Dr. Carl Atkins playing Bye-Ya at the Baobab Cultural Center in Rochester, New York
I had the best tofu I have ever had at Edibles on University Ave. It was marinated in a ginger sauce and grilled in some fashion that left it moist and soft on the inside but slightly charred on the outside with a caramelized sauce. We had dinner with our neighbors before heading down the street to the Baobab Cultural Center where noted Jazz authority, saxophonist, and RIT Professor, Dr. Carl Atkins and his group, “Culture Clash” gave a lecture lecture-performance. He was Co-Director, along with bassist Ron Carter, of the Thelonious Monk Institute. He led a very cool group of bass, drums and vibes and w would up with, “Epistrophy” and “Ruby, My Dear” and “Well, You Needn’t” swimming around in our heads. That led us to YouTube this morning where watched and listened to main ingredient. And then we dug up dvd copy of “Straight, No Chaser” that Jeff Munson gave us. That’s now number one in our queue.
Two kinds of tortilla in case at El Glop in Barcelona
Remember the Chevy Nova? Peggi had an orange one when I first met her. We drove it all the way to the bottom of Mexico. Terrible name for a car in a Spanish speaking country. “No go!” “El Glop” is not the best name for attracting English speaking people to your restaurant and maybe that was the whole idea. We had coffee there and some tortilla and then returned for dinner. The place was fantastic.
We’ve been savoring our Barcelona hangover, pouring over photos, having our big meal early like they do in Spain, getting up late and buying Spanish products at Wegmans like Manchego and Valdeon cheese, caramelized pecans and chocolate covered figs. We’re almost as bad as the kid in “Breaking Away” who thought he was Italian. Peggi’s reading the Spanish version of Architectural Digest that we bought at the airport as I write this. A good snowstorm would snap us out of this but I don’t think this winter has it in it.
Last night we made fish with a mushroom and fig sauce, something we had twice in Barcelona, once with cod and once with hake. And the other night we made a batch of Espinacas con Garbanzos, something we went looking for in Spain because we’d fallen in love with it. Spinach, chick peas, paprika, saffron and cumin, it almost tastes Indian or maybe Moroccan. We found a recipe online.
Our iPad has become an essential kitchen appliance. I loved Thomas Friedman’s column the other day on how a tablet at the table in restaurants will allow you to put your order through to the kitchen, list ingredients with photos, tally your calories and pay your bill without a waiter. He left out the part about how your food gets to the table but it will take a big bite out of the service industry which has become the backbone of our economy. Our friend, Kevin Vicalvi, used to say, “In the future we’ll all be delivering pizzas to one another” but that was a long time ago.
Bench in Durand Eastman Park at the top of the luge hill.
I not sure but I think this is a bootleg bench chained to a tree at the top of the luge hill in Durand Eastman Park. Not as brazen an act as Anthony Pilato driving a bulldozer through the undeveloped part of the park so he could ride his horses up there but still pretty bold. The bench doesn’t look like any of the others in the park. It’s the kind you could buy at Home Depot and it’s in the same spot as the makeshift bench that was placed here when the luge fans were out last year (and then hidden behind a tree when they went home).
There is a metal plaque nailed to the bench that reads, “In Loving Memory of Elizabeth Salathiel 1921-2009 From The USA Luge Team.” I looked her up. She’s for real or was for 87 years. This is the same hill where we used to see the man child, nick-named “Mayor of Durand.” He’d sit at the top and drink Genny’s from the can between occasional sled runs. Haven’t seen him in a few years but there is quite a crew here when the weather is right and plenty of regulars who we say hi to as we ski by. I’ve seen some of them videoing their ride and I found this clip online.
Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric at the Lovin’ Cup in Rochester, New York
Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby have taken a liking to Rochester. They’ve been here four times in the last few years and came up tonight to play a benefit for Tom Kohn and the Bop Shop. Amy told the crowd that when they decided to move from France they considered considered moving to Rochester but Eric interjected “it would have been a good choice if it wasn’t for the weather and it’s proximity to Canada and the the fact that it is so far away from everything else.” “It’s better than France” Amy insisted.
