Every year, sculptor John Hock invites a couple dozen fellow artists to come and do their thing at Franconia Sculpture Park, the road trip-worthy destination he co-founded near Taylor’s Falls. The sculptors, who range from established names based in far-flung metropolises to student interns from local art schools, sweat it out all summer; come September, there’s a huge day-long party to show off the fruits of their labor.
As the park’s artistic director, Hock attends to a host of duties besides making his own work, and music accompanies most all of them. Here are the songs that help him get the job, whatever it is, done:
1. “New York, New York,” Frank Sinatra
This makes the list for the obvious reasons: nostalgia and loneliness. Eight years in New York City, I was the shit magnet—people getting killed all around me. This was when Times Square was real! Before it became Dizzy World, middle class tourist Mecca. My first year out here (1993) I named my new dog after Frank. I also brought a copy of this song to my local pub, Romayne’s in Taylors Falls, for their jukebox. Frank helps me feel like my feet really grip the earth.
2. “Is That All There Is?” Peggy Lee
She makes you want to drink and smoke (the latter I gave up after thirty-four years), and question art and life. Sometimes I play this song for the artist interns at the sculpture park. They don’t get it. Youth is wasted on the wrong people. I still have a vice or two and Peggy makes three.
3. “Love Duet,” Madama Butterfly, Puccini
For me, this is (brain) yoga. It gets me all twisted up and sweaty with meditation and concentration (after all, I don’t smoke anymore); it helps me plan the day, make lists, see what will be truly unique today. Or say, “Is that all there is?”
4. “Stranded in the Jungle,” New York Dolls
This ditty from the original glam rock band was on the first album, Too Much Too Soon, I ever bought. It was the early ’70s, I was fourteen. My mother thought the Halloween makeup I was wearing was “very interesting”—but it was Easter. This song makes me smile—always has, always will.
5. “I’m Bored” (and “Tell Me a Story” and“Girls” and etc. etc.), Iggy Pop
I’m sick of kicks, stiffs, and dips. Load me into a cannon and shoot me into the butt of a rhino. Show me something new. Just don’t bore me.
6. “Ride of the Valkyries,” Die Walküre, Wagner
This is music for installing very large sculpture. You’re in Chicago, you’re up at five a.m.; you’re meeting the 120-ton crane at six, three semi trucks are rolling in, you have seven sculptures to install by three p.m. The meter maids and rent-a-cops are all bent out of shape. You show them your permit and drop on this song: Da-da-da-daaa-da.
7. “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” Beastie Boys
The first raucous dance experience for my son Zane was when this number came on 89.3 while we were babysitting each other (he was two at the time). Upon Momma Tasha’s return, she inquired what we had been up to. I said, “Reading books.” Zane said: “Don’t beweeve the hype.”
8. “Hot Rod,” Peaches
Really, almost that whole album, The Teaches of Peaches. That’s the way it’s supposed to be: not stuffy, locked up in some museum. Let it all hang out, play the trombone, challenge yourself, try something new.
9. “Sex Bomb (Baby Yeah!),” Flipper
This is a lot like Wagner but is about installing (or deconstructing) something else altogether. Go ahead and upset your audience. This was the 1980s: Ronald Reagan, then George Bush. Who wasn’t pissed off? Gritty, aggressive angst. Nowadays I can only listen to it once or twice a year. Baby yeah!
10. “Jesus Built My Hot Rod,” Ministry and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers)
When my energy is running low, this masterpiece (sort of like a twenty-first-century rendition of “Hot Rod Lincoln”) is just what the doctor ordered. This song keeps a sculptor’s paradise running on high octane. If things are slowing down, you’re not sure of your newest idea—screw it. Jesus built my hot rod. Try it, you’ll like it.
Franconia Sculpture Park’s fall arts and music festival takes place on September 15 with live music, dancing, bonfire, and tours of the new location. 29836 St. Croix Trail, Franconia; 651-257-6668.
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