Commander Cody Paintings - The Art Of George Frayne
November 06, 2009 , 06:00 PM - December 31, 2009, 10:00 PM
The Art of George Frayne (aka Commander Cody)
(Saratoga Springs, New York)
CommanderCody.com
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen was formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The band’s name was inspired by 1950s film serials featuring the character Commando Cody and from a feature version of an earlier serial, King of the Rocket Men, released under the title Lost Planet Airmen. The band’s founder and leader, George Frayne, (b. July 19, 1944 in Boise, Idaho), took the stage name Commander Cody.
The band’s style was basically a mixture of country music, rockabilly, and blues with a foundation of boogie-woogie piano. It became legendary for marathon live shows. In addition, they were among the very first country-rock bands to take their cues less from folk-rock and bluegrass and more from hardcore barroom country of the Ernest Tubb, Ray Price style, and to incorporate Western Swing into their style along with rockabilly and rhythm and blues. Other bands, such as Asleep at the Wheel, would later follow a similar pattern.
Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen
After several years spent playing in local bars, core members of the group migrated to San Francisco (along with Asleep at the Wheel)[1] and scored a recording contract with Paramount Records. The group’s first album release, titled Lost in the Ozone, arrived in late 1971 and yielded the group’s best-known hit, a version of the country song Hot Rod Lincoln, which reached the top ten on the Billboard singles chart in early 1972. They then moved to Texas[1]; the band’s 1974 live recording, Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas features cover art of armadillos by Jim Franklin, and the band released several moderately-successful albums through the first half of the decade.
Retaining his stage name of Commander Cody, Frayne had a solo career, touring and releasing albums from 1977 to the present day; some later albums were released under the Lost Planet Airmen name. Recent releases have been under the name The Commander Cody Band.
Frayne is also an artist, having received his bachelor’s degree in Design from the University of Michigan in 1966 and a master’s degree in Sculpture and Painting from the Rackham School of Graduate Studies of the University of Michigan in 1968. He has taught at University of Michigan and Wisconsin State University, and has had his art exhibited at numerous shows. He is a student of cinematography, and has a permanent feature at the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent video archive. His paintings are oversized, and present photorealistic images from popular culture.
Participants
The Guitar Syndicate
(816) 326-8200 1819 Central Street
The Guitar Syndicate is a Music Equipment & Guitar Accessories Store in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City.
Art Exhibits:
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