Painter Jim Mott has updated his blog with posts on the last two stops of the local edition of his “Itinerant Artist” project. We feel very lucky that North Irondequoit was one of those stops. I was happy to read that Peggi’s tapioca made an impression on him. Jim plans to have a show of these local paintings when the tour is over.
Margaret Explosion plays another art opening tonight. This one at the NTID Dyer Arts Center at RIT is for the Arena Art Group and it’s open the the public so stop out. We’ve played here before and like the sound of this room. Here’s a song from the Edith Small opening from a few years back. Phil Marshall plays guitar.
Webster Avenue is our preferred route to downtown so we travel it quite a bit. I read about the mud house that is being built there in City News but I couldn’t find it the first few times we drove by. It’s tucked behind another building, right near Rosedale Terrace where my mother grew up. In City I read that “Superadobes are the brainchild of architect and author Nader Khalili, who taught the technique at Cal-Earth Architecture, a California-based design center he founded in 1986.” This is the first one in New York State. The building seems to be going up under the direction of a church group because two of the people we met when we stopped by are called “Brother” and “Sister” and they didn’t look related by blood. And the worker bees are all city kids. The girl above was taking photos of us while I was taking photos of the giant beehive (and her). Her shirt read, “Before My Boyfriend Comes.” I didn’t ask.
Margaret Explosion plays tonight at RoCo on East Avenue. It’s a benefit for David and Sally’s son Oscar. He has a condition (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) that will seriously compromise his strength for the rest of his life. They’re raffling off an iPad as well. Come on out for a worthwhile event. Details.
Couldn’t help but talk a little World Cup with my brother at my aunt’s funeral service this morning. My brother thought Germany would have beat Spain if Müller had been allowed to play. I told him Spain cleaned Germany’s clock and controlled the whole field for the whole game or at least 65% of it. Forget about Germany and Brazil. Spain plays the “beautiful game.”
We were on the road to the church this morning when Peggi asked me if we knew where we were going. I had my aunt’s obituary in my pocket and took it out to read “Church of the Reformation” but there wasn’t any street address. So we turned around and googled it back home. There was a Church of the Reformation downtown but it was Lutheran so I looked at the obit again and it read “Resurrection” which sounds a lot more Catholic. We were a little late and I was thinking how people used to say I would be late to my own funeral and I’d say, “that sounds like a good idea.” but I’m not so sure anymore.
My father gave a nice little talk about his sister and their close knit neighborhood in the 19th ward. He finished with how he will always remember her smile. It seemed she was always laughing in the old days. I think she really enjoyed life.
Every time I hear a Beatles song I think of the bikers at “Big Daddy’s” on Lyell Avenue who challenged “New Math” with shouts of “Beatles or bottles”. They didn’t like what we were playing and I can’t quite remember how Kevin handled it but it seems like he announced one of our songs as an “obscure Beatle song”. At least that sounds like something he would do.
We streamed “Stones in Exile” last night with our Netflix app. We had the iPad cranked through the stereo and the footage from the “Exile” period was great. I have the double lp out and have played it quite a bit since reading the 33 1/3 book on the lp. That corresponded with the re-release of the remaster lp on a double cd. I ripped a copy of that while at a friend’s but haven’t listened to it yet. I don’t think I can handle the new tracks that Mick tarted up.
We stopped down at Vic & Irv’s while Duane was here and he spotted a skull and cross bones tattoo on the back of neck of the woman behind the grill. Rochester’s Lou Gramn was playing on the sound system. Their onion rings and milk shakes are sensational and have been since I started coming here back in the British Invasion days. In the Stones documentary Kieth says Mick’s rock and he’s roll. I have always felt that Vic & Irv’s is Stones compared to Don & Bob’s Beatles. The Beatles may have been more musical but the Stones have better hot sauce.
Peggi’s feet overlooking Blue Mountain Lake from Castle Rock in the Adirondacks
We picked two more pans of raspberries from the garden. You really need to wearing long sleeve shirts and full length pants when you get out there in the prickers but it was too hot for that. Peggi made a pie and plans to make another today after the World Cup. I’m afraid Paraquay’s going down today but it would be nice to see them upset the Netherlands apple cart. We had more raspberries for breakfast. I’ve been picking seeds out from between my teeth for days. I’ve been afraid to use my Waterpik, in fear that I’ll drive one of those little seeds up my gums.
Blue flowers in the marsh, late spring, Rochester, NY
The blue Spring flowers in the marsh are starting to give way to Summer and I have big plans for the summer. I’m going to clean out the garage.
Jeff Beck packed two shows at Kodak Hall last night and the streets were still packed with Jazz Fest goers. Downtown Rochester felt like a typical European city on most any night. We didn’t really find anything we liked in the clubs so we strolled the streets, found Deb Jones’ little party spot in the Harro Health Club parking lot and joined them for a bit and then checked out Booker T on East Ave. They had a big fat drummer that played just behind the beat enough to get a good groove on.
