The Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde once said, “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” Sometimes the best experiences are right under your nose. Expect the unexpected. Life is full of surprises.
Editor-at-Large Eric Kallen was certainly surprised during a recent trip to New Orleans. While there, he went to the French Quarter to see his friend and fellow sportsman Garrett Dutton and his band G Love & Special Sauce perform at the iconic House of Blues.
Before the show, Dutton introduced him to a young blues revivalist named Nat Myers. Kallen was immediately drawn to Myers, a Korean American who speaks with a Southern twang. Despite the musician’s maturity and success, Kallen noted that Myers was young and closer to the ages of his children.
He also quickly discovered that Myers, like the blues greats before him, also uses music to address societal ills. In “Yellow Peril,” the title track of his new album, the young artist takes aim at racism, inspired by his own experiences.
“The sounds emanating from Myers’ steel resonator guitar were warm, deep and full of nuance,” Kallen recalled. “His fingerpicking was precise, intense and drew in the audience. When he sang, his voice was soulful and lyrical, reminiscent of the early blues singers whose restless wanderings along the Mississippi Delta are so well documented.”
Kallen experienced another unexpected turn of events when his son won a high school poetry contest for his poem about a painting that he admired at the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. The subject of his poem, “Biological Regionalism: Bonefish, Jardines de la Reina, Cuba” by Alberto Rey, intrigued Kallen, so much so that he decided to contact the artist and later asked me to feature him in this issue. What a nice surprise.
Rey was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1960, received political asylum through Mexico in 1963 and moved to the United States with his family. Here, he discovered his love for drawing and painting and went on to embrace the arts in his academic and professional endeavors.
Now a retired and distinguished professor of fine arts, Rey is a prolific and successful artist, published author and content producer. He paints in his barn and exhibits his work globally in renowned galleries and museums. Rey is also a conservationist who founded and directs a youth fly fishing program. And he’s an Orvis-endorsed guide who takes clients fly fishing for steelhead on a stream behind his home in Upstate New York.
I trust you expect to discover the unexpected in our Fall issue. Thank you for reading these words. They are intended for people with a modern intellect.
