not gonna
tell you what I want.
I just want you to paint it."
I gave him the body,
and gave him the neck.
And about two
weeks later came back...
this amazing,
amazing piece of art.
When it went back to the
finishing guys with the clear
coating because it was
raised up, the specific paint
that was used... the acrylic,
uh, from the white over
to the other white, over
to the black... they're like,
"Oh, how do
we do this, and rub it,
and buff it down, and get
the contours to sit right?"
And what it was, was, "No,"
I said, "Don't smooth it out.
Every single design
pattern you hear right here,
I can feel
underneath my fingertips."
And I'm telling you not
only is it visually... um,
it, you know, gets you moving,
there's so much going on to it.
There's also a feel thing.
There's a touch as
well, too, when I'm playing
the instrument, not just
playing within the fretboard,
and you know,
playing over the strings here,
but just the way
that it feels against the body,
the way that it feels
against the arm,
the way that it sits.
And it has unleashed...
hours and hours and hours
of inspiration to me.
I love the way
this guitar plays.
And it just feels so pocketed,
it feels so comfortable,
thanks to what
the guys at Acacia
did in making
such an awesome guitar.
And with
Willard's inspiration in it,
I feel that right there,
that attention to detail, every
single time that I pick
this one up, and that I sit,
and I write, and I work on it.
And for my solo record
that I'm doing right now,
that I'm doing with, um,
Michael Bradford producing,
this really
has been the workhorse
so far in all of the writing.
This has been
the one in my lap.
It feels the best
when I'm Pro Tooling
on my laptop
and everything else.
So, I absolutely
love it, and it's unique.
And to think that it's
not just a really cool design,
this is a... a real piece
of art, you know?
What if, uh, you know, Da Vinci
or somebody else paints
something on some
instrument, you know?
"Oh, great," you know,
later on is he's so great,
you put it up on the wall and
this then becomes something.
Well, I know that I have
something very special here
within the artwork
that Willard Snow does.
But instead of putting
it up on the wall, no,
it's getting workhorsed.
It's in the studio,
it'll be on stage.
It fly
with me wherever I go.
So, having that relationship
with an instrument,
knowing
that that's your, you know,
that's your go-to
and that's what you like,
that's what
you really feel within set
for the way
that it's put together.
It's... It's awesome.
I was stressed out
up to the last minute getting
the four giant guitars
finished
for the Sunset Music Festival.
The paint was still
drying on two of the guitars
when they came to pick
them up for the festival.
One still wasn't finished,
so I had to deliver it myself.
We were so rushed
that I cracked my windshield,
pushing it into my SUV.
The morning of the festival,
I was still painting a few
spots as the show opened.
The theme
of the festival is the history
of the Sunset Strip, so my
artists tie into that theme.
Hi, Johnny.
Yeah, I'm a representative
at the Showroom
in Beverly Hills, California.
This is becoming a... an annual
ritual, yeah, these guitars?
Oh, yeah.
You mean the Guitar Town thing?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's great.
They do it for
charity every year.
It's been really good for us.
They put them up for
display on the Sunset Strip
and everyone...
Thousands of people every day
get to view
them as they drive by.
Who came up with the idea?
I think it was the mayor
of, uh... of West Hollywood.
They bring a lot of people
around, and good...
Good photo ops. You know,
it's... it's a good thing.
It was great.
It was a lot of fun.
The real surprise
is when they ended up
in the center
of Sunset Boulevard,
Right at the... the entrance
from Beverly Hills to...
West Hollywood,
where the most traveled areas
of Sunset Boulevard,
where, you know,
stars are constantly
going back and forth,
and all the hot
shots drive through there.
And these guitars are
right in the center divider,
right where the traffic jam is.
So, everybody
slows down right there,
and a lot of people
have been noticing 'em.
When I first saw
his painted guitar sculptures
on Sunset Boulevard,
I thought,
"Wow, this can really give
him a lot of exposure and...
And be great for his career."
Then we went
to the Andaz Hotel on Sunset,
where he had two more.
I think those are permanent.
Willard had to recover
after painting the guitars.
He didn't have much money
because the Guitar Town
event was for charity.
There were backed up bills
to pay, deferred maintenance,
and he had
to find a new studio since
the free one
he had was only temporary.
So, he called on his clients
and dug up new work,
doing graphic design,
and painting houses.
Start working my social media,
just came up with this tribute
post idea, every day
important historical events,
or birthdays
that have occurred.
I had some
processing apps on my phone,
and I played with them,
and then I started compositing,
and the apps
could do a lot more
than they could a year before.
My life where I am...
That's right. Yeah, we want to
see the personal side, too.
And you can do it yourself,
and people
actually like the raw...
- Yeah.
- Um...
They love that.
They like it more raw,
like, real, too.
Yeah, okay, good.
So, I... I... I'm working
it pretty hard,
and it's grown really fast.
That's working hard,
you know...
An investor discovered Willard
online soon after.
He called me,
"Hey, I'm really
interested in your art.
I want to help you.
I think this Legends and Idols
thing is really cool.
I'd like to see it grow.
I'd like to see it be
a business and I can help you.
I'm gonna have money."
And then about a year later,
he said, "I got the money.
I got the money."
And I said, "Really?"
He said he wanted
to move to California,
and, "I want you
to find a building for us."
And we would
work on his enterprise,
and I would have a studio.
My new investor
secured this spot for our new
gallery with a hefty
deposit on a handshake,
which got us
into the building.
We then began negotiating the
lease with Tony, the landlord.
I called John Felix
to help manage it.
This guy that owns the
building, you know, he's like,
"Well, you know..."
John had a gallery
near Beverly Hills for quite
some time and ran
it successfully until he lost
his lease and had to close it.
Definitely
get the floors done.
He had
a roster of great artists
and a lot of ideas.
And he wanted
to get back into it,
so we decided that we would
do something together.
Another is just
the regulatory...
You have to... You have
to deal with another entity,
and their property and their...
It's going to take forever
for them to come and see...
So, this kinda another...
the door,
absolutely.
I'm with you, I'm for it.
Windows on the front.
A window on the front.
It's good and bad.
There's gotta be
some kinda...
- Well...
- -budget, right?
Yeah, we just
don't... we're just not sure
where that budget's
coming from right now.
Right.
And my investor
wanted to cut a big picture
window into the front
of the building.
He wanted
to move the sewer line.
He started becoming,
uh, very difficult.
They want to see in.
Yeah, people can see in.
We can put a sculpture in the
window and... and we can put
bars across the back
like they did.
And do decals
on the windows of the show,
do, too.
We have a huge window.
- Yeah, okay.
- And you have whatever
the show is,
and it's like a marquee.
So, windows...
And the date...
It's not a bad thing.
Just...
I'm worried about time.
And window we'll get... yeah,
well, that's the thing.
This place is great because,
um, there's no front window.
- Yeah.
- And that's awesome.
You don't want
a front window.
It creates intrigue, and people
talk about what's inside.
Johnny's
an internationally famous
artist who does art
shows all over the world,
and he was in Los Angeles.
So, we called Johnny
and Sasha, and they came over.
And you put...
You put a sign up in there,
the gallery space,
and you make it really cool.
And it's pretty inexpensive.
So, that's
what it would look like.
Yeah.
You don't even
have to paint it. There it is.
You lease
it out as an artist space.
And you say to young
emerging artists that's around
the corner
who wants to have his own show,
you go,
"Mate, it's 500 bucks a week."
You know, I've been
around the world, man.
I've worked
with so many galleries,
there's so many ways
of doing it, to... you know,
- to make it happen, you know?
- Yeah.
That Johnny Romeo
is a true professional.
He's got this business wired.
He, uh... really good ideas.
He knows... He's got a staff,
he's got his publicity.
He's got his... his crew,
uh, his... and his art...
is awesome, but he's really
got it down to a science.
One of the young artists
route, coming artist that's
on the art council
for their "mailing list..."
I just started
following him on Instagram.
And you instantly
got, like, you know, um...
They... they mail it... mail out
to... to all the law firms
all the solicitors,
all the judges in the area.
Massive.
- People with money.
- People with money.
How long have you known him?
Johnny Romeo did our last
show at Peacher Gallery.
So, uh, I'd say
a couple of years.
Actually,
I met him before that.
So, I'd say
three or four years again.
This is in the second
half of, uh, Peacher Gallery,
so that's when
I met all these new guys.
I do stupid things like that,
where I've got just
#JohnnyRomeo
and follow JohnnyRomeoArt.
I've got 100,000
fans worldwide on Instagram.
And people put
that and they pin it.
And then they take
photographs and hashtag me.
And so, everywhere
I go, I've got a crowd.
Nice.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, so that works, you know?
- Very good.
They're... They're the little
kind of tricks that you might
need to kind of employ
to build up the database...
- Yeah.
- -build up a following.
I'm always interested
in textures and patterns,
and it started... I was
probably five or six years old,
'cause my sister
Jeannie was in high school.
And she would draw
these patterns
that looked like flames.
And then I just expanded
and continued
to expand that image.
Didn't really hit
me until, um...
maybe, probably college that,
"Oh, this is what
interests me. Texture."
I was doing lithography,
and lithography has
these reticulated patterns
that naturally form in...
From the medium after you draw.
And I was
totally hooked on that,
this beautiful reticulation.
Yeah, patterns and textures
will take me places.
We grew up
in Southern California.
The ocean, uh, the mountains,
uh, the seashore, the cliffs,
the tide pools, the creatures
in the tide pools.
Everything's textural
and, you know, pattern.
At this point,
everything was going well.
He and I were
getting along great.
John Felix was helping
him build out the gallery,
and he was painting a lot.
Tell me about Oso and what
you thought when
you first saw him.
I thought
he was a big, scary dog.
Irene said
she didn't want another dog
after her previous
dog had died,
but she was watching TV shows
about dogs all day, every day.
One day she came to meet me
where I was working,
and there was
this big, scary looking,
caged dog crying
for somebody to take him away.
And then I thought,
"What is he doing
in this cage like this?"
I didn't know that
he was such a sweet animal.
So,
we ended up taking him home.
We had no idea what
we were getting into,
but we were very lucky
because he turned out great.
Oso.
Oso!
He's gotta say hi.
Giant.
The lion.
- Come on.
- That's a good one!
And then
we found out we had to move,
and we were thinking, "Well,
how are we going to find
a place to live with
a big 80-pound Mastiff dog
that looks like a pit bull?
People don't want to
rent to people that have these
kinds of dogs, so...
But it turned out we needed
the dog where we're at,
living now.
So, it worked out.
We were able to find a place.
The investor's negotiations
on the lease had reached
a boiling point,
so the landlord
decided to stop by
and assess the long
list of renovation requests.
- The name's Mark.
- Hi, Tony.
Yeah,
I think I'd seen you.
Oh, Tony, you're
the owner of the building?
Yes.
