Deer in meadow near Durand Eastman Park in Rochester, New York
Last time I posted a picture of a deer Steve Piotrowski painted a picture of it and used it as his holiday card. The card arrived today and is stunning. I’ve known Steve since our Holy Trinity days. We were in a split class together, 5th and 6th in the same classroom, about fifty kids in the class.
We were just talking about Catholic school at dinner last night. My memories of it play like a Fellini movie and I have a deep well of stories but they go over best with other one time Catholics so I’ll restrain myself.
Snowmen on Knollwood Drive in Brighton outside of Rochester New York
We drove out to Eastview Mall for Lord & Taylors “Friends & Family Sale”, whatever that means, with our email coupon. We did the same thing last year, the last time we were here, and we ran into the same two people that we ran into last year, a married woman and her male “friend”. Peggi bought some jeans and I couldn’t find anything. I have better luck at Sears or the Salvation Army’s Thrift Store.
We drove home through Pittsford and then Brighton instead of hopping on the damn expressway and we took a few detours to look at the lights. This house on Knollwood Drive right near Oak Hill Country Club, home of the 1989 US Open, had these life size,”life size” is not right, human sale snowmen, “snowmen” is not right, snow people. One for each member of the happy extended family (click the photo to see the whole thing). Or maybe the whole clan lived here. The house was gigantic.
Bare trees in December, Spring Valley in Rochester, New York
Trees are so theatrical! And much more so when they’ve lost their leaves. Their exaggerated gestures tell you which way the wind the blows, where the light is, who’s the toughest, how the ground rolls. And I just love this reduced palette of browns and grays.
We have a leaner out back, a widow maker. It’s very big but it’s dead. It’s bark is pealing, the woodpeckers have had at it but it’s oak and worth burning. We were planning on taking it down yesterday so we stopped down at our neighbors for some practical advise before we tried this one. He looked at it for a while and suggested we wait until it falls over or the wind blows it down. He thought it was too dangerous to work under and he was quite certain we would cut it at the base and pull it away with a rope tied to the trailer hitch on our car only to have it slide off the trunk and still be hung up. He’s a lot more practical the us but not as much fun. I’ve been thinking about ways of throwing a rope around the top of the tree somehow and then pull it until the tree breaks below where it’s hung up and then maybe the trunk would just fall over like was going to do when it got hung up. We’re going to sit on this one for a bit.
A while back Zanne Brunner asked if I’d like to show some work in an upcoming show that she was organizing at the temporary art space in Irondequoit near the House of Guitars. Developer/dreamer Mike Nolan has some great plans for the lock of buildings at Tutus Avenue and Cooper Road. He’s bought up most of the block and has devoted space for a small gallery in the shop right next to the Chinese restaurant there. I dropped off the two charcoal drawing pictured in the blow-up of the photo above and I picked up a flyer for the show at the same time. I didn’t know they were calling it a “Holiday Show”! I probably wouldn’t have submitted something in red and green anyway. I was happy to learn Todd Beers, Edward Buscemi and Wendy Menzie were in the show. The opening is on Saturday, January 14th.
22 ounce Budweiser cans on Hoffman Road in Rochester, New York
We thought this guy moved away or went on the wagon or died maybe but he’s still around. At least he has slacked off a bit. These are the first cans we’ve found in months. Same guy for sure because the 22 ounce Budweiser cans were in the exact same spot. They look kind of Christmasy.
We often smell deer before we see them and sometimes we’ll hear them before we spot them but usually we just catch a glimpse of them “hightailing” it. They stick their tail in the air and puff it out while prancing away. They know we’re not hunters and that there is no hunting around here so some of them are pretty cocky. This guy stomped his leg at us.
I was headed out to pick up the paper but met Rick Simpson at the door this morning with our paper in hand. He said he had already grilled Bob Mahoney about the trophies that someone left in our yards over the weekend. Rick got bowling related ones and I got basketball trophies carefully arranged in the horseshoe pit. This is the second visit from the “midnight trophy prankster”. We found a bunch a few years ago and suspected Rick and Monica of planting them. I’m thinking Rick planted this new batch in both yards to throw us off the scent.
Rick is a bowler and a good one at that. I was not much of a basketball player. I’m still open to any new clues.
Bob Henrie and Goners equipment still life – after Christmas gig at Abilene in Rochester, New York
The best part of Christmas is the Bobbie Henrie and the Goners‘ Christmas show and it’s already over. The place should have been mobbed, it usually is, but I’m glad it wasn’t. We could stand right in front of the band and soak it up. This band rocks and swings like no other. They effortlessly mix rock and roll with country and jazz. They transcend rockabilly. Their songbook is enormous. They tore up the Christmas chapter at Abilene on Saturday night with choice George Jones, Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee covers.
