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SATURDAY December 6, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 4, 2003 'Chicken' brings art, music to town By Susan DeRosia Ashland Daily Tidings For musician and artist Gary "Chicken" Hirsh, the trick is knowing when to stop. In painting, it's when the painting takes the viewer on a "trip" and before it turns to chaos. In his rock 'n' roll career - when Hirsh was the drummer for the iconic country/acid rock/protest band Country Joe and the Fish - it was in mid-1969, right before Woodstock. Although it was Woodstock that brought the band wide-spread attention, a generation of music lovers and "hippies" had long been fans. For Hirsh, Woodstock was the end of an era. "I was at the Monterey Pop Festival. That was the most amazing experience. Jimi Hendrix played. It was the summer of love. That was the zenith. Not Woodstock, that was the dying gasp. The vibe was over," he said. From 1965, when Hirsh joined Country Joe and the Fish after leaving art school, to 1969, it was a wild time. The group started out as a jug band, but evolved during the '60s coffeehouse scene as a tuneful, electronic, "psychedelic" rock band. They were key figures in the San Francisco scene and increasingly, the anti-Vietnam war protest movement. Joe McDonald's song, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die," became its anthem. In 1969, Hirsh decided it was time for him to try his hand at something else. He had continued his interest in art, which started as "doodling" in high school. During his years at the California College of Arts and Crafts, he had been encouraged to keep up his painting. He took that advice to heart and has been painting ever since. After he left the band, he opened an arts supplies store and worked as an A & R (Artists and Repertory) representative for Vanguard Records. By 1975, Hirsh was married and he and his wife Terry had three children, Wendy, Jamie and Jordan. When Terry's parents moved to Grants Pass, Hirsh decided it was time to move to a place with "civility." He found it in Ashland. He moved here, bought a screen-printing business and settled down to work, raise his children and paint. Over the years, Hirsh's painting has evolved, starting from figurative and landscape work, often overlaid with intricate brushstrokes, to pure explorations of shape and color, through the right-brain inspired "doodling" Hirsh began with 40 years ago. He calls art "right-brain activity with left brain decisions." The decisions involve composing the art - the left brain activity which differentiates the art from chaos. For the past ten years, Hirsh has re-entered the music scene, this time through his first musical love, jazz. He currently plays in several jazz groups. On June 19, 2004, Gary Hirsh will join Joe McDonald and three of the four members of Country Joe and the Fish to play at the World Peace Music Awards, where McDonald will be an honoree, along with Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Peter Paul and Mary. Hirsh's most recent work will be on view this month at the Jewelry Studio and Art Gallery. During First Friday Art Walk, Hirsh will be on hand both to talk about his art and to play drums, with current friends and musical colleagues, Ed Dunsavage, guitar; Dave Swann, piano; and Joe Cahoon, bass. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Road Cams