It was a long,
expensive list of renovations,
and Willard wondered
if it was all necessary.
No, I like... I like it a lot,
don't get me wrong, man.
I'm very picky and, you know,
when you start getting picky,
it means money.
First day... The first day you
came, I said I'll put the gate,
I'll put the sliding door,
now he wants a window,
he wants wall...
He wants rooms made,
he wants to move the gas line,
he wants to do the roof.
So, you have to...
My investor
made too many demands,
and they weren't
just too many.
They were impractical
and they couldn't
come to an agreement.
Meanwhile, John
and I were working hard
to get things
ready for our opening.
It's not gonna work.
We have to change the date.
And it all
started falling apart.
While this was going
on, Irene and I got to know
Patti, the owner
of the antique store
next door to the gallery.
I helped her
with some computer work,
and we became friends.
Then she tried to help
me with our lease and all
the issues
that were popping up.
And she invited the art over.
They all
don't deal with it.
It doesn't mean
you have that as a deal.
Well, right.
Everything's
still being negotiated.
Say... say $500 and just
act really tough about it.
They're gonna
come back, you know?
And play the tough role.
You're king.
'Kay.
And they're gonna do it.
They're gonna...
They're gonna give you that.
You're gonna end
up with a lot more
than you've ever had before.
Okay.
I was a contract negotiator
in health care for many years.
Tony is just calling me.
I don't want
to talk to that guy.
Shit, no. Tony?
Tony. He was just calling me.
Okay. Don't...
You have nothing to say.
No, I know.
...pretty much made
myself a mother to Willard,
or a mentor.
Um, when I met him,
he was such a... a sweet man,
and, um, seemed very
generous, very brilliant.
I mean, absolutely brilliant.
I kind of took on asserting
myself and, uh, telling him how
he should move forward,
because I see him really going
places in the future.
I don't even know the guy,
I met him once.
And you hate him.
I... I talked
to him once on the phone.
I said, "This guy is nuts.
Not gonna work."
And he comes here and just
pulls the whole plug out,
and then Tony gives
him all his money back.
I didn't have the money,
I was
trying to get the money.
And like, everybody's like,
"Okay, maybe we'll do it."
And then he's backed out again,
and I told everybody it's off.
So, they're like, "Oh..."
So, I'm gonna come back
to them again,
"Oh, it's on again."
They're gonna... You're insane.
He can give
enough that we can make
this enterprise
work out, we can.
Frank was the leasing
agent working hard with us,
trying to help us stay
in the big gallery next door.
But my investor wasn't moving
forward, and without him,
it just was too much.
March and April, we...
We... we had a good plan going
and was going to get us
off to a... a pretty nice start
with a nice show
with good artists and, uh...
Is that o... Is that completely
off the table?
Well, we... we planned the whole
thing. We said cancel it.
No, we told him...
We cancelled it and told
all the... all the people
involved...
- Yeah.
- -that it was, uh, you know...
There was
uncertainty about renovations
and things with the building.
And we didn't want...
Right, we didn't say
we were dead in the water.
Yeah. Yeah, we just... we...
Yeah, we didn't...
- We were...
- We said just... We said,
- "Hold on."
- Right.
"Hopefully we'll
be able to, you know,
reschedule this for soon."
And they all said,
"Okay, tell... let us know."
When Patti said,
"Go get a trailer,"
Irene said, "Oh, my God.
I don't want to do that."
And then the more
she thought about it,
and thought about
getting out from under
the stress and everything,
and my ability
to stay here
and work, she said,
"Okay, let's go. Let's do it."
I bought the trailer
so we could avoid expensive
leases and stay focused on the
art at Patti's antique store.
Willard got
a nice workspace in back,
and I helped out in the store.
It turned out
to be a smart move.
As long as you're
working, you're doing
what you love, man,
that's all that matters.
There may
be a deal to be made.
- But he's got...
- Okay.
To make his deal with Tony
- and it's gotta be done.
- And be done.
So, that would be
him leasing the building?
Yeah.
Him leasing the bottom
floor moving forward
and you guys
would be a partnership.
You guys would lease this,
but if you wanted to work
together,
then he could hire you.
So, moving forward here,
I'm gonna go back
and just relaying
to Tony that,
you know, we're releasing any
of the responsibilities
of space.
We'd s... We'd still
be friends. None... None...
It doesn't have to be bad.
We're not
leaving on bad terms here.
Good.
No, we all understand.
Well, I was... I wasn't
in on any of this stuff.
I was brought in to set up
the gallery. And I'm like...
Yeah. He... He's just
been watching the whole story
- going, "Oh, yeah, two..."
- I can... I can...
I can... I know
how to set up a gallery,
I know how to I run a gallery,
and I know how to line up
artists, I know
how to put on events.
- Yeah.
- That's my thing.
I'm gonna see what happens.
You know,
you don't... you don't know
what's going to happen.
That's for sure.
I'm going to go see it.
I've just been so...
- Overworked.
- Excited.
So, you had
an investor from New York.
Tell us what
happened with him.
I don't know what happened,
"cause I'm not in his brain.
It wasn't fun.
It was extremely,
uh, traumatic and sad,
"cause, you know,
you get assurances.
I gave him a lot of goodwill,
like, two and a half years
of goodwill:
Talking for about a year,
him telling me
what he wanted to do.
Me saying, "Okay, cool.
That's great.
I love it. When you got
the Money, give me a call."
I remember Andrew
who came from Russia.
He told me after he left,
he goes, "Oh, I had it
out with him."
And I was like, "Damn."
But then it did.
It kind of did.
We had a building.
We were in the building.
We had the landlord.
The landlord had his deposit.
Everything was moving forward.
But he was just difficult,
you know?
We had the space,
the landlord had the check,
and he started pulling
these... these antics.
Um, you know, he pulls out.
And then he dangles
the proposition again.
But he's talking
to the realtor,
or he's talking
to the landlord.
And then he would dangle it
to me.
And then the realtor
comes back to me, says,
"Oh, hey,
he wants to work with you.
He wants to do this."
And I said, "No, he doesn't.
I started this painting there.
I have,
like, three others started
that I was working on there."
And he brings another
artist from New York
who has a gallery,
who's selling,
and he asks me
if I can paint upstairs.
So, I found the space.
I did the work to meet the
landlord, do all... everything.
He held the carrot out
that we were going to have
this place to work,
and to do for both of us.
And then he brings another guy.
It was all about him.
Me, it was about
what we were going to do.
You know, yeah, it's about me.
I'm part of it.
But he was part of it,
Irene was part of it,
John Felix was part of it,
um, Johnny Romeo.
There was potential.
Meeting Willard was a really
high point in my life
because I had closed
my gallery,
it had been a year and a half.
And I was just really bottom,
of the bottom of
the barrel, down.
And he brought me up,
gave me hope,
and we started this...
This project
and we'd become good friends,
and not going to give up.
And he's an incredible artist,
too. That doesn't hurt.
But uh, we're just
going to keep pulling,
keep pushing, and something's
going to happen.
I don't care if the investor
backed out the last minute.
We're going to go forward.
We're moving forward.
First time
I saw Willard's art,
it was something
that just caught your eye
and brought you right in,
and you could feel
what he was feeling.
I thought it was awesome.
When I see Willard's art,
it makes me feel things.
At this point,
after all the hard work
and invitations, you just hope
a bunch of people show up,
and hopefully some art buyers.
Collaborating with
Steve and Deirdre,
the Vintage 47 store owners,
allowed us to attract
great musicians.
Steve makes
custom guitar amps
that sound just like
the amps of the '60s.
We built four of these things.
And we put some jacks
that we actually drove
his pickup truck
on top of them.
They're solid, all handmade.
Absolutely.
Are you guys registered
to vote in San Pedro?
Hell no.
- No?
- I don't live in San Pedro.
Well, you can't
help me tonight.
Come in and take a look around.
You can help us out.
Maybe there's people
in here who can vote.
Hello, welcome.
What do you do on stage then?
Try to make music.
At this point,
I knew our show was happening.
A lot of people coming in,
gathering around,
and great musicians.
The music was awesome.
- Guys!
- Hey baby!
Nice to see you!
- How are you, Johnny?
- Nice to see you.
- How are you going?
- I'm very well.
- You're looking fantastic.
- Well thank you, darling.
Hi!
I'm John's wife, Leslie.
- We make a scene.
- Different artists.
,
One show a month.
Right. More pieces.
Cover the walls.
Yeah. People coming to this
event, knowing that it happens
once a month,
every, you know, every Friday
- or once a month...
- Every first Thursday.
Three years ago,
I tried to do something here.
It was modestly successful.
It was a great show,
great musicians showed up,
it was just a great party.
I just wish we could
have sold more art.
There's a lot of struggles
that an artist
has to go through.
And the struggles aren't
just because he wants
to make an image,
or create some statement,
or communicate
something important.
Part of the struggle,
you know,
"Oh, how's he going to
make money with that?"
I remember relatives
of my parents saying,
"Oh gee, that's great.
But how's he going to
make money with that?"
And... and I'm in earshot!
And my parents
are like...
"It'll be all right."
A big problem for many,
many artists is like,
"Oh, the obstacle.
Ugh, I gotta to pay the rent.
Ugh, the next obstacle."
And you're looking at like,
the obstacle,
but the goal is what
you really need to look at.
It's hard.
I don't do it all the time.
But I know it's true
because my mentors
who are successful are like,
"Ah, look at the goal.
Don't look at the obstacle."
I started painting
Johnny Cash 'cause my friend
Peter commissioned me
to do Johnny Cash.
And I was painting
the giant guitars,
and I needed the money, so,
the commission was very timely.
And we were living over in
Rolling Hills, and I decided to
try to paint outside and build
like, a tent studio outside.
So, I put up the tent,
and I started the painting.
And then a giant wind came up
and blew everything over
and blew the painting
across the garden,
and it got a big
rock through it.
And I also broke
another painting,
and I decided that's
not going to happen.
I'm not going to paint outside,
obviously.
So, I put everything away.
And then I started
after we got here.
I got an idea.
- Okay.
- I want to know what you think.
I think you should
leave the art to me.
What do you think of the idea?
Is it like Meals on Wheels?
I got invited to a big
music business
convention: NAMM.
The NAMM show is always fun.
There's great people to
meet and great performances.
I met Mike Bradford there.
I went to the tech awards,
and there was Keith Emerson
of Emerson Lake & Palmer
standing there.
So, I met Keith Emerson!
And he was such a nice guy.
It's really cool
to meet your idols.
So, Lennon's almost done, huh?
Yeah, almost done.
And now he's already sold.
Really? You sold it?
A guy came in the other night
and was talking to me,
and... very interested.
And asked how much,
and we dickered around.
And then he came back
the next night
with $1,000 bucks,
and we made a deal.
Well, that's great.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I expect I'll see him
in another week
with another payment.
