FINDING HAT, LIVING ART: "Make A Living Tour" Brings Country Blues, Slideshow, Monologue And More

By Melissa Link
Correspondent

''Like anything unconventional, my hope is that one day it will become conventional,'' says artist Andy Friedman of his unusual method of presenting his work.

Friedman's slide show of photos, paintings and drawings is accompanied by a ''half improvised, half memorized introspective monologue that accompanies the pictures the way music might.''

Together Friedman and longtime pal, country blues musician Paul Curreri are traveling across the country in something the two call the Make A Living Tour.

''I get scared with the whole country blues assignment,'' explains Curreri of his musical style. ''In the end it connotes some sort of 'My baby left me,' which isn't what I'm doing lyrically.''

Wrapped in peculiar metaphor, Curreri's songs are delicate and intricate, fleshed out by his skilled quick-picking guitar work. His latest album, released on Friedman's City Salvage Records and produced and engineered by renowned country blues artist Kelly Joe Phelps, is titled ''Songs for Devon Sproule'' and is the kind of music that will make you believe the love of a good woman truly can save a man's soul.

Friedman and Curreri met nearly a decade ago when they were both students at Rhode Island School of Design. After college the two moved to New York City together, where Friedman earned a living as an assistant cartoonist at the New Yorker magazine.

Curreri, who studied film at RISD, turned down a job offer from MTV and struggled to make a living and still make music in the Big Apple.

''I hated film, I never knew where the creative process started or stopped,'' he explains. He also hated life in New York. ''You couldn't be heard because you couldn't be seen,'' he explains of his frustrations in trying to break into the music scene.

Three years ago, Curreri moved back to his home state of Virginia, settling happily into Charlottesville. ''If I forget my hat in Charlottesville, I can find my way back in ten minutes,'' he says of the easier pace of his hometown. ''If I forget my hat in New York, it would take me like three hours - I don't know, sometimes I forget my hat.''

Friedman, a native of Long Island, remains happily in Brooklyn, but he and Curreri are still close. A few years ago the urge to wander struck Friedman and he devised a way to leave his ''real job'' and take on the lifestyle of a touring musician, even though he doesn't play a note.

He founded City Salvage Records and released a CD-sized book of photos, drawings and musings and joined forces with Curreri to bring his art to audiences everywhere.

''We realized that our talk was interesting and maybe we should do it in front of people,'' says Curreri of their early collaboration. ''Andy's just so funny in everyday conversation. ... We talked again and realized his best thing is telling these stories and my best thing is playing music and the two are intertwined in that the same things that inspire me to write songs, inspire him to take his pictures,'' continues Curreri.

''We're both artists, we spend time in our studios and then like to share what we create,'' adds Friedman. ''It means something for me to be out there live and in person - to make that kind of connection with the audience and let the audience connect with me. I'm just an artist trying to deal with my life through my art.'