Susan B. Anthony Frederick Douglas bridge behind Broad Street bridge over the Genesee River in Rochester, NY
We had lunch at the Convention Center downtown while Kathy Palokoff from Customericty was being nominated for a prestigious Athena Award. She faced some really stiff competition from other women including the honorable Maggie Brooks.
There is a beautiful veiw here of the two tiered Broad Street Bridge crossing the Genesse River. The Erie Canal at one time flowed across the river through the lower portion of this bridge. Or maybe it flowed through on the top level. I’m not not really sure about this. It was diveret and now crosses the river in Genesee Valley Park near the UofR. Behind the Broad Street bridge you can see the top of the new suspenion bridge, the one some people cal the Susan B. Anthony Frederick Douglas Bridge.
We used to sing this song in grade school. Do New York kids still sing this?
Margaret Explosion at the Memorial Art Gallery opening for”Leaded”
Ken and Peggi spent the longest time discussing whether the tree that was positioned between them was real or fake.
I took this shot with the timer while we were setting up in “The Pavillion” of the Memorial Art Gallery for the opening of “Leaded”, a drawing show featuring ten artists. I was expecting a lot more drawing but the work was all executed with lead.
The contract called for Margaret Explosion to pay five, fifty minute, sets starting at 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10, the first two hours where for the patrons. We made up songs most of the night only covering three or four of our own in the last set. The band sounded really good in here and we are really happy the MAG invited us to their party.
We had a nice dinner with Peggi’s mom last night and then the three of us headed off to Mercury Opera’s production of Puccini’s “Tosca”. It is sort of a love triangle where everybody dies. Peggi’s mom told us that much before dinner.
Peggi hung the handicapped tag on the rear view mirror and inched up to the front door of the Eastman Theater to drop off her mom. A car darted in front of us and a woman jumped out and told Peggi that we had just run a red light. It was probably green when started going through the intersection because we were only doing about three miles per hour. This opera crowd is tough.
I slipped my camera out in the first act, made sure the flash was off, all the while keeping the camera against my body and I held the camera under my chin for a few shots. The guy sitting next to me leaned over and said, “That’s very distracting”. I couldn’t tell what he said so I said, “What?” He said, “That’s very distracting”. He had an Australian accent and he looked a bit like Russell Crow so I put my camera in my lap.
The opening scene with an artist, his lover and and an escaped political prisoner all in a church had real potential but it was coming off cute. The sets were beautiful and creatively lit. The three main characters had great voices and strong stage presence.
Opera used to be public entertainment. Someone has stripped the entertainment from these sung plays. The focus is on the trained voices and opera people know the code for signaling their approval of the craft. But what about bringing this play to life so the audience can take their minds off their mink coats and manners?
And they should not have those stupid translations up above the stage. They are like the tags in an art gallery that tell you what your looking at or what the artist had for breakfast. Either everyone should learn Italian or the the opera should be sung in English.
I’m sitting over at Jerome’s Ignition while Igor looks at our car. It’s been making a clunking noise in the front end. This is already sounding like a Click and Clack episode. We are planning to drive to New York soon to see the Marlene Dumas show at the Modern and we are a little concerned about the thump. Igor didn’t see anything so he took it for a spin. When he got back he noticed that the lug nuts on our left front tire were loose. These guys are the best in the world. If only they had a wireless connection here.
I didn’t sleep very well last night and while I was awake I started worrying about my opening tomorrow night. Somebody was saying if I call it an “opening” that would not imply free food but if I call it an “opening reception” that would imply free food. I put “opening reception” on the post card so I stand to look like a cheapskate. I don’t really understand all the protocol of openings and what little I do understand I resist. For instance I can’t bring my own food or beverages in there because that’s their (not for profit) business. I could buy food from them and serve that for free but that’s part I don’t get.
Painting class started up again at the Creative Workshop and my father did some quick watercolor sketches from photos he took on Sunday night of Margaret Explosion on WXXI’s “OnStage”. I took this photo over his shoulder. I’m not sure that he spelled “Margaret ” right but I like the magic carpet under us.
