PopWars

To protect his thrown King Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in Bethlehem when he heard that Jesus was born. Like most of the episodes in the bible it is highly unlikely that this ever happened but it makes a good story and the Catholic church put these stories, most of them borrowed from mythology, to good use in an effort to win converts, keep the converted and illustrate their moral superiority. These innocents were the first martyrs. There is no one more revered in the church than a martyr. Of course when times got tough the Catholic Inquisitors resorted to “Convert or Die” methods themselves.

I used to know most of these bible (new testament included) stories but they all got jumbled up with age. These days I only set foot in church for funerals or when I’m drawn into an ancient cathedral in Spain. But I’m thankful for all the heady times in Catholic school where they struggled to convince me of the most absurd dogmas (virgin birth, resurection). The experience was formative and I look back fondly on most of it. Thankfully the church used it’s money to hire the best artists in history to illustrate their myths so I have a deep appreciation of religious art, a lot of it Spanish from the golden age (Siglo de Oro).

Last night after dinner we were showed our Spain photos to my parents. Both my father and I called our digital photos “slides” when I brought them up on our tv. Kodak did that to us. When the stone carvings, above, on the Nativity side of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, came up Peggi and I speculated aloud on what was being depicted. I thought maybe it was an archangel protecting the babies but my father thought for a bit and correctly identified it as the “Massacre of the Innocents”. So I can’t blame age for not remembering this. It was really my bad study habits.

Tapas, Pinchos or Pintxos, Raciones or whatever you want to call the small portions of prepared food that are offered in every café/bar (cafés seamlessly meld into or double as bars) in Spain should have caught on here by now. I really don’t understand why the concept has not taken hold. Are there U.S. Heath Department rules against serving food this way or something? It seems like the very definition of civilization to walk into a place, say Hola, and order something from the glass cases on the counter. Sharing a small dish over conversation and a coffee or making a meal of three or four portions with a glass of wine or beer is a no-brainer, tried and true, money-making concept but I have yet to see anyone pull it off in the States. Octopus salad with black olives! Come on.

I wonder what Jerome’s would say if we bought one of these orange Renault 4TLs and brought it in to them for service. My hunch is Ted would be fine with it but Mike would go bananas. “A French car!” He’s still giving us a hard time about our Obama 08 bumper sticker. Of course the Glen Beck and Rush shows that he listens to at top volume have got him all wound up.

There are so many cool European cars on the road over here. I’m kind of partial to the Seats since they’re made in Spain but I don’ think I’ve ever seen one in the states. In Barcelona about half the vehicles on the road have only two wheels, mostly motorcycles and scooters but thousands of bicycles too. They have racks all over town where you can rent them and you can drop them off at any of the other locations. We can only think locals rent rather than buy their bicycles because they don’t have any room in their apartments to store them. Maybe that’s why it seems like there is less crap over here. Space is at a premium and it is used well.

We stopped at a cafè/bar on the way home tonight and heard “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” That thing gets stuck in your head. When we got back to our place we put our “Gypsy/Flamenco/Spain playlist on the iPad to cleanse our ears. Which rounded up the Gypsy songs (mostly Gypsy Kings) and inadvertently added “The Screaming Gypsy Bandits.” They sound good here.

There is no doubt that Spaniards have a highly developed sense of design. Despite multinational, big money influence they have their own colour palette and they pay attention to detail. They certainly have a longer history so it follows that they are further along the evolutionary scale in that regard.

Hundreds of years of culture are all around them. Roman ruins, ancient buildings and art in public spaces, a respect for the past and a hunger for the new are all part of the package. And then there is Generalissimo Francisco Franco. When his dictatorship ended the country blossomed as if on steroids. It is something to behold.

Three days in a row with temperatures in the sixties. We headed down to the lake and crossed the seasonal swing bridge that connects Culver Road to Lake Road in Webster. This tiny strip of land between Irondequoit Bay and the lake used to have houses on both sides of the road but quite a few on the north side were washed away years ago before they got he lake levels under control. The Army Corp shored it up with a pile of rocks and the town of Webster turned it into a nice little park. Next time we come down here we’ll bring some sandwiches.