They played a fantastic set. They are perfect as a duo, with piano, guitars, bass and harmonies. Thoroughly seasoned performers they somehow manage to sound like the first band your friends put together. If only they would fire that drummer, the drum machine on Eric’s laptop that flattens the songs they use it on. They finished with a beautiful version of Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone.
Chandler Travis opened the show before driving to Trumansburg outside of Ithaca for another gig tonight. He brought the house down with a version of Pete LaBonne‘s “Turning The Page.” Amy told the the crowd she felt like she was tripping when Chandler and his bandmates came out into the crowd to perform this gem a cappella.
Here’s a live version of Pete LaBonne’s “Turning The Page”
East and West Irondequoit have separate school systems, separate libraries (for now) and separate Wegmans. Kings Highway, the Goodman Street extension, serves as a moat or wall between the two. They share a town hall and lake frontage but there is not much lateral movement between the two. Neither of us can go any further north unless by boat so most of the movement is toward the city and back.
We did some gallery sitting in the I-Square gallery yesterday and it got me thinking about the divide. Mike Nolan, the entrepreneur responsible for developing the future “four corners” of Irondequoit, now called I-Square, lives on the dividing line and is donating this empty storefront gallery space to the community. Most of the funky little shops in this old strip mall will have new homes in his revision although the consignment shop where we took many of Peggi’s mom’s furniture pieces has moved around the corner.
Mike stopped in the gallery before he headed down to Murph’s for a meeting and Peggi noted we had never been to Murph’s. We asked his co-worker if the food was any good. She hesitated and said, “They have good wings and I hear their fish fry is pretty good.” That wetted our appitite so we walked down there when our stint was up. I expected to see Armand at the bar with the locals but he wasn’t there. Everyone seems to know one another in here and it’s strangely comfortable but the fish fry was nasty, three quarters of it deep fried batter, at least, and it was hard to separate the fish from the batter like we usually do. There was a sign above us advertising “25 Wings and a Pitcher of LaBatt’s Blue” for twenty dollars. And classic rock and tv monitors tuned to some sort of lottery in the middle of the afternoon is depressing.
Barbara Fox art work entitled “Close Observations 3” at the Dean’s Gallery at Rochester Institute of Technology
I remember seeing the Young Rascals at RIT’s downtown campus. It seemed like a pretty cool spot but then they moved the school out to windswept, god forsaken Henrietta. I really don’t like going out there but I make exceptions all the time like yesterday afternoon for the opening of Barbara Fox’s show of new paintings on paper. We had quite a time finding the Booth building. Didn’t see any signs labeling one as such and asked a student for help. She said she had no idea where it was but it turned out we were standing right in front of it.
Barbara told us her husband trimmed the wysteria in front of their home and she brought the clippings into her studio to draw them. Barbara starts these big paintings with a very loose, gestural application of gesso and then draws in charcoal or Conti crayon before working in oil. Some also included ink and they are all very beautiful. So dress warm and see if you can find the Booth building. This show is the perfect antidote for our wimpy winter.
My punishment for going away is that I have to wade through and catalog all of the photos I took. We watched this guy for a while, waiting for the light to turn red and then darting out in front of the stopped cars to juggle for a minute and then hit the drivers up for money. Better than someone spitting on your windshield and then using a dirty rag to wipe it before accosting you for spare change.
Listen to Margaret Explosion “Juggler” with Jack Schaefer on bass clarinet
Margaret Explosion 45 RPM “Juggler/Purple Heart” (EAR 16) on Earring Records, released 2011 on black vinyl.
Back just in time for winter and last night’s art opening at I-Square at the future four corners of Irondequoit. I have a few pieces in a show with Wendie Menzie, Ed Buscemi, Todd Beers and Richard Harvey. That’s Richard Harvey’s work shown to the left of mine in the photo above. It was a cool little gathering with coffee and homemade sweets. Peggi made ginger snaps with cayenne pepper following Shelley’s recipe.