We got an appointment
for sure with Mark Schulman,
the rock star drummer
that we were talking about.
The guy, uh, Foreigner,
uh, Simple Minds, that guy?
Yeah, I think Billy Idol,
P! Nk,
he drums for P! Nk.
So anyway, he's very curious
about what you're doing,
wants to see your art, and he
invited us over to his studio.
So, we're going to go
over there in a couple days.
- Meet a celebrity.
- Right on.
- Good to meet you.
- You are an amazing artist.
- Oh, thank you.
- Fantastic stuff.
- Appreciate that.
- Really, really, um...
I don't know
what he showed you.
Well, I've just
kind of seen stuff.
- I saw some of the footage.
- Yeah, right.
And just some of the art.
And you've seen
the guitars up there.
I mean, I'm a drummer.
Don't hold that against me.
But I still like a good guitar.
I like a big guitar.
You do big guitars.
Size matters, I'm telling you.
Yeah, I do
do big guitars.
The way
I look at it, nobody's gonna
beat the shit out of my drums,
or hurt my drums,
more than I do.
He gave me the guitar and said,
"Paint my kid's guitar."
- Oh, that's so awesome.
- And I was like, "Okay."
He lives in Mexico.
He's a pretty famous artist.
That's brilliant.
His name's Enato.
And there... like,
there's a lot of states.
"Cause when you do
this digital stuff,
you can process it,
and then tweak it...
To me, it's like, you're the
next generation of psychedelic.
That's a nice thing to say.
Like, you've taken...
You've taken sort of existing,
um, formulas, so to speak,
and you're, like, expanding
on it with technology.
But it's... it's brilliant.
Oh, my God.
- You did those?
- Yeah.
I... I gotta buy
some of that from you.
- Okay.
- You kidding me?
That is like, some of the
coolest stuff I've ever seen.
- What's it made of?
- It's chrome steel.
- Oh, that's fantastic.
- I could make it out of silver.
So, I've got to ask you
a question.
I've got my own signature drum.
The Mark Shulman
signature drum.
- It's the greatest drum.
- Mm-hmm.
Could I give you one of my
drums and have you
- do some artwork on a drum?
- Yes, absolutely.
I mean, will you touch a drum,
or do you...
Are drummers okay?
Are we still cool?
Are you kidding?
So, you do the whole shell.
Well, I'll show it to you,
because this is the last year
of the drum,
um, because Gretsch
is taking out
all of the signature
drums off the market.
And this was like, the
best-selling signature product
in the history of Gretsch
for a couple of years.
- What is so... magical.
- It's magical.
And you do... and it also,
it goes with...
Which is my problem
with guitars.
They're so beautiful anyway.
But I'm thinking what
would be really cool
is if I give you one of these
drums and you just go to town.
I won't even
tell you what to do.
You just do it,
because that would be magical.
I want to put this signature
banner on it, back on it.
So, it's still,
says Mark Schulman.
- Yeah, yeah, sure.
- But it's your artwork on it.
What has drawn you to
wanting to paint instruments?
Because...
music...
um, is probably
the most
impactful form of art.
Music just makes
people do crazy shit.
Well, it's real time art.
It's...
Well, and musicians are shaman.
They create
a religious experience.
And I'm a Schulman.
I'm an abstract artist,
but I've always, you know...
Who do you think my favorite
artists were growing up?
I don't know how.
Oh, Roger Dean,
John Van Hamersveld,
Storm Thorgerson, um, you know
who all those guys are.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
So...
you know, I'm looking
- at Rick Griffin album covers.
- Yeah.
You know, when I'm a kid,
and I'm trying to draw...
I'm trying
to draw Yes album covers.
Yeah, 'cause I saw...
I saw Yes in there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
"Cause they just got announced
they're gonna get in
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- finally.
- Yes.
We all go through these,
like, multiple
lifetime experiences where,
you know, you go...
You start out, and when you get
to the other side
and move
into whatever's next,
you look back and you go,
"Oh, my God."
Where we have
what I call cycles.
Yeah, well...
And the thing is that we learn
and we respond
based on previous cycles,
and that brings us
- to where we are now.
- Mm-hmm.
'Cause this is
a solid Rosewood drum.
And that is...
And that is just a...
It's a painted finish.
But this is such
a brilliant drum.
I actually handpicked this.
Oh, that would be fantastic.
But I'm thinking that I just
take all the hardware off,
give you the shell,
and you can go to town.
Look what I got.
When you got Irene
that nice sapphire ring,
you're obviously getting
pretty serious
about the relationship, right?
So, what were you thinking?
Um, well...
she'd already asked me
if I wanted to get married.
And we'd already decided when.
So, we needed a ring.
And she said,
"Oh, I want that ring.
That's my engagement ring."
And um, I was like,
"Well, that's not a diamond."
And she was like,
"I don't care. I want that."
So,
it was just very simple...
You know, the marriage
actually... our relationship
was one of the easiest things
that ever happened in my life.
I went to paint her house.
And then we were like,
"Oh, what?"
But we've known each other,
you know,
we'd spent time together
in spaces with friends,
and we'd never made
any connection prior to that.
But, uh, you know,
I went over there
to paint her house,
and that was it.
The relationship
just continued to get...
We never really separated
from each other after that.
How long did it take before
I took my bed over there?
Do you remember?
You know, I think maybe
it was three weeks.
No, it wasn't even that long
"cause she didn't have a bed,
and my bed was in storage.
And I was like, "Well,
I don't need it in storage.
I need it here."
We moved out
of Los Angeles,
and he focused on
the Bunnynose Guitar project,
a collaboration
with a custom guitar maker.
See, this one's
a dye sublimation print.
It went on the guitar
body really nice, real easy.
Hello.
Here we are.
- Good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Willard's the artist.
He's the one that made
this drum.
Oh wow. That is really
beautiful, brother.
Wow.
- That's awesome.
- That is so awesome.
It's so great,
I want to wear it!
I'm wondering though,
do you have to use
the hardware that came with it?
Can you get more
minimal hardware?
It's up to you; It's gonna
look beautiful no matter what.
He's not a drummer.
Yeah. Oh, I know it's...
Would never ask that question.
Yeah, we're going to use
the exact hardware.
The only problem
I see is that
one of the most
important things is where the...
Where the head hits the drum
is the bearing edge.
Yeah, I understand.
The bearing edge
is a critical thing.
And unfortunately we went
over the bearing edge,
and there's nicks,
and there's some stuff here
that's unfortunately going to
affect the sound of the drum.
But this is your
first time doing it.
- I can take it right now...
- No, no, no, no.
- We'll do the bearing edge.
- I can go to Home Depot and I...
No, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no.
You know. Gary's looking
at me like, "No!"
Yeah, cool.
Well, I'm excited.
Where you're doing
this sort of thing,
which is something to note,
because I didn't really
caution you about
the bearing edge.
"Cause we can... 'cause
Gary can do the bearing edge.
Because what happens is
the head goes over the drum,
and then you're gonna
have the hoop go over the head.
This is so,
so extraordinary,
- and I want to recommend...
- I understand...
I mean, people are going to see
this, people are gonna
want to have stuff done.
That's my hope.
That's my hope, too.
"Cause this is really
phenomenal.
It's brilliant.
It's art. It's yours.
Here we have the concept.
What I was doing was,
at the time,
um, working on some
pieces that had earth,
air, fire, and water
in the images.
And I thought, "Well,
I'll just carry that on."
And so that's what I did.
So, we have water
that goes into earth.
And then the earth
I put some sort of animal,
sort of forms,
in here, and plant forms.
And then they burst into flame,
and then they go into air,
you know, smoke and air,
back into water again.
So, when I see that,
like, my art is expressed
- through my music.
- Right.
So, to see you just conceive
and conceptualize that,
to me, is...
It's absolutely brilliant.
I'm so grateful because it's...
- Thanks.
- It's a whole other skill set.
You know?
That's beautiful.
There it is
with all of its glory.
Hah, that is gorgeous.
And whose...
- Is this your guitar?
- This is for sale.
This is going to NAMM
unless I sell it.
It's going to be...
there's a couple of booths
that are going to have...
- Bunnynose?
- Bunnynose.
We should let
Justin try it out.
Absolutely.
- Nice to meet you, man.
- Thank you.
- So, he's been, uh...
- Nice to meet you, man.
Then he started doing guitars,
and he painted my drum for me.
But he brought this as well.
Did you ever see
the two guitars
on Sunset in Beverly Hills?
The Bob Marley one
and the Janis Joplin one?
They were in
the middle of the road?
Uh, I don't think so.
Maybe I never noticed them.
Yeah... They're down at Gibson
- in the showroom.
- Okay.
My first guitar was a Telly,
and it was like that.
It was a Series 10.
Have you seen those?
And it was like...
It had like, palm trees
and friggin' um, pineapples.
Dude, this is awesome, man.
One of Willard's
favorite music groups
throughout his life
has been Yes.
Jon Anderson has been their
singer since the beginning.
Jon was launching
a new solo record
when Willard
got to meet him in person.
So, how do you feel
about meeting Jon Anderson?
I'm excited about it.
But you never know,
sometimes you're your, uh,
your idols disappoint you.
But I have a feeling
he's a very nice man.
Pretty sure.
Looking forward to it.
And you've been following
his music for how long?
Since I was 14 years old,
probably.
Wow.
Freshman in high school.
- Let's go meet him.
- Yeah, okay.
Hey! Jimmy?
You can give
this to somebody, maybe.
- Oh, very nice.
- So, I'm an.
Oh, that's fabulous!
Can I have that?
- I just did this for you.
- Is that for me?
- Yes, I'll sign it for you.
- No, it's... yes, please.
Can you do that?
I brought one of
my shirts as a gift for Jon.
Suddenly, I found myself
signing it for him.
My entire life,
I'm a fan.
- Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
We were at a party
in Munich
and Jimi was there,
and I was in the corner...
And he told
me his Jimi Hendrix story,
which all classic
rock musicians have.
Jon was excited because
he had met Jimi in Munich.
He looked over...
He looked over at me, I went...
...like that, and then he came
over and sat down next to me.
And then later in
London, Jimi remembered him.
In London, and I
had just met Chris Squire.
We went to see Roland Kird,
great sax player.
And in walks Jimi Hendrix
with his guitar.
And he walks over and looks at
me and says, "Munich!"
I said, "Yes!"
I found myself, thank you!
And that was Jon
Anderson's Jimi Hendrix story,
that Jimi remembered him.
Three, two, one.
- Perfect.
- Thanks so much.
Can I... can I...
Just really quickly,
I just wanna show you
my claim to fame,
because you are
kind of my idol.
I do love it.
Oh, wow.
This is all your work?
Yeah, is all my work.
So, these are giant guitars
- that were on the Sunset Strip.
- Oh yeah.
- Did you see these?
- Of course I remember them.