I stop at “So Many Records” every morning. First audio of the day and it often gets me time traveling, mostly in a backwards direction but not entirely linear, more like the opium fueled dreams of Robert DeNiro’s character in Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon A Time In America.” The older you get the bigger your memories play in your present. The only reggae we had when we first met Kevin in 1976 was Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. I am one of Kevin’s friends who was blown away by the “THIS IS REGGAE MUSIC (Volume 3)” collection that Kevin talks about in yesterday’s post.
Rolling Stones pinball machine at the Skylark Lounge in Rochester, New York
Everyone knows Herman and for good reason. He’s the perfect bartender and conversationalist. Formerly a Bug Jar fixture he’s got his own place now, called the “Skylark Lounge”, on Union Street, a drag show venue for many years that he and Bug Jar inventor, Casey, have retooled with swank. The location, on a one way street in the East End, is a bit forlorn but it’ll be the center of the universe when the city fills in the Inner Loop.
We stopped in after the Margaret Explosion gig and sat at the bar by the juke box. Hermie told us he was considering one that played 45s but it wouldn’t hold enough music so he settled on one that plays cds, his cds, mostly old school, VU, Stones, Curtis Mayfield, Donovan, JB, Stooges.
Forget about wifi, the Rolling Stones pinball machine in the corner is the main attraction until they get their entertainment license. I couldn’t tell if I was getting extra points for hitting Mick or what but he kept prancing across the middle of the game and was definitely in the way. I won a few bonus balls and then a free game. I was slamming the machine and never tilted it. I wish they wouldn’t release those extra balls when you get on a roll. In the old days and you could get a get a good run going by working the ball, one ball.
Margaret Explosion releases 100 Songs for Christmas
Since we play about once a week and don’t usually do a song more than once we have a lot songs in the kitty. We had this idea to get one hundred downloads up on our site site by Christmas but that took some doing. We spent the last week listening to things like “Prom Night 2” from a few years ago and now retitled “Submarine Races.” And this afternoon at about four o’clock we uploaded the hundredth song.
I am anxious to get back to painting but I’m digging charcoal. I’ve been drawing with it for the past few months and really having a good time. Same subject matter (as if it it matters) but more freedom. If I get off to a bad start I can always crumple the thing and start over but I am enjoying the paper trail. That is I like it when I see the struggle. That’s why they call it drawing. It’s messy as hell. This is the way my work table looks.
December trees and light in Durand Eastman Park, Rochester, New York
I think we might have walked in on somebody’s play at the top of the big luge hill in Durand Eastman. The lighting was so dramatic and the trees were posed so theatrically. We just kind of stood there. It was a slow moving play but it didn’t last long.
Alice de Mauriac painting entitled “Interval Before The Brink” at Rochester Contemporary Members Show
The First Friday Gallery hop gets bigger every month, so big I heard talk last night of venues switching to the second Friday of the month. Places that don’t have any real gallery space at all are jumping on the bandwagon. How would you like to have your art featured on a bright yellow wall on the down ramp at the Record Archive? Only Frank DeBlase could pull that one off. We checked out a few of these not-really-an-art-space shows last night. Geri McCormick had some beautiful letterpress prints in a show at Joe Bean on University. We had never been to this coffee bar, a real bar format but without the alcohol. They roast their own Fair Trade beans and prepare each cup to order, your choice of coffee and brew method. We bought a bag of beans to take home. It took me about a half hour to get the bag open but the coffee was delicious.
Next stop was Jembetat on Park Avenue where Heather Erwin was holding court with her Barbara Kruger meets Russian constructivist prints. I had my iPod Touch with me but was afraid to whip it out because of the rather hostile “Please . . . No Laptop or WiFi use. Please refrain from cell phone use.” signs. Meanwhile the owner was plopped on the couch cruising fb on his smart phone. I wanted to check the First Friday site to see what else was happening. Turns out we missed Pete Monacelli’s “Thoughtful Influences” show at the Philips gallery. We saw Pete at our last stop, the annual Rochester Contemporary Members Show. We talked art for a bit but mostly drums and the art of playing minimally.
I was so happy to see that Alice de Mauriac’s painting, “Interval Before The Brink” (detail shown above, click photo for full painting), won the Record Archive Award at RoCo. It was the strongest, most beautiful piece in the room. If only the MAG would feature her work in one of their biennials of regional artists. She has many more where this came from.
