December 2020

November 2020 Issue

65

#

Dec 2020

FREE

Zenster

Serving Up Art, Music, and Culture for the Metro Area’s Enjoyment 1 GessoMagazine.com Gesso Magazine

Editor's Word

December 2020 individuals who have submitted their

Editor’s Word

works for publication. And “Likes” to all you followers on Facebook!!! We are

Straight Up Magazine is now Gesso Magazine and it is here with its

grateful to you, the reader, for reading this latest issue of Gesso Magazine

65th edition ‘Serving Up Art, Music and Culture for the Metro Area’s Enjoyment’. The St. Louis Metro deserves its own arts and entertainment magazine. And here it is. It’s called Gesso!!!

We are very pleased to have Zenster as our featured cover artist. See more from Zenster on page 8.

And our Jacque Davis “Dreaming in Color” exhibition is still on display at Governor French Gallery. Due to COVID, the Gallery is still closed to foot traffic. And the exhibition is still visible from the vast windows at 219 West Main Street in Belleville IL or by – Issue #65 in the Str8 Up Magazine

appointment.

legacy!!!

We thank our writers for their poignant

2

features and all those who contribute to

Like Straight Up before it, the mission

this project. We appreciate all of those

of Gesso Magazine is to support local

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020 arts and artists and the businesses and

contact us. Show us your work. Tell us

organizations that support local arts

of your craft and brief personal/artistic

and artists. We invite you to contact us

history. Submit any art form that you’d

with ideas, comments, information, etc.

like. Perhaps, you can be one of our

that might assist us in our mission to

next published contributors or even a featured cover artist. Check out the Submissions Pages to see who’s featured this month. Next month, that could be you!!

Enjoy Gesso! Tell your friends. Send us your work. And visit our website at GessoMagazine.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook daily for new and additional events and content. For the time being, you will not see Gesso Magazine at hundreds of area distribution locations! We will be online only till the brave new world returns. Stay safe and be healthy.

serve you, the residents of the St. Louis Metro area.

P.O. Box 412 Belleville, IL 62222

WE WANT YOU! - All you artistic and creative types out there! You should GessoMagazine.com

* (314) 266-9199 * Editor@ GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

3

Credits

December Credits

Staff

December 2020

Editors: Jake Bishop, Dylan Seibert, Paul Seibert Layout Design Artists: Jake Bishop, Dylan Seibert, Mark Polege Sales: Jake Bishop, Jennifer Lynn Reida, William Schmitz, Paul Seibert, Dylan Seibert Ad Artists: Jake Bishop, Mark Polege, Dylan Seibert, Wil Sullivan Calendar: Dylan Seibert, Paul Seibert Website Design & Up-Keep: Mark Polege (MarkusDesignWorks.com), Jake Bishop Photography: Mark Polege (PhotographyofMarkPolege.com)

The Gesso Movement Relies on Your Support!!

We are committed to supporting local artists, musicians, & businesses and providing this material FREE to readers month after month!!

We invite you to reach out to us!!

Together we can discover how we can best help you, your band, your business or organization, etc. and how you can best help us in our continuing mission.

Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram or via GessoMagazine.com Editor@GessoMagazine.com 4

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

Contributors Cover Artist: Zenster Cover Logo: Jake Bishop Game Page: Dank By Design Fun Page: Jake Bishop Photography/ Images: Courtesy of Zenster (p.8-13), Felix Mooneeram (p.30), Clair P. (p.27), Kayla King (p.32-37) All material in this publication and its affiiated on-line content are copyrighted to the individual contributors or Gesso Magazine and may not be reproduced without written consent. We are very grateful to those who have submitted material to be considered for publication. However, the opinions and views of those contributing content to Gesso do not necessarily reflect those of Gesso Magazine.

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

5

Table of Contents

8

Cover Artist: Zenster

14 December Comics

by Danny Houk

6

Gesso Magazine

December 2020

16 Friends of Gesso Membership Program 19 Special Message

from Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Table of Contents

20 Poetry Corner

December 2020

by Gesso Contributor: John Dorroh

32 December Submissions featuring: Kayla King

30 Save Our Stages

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

7

Cover Artist: Zenster

8

Gesso Magazine

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Cover Artist: Zenster

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

9

Cover Artist: Zenster

10

Gesso Magazine

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Cover Artist: Zenster

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

11

Cover Artist: Zenster

12

December 2020

Zen.

Candle-lit Zen.

Gardens and Deserts of Zen.

Drizzling Midnight Eternity Zen.

Valleys and Plains of Zen.

Oceanic and Messianic Zen.

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Cover Artist: Zenster

December 2020

Good Ol' Fashion Home-Cooked Zen.

And then again...

Hand-in-Hand Zen.

Zen.

