Jack Rowell, "Big Fish and Good Lookin' Women," September 1996

The Announcement

Our Most urgent Immediate Release to date! 29 September, 1996

“Big Fish & Good Looking Women,” Photos by Jack Rowell

Specifically we refer to its very Special Reception,
Friday, 4 October from 7:00 pm til Whenever; Bring your own Whatever.
Festivities beginning at 7:00 and the first attraction at 8:00

The Attractions

• The Great Rondini, Escape Artisté Extraordinaire; this magical rubber man does the Difficult without blinking an eye—the Impossible takes a bit longer but will undoubtedly Astound all Witnesses!
• As promised, the Real Live Band, &tc: Beginning at 9:00 pm. Ken Sleeps Naked with the
• “Rowellettes,” our sexy and Goodlookin Go–Go Dancers! Prancing and Flailing about on our stage, lunch counter tops, and any other horizontal surface they can find. They have been practicing for weeks just for this sensational event and promise to be not just another Psychohoppin Groovve Thang but preeminent in their Profunkrageousness for your dancin pleasure! &
• Cherry Tart a Beautiful Creation! bordering on the “Risqué!”

All Free and Open to the Eager Public

Jack Rowell’s Photos can be seen at the Main Street Museum from:

Friday, 27 September, through the Second Week of November, 1996 With our now Almost Habitual Regular Hours:
Noon to Six pm Every Friday & Saturday.
Its all Just like every thing is here at The Museum with one hitch—The Passed Hat.

[Note: the Rowell Opening Reception went off as scheduled, but in a different location due to the legitimate concerns of the Inspectors for the Vermont Dept. of Labor and Industry; the so called, “Lenas Lunch,” building being owned by the most Monstrous Slum Lords of our Region, and in such a state of decrepitude that State officials were unable to justify even one person entering the building—hence it was “occupancy limited” in September of 1996 to “zero” individuals. This information having been put on a cardboard sign, framed by the Museum, and hung in our front room galleries—The Museum commenced its Swan Song. At that time, we were a cultural institution beleaguered—but by no means "down for the count! —dff.]

Full Press Release

November, 1996:

It was here that first I saw the light of day; here I took my bride; here my dead lie pillowed in the loving breast of her everlasting hills. —Calvin Coolidge, Bennington, 1927

Rules for writing a Press Release for Jack Rowell: Do not ponder some vaunted yet nebulous “sense of place;” Do not wax poetic over Vermont’s supposed “state of mind;” Do not sentimentalize a “vanishing simpler way of life.” Instead, propose questions. We’ll get to that in a minute.

First let’s take a look at the largest industry in the State of Vermont. Its called tourism. One hundred years ago we were primarily a State of farms, manufacturing industry, and cottage industry. Today we exist as a place that people visit. As a result, the word “Vermont” has a Copyright upon it, and the entire State is designated a Historic Site.

We are no longer bound together by the “Mystic Chords of Memory.” And so we are in the business of fabricating a myth. In our immediate area we have a “Lamplighter” motel. We see a “Timber Village” mall, complete with heroic sized fiber-glass Draft-Horse-Team-And-Felled-White-Pine. And a recent catalog of Gillingham's Store in Woodstock held forth on the Cracker Barrel—and playing checkers on this item by The Pot-Bellied Stove. Now, these aren’t lies ‘zactly. But did the things they refer to ever exist? Of course not. Everybody knows that even though a Plastic Team don’t eat much feed. And they were never worth much for Pulling Anything.

Our myth is quite specific, yet bland. Everything is clean. There are no surprises. And we know that people will pay a lot of money to have No Surprises. A local real estate firm will purchase most of the property in a small village and offer free paint to all homeowners who will paint their houses the same tint of white. Things were simple back then, we think. Folks were friendly. Jokes were “Cute.” Garrison Kielor makes big bucks flogging these dead horses every week. Nostalgia gives us a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of our stomachs; and makes us get out our wallets.

When, in fact, we know that times were hard, dirty, and most of all Uncomfortable in the ‘Good Old Days.” There was horse manure in the streets. Outhouses were smelly and infested with snakes. And local mills dumped thousands of gallons of dyes—cyanide and worse—into our rivers each Day. One hour on the streets of any Vermont village in, lets say 1870, would send the hardiest tourist scurrying back where they came from never to return. The chief industry of our region, then, is Making Up Lies. Now, our question: What is true? What do we have that we call Ours?

We have the Main Street Museum. We have Jack Rowell

Jack Rowell is a photographer who happens to live in the State of Vermont. He is 41 years old. He has done his share of Boozin and Wild Living. He has a Story to tell. And its a pretty good Story. Jack takes pictures of deer hunters with bloody deer haunches cause people hunt deer around these parts. Jack takes pictures of trout because people fish around here and in Canada, where he has shot a lovely series of photos. None of the people in his photos play checkers around the old cracker barrel. The houses aren’t painted white—or if they were it was some time ago. And there are Surprises Aplenty in this exhibition just as there are always a few Loose Ends here at The Museum.