You know how when you’re on vacation somewhere and there is a band playing and they aren’t anybody famous or anything but they sound so damn good that you really dig the music even if it’s Neil Diamond or Van Morrison? The songs are all covers but they are chosen so tastefully from the world’s giant fake book that you get to just sit back and enjoy the music. Mike Allen at the Mez last night went south of the border and down to Brazil even. He channeled Ray Charles and Ertha Kitt. He and his four octave keyboard are a one man band with really cool arrangements. I felt like we were on vacation.
Peggi and I were talking to Mike after the show and he told us he has a cd of his band playing “The Dictionary” teen center in Webster in 1965. I went to high school with Mike Allen and he was in a working band back then. I’m dying to hear this.
Peggi made soup for dinner with the leftover vegetables that we had cut up for our New Year’s party and then we went right back to work. It looked like it was going to be a pretty quiet Friday night until Rick Simpson called. He wondered if we wanted to watch “Tropic Thunder” with him and Monica at about eight. When we arrived across the street they were both in the basement playing pool and they challenged Peggi and me to a game of 8-Ball. We took turns choosing records for the turntable and went from Leonard Cohen to the Minutemen to Patsy Cline while they won two out of three games.
We were getting pretty silly by the time the movie started so the fake coming attractions really threw me. Ben Stiller’s idea of the actors not knowing if they were acting or really involved in a war was a good one but they could have saved a ton of money on actor’s fees and skipped the damn special effects altogether. They didn’t need Jack Black to play a Jack Black-like character or Nick Nolte to play a Nick Nolte-like character or Tom Cruise to get so made up it didn’t even have to be his expensive self on the set in the first place. Most of the characters were just straight men for the sensational Michael Downey Jr.
My mom gave Peggi and me shirts for Christmas. Peggi’s is a fitted orange corduroy one and she has worn it almost every day since. I thanked my mother for mine when I opened it and she said, “I thought it would look good when you’re playing your drums.” So I’m planning to wear it tonight when Margaret Explosion plays the Little Theater Cafe. “My mom has good taste.
I was wiring the backs of my recent paintings in preparation for an upcoming show and I can’t help but review them each time I look at them. Some needed more work so I was running up and down the basement stairs with paintings in my hand and I missed the last step and twisted my ankle. It’s kind of blue on one side.
I should be able to play drums but I might be able to dance when a few friends stop by after the gig to ring in the new year. So I downloaded a free app for our iPod Touch called. “Remote”. I can control iTunes, running on a desktop and wired to the stereo, remotely from any where in the house. I’m thinking about the couch. Now I’m looking for an iPod Touch app that will bring free movies in through the satellite dish that came with our house.
The Maytag dude was all lit up in the appliances section.
For months I had been compiling a list in my pocket notebook of things we needed at Home Depot. So when I finally got there I had some serious shopping to do. I broke our old push broom so I started at the far end of the store near the garden section. I bought a twenty five dollar yellow shop broom that had angle braces suportting the handle down near the broom. PushBroom 2.0.
We needed some some 100 watt bulbs and I bought the Florescents with the mercury in them but I keep hoping they will come up with a “warm” bulb. Between “Soft, Bright and Daylight”, I settled for “Soft.” I tried some “Daylight” a while back and it wasn’t what I pictured. I bought some wire for the back of the paintings that I’m getting ready for a show and some plastic to cover a window in our basement. I only wanted to buy one ceiling tile but I had to buy a whole box and the last thing on my list was “rubber seals”. Rubber seals for what. I couldn’t imagine. Maybe it was the leaky shower that I’ve learned to ignore.
The Democrat & Chronicle seems to be falling apart. They have laid off about ten percent of their staff and there were ridiculous typos in the paper this morning like this head, “McCain Rejects Criticism Republican of Obama”. The typos have to be bad for me to notice. Readership is declining (more like dying) and they can’t seem to think their way out of the box. How about some more interesting local content? I already knew someone threw a shoe at Bush before I opened the paper. In fact I had already seen the video.
City does an amazing job with local stuff. There is some meaty political coverage and Frank DeBlase is a joy to read and they even have an art critic. Imagine that. Rebecca Rafferty reviewed the RoCo Members Show last week. We had been to the opening and saw plenty of things that we liked. I usually just let my eye wander and stop when something seems pleasing so I knew I had missed a lot. It’s hard to see the show when so many people are milling about but it’s fun to see the people. We wanted to go back and this time we brought Rebecca’s review and we tracked down the drawings and paintings that she cited. It was a lot of fun.
