The once a month gallery night event called First Friday got too big for its britches. There was too much going on in the same time slot to do justice to worthy shows. Of course the opening is not the time to really see a show anyway, that’s what gallery hours are for. RoCo and Warren Philips Gallery and many others have moved their openings to other nights. Theres one coming up this Friday in fact.
All of that is not to say First Friday is over. It is great fun to see so many people out and about looking at art. Heather, shown above, was holding court in the Hungerford Building. That’s one of her big black snowflakes on her white wall. She has a delightful way of upstaging her her own work.
The small lakes in Durand Eastman Park are still covered by ice. They don’t get as much sun as my neighbor’s pond where the ice cover melted last week. All of his bright orange goldfish are accounted for, in fact they seem to have gotten bigger over the winter. Maybe they are just bloated from inactivity. They are floating near the bottom, motionless, near the center where it is nearly a foot and half deep.
Around the periphery of the pond are at least ten frogs, all in the same position, pointed toward land in about six inches of water. They look like they have moss growing on them but my neighbor thinks it is algae that has gathered around their still bodies. I’m thinking about that Incredible String Band song.
Party Nuggets sleeve on display on 45 Record Day, April 5, 2014
I don’t know how I came up with the idea to have a party celebrating the 45, it seems to have just popped into my head as the date closed in on us. We rounded up some friends and invited them to bring 45s if they liked on the evening of April 5 (4.5).
Peggi and I brought up a stack up from the basement, the ones we each had in our youth so there are many duplicates, the cover sleeves long gone and Peggi’s name written on the label. Some even have a small white sticker that reads, “This record belongs to Peggi Fournier.” I also brought up a box of seventies and eighties singles, most with picture sleeves.
Peggi hung a few with ribbons from our overhead light put some on the wall above the fireplace. I left the stack without sleeves on the kitchen counter like party favors and I played requests all night although I dodged calls for the Beatles. Martha brought a pink 45 case with at least a hundred records on a spindle. It looked like a Barbie accessory but the bottom fell out on the way out the door.
Spinning 45s is high maintainence but I loved it. Keeping track of whose 45 was whose was another matter. I wound up with Cheryl’s copy The Music Explosion’s “Little Bit O’ Soul,” Brian’s copy of the Part Nuggets’ “I Mow The Lawn,” Heather’s “Hitchin’ A Ride” by Vanity Fair and Jeff’s Dad’s copy of a tango 45.
This colt is probably no more than a few days old. The small stable on Wisner Road breeds racing horses and this one looks promising. I took about ten shots as it pranced around with its mom blocking my line of sight and then they headed back in the barn.
For us the “Winter Aconite” is the marker. I’ve tracked the yellow flowers every year since we first became aware of them and it is such a momentous sighting that I mention it in this blog. Type “yellow flowers” in the search engine above and you can see the dates from the last five years. This one is particularly late. They usually poke defiantly through the snow before Saint Patty’s Day. In 2012 they were blossoming on February 20th.
And our local rackaholic says the bucks are dropping their sheds, so get out there if you want to bring home a trophy.
Today I will pick some drawings to frame for the upcoming “3 “D”s in Dodd (there are more)” show at I-Square Gallery.
My dad, Leo Dodd, is an inspiration. He is also my favorite watercolor artist. My brother, John, is my favorite furniture designer and a craftsman of the highest order. I am delighted to be part of this show featuring the work of all three of us. I hope you can stop out and see the show.
Cheetah Whores opening for Margaret Explosion at the Bug Jar in Rochester, New York
One of the biggest advantages of the digital world is the shrinkage of the physical volume of things. Books, newspapers, movies, art, music, photos. They are all in plentiful supply but now take up a tiny fraction of their old school selves. Another big plus is how much easier it is to find things. I have things squirreled away in all corners and cubby holes of my computer but I’m able to put my eyes on them with a simple search.
And another advantage is the surprises you stumble on as you peruse your search results. The photo above was labeled OpeningBandBugJar.jpg. The Cheetah Whores mix 70’s punk, 60’s R&B, psychedelia into their rock and roll. They look like they may also have a political bent. Margaret Explosion shared a bill with them back in the early oughts. The band’s original bass player, Shalonda Simpson, shown here, was shot and killed in a robbery in 2007.
Margaret Explosion plays the Little Theater Café tonight at 7:30. Tonight’s performance is dedicated to Pussy Riot, Ai Weiwei and the efforts of artists/activists everywhere.
Listen to Solidarity by Margaret Explosion1 Comment
What a pleasant topic for a blog post. You should hear this idiotic, fifteen second loop that Time Warner has me listening to while I’m on hold. On hold for as long as I can stand it. It has been fifteen minutes. I am being punished for asking for a supervisor.
We are moving my parent’s internet connection to their new address and I was to meet TW there at 11AM. I gave them three phone numbers to reach us at and they didn’t call any of them. They just didn’t show up. I called them at 1, worked my way through the automated 800 maze and got a representative who said “the appointment was cancelled, sir.” “Cancelled by who?” I asked. “It doesn’t say.”
When the service manager finally got on the line, he told me the soonest TW could get there would be Friday, three days away. I was starting to lose it but doesn’t everybody do that with Time Warner? I tried to control myself. I know their business model. Controlled rage on the customer’s part gets special pricing. “OK, I found an opening for Thursday afternoon,” he said. And I’m supposed to be happy? I recapped how they blew me off and the guy relented. “OK, I’ll wave the 49.95 service charge.” I screamed at this point. I had only been quoted 19.99 for the service charge!
I told him Frontier was offering a DSL connection for 19.99 a month and I was thinking of canceling TW unless he could make me a better deal. He lowered the monthly quote to 41 bucks and I took it. He had the nerve to tell me to have a nice day as I was hanging up. Comcast can have them.