A permanent bridge was planned for this spot but the money for the project was diverted to San Francisco after their earthquake and we’re stuck with this winter only solution. If anybody asks I’m all for keeping the bridge open all year. And while we’re at it let’s keep daylight savings on all year.

I started the day by donating $5 to keep Wikipedia free. It didn’t quite make sense (Donate To Keep Wikipedia Free) but I went for it. We were only trying to learn something about Ignatius of Loyola who I was confusing with Saint Francis Xavier who was only a student of Saint and not the founder of the Jesuits. We were talking about the northeast corner of Spain near the border with France where there is some sort of Romanesque monastery in the mountains and planning our next trip to Spain.

We made the rounds at the Public Market and ran into Richard from Abilene. We apologized for not not making it out more often. I don’t know what our problem is. Maybe when Bobbie Henri does their Christmas show. We bought a few sandwiches at Flour City Bakery and took them over to Washington Square Park where we sat on in the sun on the steps of the war monument, a gentle nod of sololdarity to OWS.

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of the sculpture Ai Weiwei’s has in the courtyard of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has been in the news and on my mind for weeks now. The Chinese Government put him in jail for 81 days recently and grilled him about his activism. They released him and ordered him to stay off Twitter. He refused and now they claim he owes $2.4 million in back taxes. The bill is due on Tuesday and he has collected a million so far, some of it tossed over the fence in front of his house by supporters. Ai Weiwei says he considers the aid a loan and he will repay it. His art is wrapped in activism and this is your chance to buy a piece from one of the world’s hottest artists. Fold a dollar bill into a paper airplane and send it over his fence.

After our recent LA art bender First Friday in Rochester was bound to be a bit of a let down but it provided some wonderful surprises instead. It was almost impossible to find a parking space near the Hungerford buildings so we invented one out back by a loading dock. This place feels like ground zero for funky art but we found a few jewels. By contrast the “Scapes” electronic media arts show at RoCo was pretty sophisticated. Jason and Debora Beragozzi, husband and wife video geeks, each had engaging installations. I used the word “geeks” because they both are intrigued by the relatively low tech nature of live image processing, no whiz bang image manipulation software or fast cut editing, more like watching the snowy static when a station went off the air or watching a station you couldn’t quite tune in in the pre-digital days. Jason plays with settings to intentionally achieve video errors triggering startling effects. Judd Williams’ “Sandpapers” at Philips Fine Art, exquisite collages made entirely with used sandpaper, was as good as anything we saw in LA.

The headline in the “Local Beat” section of today’s paper reads “Colorblind James Experience Reunites.” I wish! Chuck Cuminale, aka Colorblind James (both colorblind and real name, James), song writer extraordinaire, lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player, has been dead ten years now. Chuck insisted that the lyrics to his songs be included in any lp or cd package. They address life’s big themes and read like poetry, dark and funny and sweet, a world away from trendy punk or new wave of the day. Chuck was humble but opinionated. He knew exactly what he wanted in a backing band and he ran a tight ship.

Gary Brandt took this photo of Chuck when Colorblind James opened for Personal Effects at Scorgies in 1985. Gary worked at Midtown and MotoPhoto and used to shoot black and white film and run it through the color processor at work to achieve this look. It was Colorblind’s first gig at Scorgies and Bernie Heveron, PE’s former bass player was on stand up bass. The band had recently settled in Rochester after a stint in San Francisco and Phil Marshall, Chuck’s brother-in-law, moved back with the band on lead guitar. Gary Miexner, who was with Colorblind when we first saw them at Red Creek in 1980, was back in the band as well. Jim McAvaney was the perfect drummer for Chuck’s theatrical numbers.

Chuck is seen performing “Considering A Move To Memphis” above. The band could move mountains and continued to do so with Ken Frank, now with Margaret Explosion, on bass. Tonight, with Chuck’s son Mark standing in for his father, they pay their respects at Abilene.

Chuck gave us a copy of their first 45 at that Red Creek gig. This is the B side.
Colorblind James Experience – America, America

Pete and Shelley are coming down from the mountains for tonight’s gig at the George Eastman House. Shelley emailed from the library that she was bringing her shakers so we’re in for a special treat. How do you think this tree lost it’s needles?