PopWars

The weather has been changing from minute to minute today. Full sun and then snow flurries which accumulate and then melt, bursts of wind, more sun and then snow pellets that disappear on contact. Perfect conditions for a walk to the lake.

Our neighbor has his spinach in already. He sets the pace around here and makes us all look like slackers. He was telling us that his grandmother used to sprinkle the seed on the snow in the Spring. I like that image.

Sam Jones called me the other day to tell me that someone had brought back Hypercard as a game for the iTouch. My dad was an early Mac user and I remember him showing us that program before Peggi and I had our first machine. We did have an Atari that we bought at Leon’s Typewriter on Clinton Avenue but we only used that for music. I’m happy the old stuff is still around but it’s kind of disappointing that some stuff just won’t go away. After the Gene Vincent and Hendrix and Miles and punk did you ever expect Americana to be everywhere? Spring is here. Let’s get it on.

Joe Bean’s is not the best place for an art show but any place is better than no space for an art show. Peter Monacelli, who taught drawing for two decades at MCC has a beautiful show at the coffee bar, mounted high on the wall and unevenly lit. The drawings are part of a series based on the words from the song “Follow” on Richie Havens 1967 album “Mixed Bag.” The one above is entitled “But now silver leaves on mirrors bring delight,” after one of the lines in the song. Peter brought the cd with him last night to the opening but we never heard it. And he assured us he was not dead yet. A fourth cousin with the same name had recently died and Peter and his wife fielded thirty or so condolence calls. One told Gloria, “We lost Pete.”

Remember PIL’s performance on American Bandstand? It was one of those transcendent moments of rock n’ roll bliss. We watched it live and hadn’t seen it until we followed this link on the Mojo site. I had a scare last week when SMR almost reached the one week mark without a new post. Turns out it was just a temporary lapse and it’s come roaring back with posts on Kraftwerk and early Swamp Dogg.

Rochester’s favorite realtor, Rome Celli, had his yearly bash last night treating his past and present clientele to popcorn and a movie at the Little Theater. We chose the Descendants, which featured a realtor, and then squeezed in to the café where Annie Wells was playing with a big band. Her ethereal, upper register voice was lost in the din but we did get to hear a bit of a Dave Ripton song on the way out.

I picked up a City Newspaper and was thrilled to find Frank DeBlase back in the saddle after his hospital tweak. Frank’s writing doesn’t get sidetracked with the back story crap. He goes right for the gut and conveys music’s potential for transcendent moments.
Margaret Explosion – Frank DeB

I missed the Red Carpet opening to the Oscar’s but Peggi filled me in. The big question was “Who are you wearing?” Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Elie Saab and Valentino.

I looked down at what I was wearing and compiled this list. A green Archive Records t-shirt with a black sweater from Banana Republic over that, black jeans, regular cut, from Lee with blue Fruit of the Loom underwear below, black socks (I usually buy them in three packs and picked these up in Sears) and then a pair of black Timberland shoes. I’m basically an “off the rack” kinda guy.

If you’re lucky you’ll catch Stan Munro at the Assisi Institute on North Winton. He has a table set up near his “Sacred Structures” exhibit where he’s working on a new model. He wasn’t there when we stopped in but we saw his work area. He doesn’t need much, toothpicks, Elmer’s Glue and an incredible amount of patience. It took him five years to construct the nearly thirty buildings at 1:164 scale that are on display here. We heard the Sagrada Familia was one of them and we were just at the 1:1 version so had to check this out. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia was the most complicated for Munro but not even close to the largest. The Grand Mosque at Mecca dwarfs Notre Dame, St. Patrick’s, and the Vatican shattering my Judeo/Christian view of the world.

They sure know how to celebrate life in Brazil. I’m thinking about what I used to give up for Lent.

I’m also thinking about who to paint. I’ve been working on the same batch of mugshots for a few years now, doing them in oil and then pencil and then tempera and even a few watercolors. Lately I’ve been working in charcoal, a medium I find very malleable. You can white out tempura but it gets messy and watercolor is almost impossible to go backwards in but a good eraser can really tear up a charcoal drawing. Maybe I should paint the twelve apostles.

Scientists love mysteries and no scientist shares that love like Laurence M. Kraus. Of course I don’t know many scientists but I did share the article on Krauss’ new best selling book in this morning’s paper with the scientist/neighbor/friend down the street.

“A Universe From Nothing” book excerpt | review | video

I’ve spent the last day thinking about Rick Santorum’s observation that Obama has “a world view that elevates the earth above man.” I still going with the earth.

The coolest thing about a blog is the database. It is so damn organized. I use it to keep track of things. Every year we spot these little yellow flowers (Winter Aconite or Eranthis hyemalis) popping through the snow and since there has been a dearth of the white stuff this year the yellow flowers were up yesterday on February 19th. How much earlier is that than the last few years? I went to the db. The yellow flowers were spotted on March 9th in 2009 and March 10th in 2010.

Yesterday a federal judge ruled that whales do not deserve constitutional protection against slavery when held captive in a marina. Meanwhile we were celebrating Peggi’s birthday at the zoo marveling at the snow leopard, orangutans, Madagascar cockroaches, Burmese pythons, laughing hyenas, Amur tiger, bald eagles, Mexican wolves, Red Rumped Agoutis and King vultures. We spent a good part of the afternoon with the sea lions who were having a ball jumping in and out of the water and playing with buckets. The two youngest sea lions had lost an eye and the use of a flipper and were rescued. The eagles were injured in the wild and can’t fly but sat atop some fairly tall trees out in the open at the zoo, quite a dramatic sight. No signs of slavery here.

The King Bees have a very cool scene going over at The Beale in the Southwedge on Wednesday nights. They play an opening set of standards from the rock era like seasoned pros and then gracefully turn the spotlight on the musicians in waiting. Last night they had four tenor saxophones, one played by a sixteen year old whose parents sat in the front table. Drummer Pete Monacelli’s wife, Gloria, sits off to the left with her knitting circle and the Buffalo Sabres game is on the tv above the stage.