We met I-Square developer, Mike Nolan, and our friend Charlie’s little sister. It gave me the opportunity to tell her the story Charlie told me of their other sister taking the ring off a famous dead man’s finger. I told the story to Chuck Cuminale and he wrote a song about it for Colorblind James. Charlie and Chuck are both dead now and Charlie’s sister had no idea there was song about all this.
Poet and artist, Todd Beers, said he gets all fired up at openings and can’t wait to get back and start work on something. I told him openings have exactly the opposite effect on me. Todd said he saw Peggi and me in my two portraits and he a sang a line from an old song of ours.
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.
We walked by the Circ Raluy tents a few times in the last week before deciding to buy a couple of tickets. We waited in line with families, kids with their grandparents and other couples for about a half hour before they opened the gates to the big tent in grand fashion with music from Nino Roto’s “Amarcord” soundtrack blaring from the sound system. I take back what I said last week about animal abuse in the circus. I mean it may still be the case but this circus had no animals, only clowns, jugglers, acrobats and some amazing entertainers. We realized the clowns are not just some fluff between the acts, they are the real meat of the circus. They play to the kids but get to the kid in all of us. They won us over. I do remember the clowns being my favorite part when I was kid but I guess I forgot.
Certain songs transcend pop and work as international soundtracks. Bowie’s “Heroes” sounded like a million dollars in a café. Madonna sounded good spilling out of a clothing store and onto the street. Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” sounded great in the bakery. Michael Jackson sound’s good anywhere. And T Rex’s “Bang A Gong” sounded fantastic on a bus this morning in Barcelona. Margaret Explosion has to work on its International chops.
The great Antoni Gaudí picked up what they were putting down in Barcelona and transformed the city and architecture worldwide. Pablo Picasso painted here for twenty years. Juan Joan Miró was born here and spent most of his life here. Dali lived and worked nearby. Surrealism, Modernismo or Moderisime in Catalan, Novcentisme, new century movement (last century change, not this one), Manzana de la Discordia or just plain Psicodèlico, Barcelona wears it well.
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.
The best part of the day in Spain for us is drinking café con leche. We pick our cafés carefully and sometimes pass up ten before choosing the right one. It’s nice when the spot is lively but not too crowded and preferably off the beaten path a bit, típico places with locals drinking their coffee out of small glasses. There is one near where we are staying that we’ve even been to twice because the coffee is great and we love our server. Last time we were here we had café con leche, pinchos de tortilla (one with zucchini in it, one traditional Español) and we followed that up with two cortados (a small cup of coffee with hot milk served in a short glass). We came all the way over here for this.
They make a big deal of Antoni Tápies in Barcelona. He is one of their own and his work is everywhere. We visited the Fundación Antoni Tápies, a building and foundation that he set up to not only showcase some of his work but to give back. The foundation supports artists of all stripes and shows their work as well.
Tápies’ work has to be seen in person. It is large, hands on, rough and tumble graphic work. He often uses concrete on his canvases. It encapsulates the look and feel of Barcelona, full of history and that rich Spanish palette and as lively as the graffiti on the grates they pull down over the shop windows at night. By the time you get down to the gift shop and start thumbing through hundreds of postcards you really miss the physical nature of his work.
Painting in gallery on Consell de Cente in Barcelona
Wandering for art is easier in some places. We do it wherever we go and it gets you into some of the nicest neighborhoods and then some of the most interesting ones. Often there’s an art district near a big gallery or museum. Many times they are in run down but up and coming parts of town. Usually though it is like following the money. There is a Marlborough Gallery Branch in Barcelona and galleries scattered about on Consell de Cente. I liked this beautifully painted portrait by the very un Spanish sounding artist by the name of Schmitz. It’s called “Sunomi Mori” and it’s selling for 2,000 Euros. At least that is what the tag said.
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.
Public drinking fountain in the old city of Barcelona
There are public drinking fountains all over the old city of Barcelona. Most are dried up. Some still work but people don’t seem to use them anymore. I saw a dog drinking out of one yesterday. People buy their water in plastic jugs now. See “MX-80 – We’re So Civilized.”