GessoMagazine.com

Simply:

Gesso Magazine

13

Comics

December 2020

By: Danny Houk . See more at https://www.instagram.com/dannyhoukart/

14

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Fun Page

December 2020



            

            

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

15

Introducing:

The Friends of Gesso membership program * Donate any amount to become a member * Donate $10 or more and receive a Gesso sticker as a thank you gift * Donate $100 or more and receive a Gesso sticker and a T-shirt as a thank you gift All Members will be thanked in print in the next issue (unless they wish to remain anonymous) All members who provide a valid email address will periodically receive invitations to access special bonus content on GessoMagazine.com, as well as other perks!

(No email addresses will be sold to any third party EVER) Gesso Magazine reaches THOUSANDS of people on both sides of the river & serves the local art & music scene by continuing to make this publication available to the public free of charge.

This community project relies on the support of the community it serves. Help us keep LOCAL art and music ALIVE.

December 2020

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY

To become a member, send us an email at Membership@GessoMagazine.com Or send us a message on Facebook Or cut out this form and mail it to: Gesso Magazine P.O. Box 412 Belleville, IL 62222 Your name, or that of your business, band, group, or organization: Email (optional): Donation amount: Would you like to have your name excluded from print in the next issue?: (those who do not answer will have their name included) GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

17

Visit the RenewAudio.com/Music page for links and streaming music for our Artists.

Or Search Renew Audio Music or DrunkMouse Records for Spotify Playlist.

Renew Audio Music is available on all streaming services.

Attention Gesso Readers: This Holiday Season and All Year Around, We are So Very Grateful to You and to

EVERYONE

Who Has Contributed to this Project...

We have some exciting things in the works for the coming year!!!

From All of Us to All of You: Thank You So Much and Please Stay Up with us via Social Media & GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

John Dorroh, “J.D.,” taught high school science

for almost 30 years and lived to tell about it. He is a writer who has had some success with White Trash Nekid poetry, micro-fiction, and poetry. He has also written for a regional newspaper as a weekly business columnist. He lost the county spelling been in the 6th grade to Connie Dick and went on to become a recognized swimmer and Moon Pie-eating contestant.

John is a highly appreciated Gesso Magazine contributor.

John's work is also included in the just released Fifth Issue of Feral: A Journal of Poetry and Art. The following are his latest contributions to Gesso Magazine.

Enjoy :) 20

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

“French Fries, II”

under their new young, handsome president,

My roommate is cooking French fries

with his suave cheek muscles that remind me

in the hot-air oven, and I can smell them

of the surface of the French flag at the Arc

through the walls. They are calling my name,

de Triomphe; the ripples followed by taut

yelling it loud and clear.

seconds of fresh clarity.

There’s a chef at every

Last night at the Queen of Hearts when I ordered potato chips with my hamburger, they accidentally gave me fries. I looked at them and they were very

school in France, and food is fanfare and art and second skin. If nothing else, Macron can do anything he likes except to mess with their food, and why would he?

pretty. The host never realized that someone

My first words were in French, in LaRochelle,

had made a mistake. I ate every one of them.

on the Gascogne Bay, two blocks from a big

I think there might be hope for the French people

white casino with a blue tiledroof. There was a carousel on the front lawn that rolled

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

21

December 2020

“There are No Common Things”

gently down to the beach.

There were stalls of cheese and fresh oysters for sale 200 meters away, and a small nude beach in an alcove.

The French poodles were not pissed like

The brown owl is perched in the gnarled pine,

their American counterparts, and I swear that

highest branch from the snowcovered ground,

the butter for the baguettes was created

its round face that looks so much like the boy

by angels who blessed each pat and kissed it with moist, sweet lips.

I tiptoed into the kitchen to see if he had saved me a few, but he said no. “I guess I thought that you didn’t want any, that you had sworn off of them until after the New Year.” Maybe I did. I can’t remember.

22

Gesso Magazine

next door. Bunnies are plentiful, their quick back legs kicking up snow dust into the cold air. If only they knew what perils their innocence might cast.

The metal fish climb the side of the barn, heads, gills favoring north, at least until spring when the crocus flowers give way to sweet onions and delicate shoots

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020 of asparagus. There are no common things, only

turning green, the moles having created cities of hills,

beautiful and precious gifts and offerings, even the

that must be negotiated with careful planning. The dogs

late freeze that will whither and brown the petals

are drunk with excitement, unable to contain themselves,

that have already bloomed and started summer fruit.

barking, digging, wagging their paintbrush tails high

There are wonderful and miraculous organisms out

in the cool blue air, tugging on their leashes with might

in the compost bin—worms and black beetles with

and determination. Their paws are trowels, digging, digging,

red dots on their backs, red bugs with black eyes

tossing dirt into the air, the space between their paws

that glisten like diamonds, baby frogs and lizards

soaking up earth like a sponge. It’s as though they know

that dart into the hole in a brick that you meant

that these things have replicated themselves since the moment

to remove in the fall. There are unidentified seeds

the planet began to spin on its own; that they are merely

and tiny bugs in the air, floating and flying, claiming

willing participants in this waterfall of seconds and minutes,

space for a fraction of a second, winter’s brown grass

fractals oozing into the spaces that make us all part of the parade.

