Ontario Beach is thawing. We watched big chunks of ice break off and float away. I was almost like being in Antarctica.
We have been doing a mini Altman fest in our living room. We added most of his movies, in chronological order, to our NetFlix cue and last night it was Mash’s turn. This wild movie is nonstop action without hardly anything happening. The tv show did not do it justice and there is no way that it could. It’s only worth noting because the movie is a near masterpiece.
The moon was almost full last night and it lit up the snow. Peggi watched as the moon dropped into view and then disappeared below our bedroom window view. I was snoring and missed the whole thing. She said it was beautiful.
Today was beautiful and I was ide awake for it. The sun is quite a bit higher in the sky and it felt warm at 31 degrees.
We got on the F train in Brooklyn at Fort Hamilton and headed for the Modern in Manhattan. We were sitting at the front of the first car. This line brings you above ground for a few stops before going down under the East River. A very short man with a camouflaged hat got on and started singing a beautiful folk song in Spanish. I gave him a dollar. At the next stop a guy in a trench coat got on with a styrofoam cup that he was rattling. I tried not to look at him.
A women burst through the door right behind him and loudly addressed the passengers, “OK people. I will try to be brief. My husband has abused me, humiliated me. . . etc.” She kept walking to the other end of the car and we tried to tune her out but she worked her way back to us with her hand out, repeating, “Anybody have a kind heart? Anybody have a kind heart?” She said this like it didn’t have a question mark. Next on was a woman with missing front teeth. She was dragging a big black trash bag. She leaned against the pole in front of us and began singing, “I believe the children are the future”.
The distance between stops as the train goes under the river is longer than that between most stops so this train is a magnet for buskers. Duane, our NYC friend and guide, told us he has seen guys bring a whole drum set in, set it up and bang out a hip hop tune. They get of on the other side, cross over and ride back all day long.
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.
Irondequoit Bay is winter playground once it freezes over. We got out on the ice and talked to a few of the fisherman. They were pulling fish out of their holes but they were all pretty small. We watched a group of kids play hockey on a rink they had cleared for themselves. I remember doing that in that same spot when I was a kid. And at the other end of the bay we saw motorcycles were racing around in circles. There’s plenty of funky places to eat down here too. I would recomend Vic & Irv’s, Shamrock Jack’s or Nick’s Seabeeze Inn.
Our nephew, Eli, had a school assignment to do a “Job Shadow” thing and he chose 4D Advertising to work with. He came over today and we had a number of typical projects lined up for him. I showed him a php page that we were working on that would call on an include for the navigation bar. I was trying to explain the concept and I asked him if he had a website. He took me to a FreeWeb site that he and his brothers had put up to feature their Legos Movies. His site was way cooler.
We had him sort receipts for about twenty minutes in preparation for our tax filing. And then I had him scan a notebook of Pete LaBonne’s Fish drawings for the Refrigerator. They have been sitting around since last winter. Eli cleaned up the scans in Photoshop, saved them for web and then uploaded the files. I helped him construct pages in Dreamweaver to display the drawings and we posted them. He put a “fish” link on the front of the Refrigerator so other people can find them.
I interviewed Eli before he left and he typed in these responses.
Eli, how was your day at 4D?
It was great!
What did you learn?
I learned how to add pictures online using dreamweaver.
Do you think you would like to do this kind of work when you are a little older?
Maybe..
I had to sign some paperwork while his mom stood by and I noticed the only
instruction he was given was “Be sure to dress and behave appropriately”. Eli had a black t-shirt that said “The Hives” on.
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.
We use the flower pot out front to gauge the fresh snow. Of course you would have to know how deep the pot is before you could make any meaningful calculation. We have about ten inches of fresh snow and the temperature to support it. Break time today will call for a ski in the woods.
“Sun is shining and the weather is sweet, yeah” – Bob Marley
We got some snow last night, enough for cross country skiing. We were downtown doing a few errands just before the front came in. We took Culver back home, traveling north toward the lake, and we had just crossed Ridge Road when I grabbed this shot. It looked like mountains out over the lake.
