Month: May 2008

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Atheism vs. Judaism

We opened the neighborhood pool yesterday. It’s not ready for swimming but the cover is off, the filter is running and there are thirty five pounds of chemicals ready to dump in. The adults, who had we had hardly talked to each other all winter, got caught up while the three kids ran around. There are two ten year old girls in our group. We heard that one wants to quit her religious classes because she doesn’t believe in god. Her mom wanted her to learn about her heritage but her father is an atheistic and there is a conflict there. The rabbi wants her back and gave the parents a book they could read with her. The girl’s father said he would read the book if the rabbi would read Christopher Hitchen’s book, “God Is Not Great”. They agreed to this proposal. The other ten year old girl, her best friend, goes to a catholic school and there doesn’t appear to be any conflict there. I was raised Catholic and I was never sure whether they even believed in god.

We are celebrating Mother’s Day by having Peggi’s mom and my parents over for dinner. I am marinating chicken in lime juice, balsamic and seasoned rice vinegar and crushed garlic. Peggi plans to make and angel food cake (no cholesterol) with fresh strawberries. We started a fire for the older folks. This will probably be the last one of the year. I have about two hours to paint before dinner.

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Dreamland Faces

Dreamland Faces Poster for Dryden Theater at Geaorge Eastman House in Rochester, NY
Dreamland Faces Poster for Dryden Theater at Geaorge Eastman House in Rochester, NY

Andy McCormick and Karen Majewicz (Dreamland Faces) performed in the dark last night in front of twelve short silent films that had been recently restored by the George Eastman House. Their music was so perfect for these old films that I kept forgetting it was being performed live and that it was not part of the soundtrack. And we were sitting right next to them in the front row. It was a magical night.

Andy plays musical saw, accordion, piano and keyboards and Karen sings like Edith Piaf while playing accordion or piano. They movies included “Mushroom Growing”1915, “How The Cowboy Makes His Lariat” 1917, two sensational “Felix The Cat” movies circa 1925 and “Love, Snow and Ice” 1915, featuring festivities at the famous Ice Palace built in 1898 in Saranac Lake. The complete lineup and a very cool picture of the band is here.

Also in the very cool category would be the John Cassavetes film festival this month at the Dryden.

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Look Out!

Peggi’s mom was checking her mail in her new motorized scooter (I call it her electric chair) and she lost control of the thing. She crashed into a few empty chairs and then hit a wall with her leg. She was taken to emergency where a very nice Asian doctor glued her wound together. The skin was too thin to suture. Peggi was teaching her Dreamweaver class and I was at a meeting so we missed her call, her neighbor’s call and the nurse’s call. This is probably why people have cell phones and I guess it is why we don’t.

We met her at emergency and took her home. Peggi spent the night with her. I woke up to a loud thud from a huge limb that fell across the street. Our neighbors took a tree down and offered me the wood. I dragged it home and spent most of the day with the chainsaw. My ears are ringing. We’re off to see Dreamland Faces.

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Life Expectancy

You know someone is playing the numbers on how long you are likely to live. Our neighbor is ninety and I know someone who is eying his house. We are considering a Met Life annuity and we can’t decide whether it is a better idea for us or the insurance company. My life life expectancy is 78 years but I am determined to prove someone wrong. There so many deer around here and as soon as we get to know some of them, like “dog deer” and the “one eared deer”, they disappear. So I assumed they only lived for three years or so but, wrong.

Rich Stim has created a video called “Animal Life Spans” that provides some surprising statistics. Deer live 10 to 15 years. Elephants do better in the wild than in captivity, just the opposite for guinea pigs. And Daddy Long Legs make it through the winter and live three years. And those carpenter ants in your ceiling live for seven years.

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Takin’ Care of Blog Biz

Margaret Explosion set up at New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua NY
Margaret Explosion set up at New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua NY

Margaret Explosion pulled off an unusual gig last night at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. It was a client appreciation night for a wealth management group. Like Peggi said, “It must be tough trying to mange your wealth”. Bob and Ken set their little amps on the bench behind the drums and Peggi sat in a chair to the left. The place was beautiful and the acoustics were great. (If you click on the photo above you can get a little more detail) Before we started our host asked that we play standards. I said, “We’ll play our standards”. We made up most of the night and the crowd seemed to like it. We sold a cd and got quite a few compliments. Tonight we are back on more familiar ground at the Little Theater Cafe.

The only link I’ve had on this blog since I started this thing has been My Non-Tour Diary (my inspiration) but I’ve had a few requests to add others so I’m going about my business in the right hand column.

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Pete Townsend With the RPO

Yo Yo Ma at the Eastman Theater in Rochester NY
Yo Yo Ma at the Eastman Theater in Rochester NY

Peggi’s mom bought us tickets to last night’s Yo Yo Ma concert at the Eastman Theatre. We sat in the last row on the mezzanine level. The orchestra sort of overpowered the superstar cellist with sound but Yo Yo overpowered them with his visuals. His performance prompted a few questions. Why was he the only one not reading music? Why was he the only one allowed to look around while the others sat rigidly? Why was he the only one gesturing like Pete Townsend as he played? There is an interesting conflict in classical music between studied discipline and heartfelt performances.

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The Walls Are Closing In On Us

Truck and steam behind RGE
Truck and steam behind RGE

I love math, not so much adding and subtracting or balancing the check book but mathematical problems and puzzles. I love Spain. And I like suspense. “Habitación de Fermat” or “Fermat’s Room” had all three of these ingredients and it moved along like a roller coaster ride in a room that kept getting smaller. We missed the locally made “Smoking Laws” but heard there were scenes shot in Mex with the mural that I painted. We parked behind the RGE steam plant off Chestnut and took this low light picture.