It’s hard to drive by Palermo’s Market without stopping in. Saturdays are always good even if you don’t need anything. The owner puts all sorts of cheese and olive samples out and everything always looks so good I walk out with a few bags full of stuff. I tried to pace myself with the Belfiore Sardegna cheese that I came home with but it’s gone already.
We had fallen so far behind with our 4D work that cancelled plans of watching the US in a pub downtown. Instead I kept a browser window open so I could follow the play by play at FIFA’s site. The US was robbed but how the heck did they get down 2-0 to begun with? Gome hell or highwater we’re going somewhere with ESPN for the US Alegeria game.
Sam’s bike in bushes out behind Bill and Geri’s house
We were having homemade pizzas in Bill and Geri’s backyard when I spotted this bike in the bushes. I had never seen Bill or Geri on a bike so I asked who it belonged to. Geri said their son Sam bought it but never rode it. Cool bike.
I offered to to go out to the Apple Sore with my dad because he wanted to buy an iPad. He spends so much time in his computer room he deserves one so can get out more like maybe to the living room. He bought the bottom of the line model without 3G. These things are selling so fast Apple ships them in sleep mode and when you switch them on you still have 96 per cent battery life left. He purchased a few apps while we were still in the store. Keynote and Sketchbook Pro.
He was going to borrow my laptop for his upcoming presentation on Brighton’s farms in the 1800’s. He’s building his slide show in Keynote and he wanted to continue work on the iPad. An Apple employee demonstrated the basics of the iPad app and sold us a cable to plug the iPad into the projection unit so he won’t need the laptop. We both wanted one of the Pogo Sketch pens that let you draw on the iPad like a tablet but they only had the pens in hot pink. My father went for the pink saying it would be hard to lose. I decided to wait and order a silver one online. I found one on Amazon but with shipping it was more than the pink one.
Barbeque fans at Charlotte Beach in Rochester, New York
Our friends and neighbors, Rick and Monica, lent their vintage VW bus to Jeff Spevak this weekend. Jeff didn’t go anywhere in the bus. He just used it as a prop behind their designated area in the fenced off section of Charlotte beach where the Roc City Barbeque Event took place. Jeff smokes meat like a pro and won a contest in Memphis last year. His crew is called the “Smokin’ Dopes”.
We road our bikes over there on Saturday and were pretty confused by the whole thing. We paid five bucks to get in. Contestants travelled from all over the country and pay 250 to compete. But we can’t try what they grill because of Heath Department rules? Some vendors were allowed to sell but they weren’t competing. We had a delicious slice of grilled pineapple and Dundee beer from the VW van and rode back home.
We ran into Jeff later that night at the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash and we heard he won a 300 dollar award and trophy for his poblano pepper hamburger. Peggi, backed by her band, sang a beautiful version of “She Belongs To Me.”
I usually start a post here by looking at my photos but I just stuck my Ultra II SanDisk card in the card reader and it was empty. There is always the iPhoto library or Flickr.
We took our first swim in the street pool this afternoon. I think this the first time we’ve been in in May. The temps are in the high eighties and the water is 73 degrees already. Group dynamics are a funny thing but that’s what makes the world go ’round. A tree needed to be taken down and some people in the pool group wanted the job to “go out for bid” and others wanted just drop the thing. What could be more fun than taking down a tree? Especially when there’s an engineer in the group.
I had three spices on our grocery list to pick up at Wegmans today. It takes some time to sort through the competition. Unlike other products they don’t sit on the shelf next to one another. They are arranged by brands. McCormicks is like the Microsoft of spices and it’s tough to find generic spices. Comparing unit pricing is impossible without a pocket calculator as some are priced per ounce and others by the pound. And the little plastic bottles keep getting smaller. When I settle on one I usually buy two so I don’t have to sort it all out again.
Peggi at the Kentucky Derby on our first date in 1973
It was a perfect day for a bike ride. We took the new trail along Lakeshore Boulavard and then down Rock Beach Road over to O’Laughlins on the Summerville side of the mouth of the Genesee River. It’s sort of a tradition for us to celebrate the anniversary of our first date by watching the Kentucky Derby down here looking over the river and out to Lake Ontario. Steve Hoy was our chaperon back then. He drove us the two hours from Bloomington to Churchill Downs the year Secretariat won.
Seems silly to link back to So Many Records but I like that Kevin linked here in his post on the amazing Lesley Gore. He put up a French version of “You Don’t Own Me” today. We just watched the extras on the T.A.M.I. show dvd last night so that is our fourth time through.