So, this one's still
at the Andaz Hotel.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I just do this
psychedelic stuff,
which is why...
This is what I'm working on.
And uh, I do guitars.
I should send you my photograph
of doing my Elvis impression.
I do a version of it.
Do you do that?
Yes, I could do that, yeah.
Um, in fact, see,
these are just different.
- I'm a rock and roll artist.
- I love it.
I did a drum for Mark Schulman
who plays for P! Nk.
I know!
So, that's a guitar that I did.
- Beautiful.
- And that's Mark's drum.
And he calls her Anna.
This is where I live. I live
out in the desert.
We were just out there
in Tucson, two days ago.
- Yeah.
- The mountain.
That's Justin Derrico
with my guitar.
Yeah, incredible, man.
- That's.
- Serious.
This is my friend,
Mark Christian.
Yeah.
I'll send you
my Elvis photograph.
Well, would you sign my stuff?
Sure.
I can send it to my son.
He's super jealous
that.
Oh, wrong end.
There you go.
The Jon Anderson
thing was another instance
of meeting somebody who's
had a huge impact on my life.
And he acted,
like, interested.
Interested in everybody,
and super cool.
Well, meeting
Jon Anderson was special
because that's a person
that's, um, huge
in my artistic
and musical life.
Introduced me to art
and a realm of fantasy,
and higher consciousness,
and all kinds of stuff
in these little discs.
And uh,
it was, you know,
someone I've dreamed
of meeting.
I mean, physically had dreams
that I was in the room
talking to
this person before.
I was armed with something
when I met Jon Anderson though,
because I had
the Jimi Hendrix Foundation.
And I had done the art,
and the painting,
and they had
contacted me to use it.
And so,
I gifted him the shirt
and showed him
the Hendrix Foundation thing.
And I said,
you know, it's official
Jimi Hendrix
Foundation merchandise.
And he had
his Jimi Hendrix story.
So, he had to tell me,
you know,
the story about meeting
Jimi Hendrix in Germany.
Were you a little
bit starstruck at all
when you met one of
your idols like Jon?
I've met a lot of people
in the last few years,
so, it was easier.
I meet Keith Emerson at NAMM.
Super gracious,
super interested.
I had the little 3D
photograph of Les Paul,
and there was some interest
in doing a photograph of him.
So, I had something to talk to
him about, about this 3D photo.
And he was like,
"Oh, that's interesting.
That's cool.
You want to do that."
And he took the picture,
and he had the contact
information.
But I was like, other
than that, "Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh."
What do you say to this person?
"Cause they're...
you know, big.
But he was just a guy,
you know,
wearing a button down,
and having his champagne.
And he was actually
kind of shy.
Um, Jon Anderson was
more vivacious and bubbly.
Hello.
He'd been working
on this Johnny Cash
painting for over a year.
It was great to finally
see it finished.
So, this is your first
time actually looking at it?
I think so.
Looks pretty awesome.
Peter sure seemed to like it.
He was really happy with it.
So, how does it feel
to have your own place now?
Do you have enough space?
- It feels amazing.
- Yeah, it's really nice.
- It's really nice, yeah.
- It's amazing!
And you have three
acres now huh, Oso?
Looks like you manifested.
What I was trying to
manifest was either
the time to work because I had
a space,
or the space to work,
because I had the time.
And the two things
didn't always coincide.
Now they coincide.
How do you like it, Irene?
I love it.
You know, privacy.
We have space.
- Well, the neighborhood...
- We live on a vortex.
Yeah.
Also, I had never lived
in a space bigger than like,
30 feet by 15,
until we moved here.
And now he has three acres.
He's the king
of the three acres.
We were attracted to
the area by a lot of things.
But you know, the beauty
and the energy of the place,
I mean, it's really
an interesting,
uh, place that continues
to become more beautiful
and reveals itself, and it's
just vibrationally interesting.
We live on a giant
mountain of quartz,
and I never want to leave.
You know, we moved in
and everything
was kind of in neglect.
So, like,
I had to put a water main in.
And the water main goes
on the side of the house.
And I had to put
a roof on the house.
I decided I'm going
to put concrete out here.
So, I put all these
pieces of quartz in the cement.
I'll do more of that out here.
Yup...
You know, I'm covering the
house with galvanized steel.
I had to put
a new chimney in,
"cause the old fireplace
had to be removed.
And now I covered
the wall with steel.
This is probably
a little more ornate
than the rest
of the house will be.
It's like it's got
your signature all over it.
Yeah, I guess.
'50s diner style trailer?
Well, I don't know about '50s.
In order to manifest,
you must first
have the vision.
You have to then put all your
thoughts and energies...
and vision into visualizing
your thing,
and bring it to yourself.
In order to be
its highest and best,
you have to be doing it
not at the expense of others.
Not just to visualize it,
but to modify
all of your behavior.
So, all of your purposes,
all of your behaviors,
are for the manifestation
of that desire.
In order to manifest,
you must first
have the vision.
You have to then put
all your thoughts and energies
and vision into
visualizing your thing
and bring it to yourself.
In order to be
its highest and best,
you have to be doing it not
at the expense of others,
not just to visualize it,
but to modify
all of your behavior.
So, all of your purposes,
all of your behaviors,
are for the manifestation
of that desire.
Hi, I'm Willard Snow.
I'm an artist
from Redondo Beach, California.
I paint rock star portraits,
I paint musical instruments,
giant guitars,
and so much more.
After completing my MFA,
Master of Fine Arts degree
in San Francisco,
which is like a doctorate...
a Ph.D. in art,
I worked as a graphic artist.
I worked as a faux finisher.
I've been a metalsmith,
which was really awesome.
Heck, I even sold
ice cream for a while,
while I was
dreaming of painting
and starting
an art community.
More recently, I was
living down by the beach,
splitting things between
web design, graphic design,
building a business, trying to
have an income, and painting.
And I was managing
my web design clients
and had one big client,
and they had a major piece
of engineering
that they wanted.
And it was paying the bills,
but it wasn't
what I wanted to do.
I wanted to get
back into painting.
You know, I was
looking to get back into art
instead of doing
what was practical.
It reminded me
of that ice cream gig.
I was raising kids,
we were raising the family,
I really needed the money,
and the job was good.
But I really needed
to get back to my art.
And my boss
was sensing my frustration.
And had a talk with me.
And I decided to quit.
And when I got home,
my wife at the time
told me she was pregnant.
And I thought that I had
just made the biggest mistake.
But working there all
day just was not what I wanted.
You know, my heart
definitely wasn't there.
I had a friend
who knew a gallery chain owner
with high-end clientele.
Beverly Hills, Las Vegas.
So, we got
excited and tried to get
an appointment to show my art.
- Hey, Douglas.
- Hey, Willard, how are you?
- Good to see you.
- Come on up.
We met at
his office hoping to schedule
an introduction
to the gallery owner.
They talked on the phone and
all the owner wanted to know
was which galleries
I had already been showing in.
It was a familiar catch-22.
The meeting went nowhere.
Undeterred by
the catch-22, Willard did what
he always does when
confronted by setbacks.
He dove back into a painting
he'd been working on.
It was the culmination of
many of his ideas and drawings
that he had been
doing for quite a while.
Then he got a new idea.
When he started
painting these abstract,
black and white paintings,
you know, they were amazing,
very brilliant.
And I was
looking at him thinking,
"Wow, it's like there's
something trying to come out."
There's like, a face,
or an animal, or something.
Like, I could see it in there.
I decided
to start painting portraits
of, uh, rock and roll legends.
I was ready to make
some changes to my life.
I kept hearing about people
finding free places to work,
or these great spaces to work,
these live-work spaces.
Artist's lofts, warehouses.
And that's what
I needed: More space.
He tapped into
his vast network of friends
and let them know
that he was looking
for a free place to work.
And within a few months,
it popped up.
I called a friend to say hi,
and I was shocked to hear from
his wife that he had dementia.
So, we talked,
and she offered me her garage.
So, I had a temporary studio.
And, uh, she was an artist.
She understood my need.
And so, she wanted to help me.
In April of this year, I was
introduced to Mike Bradford.
And he asked me if
I wanted to show my paintings
at his CD release party.
Um, that was pretty exciting.
And then it was more exciting
because the CD release party
was at
the Gibson Guitar Showroom,
which is a beautiful venue.
And while I was there with my
work, uh, Linda Hayden really
enjoyed my work and asked
me if I would like to paint one
of these
10-foot Les Paul guitars.
So, then, you know, the
Guitar Town curator called me
and told me he'd get me the...
Actually, he didn't call me.
He just sent me an email
saying he was going to send me
the application, that I needed
to fill the application out.
And, uh, you know, that they
would get back to me
and they'd, you know, get me
a guitar by July 11th
or something. And I was like,
"No, no, no, no, no.
I'll fill out
the application and everything,
but you gotta
get me a guitar now."
And then I kind
of told them why,
'cause we were doing the shows.
Gibson sponsors, uh,
the Sunset Music Festival.
As part
of the Sunset Music Festival,
they give these guitars
for the Guitar Town Museum
to artists to paint.
They asked me to participate,
and I wrote a proposal
that I would paint Bob Marley,
Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia,
and Marc Bolan on these
10-foot Les Paul sculptures.
So, Willard grabbed
four of these guitars
when they were offered to him.
And I thought, "God, he's...
I don't know,
he's maybe biting off
a little more than he can chew,
because there was
a deadline and his work
can be very detailed.
He gets really
into, uh, the process.
You can see a lot
of detail in his work,
and he didn't
just paint the fronts.
He also painted the backs.
Again, a lot of them
with very intense detail.
It was a lot of work.
And I remember
going over there one day
and he had been up
all night trying to finish
one of the guitars.
And he was just, like,
totally burned out,
couldn't push
a paintbrush anymore.
And it still wasn't done.
And the deadline was, like,
a couple days away.
It was coming up pretty quick,
and he still had
a lot more work to do.
I've always listened
to music when I did art
"cause it creates
the creative space.
There was a time
when I wouldn't even
look at a television program.
It was just music,
art, and the television might
be on just as a moving picture,
but we didn't... I never
paid attention to it.
It's probably because
of music that I'm an artist.
I have a background in,
you know, academic art,
but the thing
that inspired me was music.
And the thing that inspired
me to get into the bands
that I listened
to was the album covers.
The sixth grade, my friends
are playing Yes' Fragile.
And, uh, you know,
I was hooked.
Um, and then all those artists:
Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
You got H.R. Giger, and
then got Yes with Roger Dean,
and you've got, uh, just so
many bands
who had a visual theme
that ran kind
of parallel to their music.
And that's turned me on a lot.
And then on top of it,
they were great.
My art is an outgrowth of that.
You said it's done?
I keep working on it.
Oh, yeah.
- Too much.
- Yeah.
Wow, it's... it's
looking like it's almost done.
Just the neck,
I gotta finish the neck.