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Where There Is Love There Is No Question

Surfwise still
Surfwise still

I probably shouldn’t be allowed to make tea. I can handle the drip coffee maker but when it comes to to turning the right electric burner on under the teapot, or remembering that I was boiling water before I smell something funny or even remembering to turn the burner off, I fall short. I spent a good bit of the new Marianne Faithful movie last night worrying about whether or not the burner was still on from the cup I made before painting. And I’m getting a little tired of the inane messages on the Yogi Tea bags.

Imagine a surf movie with no Beach Boys music. Dorian Paskowitz , a Stanford Medical graduate drops out to live a surfer’s life and raises nine kids his own way. They have a lot to say about their upbringing in “Surfwise”and it is all fascinating. Especially if you were one of seven kids like I was or the nine that our friend, Brenda was. We ran into Brenda after the movie at the “Gala Night Party” in the Convention Center and she had just gotten over her weeping.

We darted out of the house before the movies to catch the Kentucky Derby on Maureen Outlaw’s big tv. The Kentucky Derby in 1973, the year Secretariat won, was our first date. Steve Hoy drove and we brought a six pack PBR into Churchill Downs with us. Yesterday’s big race lasted all of a minute and the cameras were fixed on “Big Brown” who ran from the outside post to win when the jockey fell off the horse . The cameras quickly turned away while the philly who came in second and then collapsed and was euthanized on the spot making for some weird tv – a little too unscripted for them to even talk about.

Anyway, I started to say I forgot my camera so I missed a good shot at the party of Peggi telling Rita Moreno (Anita) how much she like West Side Story.

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Erosion

Peggi and I started rebuilding a stone wall in our back yard yesterday. It been mostly swallowed up by the hillside. It rained while we were out there but we worked right through it. Brian Williams stopped by and we still kept working. He watched while the conversation turned to taking care of aging parents. There was a harmony to it all.

John Gilmore showed up as Brian was leaving. He had his “Gonzo” t-shirt on. I made a salad and Peggi reheated some beans and greens from the night before. Rick Simpson from across the street popped in. His wife, Monica, was at at a museum conference all week so this gave Rick the opportunity to eat meat. He brought over roasted chicken and pork leftovers from “Su Casa” and we overate before heading out.

Allison Saar’s Show at Rochester Contemporary
Allison Saar’s Show at Rochester Contemporary

We planned to see some art before the movies and were on our way to Jim Mott’s show when Peggi realized she had forgotten the “All Access” movie passes. Back home Peggi got behind the wheel of John Gilmore’s car and we did a repeat trip downtown. There was a beautiful show at RoCo of Alison Saar’s work. Gallery director, Bleu Cease, pointed out the new white on white version of the RoCo logo that we designed for them a few years back.

The movies at the Dryden were running late and we got involved in an absurd crowd control scene before “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson”. The editor of the film was there to introduce it so we were tuned into her efforts. She did a sensational job with this meaty, two hour documentary and it flew by. It was a million times better than the Johnny Depp film.

John struck up a conversation with the editor and she invited us to the “Filmmakers After Dark” party at Java’s. They were showing “On The Waterfront” without the sound. We hung around with movie buff/chef, Gerry Brinkman, who owned the Rochester Club and now runs the restaurant on Wellsley Island. He pointed out how Brando could act with only his face.

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Life and Work

Scene outside City Hall for Film Fest Opening Party, High Falls Film Fest Rochester NY
Scene outside City Hall for Film Fest Opening Party, High Falls Film Fest Rochester NY

The Rochester International High Falls Film Festival started on Wednesday night. The Little Theater was one of the locations and there was a good crowd for our Margaret Explosion gig there. Brian Williams from Lumiere and Bobby Henrie & The Goners sat in on bass or the second week in a row. He is so solid I was able to get up and adjust the recorder while we were playing and he didn’t even notice. We have complimentary passes to the movies because we did the “Quick Reference Guide” in exchange. Now all we need is time to go to the movies. Peggi taught her Dreamweaver class last night and I stayed home to paint. We popped into the opening party at City Hall and sampled Gerry Brinkman’s right on tortilla Espanola.

We also get to sponsor a movie. We picked “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” and tonight at 9:45 in the Dryden Theater someone will announce that “this movie is being brought to you by 4D Advertising”. That should drive new customers to our virtual doors.

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American Vs European Impressionism

Raoul Dufy painting "Race Track at Saint-Cloud" from the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester
Raoul Dufy painting “Race Track at Saint-Cloud” from the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester

I didn’t even know there was an American Impressionism movement but the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester has mounted a show in the main gallery of such paintings from the Phillips Collection. It is not my cup of tea and I do like tea. My favorite of late is Yogi Tea “Green Tea Rejuvenation”. And I love the European Impressionists.

The MAG has a beautiful small show at the same time in the Lockhart Gallery of Impressionist Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection. Don’t miss this show. There are some real beauties in there that are not normally on display. The Raoul Dufy painting above reminded me of Leo Dodd’s paintings. The Europeans win hands down.

A more interesting contest is the one between Wendell Castle’s clocks and the Midtown clock that he calls “1960s’ kitsch” and “junk”. I like the Midtown one better. Someone has been quietly tidying up MAG’s permanent collection and familiar paintings are shown in new company.

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