It’s Brad‘s Bday today. Hey, and Angel Corpus Christi has an amazing new video. I just love it! Mercury Rev meets Jeff Koons and then some. Check it out.
We met Jeff and Mary Kaye for dinner but Osterria was full, no tables free until 8PM and we had to be at a house concert with David Olney. So we drove over to Polska Chata. Their upstairs dining room was full so we sat in the side room next to this display of Polish delicacies. We ordered a round of Polish beers and Jeff and Mary Kaye had the fish fry which comes with a hardy breaded haddock, a decidedly non creamy cole slaw and pierogies. Peggi and I each ordered the Cabbage Stew special. This place is so good and the setting, in an old house on a side street off East Ridge Road, is so precious I always worry that maybe not enough people know about it to keep them afloat. But they’ve been here for three years so I’ll find something else to worry about.
David Olney and Sergio Webb, performing in Rick an Monica’s living room was pretty cool although two songs about buying my gal a ring in the first set was a little too much for me. Sergio Webb is a dream accompanist on second guitar. They did a beautiful version of “I Only Have Eyes For You”. We let them borrow some mic stands so we got in for free. David liked a small painting of mine that Rick and Monica had bought and had on display. He asked if he could buy one from me so I went across the street and picked one out for him. He gave me a one of his cds and I gave him a Margaret Explosion cd. I told not to put it on while he was driving because he would probably drive off the road.
Cellino & Barnes billboard on Atlantic Avenue in Rochester, NY
My father used to take us down to this section of tracks (click photo for enlargement) so we could watch the trains. It was just a short walk from our house but it seemed a world away. I think about that every time I ride my bike down Atlantic Avenue. Bike riding is conducive to thinking and dreaming and contemplating billboards. How do these two guys have “Over 50 Years?” Is that combined or did somebody do a good airbrush job. I went to their state of the art lawyer site.
I picked up our taxes at Steve Friga’s office andthe secratary had everything all laid out for me. There were little red flags on the edges of papers that needed to be signed and she gave had a self addressed, stamped envelope prepared for me to send back with the check for their services. She even made a short list of these tasks. She called them “action items”. I was knocked out by her organizational skills. It was probably painfully obvious that I lack these skills.
Horse Rooster Goat Paintings at the Creative Workshop Gallery in Rochester, NY
Our painting class took a two week break and resumed last night. There is a new show up down there in the gallery called “This Is A Series.” Most of the paintings are in threes and I have some crime faces one of the walls. I particularly like these three.
We walked in the woods today in the pouring rain and we noticed that animals really don’t give a hoot about whether its raining or not. We saw a couple of ducks, colorful mail and a brown female and then a groundhog going about his business. We interrupted a deer who was grazing and then came out on the golf course. It was especially green. I took a photo of Peggi in her slicker. We have matching slickers. I found a golf ball with a Guinness logo on it. I took that as a sign of good luck.
Stella weighed eighteen pounds last year. This photo was taken back then. She couldn’t even clean her butt. I just put her on the scale. Actually I got on the scale with her in my arms while she meowed. And then I weighed myself without Stella. She weighs 12 and half pounds.
No secret to her diet. She’s an indoor cat and we only put a third of can out in the morning and then a quarter cup of dry out at night. We weren’t able to control her weight when Ornette was alive because he was an active outdoor cat. He’d push the door open and chow down and run back outside. So we had to have food on hand at all times. We miss him.
Stella goes out in the morning for a few minutes but if one the neighbors makes a noise she comes to the door demanding to be let in immediately. She still sleeps most of the day but if he is awake for two hours that would be twice as many waking hours as when she was fat. Despite the new profile we still call her “Stelly Belly” and “Butterball”.
We watched “L’âge d’or”, a Buñuel movie from 1930, last night and I fell asleep before the extras. It was kind of bizarre. This from IMDB: “This film was granted a screening permit after being presented to the Board of Censors as the dream of a madman. Opening at Studio 28 in Paris in October 1930, word spread about the film’s bizarre content. On the evening of 3 December 1930, the fascist League of Patriots and other groups began (halfway through the film) to throw purple ink at the screen, then rushed out into the lobby of the theater, slashing paintings by Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Man Ray.” It didn’t make it’s US premiere until 1979.
I woke before the alarm this morning. We don’t usually set that but today was the official launch of Apple’s iPad. We cashed in some credit card point for Best Buy certificates and we were at the store at 8:30 with a thermos of coffee. Some kids in the front of the line were there at midnight but there only about twenty five people in line when we showed up. A store employee told the crowd that UPS had been there at eight and there would be enough for everybody. A couple of Best Buy employees went out to the Apple store to buy theirs before work. We heard hundreds were in two lines out there.