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

23

December 2020

www.JohnnyBBQSauce.com www.Facebook.com/ Johnny-Sauce-502689276810563/

24

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

(303) 524 5729 GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

25

December 2020

26

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

27

December 2020

28

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

29

Save Our Stages

December 2020 August 2020

National Independent Venue Association supports Save Our Stages Act

distancing guidelines • The Save Our Stages Act is endorsed by (NIVA) and the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO).

Independent live music and entertainment venues have been hard-hit dur- Contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know you suping the coronavirus pandemic, with 90 percent of venue owners, promot- port the Save Our Stages Act. ers, and bookers reporting they are at risk of closing permanently without additional financial assistance. If ticket sales do not resume until 2021, the https://www.nivassoc.org/ industry will have lost an estimated $9 billion in ticket sales alone.

The Save Our Stages Act: • Establishes a $10 billion grant program for live venue operators, promoters, producers and talent representatives • Directs the Small Business Administrator to make grants to eligible recipients equal to the lesser of either 45% of gross revenue from 2019 or $12 million • Allows the Small Business Administrator to issue supplemental grants in the future if funding remains available and applicants can demonstrate continued need • Permits recipients to use grants for costs incurred during the COVID pandemic • Permits recipients to use grants for rent, utilities, mortgage obligations, PPE procurement, payments to contractors, regular maintenance, administrative costs, taxes, operating leases, and capital expenditures related to meeting state, local, or federal social

30 26

Gesso Gesso Magazine Magazine

https://www.nivassoc.org/take-action

About NIVA: Formed at the onset of the COVID-19 shutdown, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), now represents more than 2,000 members in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. These independent venues and promoters were the first to close and will be the last to fully reopen.

NIVA’s mission is to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live music venues, promoters and festivals throughout the United States.

GessoMagazine.com GessoMagazine.com

Save Our Stages

December 2020 August 2020

National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)

The COVID-19 pandemic has put movie theaters across the country at risk of going dark for good. From small independent screens to nationwide exhibitors, our local theaters employ over 150,000 people and have formed a cornerstone of the American experience for generations. Without swift action from Congress, our favorite movie theaters could close forever, depriving audiences of the magic of movies for years to come.

About NATO: NATO is the largest trade association in the world for movie theater owners. It serves the business, legislative, media and technology interests of theater owners in the United States and around the world. NATO represents all of the largest circuits in North America, as well as hundreds of independent and international members. Representing more than 68,000 screens in 100 countries.

Together, we can urge Congress to keep our theatres alive until they can fully reopen. #SaveYourCinema http://www.natoonline.org/ https://saveyourcinema.com/

GessoMagazine.com GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine Magazine Gesso

31 27

Submissions

32

Gesso Magazine

July 2020 December 2020

GessoMagazine.com GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

33

Submissions

December 2020

Kayla King Having learned from a young age that visual art was a form of sanctuary for me, I began constantly exploring new mediums and subjects. As a result, aspects of my artistic style have changed throughout my life. While going through quarantine I was triggered with a new inventiveness within me. Animals spark within many people a true sense of joy, even during hard times, and my intention was to create pieces that embody that feeling. With that goal guiding my use of watercolor and gouache, I attempt to bring that reaction into homes with a distinct uniqueness of craft.

Watercolor is my medium of choice for these projects because it allows me to capture character luminescent features of the subject when delicately layered. Although I do work with other mediums, I feel at home with watercolors. I am drawn to their fluidity and thoroughly enjoy how well they pair with gouache when desiring opaque touches. I strive for a balance between realistic details distinct to an animal and playful uses of color and line. I find it easy to lose myself in routine, I tend to become rigid and tense when I align too closely with one. This project reflects a newfound peace I have discovered due to rejecting conventionality for the sake of my happiness. I am truly humbled by the opportunities I have had to work with so many happy pet parents as I grow within my artistry. For questions about commissions and pricing check out my business page on Facebook.

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

33

Submissions

34

Gesso Magazine

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Submissions

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

35

Submissions

36

Gesso Magazine

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Submissions

December 2020

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

37

Visit the RenewAudio.com/Music page for links and streaming music for our Artists.

Or Search Renew Audio Music or DrunkMouse Records for Spotify Playlist.

Renew Audio Music is available on all streaming services.

Search “Ian Buechele� on Spotify, iTunes and any streaming platforms to listen to Americana/ Blues songs by Ian Buechele.

Governor French Gallery Exhibition

Dreaming in Color Textile Arts by

Jacque Davis Governor French Gallery 219 West Main Street Belleville IL 62221

Due to the Covid quarantine, the Gallery is closed.

Due This exhibit is continued indefinitely.

“You can’t come in, but... you can see the exhibit through the windows.”

Sponsored and Curated by Gesso Magazine

Regular Gallery Hours: 8am-4pm Monday

through Friday or by appointment