Nostalgia is like tv—it is flat, like propaganda. Jacks photos are two—yet three—dimensional, rich and full of contradictions. Jack’s Nudes are more Naked than Nude and in that they could be anywhere, anyone; even though they are overwhelmingly persons—individuals. Some of the faces of Jacks figures look like they have been in Family Court a few times. But they also look like they’d be a hell of lot of fun to get drunk with. Jack photographs poor people who aren’t poor; ugly people who are beautiful; old people who aren’t old. They remind us of our own families, of our own friends and neighbors. And they have nothing to do with the insipidness of contemporary Mall–Culture. They refuse us the easy way out; but they’re ours. They belong to us and we belong to them in a very personal way—in a way that’s irrevocable. Its forever in a way that disturbs your sleep at night.

Jack doesn’t rest too much. We would say he gets about 6 hours of fitful sleep a night, all of it after midnight, and is a holy terror all day. Don’t get me wrong; this doesn’t bother me any; because he’s always very polite and doesn’t talk back. He chooses instead to put all his adrenaline into his work; and that’s always a wise choice. The contradictions in his work stem from the knowledge that there are no easy answers; that Birth and Death are one in the same thing. Like Henry Miller, you get the impression that he’s staring, in his head, at “all these leering skulking skulls” all the time. And like Miller too, his work is raunchy and sexy and good and bad and ugly, all in a unity. Therefore it matches White River Junction’s Downtown, which has been described as “the Old Vermont and the New Vermont all rolled into one slightly unsavory package.” If we do say so ourselves, Jack’s photos and The Museum is a match made in Heaven, a unique chance to see a photographer’s work in a truly sympathetic Venue. You check out “Last Call at the Villa Nova” (of Randolph) while standing in the old Lenas Lunch (White River Junction, now The Museum). The heart thrills to the sordid inequity that Our Town was once famous for. Perhaps a little of those Old Times will come shining through at our opening Reception, which will feature Calumnies masquerading as Attractions.

Much has been made of Jack’s talent. Less is known of his inspirations. He is a great admirer of Edward Weston. His work, seen by the young Rowell at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, were the first “fine art” photographic prints our artist had ever seen. Weston’s sense of light gave Jack some ideas as well; he studied how objects are lighted and it shows in his work. They say he has an “Eye.” But Photography is hard work and it is study. It is difficult here for a “Natural Talent” to flourish—photography is far too technically complex a medium for the simple “Intuitive” to succeed.

Perhaps it is Jack’s sense of history, of retribution, of Sin and Redemption, that inspires him. Whole parts of his life are coming light, literally and figuratively, as you read this paragraph. As Jack recovers from All Manner of Liquorous Dependency he merges his life with ours, and he is discovering boxes of Photos and Negatives. There are “damn, thousands of ‘em” he says; all taken in a fog and put into boxes around his home. As Jack rediscovers his past we will be the richer for it. There will be a good half dozen Jack Rowell pictures never before seen by sober human eyes on display in The Museum’s current show.

Mr. Rowell’s talent has been displayed liberally, from the State House in Montpelier, to the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth, to the Chandler Center in Randolph and the Tunbridge Public Library. His photos have been compiled in book form in Tunbridge Fair, (Herald Printery, Randolph, 1980). And he has worked as associate producer for John Obrien’s latest film, “Man with a Plan,” Fred Tuttle, star of film, politician, world traveler, and friend and advisor to the famous and the powerful, will be in attendance at our up-and-coming Sensational Opening Reception via a special electronic hook-up—a miracle of modern science and Computer Wizardry.

Jack’s wonderful photos are on display at the Museum from 27 September to the third week of November, 1996. A Special Opening Reception will be had at 7:00 p.m. Friday, 4 October, with a Real Live Band, Ken Sleeps Naked our featured musical artists presented at 9:00. At this time—for your Enjoyment and perhaps Scandalizing—will be presented the well known, Good Lookin’ Go–Go Dancers—right on our Former Lunch Countertops; The Great Rondini—who will astound us with his impossible feats of escape from impenetrable enclosures and the literal Tying In Knots of his Flesh And Bones. He must be seen to be believed. And, by special arrangement, the inimitable, stunning and awe-inspiring Cherrie Tartt will perform in her own unique style with accompaniment offered by Sal Remember "Calumnies masquerading as Attractions"? It will be all that and more!

O, and don’t forget; this Release will be much improved and expanded and put out as a little Chap Book slash Exhibition Catalog with Numerous Illustrations and will be available in our gorgeous Gift Shoppe for the duration. Main Street Museum sum Desk-Top Publishers—what will we think up next?

So be prepared to be Shaken Down for a donation for the Band and for Us—cause we know you Love us as much as we Love you. —David Fairbanks Ford, Prop.