Ah, it's coming out good.
So, I had
my free space to work in,
but no income.
And I saw
an opportunity, you know,
to go in a new direction,
do something profound
that I couldn't do by myself,
but could with a major
musical instrument company.
Although Gibson
paid for the paint,
the Guitar Town gig
was a non-profit for charity.
It was hard spending all night
and day painting
towards the deadline.
Luckily, I have good
friends and I've helped them,
and they stepped
up and helped me.
It was two o'clock last night,
four o'clock the night before.
Coming out really nice.
This one I think
is your best one so far.
Yeah,
I think so too. I gotta paint.
So, we got the hu... beach
reporter guy com...
What time is it?
He's coming over here noon.
- Eleven.
- He's going to be coming
in an hour.
So, we gotta clean
this place up a little bit.
"Cause it's total entropy.
I actually did four portraits:
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix,
Jerry Gar... no, Bob Marley,
and, uh, Marc Bolan.
And then, uh, a friend
of mine named AC Alexander,
who's a lead guitar
player for, uh, Mike Bradford.
Um, Mike Bradford
has produced Madonna,
Dave Stewart, and Deep
Purple, and Kid Rock, and...
AC showed him my paintings
and suggested that I show
the paintings at
the CD release party at Gibson.
And, uh, these are going
to sell, um, at auction...
end of the year,
beginning of the year.
And they'll probably
sell for about $20,000.
It all kinda dovetailed...
about junior high,
'cause I've always
been drawing.
You know, my sister
had me drawing
uh, these patterns
that looked like fire.
And if you look at
my... the Johnny Cash painting
that, uh, I sold to Peter,
that is one of the first kind
of pattern designs that I...
I started drawing that when
I was, like, six years old
watching Star Trek
with my sister, Jeannie,
'cause she was doing it.
And she would
write words and fill pages
with colored pen,
and... and I would copy her.
And I started
copying anatomy drawings,
and I was always attracted
to this biomorphic stuff.
And I just got
more into pattern.
And then, yeah,
we get into rock and roll,
and we're giving
each other album covers.
And then in junior high,
I start working, uh...
for the newspaper,
doing art for the newspaper,
and just getting steered
in the direction of being
the creative tool.
So, "Oh, yeah, we need that.
He... Billy Snow can do that."
And then it just
kept on, you know?
We're giving each other
album cover... albums and...
And getting all
turned on to that.
And then, um, I'm copying it.
I do some work for
the newspaper, and everybody,
all my friends and,
you know, my parents,
and teachers are all,
"That's... that's the thing,
you know,
that you're gonna do."
Hey, there's
a nice girl coming over.
All my friends were
coming over
to see the guitars,
and bringing food,
and helping out.
And I had recently met Irene.
So, I invited her to
come over and paint with us.
And when she saw
what I was doing, she said,
"Oh, so, this is what
suffering for your art means."
And then she painted with us.
And it was fun.
It was interesting.
It was something different.
It was something
that I didn't know about him.
You know, at the time,
she also needed
help painting her cottage.
So, I went over there
and I painted her cottage.
I finished painting
the cottage and...
and then I never left.
I was talking
this guy about your project.
He said, "Aw, I'd
like to get a guitar painted
by the event,
and get a picture.
- And.
- What event?
By the event...
The Sunset Music Festival...
Painted by who?
By you, and he said
he would pay 1,000 bucks.
For next year?
No, he wants it tomorrow.
Yeah, okay, 1,000 bucks, I'll...
When were you talking to him?
That's what I told him.
I said he would do it,
'cause, you know,
he... he needs to make
a little more money right now.
So, he's kind of stressed out.
But I said he would do it.
So, I brought the guitar over.
You wanna see it?
Yeah! Ha ha!
There it is.
1,000 bucks?
He'd pay 1,000
bucks to paint that?
What do you think?
- Oh, that's awesome.
- Can you paint that?
With nail polish.
Willard must've really
hit it off with her,
because soon after,
they were a couple.
I have a friend, AC Alexander.
He was a lead
guitarist in a touring band,
and I had built
a website for him.
I'd known him a few years.
And one day he called
and asked me if I'd paint this
custom-made guitar
that he was having built.
I was excited, for sure.
And, uh, he sent me the body,
and after I was
finished with the body,
I shipped it off
to the guitar maker.
- Hey!
- Hey.
- Steve.
- Will.
Will, nice to meet you.
Come on in.
- Hey, hey! What's up, Will?
- Hey.
Good to see ya, man.
How you doing?
- Good.
- Check it. Here she is.
My heaven prime baby,
ready in action.
So, tell us what you've done.
- Um...
- What'd you do to it?
Well, what has been done
that's new... wraparound bridge.
Right in there.
And to get around, I wanted
the Gibson element to be
able to do the ace freely.
Check, check,
check, check,
check, check, check.
Wanted to be able to do
that because I'd have the space
and I didn't want to do
anything within the art
from the body
that was pre-drilled.
So, a handy little
kill switch.
Just put it in
and it blends right in there.
So, what is that, a...
So, what that does,
it allows me to up go
bup, bup, bup, bup,
bup, bup, bup, bup, bup, bup.
Allows me turn the tone
on and off, on and off,
on and off like a cut circuit.
I can't do that, there's not
a room and a crowd in here,
and it was already pre-done.
Yeah. So, I didn't want
to drill
anything more,
- put anything else.
- Sure.
It was the same thing too,
within... coming within this,
because
we tried other companies,
but the studs
were already drilled.
Ah, shit.
And so, for this
bridge right here...
This is the TuMcrow's bridge,
it's what fit.
Because to fill in
dowel and redo would...
Now I'm drilling into art.
Well, the most important thing
is that it's a quality piece.
As long as it's
a good quality piece,
you're going to get some
good tone out of it, right?
Seeing Willard and getting
to know him and his art,
it was absolutely fantastic.
So, I tracked him down,
and phoned him, and I said,
"Willard, I'm having
this guitar custom-made.
It has all
of these things, you know,
that I'm combining
into it that, you know,
other companies
have done that I
all wanted in one guitar,
and I want you to paint it.
And I'm not gonna
tell you what I want.
I just want you to paint it."
I gave him the body,
and gave him the neck.
And about two
weeks later came back...
this amazing,
amazing piece of art.
When it went back to the
finishing guys with the clear
coating because it was
raised up, the specific paint
that was used... the acrylic,
uh, from the white over
to the other white, over
to the black... they're like,
"Oh, how do
we do this, and rub it,
and buff it down, and get
the contours to sit right?"
And what it was, was, "No,"
I said, "Don't smooth it out.
Every single design
pattern you hear right here,
I can feel
underneath my fingertips."
And I'm telling you not
only is it visually... um,
it, you know, gets you moving,
there's so much going on to it.
There's also a feel thing.
There's a touch as
well, too, when I'm playing
the instrument, not just
playing within the fretboard,
and you know,
playing over the strings here,
but just the way
that it feels against the body,
the way that it feels
against the arm,
the way that it sits.
And it has unleashed...
hours and hours and hours
of inspiration to me.
I love the way
this guitar plays.
And it just feels so pocketed,
it feels so comfortable,
thanks to what
the guys at Acacia
did in making
such an awesome guitar.
And with
Willard's inspiration in it,
I feel that right there,
that attention to detail, every
single time that I pick
this one up, and that I sit,
and I write, and I work on it.
And for my solo record
that I'm doing right now,
that I'm doing with, um,
Michael Bradford producing,
this really
has been the workhorse
so far in all of the writing.
This has been
the one in my lap.
It feels the best
when I'm Pro Tooling
on my laptop
and everything else.
So, I absolutely
love it, and it's unique.
And to think that it's
not just a really cool design,
this is a... a real piece
of art, you know?
What if, uh, you know, Da Vinci
or somebody else paints
something on some
instrument, you know?
"Oh, great," you know,
later on is he's so great,
you put it up on the wall and
this then becomes something.
Well, I know that I have
something very special here
within the artwork
that Willard Snow does.
But instead of putting
it up on the wall, no,
it's getting workhorsed.
It's in the studio,
it'll be on stage.
It fly
with me wherever I go.
So, having that relationship
with an instrument,
knowing
that that's your, you know,
that's your go-to
and that's what you like,
that's what
you really feel within set
for the way
that it's put together.
It's... It's awesome.
I was stressed out
up to the last minute getting
the four giant guitars
finished
for the Sunset Music Festival.
The paint was still
drying on two of the guitars
when they came to pick
them up for the festival.
One still wasn't finished,
so I had to deliver it myself.
We were so rushed
that I cracked my windshield,
pushing it into my SUV.
The morning of the festival,
I was still painting a few
spots as the show opened.
The theme
of the festival is the history
of the Sunset Strip, so my
artists tie into that theme.
Hi, Johnny.
Yeah, I'm a representative
at the Showroom
in Beverly Hills, California.
This is becoming a... an annual
ritual, yeah, these guitars?
Oh, yeah.
You mean the Guitar Town thing?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's great.
They do it for
charity every year.
It's been really good for us.
They put them up for
display on the Sunset Strip
and everyone...
Thousands of people every day
get to view
them as they drive by.
Who came up with the idea?
I think it was the mayor
of, uh... of West Hollywood.
They bring a lot of people
around, and good...
Good photo ops. You know,
it's... it's a good thing.
It was great.
It was a lot of fun.
The real surprise
is when they ended up
in the center
of Sunset Boulevard,
Right at the... the entrance
from Beverly Hills to...
West Hollywood,
where the most traveled areas
of Sunset Boulevard,
where, you know,
stars are constantly
going back and forth,
and all the hot
shots drive through there.
And these guitars are
right in the center divider,
right where the traffic jam is.
So, everybody
slows down right there,
and a lot of people
have been noticing 'em.
When I first saw
his painted guitar sculptures
on Sunset Boulevard,
I thought,
"Wow, this can really give
him a lot of exposure and...
And be great for his career."
Then we went
to the Andaz Hotel on Sunset,
where he had two more.
I think those are permanent.
Willard had to recover
after painting the guitars.
He didn't have much money
because the Guitar Town
event was for charity.
There were backed up bills
to pay, deferred maintenance,
and he had
to find a new studio since
the free one
he had was only temporary.
So, he called on his clients
and dug up new work,
doing graphic design,
and painting houses.
Start working my social media,
just came up with this tribute
post idea, every day
important historical events,
or birthdays
that have occurred.
I had some
processing apps on my phone,
and I played with them,
and then I started compositing,
and the apps
could do a lot more
than they could a year before.
My life where I am...
That's right. Yeah, we want to
see the personal side, too.
And you can do it yourself,
and people
actually like the raw...
- Yeah.
- Um...
They love that.
They like it more raw,
like, real, too.
Yeah, okay, good.
So, I... I... I'm working
it pretty hard,
and it's grown really fast.
That's working hard,
you know...