Jeff Munson and Mary Kaye had a few people over for dinner. Jeff made what he described as “a pile of food on a plate”. I was more like a work of art. Wine sizzled mussels in and out of the shell over polenta with baked turnips, kale, pear juiced squash all drenched in the wine/mussel/kale broth. Mary Kaye made tangerine sorbet and cookies for dessert.
It took us over an hour to get home but the ride was delicious too. It was snowing heavily, Peggi was doing 20 mph tops and I was looking out over the river. We got on the expressway near RIT but we couldn’t see the road at all so we got off and inched home on Winton and Culver.
I gotta remember to ask Jeff if he could grab a photo of that 84 Lumber sign out his way? Just a point blank shot of the round “84” up on the pole. Talk about works of art. Pick a number and make you own. It would look great in the “signs” secction on the Refrigerator.
Margaret Explosion performs tonight on WXXI TV’s “On Stage” at 7pm. We’re watching that Bill Jone’s place while we celebrate his birthday.
Zazie drawing of Peggi Fournier and Ken Frank playing with Margaret Explosion
I mentioned that I invited Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn to my opening of the CrimeStopper portraits. He emailed this morning that he was going to be in Albany earlier in the day but he said he would try to stop by. He said he was looking forward to seeing my paintings.
Jaffe, who played keyboards with Colorblind James for many years, sat in with Margaret Explosion last night at the Little. He fit right in and the band sounded pretty good. Five year old Zazsa, the daughter of Franzie Weldgen who has his art on the walls this month, danced for most of our set and then did drawings of the band. The one above is the drawing she did of Peggi with her sax and Ken with his stand up bass.
Scott Regan and Sue Rogers from WXXI were there and they reminded us that the audio from the Margaret Explosion performance on “On Stage” would be broadcast today at 6pm on WRUR and then Saturday at 3pm. The bad ass blue ray hi def picture and sound will be broadcast at seven on WXXI TV. I’m kind of afraid to look at myself in hi def. I had my eyes closed for most of the hour while we played.
I launched Audacity when the radio show started tonight and I grabbed the streaming signal from WXXI’s website. It’s the first time I’ve used the program and when I listened back I heard Peggi and her mom and I eatting dinner and commenting on the performance. Guess I left the mic input on.
These guys did an “artiste” thing on us overnight and donned their berets. I imagine them talking about how this whole Christmas thing has gotten in the way of their quality time.
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
The golf course usually feels like a jarring intrusion when it appears at the end of the trail in the woods near our house. Maybe it has something to do with the memory of being clocked by a golf ball as we crossed this hole a couple of years ago. Sometimes, though, the manicurred golf course appears like an apparition and it just knocks me out – without the ball to the head thing.
Gary from New Math stopped by this afternoon with two carloads of friends that were in from out of town for the Scorgie’s thing. Duane Sherwood pulled in the driveway right behind them. We looked at photos from last night and laughed. Duane helped me get my camera set up to photograph some paintings with the Lowel lights that he gave me. We thought we’d eat at LDR but they closed at eight so we went down to Shamrock Jack’s. Peggi, Duane and I each ordered the fish fry.
Our waitress was wearing a yellow “Champion Drinker” t-shirt that she said all the staff wear on the days that Notre Dame plays. A guitar and drums duo scalled “Jumbo Shrimp” started playing in the front room. They each had plastic beer holders on their stands and they were having a great time at their job. They did a Marvin Gaye tune and “My Girl” and a bunch of stuff we didn’t recognize.
Peggi guessed the guy on the right was “Jumbo” and the guy on the left was “Shrimp”. The drummer played a cocktail set standing up and the guitarist sang and played acoustic guitar. The drummer sang back ups without a mic. They sounded like like the White Stripes on a cruise ship were the perfect capper to our rock and roll weekend.
Frank DeBlase photos at Record Archive – A View From The Pit
There’s Nod right in the middle of Frank DeBlase’s “View From The Pit” show at Record Archive
Record Archive was hopping last night. There were about twenty five skateboarders out front on the unseasonably warm night. Inside Alanya offered us a can of ice cold Rolling Rock and Dick Storms had Nino’s pizza laid out on the table. It was hard to get an unobstructed view of Frank‘s photos. I centered my shot around Nod so I didn’t get Joan Jett or Ivy. There are hundred photos in this show and the prints were selling fast. So you better get over there before all the good ones are gone.
