Music to My Eyes - Stories, Music and Art From a Russian Emigre

Author and artist Dmitry Samarov talks about and shows slides of art from his new book Music to My Eyes. Samarov has written for The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, and more; in Music to My Eyes he turns his eye and pen towards the musical stage, sketching and describing a host of independent musicians he’s seen, crossed paths with, offered sofa space to, and taken out to breakfast over the course of the past few decades. From well-known names like Nick Cave and Mission of Burma to lesser-known greats like Bill MacKay and Condo Fucks, Samarov draws haunting portraits of artistry at the fringes of (and off the edges of) the mainstream, while also offering poignant and memorable essays not only about their work, but about musicianship and art, creativity and commerce—the perils of selling out, and the dangers of never doing so, and above all else, the thrill of creating something new. A love song and a lifer’s lament, Music to My Eyes is an exquisite tribute to the trials and triumphs of independent music.

Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in first grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since.

He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffeeshops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up). He paints and writes in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of Where To: A Hack Memoir.