An investor discovered Willard
online soon after.
He called me,
"Hey, I'm really
interested in your art.
I want to help you.
I think this Legends and Idols
thing is really cool.
I'd like to see it grow.
I'd like to see it be
a business and I can help you.
I'm gonna have money."
And then about a year later,
he said, "I got the money.
I got the money."
And I said, "Really?"
He said he wanted
to move to California,
and, "I want you
to find a building for us."
And we would
work on his enterprise,
and I would have a studio.
My new investor
secured this spot for our new
gallery with a hefty
deposit on a handshake,
which got us
into the building.
We then began negotiating the
lease with Tony, the landlord.
I called John Felix
to help manage it.
This guy that owns the
building, you know, he's like,
"Well, you know..."
John had a gallery
near Beverly Hills for quite
some time and ran
it successfully until he lost
his lease and had to close it.
Definitely
get the floors done.
He had
a roster of great artists
and a lot of ideas.
And he wanted
to get back into it,
so we decided that we would
do something together.
Another is just
the regulatory...
You have to... You have
to deal with another entity,
and their property and their...
It's going to take forever
for them to come and see...
So, this kinda another...
the door,
absolutely.
I'm with you, I'm for it.
Windows on the front.
A window on the front.
It's good and bad.
There's gotta be
some kinda...
- Well...
- -budget, right?
Yeah, we just
don't... we're just not sure
where that budget's
coming from right now.
Right.
And my investor
wanted to cut a big picture
window into the front
of the building.
He wanted
to move the sewer line.
He started becoming,
uh, very difficult.
They want to see in.
Yeah, people can see in.
We can put a sculpture in the
window and... and we can put
bars across the back
like they did.
And do decals
on the windows of the show,
do, too.
We have a huge window.
- Yeah, okay.
- And you have whatever
the show is,
and it's like a marquee.
So, windows...
And the date...
It's not a bad thing.
Just...
I'm worried about time.
And window we'll get... yeah,
well, that's the thing.
This place is great because,
um, there's no front window.
- Yeah.
- And that's awesome.
You don't want
a front window.
It creates intrigue, and people
talk about what's inside.
Johnny's
an internationally famous
artist who does art
shows all over the world,
and he was in Los Angeles.
So, we called Johnny
and Sasha, and they came over.
And you put...
You put a sign up in there,
the gallery space,
and you make it really cool.
And it's pretty inexpensive.
So, that's
what it would look like.
Yeah.
You don't even
have to paint it. There it is.
You lease
it out as an artist space.
And you say to young
emerging artists that's around
the corner
who wants to have his own show,
you go,
"Mate, it's 500 bucks a week."
You know, I've been
around the world, man.
I've worked
with so many galleries,
there's so many ways
of doing it, to... you know,
- to make it happen, you know?
- Yeah.
That Johnny Romeo
is a true professional.
He's got this business wired.
He, uh... really good ideas.
He knows... He's got a staff,
he's got his publicity.
He's got his... his crew,
uh, his... and his art...
is awesome, but he's really
got it down to a science.
One of the young artists
route, coming artist that's
on the art council
for their "mailing list..."
I just started
following him on Instagram.
And you instantly
got, like, you know, um...
They... they mail it... mail out
to... to all the law firms
all the solicitors,
all the judges in the area.
Massive.
- People with money.
- People with money.
How long have you known him?
Johnny Romeo did our last
show at Peacher Gallery.
So, uh, I'd say
a couple of years.
Actually,
I met him before that.
So, I'd say
three or four years again.
This is in the second
half of, uh, Peacher Gallery,
so that's when
I met all these new guys.
I do stupid things like that,
where I've got just
#JohnnyRomeo
and follow JohnnyRomeoArt.
I've got 100,000
fans worldwide on Instagram.
And people put
that and they pin it.
And then they take
photographs and hashtag me.
And so, everywhere
I go, I've got a crowd.
Nice.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, so that works, you know?
- Very good.
They're... They're the little
kind of tricks that you might
need to kind of employ
to build up the database...
- Yeah.
- -build up a following.
I'm always interested
in textures and patterns,
and it started... I was
probably five or six years old,
'cause my sister
Jeannie was in high school.
And she would draw
these patterns
that looked like flames.
And then I just expanded
and continued
to expand that image.
Didn't really hit
me until, um...
maybe, probably college that,
"Oh, this is what
interests me. Texture."
I was doing lithography,
and lithography has
these reticulated patterns
that naturally form in...
From the medium after you draw.
And I was
totally hooked on that,
this beautiful reticulation.
Yeah, patterns and textures
will take me places.
We grew up
in Southern California.
The ocean, uh, the mountains,
uh, the seashore, the cliffs,
the tide pools, the creatures
in the tide pools.
Everything's textural
and, you know, pattern.
At this point,
everything was going well.
He and I were
getting along great.
John Felix was helping
him build out the gallery,
and he was painting a lot.
Tell me about Oso and what
you thought when
you first saw him.
I thought
he was a big, scary dog.
Irene said
she didn't want another dog
after her previous
dog had died,
but she was watching TV shows
about dogs all day, every day.
One day she came to meet me
where I was working,
and there was
this big, scary looking,
caged dog crying
for somebody to take him away.
And then I thought,
"What is he doing
in this cage like this?"
I didn't know that
he was such a sweet animal.
So,
we ended up taking him home.
We had no idea what
we were getting into,
but we were very lucky
because he turned out great.
Oso.
Oso!
He's gotta say hi.
Giant.
The lion.
- Come on.
- That's a good one!
And then
we found out we had to move,
and we were thinking, "Well,
how are we going to find
a place to live with
a big 80-pound Mastiff dog
that looks like a pit bull?
People don't want to
rent to people that have these
kinds of dogs, so...
But it turned out we needed
the dog where we're at,
living now.
So, it worked out.
We were able to find a place.
The investor's negotiations
on the lease had reached
a boiling point,
so the landlord
decided to stop by
and assess the long
list of renovation requests.
- The name's Mark.
- Hi, Tony.
Yeah,
I think I'd seen you.
Oh, Tony, you're
the owner of the building?
Yes.
It was a long,
expensive list of renovations,
and Willard wondered
if it was all necessary.
No, I like... I like it a lot,
don't get me wrong, man.
I'm very picky and, you know,
when you start getting picky,
it means money.
First day... The first day you
came, I said I'll put the gate,
I'll put the sliding door,
now he wants a window,
he wants wall...
He wants rooms made,
he wants to move the gas line,
he wants to do the roof.
So, you have to...
My investor
made too many demands,
and they weren't
just too many.
They were impractical
and they couldn't
come to an agreement.
Meanwhile, John
and I were working hard
to get things
ready for our opening.
It's not gonna work.
We have to change the date.
And it all
started falling apart.
While this was going
on, Irene and I got to know
Patti, the owner
of the antique store
next door to the gallery.
I helped her
with some computer work,
and we became friends.
Then she tried to help
me with our lease and all
the issues
that were popping up.
And she invited the art over.
They all
don't deal with it.
It doesn't mean
you have that as a deal.
Well, right.
Everything's
still being negotiated.
Say... say $500 and just
act really tough about it.
They're gonna
come back, you know?
And play the tough role.
You're king.
'Kay.
And they're gonna do it.
They're gonna...
They're gonna give you that.
You're gonna end
up with a lot more
than you've ever had before.
Okay.
I was a contract negotiator
in health care for many years.
Tony is just calling me.
I don't want
to talk to that guy.
Shit, no. Tony?
Tony. He was just calling me.
Okay. Don't...
You have nothing to say.
No, I know.
...pretty much made
myself a mother to Willard,
or a mentor.
Um, when I met him,
he was such a... a sweet man,
and, um, seemed very
generous, very brilliant.
I mean, absolutely brilliant.
I kind of took on asserting
myself and, uh, telling him how
he should move forward,
because I see him really going
places in the future.
I don't even know the guy,
I met him once.
And you hate him.
I... I talked
to him once on the phone.
I said, "This guy is nuts.
Not gonna work."
And he comes here and just
pulls the whole plug out,
and then Tony gives
him all his money back.
I didn't have the money,
I was
trying to get the money.
And like, everybody's like,
"Okay, maybe we'll do it."
And then he's backed out again,
and I told everybody it's off.
So, they're like, "Oh..."
So, I'm gonna come back
to them again,
"Oh, it's on again."
They're gonna... You're insane.
He can give
enough that we can make
this enterprise
work out, we can.
Frank was the leasing
agent working hard with us,
trying to help us stay
in the big gallery next door.
But my investor wasn't moving
forward, and without him,
it just was too much.
March and April, we...
We... we had a good plan going
and was going to get us
off to a... a pretty nice start
with a nice show
with good artists and, uh...
Is that o... Is that completely
off the table?
Well, we... we planned the whole
thing. We said cancel it.
No, we told him...
We cancelled it and told
all the... all the people
involved...
- Yeah.
- -that it was, uh, you know...
There was
uncertainty about renovations
and things with the building.
And we didn't want...
Right, we didn't say
we were dead in the water.
Yeah. Yeah, we just... we...
Yeah, we didn't...
- We were...
- We said just... We said,
- "Hold on."
- Right.
"Hopefully we'll
be able to, you know,
reschedule this for soon."
And they all said,
"Okay, tell... let us know."
When Patti said,
"Go get a trailer,"
Irene said, "Oh, my God.
I don't want to do that."
And then the more
she thought about it,
and thought about
getting out from under
the stress and everything,
and my ability
to stay here
and work, she said,
"Okay, let's go. Let's do it."
I bought the trailer
so we could avoid expensive
leases and stay focused on the
art at Patti's antique store.
Willard got
a nice workspace in back,
and I helped out in the store.
It turned out
to be a smart move.
As long as you're
working, you're doing
what you love, man,
that's all that matters.
There may
be a deal to be made.
- But he's got...
- Okay.
To make his deal with Tony
- and it's gotta be done.
- And be done.
So, that would be
him leasing the building?
Yeah.
Him leasing the bottom
floor moving forward
and you guys
would be a partnership.
You guys would lease this,
but if you wanted to work
together,
then he could hire you.
So, moving forward here,
I'm gonna go back
and just relaying
to Tony that,
you know, we're releasing any
of the responsibilities
of space.
We'd s... We'd still
be friends. None... None...
It doesn't have to be bad.
We're not
leaving on bad terms here.
Good.
No, we all understand.
Well, I was... I wasn't
in on any of this stuff.
I was brought in to set up
the gallery. And I'm like...
Yeah. He... He's just
been watching the whole story
- going, "Oh, yeah, two..."
- I can... I can...
I can... I know
how to set up a gallery,
I know how to I run a gallery,
and I know how to line up
artists, I know
how to put on events.
- Yeah.
- That's my thing.
I'm gonna see what happens.
You know,
you don't... you don't know
what's going to happen.
That's for sure.