I like art criticism regardless of whether I agree with it or not. Roberta Smith’s review of “Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave“, a mid-career survey at MoMA was tough. Marlene is one of my favorite painters of all time and easily my favorite living painter. She draws raw and right on and her paintings are luscious. Roberta worked extra hard to knock her down. Here’s a quote. “Fusing the political and the painterly, it grapples with the complexities of image making, the human soul, sexuality, the beauty of art, the masculinity of traditional painting, the ugliness of social oppression. How much it delivers on these scores is a question that this exhibition doesn’t quite answer.” Why does this exhibition have to “deliver” any of this. Isn’t grappling enough?
We had an incredible dinner at 2 Vine. We shared a Thai flavored Calamari appetizer and Peggi and I both ordered the bass special. The waitress explained that all their fish comes fresh daily from Boston and it is never frozen. It was also prepared first class. Crispy on the outside but light and moist on the inside with a very delicate orange flavor. It was the best fish I have ever had in my life. Which brings us to the art on the walls. Egon Schiele on Red Bull and Jagermeister?
Peggi’s mom bought us tickets to Handel’s Messiah at the Eastman Theater but we we were a little late getting there so we had to sit in the back until intermission. The sound back there pretty good. It was a good natural mix and not particularly boomy in the low end or anything as I remember it. It just wasn’t present enough back there. The Eastman has recently finished the first of a three part renovation project and the sound stage portion has been completed. It has been re-designed to take advantage of advances in acoustical innovations and I would say they did a great job. The next two phases improve accessibility, a concern of particular interest to this age group, and an all important food concessions lobby. We moved down to our assigned seats at intermission and the sound was excellent.
Christopher Seaman, conducted and played harpsichord at the same time. That was kind of fun to watch. There were about 120 vocalists in the Rochester Oratorio Society on stage with the orchestra and with all those people I would expect something a little more boisterous but it all seemed all seemed too stuffy.
I spent a lot of time looking at the big panels behind the musicians. You know how when a storefront or an old building boards up a window and it looks like it was done for security reasons because maybe the neighborhood is declining or something. Well, that’s how this renovation looks to me. It sounds good but damn, is it bleak looking.
Over the last ten years or so I’ve made a compilation cds to hand out to friends and I thought I would do a new one before Christmas. I issue them under the “Sam Patch” moniker and I have been titling the collections with words that run in alphabetical order. This is my sixth one so I’m up to “F” and I may just call it “The F Word” and, of course, include Pete LaBonne’s song with that title. These songs below are in the running but they won’t all fit so I will have to do some editing.
“Caravan” There are so many versions of this Duke Ellington song but this one from the Frankie & Johnny lp knocks me out.
“You Belong To Me” by Patsy Cline
“Valse Chiapañecas” from a Nonesuch cd called “Mexico: Fiestas Of Chiapas & Oaxaca”
“I’ve Been A Long Time Leaving (But I’ll Be A Long Time Gone)” by Waylon Jennings
“In My Own Dream” by Paul Butterfield from In My Own Dream lp
“I Could Have Danced All Night” by Sun Ra from the Sound Sun Pleasure lp
“Roomful of Voices” a Playette song with the late Dave Mahoney on lead vocals
“Carnival Song” by Tim Buckley from Goodbye And Hello
“The F Word” by Pete LaBonne from his Yick Yack cd
“Is That All There Is?” by Peggy Lee
“The Minotaur’s Son” by Incredible String Band from The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
“Blue Samba” by Ike Quebec from the Soul Samba lp
“Once You’ve Had The Best” by George Jones
“Beyond The Sea” by Bobby Darin from the Live! At The Desert Inn cd
“Tiny Montgomery” by Bob Dylan & The Band from The Basement Tapes
“Harry Irene” by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band from the Shiny Beast lp
“The Creator Has a Master Plan” by Pharoah Sanders
“Suite For Lester” by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, a tribute to former member LesterBowie
“Peter and Judith” by The Art Ensemble Of Chicago from the Urban Bushmen cd
Yesterday’s rain turned to light snow this morning so the snow stuck to the top surface of every branch. It was beautiful. I had some packages to mail and I was dreading the lines at the Post Office so I decided to drive along the lake over to the Charlotte office. Charlotte in the winter is doggone forlorn. But there were only three people on line, the new AC DC was playing in the backroom and the clerks were very friendly. I was tempted to stop down at the LDR to visit Patty. She and Rick (the “R’ in the LDR) are back running the place. And Rick’s dad, Russ, still cuts the meat each morning. There was nice article about them in Saturday’s paper. Their steak sandwiches are so good we become meat eaters when we walk in the door. Same thing happens over at Vic & Irv’s but that is usually only when Duane is in town and he goes off his macrobiotic diet.
