The word "maverick" was thrown around like crazy last year during the presidential campaign. "Maverick" this, "maverick" that... I got so sick of hearing that word that I never wanted to use it again. But it's impossible to stay mad at vocabulary forever (to be fair, only writers get mad at vocabulary in the first place). The technical definition of "maverick" comes from frontier Texan Samuel A. Maverick, who refused to brand his cattle (oh, dear me!). Today a maverick is someone who stands apart from their peers, for good or bad. They do what they want, without regard for the standard or the popular.
Like that (clearly scandalous) 19th century cattle rancher, Joseph Arthur is another reckless pioneer. Arthur is an unconventional Jack of All Trades, Master of Quite a Few. He's one of those creative types who can't be bothered to stay in one art form for any reasonable length of time. Or do anything reasonable, for that matter.
Joseph Arthur was discovered by Peter Gabriel and was the first artist on Gabriel's record label. That's Peter, "Shock The Monkey," Gabriel—one of the most recognizable voices in British rock. After his big break, Arthur went on to make a few records with weighty ballads. When he released "Redemption's Son" in 2002, it was easy to pin him as a soft and sleepy pop-folk dude. Then he teamed up with a band, The Lonely Astronauts, and things changed. They started rocking out in 2006 and just released their latest album, "Temporary People," in September. Arthur's outrageous personality make his live shows incredibly dynamic, whether with the band or his looping machine. You never know which Joe your'e going to have in front of you.
A maverick he may be, but he still knows how to make a buck. For the last decade, he has licensed his songs to be used on television and in movies. I remember a few times I pulled up Google after hearing a song on Dawson's Creek or American Wedding (yeah, I watched a lot of garbage in the '00s) and his name was at the other end of the search engine.
Art remains one of Arthur's creative passions too. He operates a virtual gallery called the Museum of Modern Arthur (they used to have a space in Brooklyn but got evicted). Arthur will open a visual art exhibit in Toronto on Thanksgiving Day (ours, not Canada's) and then on Saturday (Nov. 28, 2009) he'll be in town with us at the Bryant Lake Bowl for a concert. Arthur is about to complete is next record, so there will be some of the old, the older, the new and the very new. He's doing two shows because the BLB is such a cozy venue. His manager warned me that both shows are on the verge of selling out so methinks it best to act now if you want to see this kook in action.
