Be Yourself Tonight

I lucked into the best new paintings over the weekend. This one's by my friend Neal (Dennis Atherton). I have several of his photographs, but this is my first painting. He and Brian moved in together, so had a tag sale of their overflow items from merging two households. There was a moment of panic when someone else had first dibs on the two items I couldn't live without, but it all worked out in the end. Thank you Strummer's mom Bethany for not buying them, and thank you Neal and Brian for the bargain basement prices. The extra special bonus came when I was carrying it out to the car and read its title on the back of the stretcher; "Be Yourself Tonight." Not coincidently, that is also the name of my favorite Eurythmics album which features "(It's Alright) Baby's Coming Back" and "Better to Have Lost in Love (Than Never to Have Loved at All)"; not to mention "I Love You Like a Ball and Chain."