60 Minutes did another one of its hit pieces on modern art when they interviewed Julian Schnabel last Sunday. The artwork they showed did look pretty bad and his Basquiat movie was pretty bad and the cd he put out was astoundingly bad but “The Diving Bell” is a damn good movie so far. We took a break about halfway through and plan to finish it tonight after the Margaret Explosion gig so I will report back.
JoAnne Vaccaro sinnging Mele Kaliki Maka at the Vilage Gate Attrium in Rocchester, NY
We stopped out to see Peggi’s mom this afternoon and she was watching the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, a yearly golf tournament with famous golfers who are past their prime and their sons. Golf brings out the worst in me. The whispering, the goofy outfits and the gentlemanliness make me want to scream. We were going to walk down to dining room but Peggi’s mom was too tired so she decided to order in. I hung Christmas lights out on her balcony. It was about twenty degrees out there and it’s near eighty inside her apartment. It’s a toss up as to which is more uncomfortable.
Margaret Explosion made an appearance last night at Village Gate Atrium. The band, Hunu, graciously hosted a benefit for The Center For Youth Services. Chuck Cuminale worked there before he passed away and this event raised over a thousand dollars for the home for troubled kids. Various people got up to do a song with he the band and lot of guest musicians sat in as well a number of full bands. In our case it was three Margaret Explosion members plus Phil Marshall on guitar and Bernie Heveron on organ. We did an abstract, instrumental version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”. Peggi and I ran the tune down in the basement before dinner but the performance was a pleasant surprise. Connie Deming did a beautiful version of Joni Mitchell’s “Christmas Song” and my favorite tune of the night was JoAnne Vacarro’s “Mele Kaliki Maka”.
Matt Dodd’s photo of Black Friday shoppers in West Paterson NJ
At least once a week I check in on my nephew at his blog, The iLife. He’s a freshman in college now but he still has good instincts. He went out to the Best Buy in West Paterson on Black Friday to interview some kids on line. He took this shot about one in the morning just before that dude was trampled at WalMart. His interview is as good as the photo.
We took Peggi’s mom back to our old neighborhood last night. We had dinner at the Park Avenue Pub. Hadn’t eaten there in thirty years or so and it was pretty much the same. Ramon Santiago wasn’t there though and the bar seemed pretty quiet but it was a Sunday night.
Lisa Bunz, the owner and hostess, took us to a warm booth in the front so we could watch the sidewalk traffic. I made eye contact with an old guy in a wheelchair on the way to our table and he reached out his hand to shake so I did. I was thinking “this place is extra friendly” but I’m not sure he was all there. He was sitting with an Audrey Hepurn/Geraldine Chaplin like women in a floppy hat who was either his much younger wife or daughter and there was another couple at their table. The guy had a bald head with big scab on the top and his ears were huge. She seemed to be doing most of the talking for the old man but at the end of their meal the other couple thanked him for inviting them. It was kind of like that scene in “Five Easy Pieces” where the Jack Nicholson character tries talking honestly to his father after the old man had a stroke.
We asked Lisa how things were on the Avenue these days and she lamented the fact that it was younger scene. I just finished a new batch of crime guys and I was thinking how nice it would be to paint old people like this guy and the cast of characters out at Peggi’s mom’s place. I would want to photograph them and work in my basement from the photos. But how do you go about that whole thing? Would any old people want to be painted for some reason. I could have a show in their dining room. I’m gonna have to think about this for a while.
