| November 20th, 2004 01:44 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
Slick to grace art gallery fit for Rock Star
But Scottsdale gallery owner sees it as art
Dolores Tropiano
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 20, 2004 12:00 AM
What do Grace Slick, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger have in common besides being some of the most admired rock stars of the baby boomer generation?
They all are coming, either in person or as works of art, to Scottsdale's new Rock Star Gallery.
Slick, lead singer of the legendary group Jefferson Airplane, will appear there tonight to help showcase celebrity-themed paintings and other artwork as part of the opening of Rock Star Gallery at the Scottsdale Promenade, Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.
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"We're not bringing her in as a musician, we're bringing her in as an artist," said Donna Dunn, who is helping her husband, Michael, open the store. "She's very passionate about her artwork."
Slick is the first of many stars, including Wood of the Rolling Stones, whom the Dunns hope will appear with their artwork at the Rock Star Gallery.
The gallery, the brainchild of Michael Dunn, is a showcase for Dunn's lifelong passion: rock and roll memorabilia.
Rock Star Gallery will offer authenticated memorabilia, autographed and custom-framed albums, guitars, rock photographs, vintage rock T-shirts, jewelry and celebrity fine art.
"Someone walks in and sees an old Led Zeppelin album," he said. "But it is not just an album. It is a link to what was going on in their life at that time. It is a total recall, a connection."
Dunn's enthusiasm for the gallery inventory could be contagious, especially for the baby boomer generation that clings to the icons of their youth.
There they will marvel at a painting by Wood of Jagger wrapping his famous lips around a harmonica.
They may even feign flashbacks when they see the rare photographs and footage by famous concert photographers such as Henry Diltz, Jim Marshall and Gered Mankowitz.
"When they walk in here, they will have a complete rock-and-roll music experience. We cut no corners," said Dunn, a tall man with a square jaw and Jagger-esque hairstyle, which makes him look as if he would fit in with any of his favorite performers.
Much of the memorabilia is from Dunn's personal collection, which started when he was 16, growing up in Scottsdale. Dunn purchased his first bootleg Led Zeppelin album from a store on Mill Avenue for $40.
He attended Coronado High School and then Arizona State University and worked for many years as the marketing director for a local traffic-reporting company.
But when his 10-year-old son got a diagnosis of cancer, his priorities took an understandable shift. He dared to go after a dream and work in a field he had been devoted to for decades.
The rest, of course, is rock-and-roll history.
"I thought, 'I don't feel like doing that anymore,' " he said of his former job. "That's not what's important. The worst thing I could do was to look over my shoulder years from now and wonder what might have happened had I pursued my dream." |
| November 21st, 2004 11:21 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
The Glimmer Twins by Grace Slick |
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