Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 33-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
“First, oh my word I love these portraits so, so, so much. Second, Canadian rocker turned painter Jean Smith sells these paintings on Facebook for $100 a pop.” — The Jealous Curator
It was a total thrill to have five of my paintings featured on The Jealous Curator‘s site in September—although, I am still “a rocker” (and a novelist), but painting is currently paying the bills. In the month following the feature, I sold almost more than I could handle. Like, nine times what I would normally sell.
A poster of one of my paintings will be included in the Mecca Normal live in Montreal (1996) album to be released in 2018. Dave found the tape last week, and we took it into a studio yesterday to listen to it. Finally, a live album from that era, and it sounds incredible. Until now, not releasing a decent mid-’90s Mecca Normal performance has been one of my biggest regrets.
“He Didn’t Say” from Jarred Up (K, 1993) (download):