I'm going to go see it.
I've just been so...
- Overworked.
- Excited.
So, you had
an investor from New York.
Tell us what
happened with him.
I don't know what happened,
"cause I'm not in his brain.
It wasn't fun.
It was extremely,
uh, traumatic and sad,
"cause, you know,
you get assurances.
I gave him a lot of goodwill,
like, two and a half years
of goodwill:
Talking for about a year,
him telling me
what he wanted to do.
Me saying, "Okay, cool.
That's great.
I love it. When you got
the Money, give me a call."
I remember Andrew
who came from Russia.
He told me after he left,
he goes, "Oh, I had it
out with him."
And I was like, "Damn."
But then it did.
It kind of did.
We had a building.
We were in the building.
We had the landlord.
The landlord had his deposit.
Everything was moving forward.
But he was just difficult,
you know?
We had the space,
the landlord had the check,
and he started pulling
these... these antics.
Um, you know, he pulls out.
And then he dangles
the proposition again.
But he's talking
to the realtor,
or he's talking
to the landlord.
And then he would dangle it
to me.
And then the realtor
comes back to me, says,
"Oh, hey,
he wants to work with you.
He wants to do this."
And I said, "No, he doesn't.
I started this painting there.
I have,
like, three others started
that I was working on there."
And he brings another
artist from New York
who has a gallery,
who's selling,
and he asks me
if I can paint upstairs.
So, I found the space.
I did the work to meet the
landlord, do all... everything.
He held the carrot out
that we were going to have
this place to work,
and to do for both of us.
And then he brings another guy.
It was all about him.
Me, it was about
what we were going to do.
You know, yeah, it's about me.
I'm part of it.
But he was part of it,
Irene was part of it,
John Felix was part of it,
um, Johnny Romeo.
There was potential.
Meeting Willard was a really
high point in my life
because I had closed
my gallery,
it had been a year and a half.
And I was just really bottom,
of the bottom of
the barrel, down.
And he brought me up,
gave me hope,
and we started this...
This project
and we'd become good friends,
and not going to give up.
And he's an incredible artist,
too. That doesn't hurt.
But uh, we're just
going to keep pulling,
keep pushing, and something's
going to happen.
I don't care if the investor
backed out the last minute.
We're going to go forward.
We're moving forward.
First time
I saw Willard's art,
it was something
that just caught your eye
and brought you right in,
and you could feel
what he was feeling.
I thought it was awesome.
When I see Willard's art,
it makes me feel things.
At this point,
after all the hard work
and invitations, you just hope
a bunch of people show up,
and hopefully some art buyers.
Collaborating with
Steve and Deirdre,
the Vintage 47 store owners,
allowed us to attract
great musicians.
Steve makes
custom guitar amps
that sound just like
the amps of the '60s.
We built four of these things.
And we put some jacks
that we actually drove
his pickup truck
on top of them.
They're solid, all handmade.
Absolutely.
Are you guys registered
to vote in San Pedro?
Hell no.
- No?
- I don't live in San Pedro.
Well, you can't
help me tonight.
Come in and take a look around.
You can help us out.
Maybe there's people
in here who can vote.
Hello, welcome.
What do you do on stage then?
Try to make music.
At this point,
I knew our show was happening.
A lot of people coming in,
gathering around,
and great musicians.
The music was awesome.
- Guys!
- Hey baby!
Nice to see you!
- How are you, Johnny?
- Nice to see you.
- How are you going?
- I'm very well.
- You're looking fantastic.
- Well thank you, darling.
Hi!
I'm John's wife, Leslie.
- We make a scene.
- Different artists.
,
One show a month.
Right. More pieces.
Cover the walls.
Yeah. People coming to this
event, knowing that it happens
once a month,
every, you know, every Friday
- or once a month...
- Every first Thursday.
Three years ago,
I tried to do something here.
It was modestly successful.
It was a great show,
great musicians showed up,
it was just a great party.
I just wish we could
have sold more art.
There's a lot of struggles
that an artist
has to go through.
And the struggles aren't
just because he wants
to make an image,
or create some statement,
or communicate
something important.
Part of the struggle,
you know,
"Oh, how's he going to
make money with that?"
I remember relatives
of my parents saying,
"Oh gee, that's great.
But how's he going to
make money with that?"
And... and I'm in earshot!
And my parents
are like...
"It'll be all right."
A big problem for many,
many artists is like,
"Oh, the obstacle.
Ugh, I gotta to pay the rent.
Ugh, the next obstacle."
And you're looking at like,
the obstacle,
but the goal is what
you really need to look at.
It's hard.
I don't do it all the time.
But I know it's true
because my mentors
who are successful are like,
"Ah, look at the goal.
Don't look at the obstacle."
I started painting
Johnny Cash 'cause my friend
Peter commissioned me
to do Johnny Cash.
And I was painting
the giant guitars,
and I needed the money, so,
the commission was very timely.
And we were living over in
Rolling Hills, and I decided to
try to paint outside and build
like, a tent studio outside.
So, I put up the tent,
and I started the painting.
And then a giant wind came up
and blew everything over
and blew the painting
across the garden,
and it got a big
rock through it.
And I also broke
another painting,
and I decided that's
not going to happen.
I'm not going to paint outside,
obviously.
So, I put everything away.
And then I started
after we got here.
I got an idea.
- Okay.
- I want to know what you think.
I think you should
leave the art to me.
What do you think of the idea?
Is it like Meals on Wheels?
I got invited to a big
music business
convention: NAMM.
The NAMM show is always fun.
There's great people to
meet and great performances.
I met Mike Bradford there.
I went to the tech awards,
and there was Keith Emerson
of Emerson Lake & Palmer
standing there.
So, I met Keith Emerson!
And he was such a nice guy.
It's really cool
to meet your idols.
So, Lennon's almost done, huh?
Yeah, almost done.
And now he's already sold.
Really? You sold it?
A guy came in the other night
and was talking to me,
and... very interested.
And asked how much,
and we dickered around.
And then he came back
the next night
with $1,000 bucks,
and we made a deal.
Well, that's great.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I expect I'll see him
in another week
with another payment.
We got an appointment
for sure with Mark Schulman,
the rock star drummer
that we were talking about.
The guy, uh, Foreigner,
uh, Simple Minds, that guy?
Yeah, I think Billy Idol,
P! Nk,
he drums for P! Nk.
So anyway, he's very curious
about what you're doing,
wants to see your art, and he
invited us over to his studio.
So, we're going to go
over there in a couple days.
- Meet a celebrity.
- Right on.
- Good to meet you.
- You are an amazing artist.
- Oh, thank you.
- Fantastic stuff.
- Appreciate that.
- Really, really, um...
I don't know
what he showed you.
Well, I've just
kind of seen stuff.
- I saw some of the footage.
- Yeah, right.
And just some of the art.
And you've seen
the guitars up there.
I mean, I'm a drummer.
Don't hold that against me.
But I still like a good guitar.
I like a big guitar.
You do big guitars.
Size matters, I'm telling you.
Yeah, I do
do big guitars.
The way
I look at it, nobody's gonna
beat the shit out of my drums,
or hurt my drums,
more than I do.
He gave me the guitar and said,
"Paint my kid's guitar."
- Oh, that's so awesome.
- And I was like, "Okay."
He lives in Mexico.
He's a pretty famous artist.
That's brilliant.
His name's Enato.
And there... like,
there's a lot of states.
"Cause when you do
this digital stuff,
you can process it,
and then tweak it...
To me, it's like, you're the
next generation of psychedelic.
That's a nice thing to say.
Like, you've taken...
You've taken sort of existing,
um, formulas, so to speak,
and you're, like, expanding
on it with technology.
But it's... it's brilliant.
Oh, my God.
- You did those?
- Yeah.
I... I gotta buy
some of that from you.
- Okay.
- You kidding me?
That is like, some of the
coolest stuff I've ever seen.
- What's it made of?
- It's chrome steel.
- Oh, that's fantastic.
- I could make it out of silver.
So, I've got to ask you
a question.
I've got my own signature drum.
The Mark Shulman
signature drum.
- It's the greatest drum.
- Mm-hmm.
Could I give you one of my
drums and have you
- do some artwork on a drum?
- Yes, absolutely.
I mean, will you touch a drum,
or do you...
Are drummers okay?
Are we still cool?
Are you kidding?
So, you do the whole shell.
Well, I'll show it to you,
because this is the last year
of the drum,
um, because Gretsch
is taking out
all of the signature
drums off the market.
And this was like, the
best-selling signature product
in the history of Gretsch
for a couple of years.
- What is so... magical.
- It's magical.
And you do... and it also,
it goes with...
Which is my problem
with guitars.
They're so beautiful anyway.
But I'm thinking what
would be really cool
is if I give you one of these
drums and you just go to town.
I won't even
tell you what to do.
You just do it,
because that would be magical.
I want to put this signature
banner on it, back on it.
So, it's still,
says Mark Schulman.
- Yeah, yeah, sure.
- But it's your artwork on it.
What has drawn you to
wanting to paint instruments?
Because...
music...
um, is probably
the most
impactful form of art.
Music just makes
people do crazy shit.
Well, it's real time art.
It's...
Well, and musicians are shaman.
They create
a religious experience.
And I'm a Schulman.
I'm an abstract artist,
but I've always, you know...
Who do you think my favorite
artists were growing up?
I don't know how.
Oh, Roger Dean,
John Van Hamersveld,
Storm Thorgerson, um, you know
who all those guys are.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
So...
you know, I'm looking
- at Rick Griffin album covers.
- Yeah.
You know, when I'm a kid,
and I'm trying to draw...
I'm trying
to draw Yes album covers.
Yeah, 'cause I saw...
I saw Yes in there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
"Cause they just got announced
they're gonna get in
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- finally.
- Yes.
We all go through these,
like, multiple
lifetime experiences where,
you know, you go...
You start out, and when you get
to the other side
and move
into whatever's next,
you look back and you go,
"Oh, my God."
Where we have
what I call cycles.
Yeah, well...
And the thing is that we learn
and we respond
based on previous cycles,
and that brings us
- to where we are now.
- Mm-hmm.
'Cause this is
a solid Rosewood drum.
And that is...
And that is just a...
It's a painted finish.
But this is such
a brilliant drum.
I actually handpicked this.
Oh, that would be fantastic.
But I'm thinking that I just
take all the hardware off,
give you the shell,
and you can go to town.
Look what I got.
When you got Irene
that nice sapphire ring,
you're obviously getting
pretty serious
about the relationship, right?
So, what were you thinking?
Um, well...
she'd already asked me
if I wanted to get married.
And we'd already decided when.
So, we needed a ring.
And she said,
"Oh, I want that ring.
That's my engagement ring."
And um, I was like,
"Well, that's not a diamond."
And she was like,
"I don't care. I want that."
So,
it was just very simple...