White green on Durand Eastman Course in Rochester, NY
We invited Rick and Monica over for dinner and Peggi planned to make sweet potato soup from a recipe that was in the paper this week. We needed to pick up a few of the ingredients at Wegmans and I wanted to have some beer on hand for Rick so I grabbed a six pack of Sierra Nevada. The cashier asked for proof of age from both of us. Peggi said she didn’t have her wallet with her so I said, “I don’t even know her”. The cashier said “Sorry, that’s our policy”. A manager came over and asked Peggi what her birthday was. The answer was in the 50s for cryin’ out loud so they made an exception.
I made a calameri salad with organic Calamata olives and we got the house extra warm for Monica. We had been burning some funky wood but we made a point to bring in some dry hardwood from a few years ago. The four of us sat on the couch after dinner and we watched “Five Easy Pieces”. I want to start another Karen Black fan club or at least join one. I have the soundtrack on vinyl and I got it out after the movie.
I dreamed I had either ten or twelve nostrils. They were lined up in pairs. I don’t know if this had more to do with my cold or the painting I struggled with recently. When I woke up I realized I had had a bloody nose in my sleep and so we spent a few hours researching removing blood stains on Tempurpedic mattresses and then settled on a little pile of Kosher salt that turned red after an hour or so.
It was very dark today but the woods was beautiful. We saw a bunch of deer and a large Pileated woodpecker. When we got down near the lake we crossed the golf course and I took this shot of the white green.
Nod Margaret Explosionposter for gig tonight at Abeline
Nine o’clock tonight if all goes well Margaret Explosion will be the first band to play upstairs at Abilene. It’s cozy up there with a small bar and and some funky portrait paintings. There is a small stage near the front that looks out over the street and, compared to downstairs, you can almost hear a pin drop. Nod plays downstairs when we’re done. We are long time Nod fanatics and are looking forward to this gig.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for “Between The Buttons”. I am thankful that it still sounds as good to me as did in 1967. Bob Mahoney and John Gilmore stopped over after Margaret Explosion’s gig last and we went for a ride with iTunes Party Shuffle while we ate olives and bread. I’ve got all my cds on a harddrive now and it is a gas hearing stuff come up that I know I love but I wouldn’t think to put it on. Of course iTunes doesn’t think at all and it shows me up all the time.
We heard a couple Pete LaBonne tunes that drew us closer to the stereo so we could hear the lyrics. Then there was something from Moondog and “The Wind Cries Mary” and a track from Bruce Anderson/Dale Sophiea’s “Strict” and then an amazing last number. It sounded so good I played it again as Bob and John were putting on their coats. “Something Happened To Me Yesterday” features Mick and Keith trading lead vocals, Ian Stewart on piano and Brian Jones on trombone, trumpet and violin. Peggi mimicked Kieth swinging a pint as she sang his lines. It’s barroom circus music and pop psychedelia like Colorblind James meeting the Squires of the Subterrain.
Ann Taylor Display at Eastview Mall in Rochester, NY
I guess you have to go WalMart to pick up AC DC’s new disc. And I think Sears may have an exclusive on black jeans now. I have one old pair that I wear while painting. The knees are worn through and they’re pretty covered in paint. I wear my other pair when I’m not painting but they’re getting pretty ratty so I need to move a new pair into the rotation.
We went out to the Gap in Eastview Mall where I had bought my last pair. Why do they call them a “pair” anyway? I can see a pair of socks but pants? I had read that Gap hired a new designer. Guess the guy doesn’t like black jeans. The salesman recommended Lord & Taylor at the other end of the mall. On the way we stopped at Abercromie & Fitch. It was like a disco in the middle of the afternoon. The sixteen year old salesboy suggested Express. We studied the Mall map and planned our route. A saleswoman at Banana Republic said they had “light black”. I said, “like grey?” She showed us some dark denim. Eddie Bower had prefaded black. I can do that myself. Express had some “Low Rise” jeans. I have a hard enough time keeping my pants up as it is so I nixed those. We struck out at Lord & Taylor and gave up.
We stopped at Apple store to look at the new laptops and and then Ann Taylor where Peggi tried on a top. I wandered around the store and took this photo of a guy bringing wood to his lady. A saleswoman there asked me, “Are you finding everything alright?” I said, “I’m not looking for anything.”
I mentioned this to Bob Martin at our Margaret Explosion gig and he said, “Try Sears”.