Art opening hound at Svan Aken’s “Audition” at RoCo
We go to a lot of local art openings but I’m willing to bet this fellow art aficionado goes to all the art openings. I usually see him chowing down at the refreshments table but last night he was checking out the Sam van Aken’s “Audition” at RoCo on East Avenue. His outfit was nicely cordinated with he work last night. Chas Davis had some nice big Paul Jenkins like paintings in the back room.
Back view of am Svan Aken’s “Audition” at RoCoLeave a comment
We met Anne Havens at Gallery 354 this morning and had a private tour of her show,” Desultory. Peggi took a few movies of the work and I took some still shots on a tripod. The show looked beautiful in the morning light.
We went across the street to the Public Market for lunch and found a comfortable turquoise table in the sun at Juan and Maria’s Empanada Shop. Cumbia music was playing and we felt like we were vacation. I guess we were. Juan gave us a “Vistas Hermosas” calendar for 2009.
We don’t usually have lunch. We usually just grab something from the kitchen and return to our desks where we eat whatever it was that we grabbed. It could be toast with peanut butter or an apple or leftovers. We’ve been helping John Gilmore with a project lately and he comes over a few times a week. He has gotten in the habit of stopping by Rubino’s on his way here so he shows up with olive salad, bread and Italian pastries. That makes a good lunch.
Last visit though, he came from Wegmans with a loaf of their fresh baked Tuscan bread (brushed with oil and herbs) and olives from their Mediterranean Olive Bar. John’s mixture included onionsand olives stuffed with almonds, blue cheese and peppers. I made three olive sandwiches (as shown) and gobbled them down. There was enough left for a midnight snack and more tomorrow.
Palermo’s on Culver still has the best olives but this sandwich is sensational.
And this just in from the desk of Martin Edic:
There is a new company offering bus service from Eastview mall to NYC (Penn Station), $9.00 each way starting Dec 4. They go to Toronto too for $10.
Paul and Fran Dodd jumping in a quarry in Bloomington Indiana
I think it was the summer between my brother Fran’s junior and senior year in high school when my parent’s had had enough. They asked if Peggi and I would take Fran for the summer. We said yes and they drove him out to Bloomington and dropped him off.
He got a part time maintenance job at Peddler’s, the woman’s clothing store that Steve Hoy’s sister ran. I was finishing concrete for a construction company and Peggi was working as a dental assistant. Dave Mahoney was working in the dorms and he lived down the street from us. We all spent a lot of time at the nearby quarries. We didn’t usually wear bathing suits but we did when my parents came back out to pick him up. My father took this shot. You can tell which one of us was more of a rebel rouser by the body language in this shot.
My friend (and neighbor) Rick, is always ready to play. Horseshoes, pool, fishing, those sorts of things. Our 90 year old neighbor Leo, a workaholic, says, “He really knows how to live”. Rick teaches school so summer is party time. He caught some striped bass in Maine, brought them home frozen and invited us over for dinner. Rick is a great cook too except his gas grill ran out of gas before the fish was cooked. He didn’t miss a beat and moved the fish to the oven. It was delicious. Rick had a few glasses of wine at dinner so I challenged him to a game of pool thinking I could whip his ass for a change. We played three games of 8 Ball and Rick won all three.
4D Advertising is surly the only design company still doing sheet music in Rochester, New York. Tony Stortini brought two new songs over this morning for us to do cover illustrations for. The first, is an old world, romantic number for violin and piano is called “Hearts of Gold” and the other, a lively number for piano and horns, is called “Tippy Tap Joe”. That one is dedicated to Tony’s brother Nunzio who loved to dance the Jitterbug. Tony wrote the music and had someone from the Eastman School of Music transcribe it on his computer. Once it was transcribed this guy had his computer play it back like only a machine can and then he burned these two songs to a cd. The sound is something like the carousal at Sea Breeze.
VFW Fairport, NY
I had a meeting tonight with the committee that is working on our high school reunion. We met at the VFW in Fairport where we will be having the event. Someone from our class is a member here. The place is comfortable and funky. We’ll rock this place.