You know, the marriage
actually... our relationship
was one of the easiest things
that ever happened in my life.
I went to paint her house.
And then we were like,
"Oh, what?"
But we've known each other,
you know,
we'd spent time together
in spaces with friends,
and we'd never made
any connection prior to that.
But, uh, you know,
I went over there
to paint her house,
and that was it.
The relationship
just continued to get...
We never really separated
from each other after that.
How long did it take before
I took my bed over there?
Do you remember?
You know, I think maybe
it was three weeks.
No, it wasn't even that long
"cause she didn't have a bed,
and my bed was in storage.
And I was like, "Well,
I don't need it in storage.
I need it here."
We moved out
of Los Angeles,
and he focused on
the Bunnynose Guitar project,
a collaboration
with a custom guitar maker.
See, this one's
a dye sublimation print.
It went on the guitar
body really nice, real easy.
Hello.
Here we are.
- Good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Willard's the artist.
He's the one that made
this drum.
Oh wow. That is really
beautiful, brother.
Wow.
- That's awesome.
- That is so awesome.
It's so great,
I want to wear it!
I'm wondering though,
do you have to use
the hardware that came with it?
Can you get more
minimal hardware?
It's up to you; It's gonna
look beautiful no matter what.
He's not a drummer.
Yeah. Oh, I know it's...
Would never ask that question.
Yeah, we're going to use
the exact hardware.
The only problem
I see is that
one of the most
important things is where the...
Where the head hits the drum
is the bearing edge.
Yeah, I understand.
The bearing edge
is a critical thing.
And unfortunately we went
over the bearing edge,
and there's nicks,
and there's some stuff here
that's unfortunately going to
affect the sound of the drum.
But this is your
first time doing it.
- I can take it right now...
- No, no, no, no.
- We'll do the bearing edge.
- I can go to Home Depot and I...
No, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no.
You know. Gary's looking
at me like, "No!"
Yeah, cool.
Well, I'm excited.
Where you're doing
this sort of thing,
which is something to note,
because I didn't really
caution you about
the bearing edge.
"Cause we can... 'cause
Gary can do the bearing edge.
Because what happens is
the head goes over the drum,
and then you're gonna
have the hoop go over the head.
This is so,
so extraordinary,
- and I want to recommend...
- I understand...
I mean, people are going to see
this, people are gonna
want to have stuff done.
That's my hope.
That's my hope, too.
"Cause this is really
phenomenal.
It's brilliant.
It's art. It's yours.
Here we have the concept.
What I was doing was,
at the time,
um, working on some
pieces that had earth,
air, fire, and water
in the images.
And I thought, "Well,
I'll just carry that on."
And so that's what I did.
So, we have water
that goes into earth.
And then the earth
I put some sort of animal,
sort of forms,
in here, and plant forms.
And then they burst into flame,
and then they go into air,
you know, smoke and air,
back into water again.
So, when I see that,
like, my art is expressed
- through my music.
- Right.
So, to see you just conceive
and conceptualize that,
to me, is...
It's absolutely brilliant.
I'm so grateful because it's...
- Thanks.
- It's a whole other skill set.
You know?
That's beautiful.
There it is
with all of its glory.
Hah, that is gorgeous.
And whose...
- Is this your guitar?
- This is for sale.
This is going to NAMM
unless I sell it.
It's going to be...
there's a couple of booths
that are going to have...
- Bunnynose?
- Bunnynose.
We should let
Justin try it out.
Absolutely.
- Nice to meet you, man.
- Thank you.
- So, he's been, uh...
- Nice to meet you, man.
Then he started doing guitars,
and he painted my drum for me.
But he brought this as well.
Did you ever see
the two guitars
on Sunset in Beverly Hills?
The Bob Marley one
and the Janis Joplin one?
They were in
the middle of the road?
Uh, I don't think so.
Maybe I never noticed them.
Yeah... They're down at Gibson
- in the showroom.
- Okay.
My first guitar was a Telly,
and it was like that.
It was a Series 10.
Have you seen those?
And it was like...
It had like, palm trees
and friggin' um, pineapples.
Dude, this is awesome, man.
One of Willard's
favorite music groups
throughout his life
has been Yes.
Jon Anderson has been their
singer since the beginning.
Jon was launching
a new solo record
when Willard
got to meet him in person.
So, how do you feel
about meeting Jon Anderson?
I'm excited about it.
But you never know,
sometimes you're your, uh,
your idols disappoint you.
But I have a feeling
he's a very nice man.
Pretty sure.
Looking forward to it.
And you've been following
his music for how long?
Since I was 14 years old,
probably.
Wow.
Freshman in high school.
- Let's go meet him.
- Yeah, okay.
Hey! Jimmy?
You can give
this to somebody, maybe.
- Oh, very nice.
- So, I'm an.
Oh, that's fabulous!
Can I have that?
- I just did this for you.
- Is that for me?
- Yes, I'll sign it for you.
- No, it's... yes, please.
Can you do that?
I brought one of
my shirts as a gift for Jon.
Suddenly, I found myself
signing it for him.
My entire life,
I'm a fan.
- Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
We were at a party
in Munich
and Jimi was there,
and I was in the corner...
And he told
me his Jimi Hendrix story,
which all classic
rock musicians have.
Jon was excited because
he had met Jimi in Munich.
He looked over...
He looked over at me, I went...
...like that, and then he came
over and sat down next to me.
And then later in
London, Jimi remembered him.
In London, and I
had just met Chris Squire.
We went to see Roland Kird,
great sax player.
And in walks Jimi Hendrix
with his guitar.
And he walks over and looks at
me and says, "Munich!"
I said, "Yes!"
I found myself, thank you!
And that was Jon
Anderson's Jimi Hendrix story,
that Jimi remembered him.
Three, two, one.
- Perfect.
- Thanks so much.
Can I... can I...
Just really quickly,
I just wanna show you
my claim to fame,
because you are
kind of my idol.
I do love it.
Oh, wow.
This is all your work?
Yeah, is all my work.
So, these are giant guitars
- that were on the Sunset Strip.
- Oh yeah.
- Did you see these?
- Of course I remember them.
So, this one's still
at the Andaz Hotel.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I just do this
psychedelic stuff,
which is why...
This is what I'm working on.
And uh, I do guitars.
I should send you my photograph
of doing my Elvis impression.
I do a version of it.
Do you do that?
Yes, I could do that, yeah.
Um, in fact, see,
these are just different.
- I'm a rock and roll artist.
- I love it.
I did a drum for Mark Schulman
who plays for P! Nk.
I know!
So, that's a guitar that I did.
- Beautiful.
- And that's Mark's drum.
And he calls her Anna.
This is where I live. I live
out in the desert.
We were just out there
in Tucson, two days ago.
- Yeah.
- The mountain.
That's Justin Derrico
with my guitar.
Yeah, incredible, man.
- That's.
- Serious.
This is my friend,
Mark Christian.
Yeah.
I'll send you
my Elvis photograph.
Well, would you sign my stuff?
Sure.
I can send it to my son.
He's super jealous
that.
Oh, wrong end.
There you go.
The Jon Anderson
thing was another instance
of meeting somebody who's
had a huge impact on my life.
And he acted,
like, interested.
Interested in everybody,
and super cool.
Well, meeting
Jon Anderson was special
because that's a person
that's, um, huge
in my artistic
and musical life.
Introduced me to art
and a realm of fantasy,
and higher consciousness,
and all kinds of stuff
in these little discs.
And uh,
it was, you know,
someone I've dreamed
of meeting.
I mean, physically had dreams
that I was in the room
talking to
this person before.
I was armed with something
when I met Jon Anderson though,
because I had
the Jimi Hendrix Foundation.
And I had done the art,
and the painting,
and they had
contacted me to use it.
And so,
I gifted him the shirt
and showed him
the Hendrix Foundation thing.
And I said,
you know, it's official
Jimi Hendrix
Foundation merchandise.
And he had
his Jimi Hendrix story.
So, he had to tell me,
you know,
the story about meeting
Jimi Hendrix in Germany.
Were you a little
bit starstruck at all
when you met one of
your idols like Jon?
I've met a lot of people
in the last few years,
so, it was easier.
I meet Keith Emerson at NAMM.
Super gracious,
super interested.
I had the little 3D
photograph of Les Paul,
and there was some interest
in doing a photograph of him.
So, I had something to talk to
him about, about this 3D photo.
And he was like,
"Oh, that's interesting.
That's cool.
You want to do that."
And he took the picture,
and he had the contact
information.
But I was like, other
than that, "Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh."
What do you say to this person?
"Cause they're...
you know, big.
But he was just a guy,
you know,
wearing a button down,
and having his champagne.
And he was actually
kind of shy.
Um, Jon Anderson was
more vivacious and bubbly.
Hello.
He'd been working
on this Johnny Cash
painting for over a year.
It was great to finally
see it finished.
So, this is your first
time actually looking at it?
I think so.
Looks pretty awesome.
Peter sure seemed to like it.
He was really happy with it.
So, how does it feel
to have your own place now?
Do you have enough space?
- It feels amazing.
- Yeah, it's really nice.
- It's really nice, yeah.
- It's amazing!
And you have three
acres now huh, Oso?
Looks like you manifested.
What I was trying to
manifest was either
the time to work because I had
a space,
or the space to work,
because I had the time.
And the two things
didn't always coincide.
Now they coincide.
How do you like it, Irene?
I love it.
You know, privacy.
We have space.
- Well, the neighborhood...
- We live on a vortex.
Yeah.
Also, I had never lived
in a space bigger than like,
30 feet by 15,
until we moved here.
And now he has three acres.
He's the king
of the three acres.
We were attracted to
the area by a lot of things.
But you know, the beauty
and the energy of the place,
I mean, it's really
an interesting,
uh, place that continues
to become more beautiful
and reveals itself, and it's
just vibrationally interesting.
We live on a giant
mountain of quartz,
and I never want to leave.
You know, we moved in
and everything
was kind of in neglect.
So, like,
I had to put a water main in.
And the water main goes
on the side of the house.
And I had to put
a roof on the house.
I decided I'm going
to put concrete out here.
So, I put all these
pieces of quartz in the cement.
I'll do more of that out here.
Yup...
You know, I'm covering the
house with galvanized steel.
I had to put
a new chimney in,
"cause the old fireplace
had to be removed.
And now I covered
the wall with steel.
This is probably
a little more ornate
than the rest
of the house will be.
It's like it's got
your signature all over it.
Yeah, I guess.
'50s diner style trailer?
Well, I don't know about '50s.
In order to manifest,
you must first
have the vision.
You have to then put all your
thoughts and energies...
and vision into visualizing
your thing,
and bring it to yourself.
In order to be
its highest and best,
you have to be doing it
not at the expense of others.
Not just to visualize it,
but to modify
all of your behavior.
So, all of your purposes,
all of your behaviors,
are for the manifestation
of that desire.