Culver Ridge Walgreens at sunset with Flu Shots sign
Our neighbor, Monica, was telling us that there have been some beautiful sunrises lately. We wouldn’t know, but the sunsets have been sensational. I caught this shot while stopped at the light at Culver at Ridge. The golden hour was coming on. Does anybody remember Suburban Hair when it was on this corner? I usually skip the flu shot thing.
I spotted this orange glove in the middle of Culver Road and had to turn around and grab a shot. It might make a good Margaret Explosion cover. Pete LaBonne played with us at the Memorial Art Gallery opening for “Extreme Materials” and maybe one of those tracks will get his graphic..
Fake teeth on the counter at Dr. Miraglia’s office in Rochester, New York
I am going to miss Dr. Cupolo or “Rocky” as other dentists call him. He retired this summer but his reputation lives on in his son’s restaurant which is named after my dentist.
I shopped around for a new dentist and was taking recommendations from anyone I talked to but decided to go back to the dentist I had in high school when I lived out in Webster. I even dated the receptionist while I was there. Dr. Miraglia is no longer practicing but his son (with the same name) has taken over the practice. I had my first appointment today and liked him quite a bit.
My Irish teeth are not as bad as Shane MacGowan’s but nothing like the fake teeth on the dentist’s counter either. We just watched a Pogue’s documentary the other night. Kind of hard to watch the alcohol ravaged Shane but I came away loving the Pogues more than ever.
I left the dentist and found an art supply store right in the village near the four corners. I needed some spray fixative for my charcoal drawings and I found one here. This was a cool little town back in the day. Bowman’s, The Candy Kitchen and Utz’s Bakery are all gone but Burkes is still there and the shoe repair. The shoe repairman also drove our school bus while he smoked cigarettes and swore at the kids. There was no music store back then but there is now. I found a nice 22 inch Zildjin K Custom Dark Ride cymbal. It was 349 bucks so left it right where I found it. I stopped in Barry’s Old School Café and Pub for a cup of coffee and found out they just opened a few weeks ago. This place on the four corners was a gas station when I was last there.
I was in fifth grade when my family moved out of the city. Webster was a charming little village surrounded by farmland and woods. They’ve torn up the town in rampant overdevelopment but the village is still pretty cool.
Graffiti on water tanks in Washington Grove near Cobbs Hill in Rochester, New York
Just about any day is a good day to walk around the old water tanks in Washington Grove up on Cobbs Hill. They are constantly evolving. In fact we interrupted a guy who was painting over an already densely covered section when we stopped by last week. Bill Jones did a short movie while walking around one of the tanks about ten years ago and the work shown in it is long gone.
Picnic table in park along Lake Road near Sea Breeze in Webster, New York
Three days in a row with temperatures in the sixties. We headed down to the lake and crossed the seasonal swing bridge that connects Culver Road to Lake Road in Webster. This tiny strip of land between Irondequoit Bay and the lake used to have houses on both sides of the road but quite a few on the north side were washed away years ago before they got he lake levels under control. The Army Corp shored it up with a pile of rocks and the town of Webster turned it into a nice little park. Next time we come down here we’ll bring some sandwiches.
A permanent bridge was planned for this spot but the money for the project was diverted to San Francisco after their earthquake and we’re stuck with this winter only solution. If anybody asks I’m all for keeping the bridge open all year. And while we’re at it let’s keep daylight savings on all year.
Colorful trees near Pat Lake in Durand Eastman Park, Rochester, New York
I helped my nephew manage his iTunes library before Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. He was getting duplicates of the stuff he downloaded and running out of hard disc space on his netbook. Seems everyone has a glut of music. He told me I should get “Spotify” so I installed that this morning.
There was a review of the Stones remastered “Some Girls” lp in the paper. It comes with an album’s worth of extra tracks. I don’t have a digital copy the original so I previewed the new tracks at the iTunes store and thought about buying the package but Mick redid his vocals on some tracks just like he did with the “Exile” outtakes and that pisses me off. That really should be illegal. Keith does a Waylon Jennings song but that just made me want to hear the original. I decided not to buy now.
I was reading Sasha Frere-Jones’s column in the New Yorker on the Russian dj, “Oneohtrix Point Never” and that sounded pretty interesting so I checked that out at the store but didn’t buy anything.
We watched the Gram Parsons documentary the other night. Kieth was in there too, scolding Gram for ODing. I never really caught on to Gram Parsons but I liked the Byrds. They shouldn’t have included the vintage clips of George Jones and Merle Haggard in this movie. That sort of put Gram in his place too.