We had one in hands by 10AM and then headed downtown to look at an art show we had missed last night, a painting by Enrique Mora that the Philips Gallery used in their First Friday ad really caught my eye. The gallery didn’t open until noon.
Sparky stopped over this morning. I was working but still in my pjs. He had a new car h anted to show us. He told us we were gonna die when we saw it. I tried to think of what an unlikely Sparky vehicle would look like. I guessed, “a sports car?” “No.” “A van?” Sparky had a small mobile home that he bought one time but it was full of trouble. And over the years he has had everything from a Ford Escort to a a pick-up truck. He even bought our old Olds that came from Peggi’s father. He buys cars to entertain himself. He used to run a garage called “Sparky’s Shell” on Hudson and he loves to tinker. He was always jacking them up and rotating the tires or greasing the underside. His prize possession is his 1987 Chevy and rents a neighbor’s garage each winter to store it there until the salt is gone.
I got dressed and went out front to see what looked like a brand new car with a distinctive hood ornament. It was a 1997 Cadillac and it made perfect sense for this country gentleman. (He was born in Kentucky and got as far as fifth grade). I told him he deserves this car. I gave him a bucket of what we thought was copper but he told us it was brass. He picks up junk all the time and recycles aluminum and all sorts of metal. I’ve gone to Krieger’s junk yard with him many times and left with a few bucks.
Back in the house I called up a Google map of our old street. We went up and down both sides of the street talking about the old neighbors. Jack is an assisted living now and two gay guys bought his house. The two sisters on the end of the street sold and moved on. Helen is living with her daughter and her grandkids are living in the place. The Boykins are still there and out in their small yard all of the time. All these people were there the whole time we lived there. A very nice black lady bought Barb’s house. The yard in our old house looked a little overgrown but Sparky said Elizabeth is is keeping the place up fine.
Most of this snow is gone. I took this photo a few days ago. We were down there again today and found more giant Bud cans and we picked some Pussy-willows while we were at it. Those are 24 ounce cans. Luckily we found an old bag to put them in. A school bus passed us as we were heading back with an armload of cans today. We waved. This Budweiser guy is remarkably consistent not only in the brand he drinks but in exactly where he throws his empties. A compulsive drunk.
I spent most of the day redrawing a three dimensional wagon wheel-like graphic for a client. It was probably generated in PowerPoint but they wanted to use it at poster size so I redrew it in Illustrator. Type on a curve, a million callouts, one of those crazy organizational charts that make your eyes glaze over.
Yogi tea bag fortune read “Empty your self and let the universe fill you.” I like that one. Most of them are annoying. I roughed up a painting in class and my teacher commented, “That guy is looking a lot more casual”. Made me realize what an important quality that is.
I’m Irish (and English) but I had to look up Saint Patrick when we got back home. You’d think he was some sort of pagan patron saint of debauchery. Turns out he was a Celt so I guess he walks a fine line.
I asked Peggi to take this photo of the guys in the booth next to us. I never would have got the same expression that she is capable of eliciting. We walked over to Shamrock Jack’s for lunch, our tradition on Saint Patty’s Day. When we lived in the city we would just walk to Carroll’s at the corner but out here we walk through the woods and part of the park and then through a funky neighborhood down near the lake that reminds us of Bloomington to get to Shamrock Jack’s. The little pockets of snow looked ridiculous in 55 degrees.
We each wore the only green clothes we have but they don’t come close to the toxic green that most revelers wear. The place was packed at noon. We could hardly hear each other. The music was all thump, thump and then a guy with a guitar started playing goofy folk ditties. After his first song he announced, “Drink up and I’ll sound better”. One of them was stuck in our heads for the way home but I can’t remember it now, thank god. An infomercial was playing on a tv above our booth, featuring Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris on outdoor exercise equipment. I was mesmerized by the surrealness of it all.
Everybody has Guinness these days. Carroll’s used to have old guys playing accordion and bagpipe players and the Pogues on the juke box. Stuff that would have made Saint Patrick proud.
Kathy called this morning and asked how our weekend was. I said, “Really nice. A little bit of work and a little bit of skiing.” I sort of lied about the work part. We’re doing a big job for Kathy and except for a few hours we pretty much blew it off this weekend. She said “I don’t understand the skiing part and I don’t like snow.” Thought provoking comments to start the day. I don’t really think of it as skiing. Its just something different on your feet while you walk in the woods.
This weekend we drove to opposite ends of the county to ski and dine with friends. The groomed trails at Mendon Ponds on Saturday made it a lot more like skiing than walking. I now have a much clearer picture of our trudging style after watching people in spandex skate/ski/whiz by us. And the bushwhacking through deep snow and vines in the marshlands of Scotsville on Sunday was much closer to walking. Both were thoroughly enjoyable and I keep replaying the conversations we had over dinner about art and mindfulness.
