Hallelujah!

At the Whitney Museum, we saw Tim Hawkinson and Alexander Calder's installations and art. I don't know what to say about either one exactly aside from that they both make art that moves - kinetic? - and both exhibits delight me still. If interested, here's a site on Tim Hawkinson with pictures and videos of his installations, some that we saw that day. Let me know if you've seen him before.
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hawkinson/index.html

And this site about Alexander Calder has a little video of his circus, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/calder_a.html

Oh, and I shouldn't forget another museum we visited called MoBIA - The Museum of Biblical Art. It's new. I haven't read the fine print about its mission yet. I tried to read it, but I just can't seem to take it in. I can say that the people that work there are awfully friendly, and admission is free. Here's a slideshow from a NY Times article that shows a little bit of the exhibition that we saw: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2005/05/10/arts/20050511_BIBLE_SLIDESHOW_1.html
Howard Finster is an artist I learned about that weekend whose work is in this show. He paints his visions in great detail. Very sincere and sweet.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/Finster/finster2.html

Downloading my little vacation feels good. Maybe I'll remember these experiences better having typed them out.

What I learned about Glenn Gould

during the intermission at the sunday night jazz concert, i noticed a display in the lobby about various performers who performed at the concert hall throughout history. you can listen to some performances on headphones and follow photos that match. i must say that the solitude and muffle that comes with putting on a pair of headphones was very appealing after three days of touring the city.

one selection at this display was an intro by leonard bernstein just before glenn gould came onstage to perform with his symphony. leonard bernstein posed the question of who's in charge - the conductor or the soloist? he went on to say that it goes both ways and that he brings this up because he wants the audience to know that for this performance, he was allowing glenn gould to be in charge. he disagrees with glenn gould's interpretation of the brahms piece they are about to perform and that he doesn't want anyone to mistake this interpretation for his own. however, he feels that glenn gould's talent and importance as an artist outweighs his own feelings about brahms and that he is honored to work with glenn gould.

when i got back to my seat, i immediately asked my brother david to tell me about glenn gould. this is what he told me: glenn gould was a child prodigy whose sound was very unique, who played bach in a way no other pianist played bach; that he was reclusive and sat low, kind of hunkered down in front of the keyboard; that he was canadian, and that some say he predicted his own death.

NYC 2005

Just returned home from a fast but fabulous trip to New York City. My second visit there.

Here's what I remember:

Glenn Gould
The Village Vanguard Theater
Tim Hawkinson
Alexander Calder
Wynton Marsalis
Duke Ellington
Grady Tate
The Pillowman
The West Village
The Bible Museum
Post Modernism
Killer puppies for sale in windows
Big dogs in small apartments
Plain Cheese Pizza
Indian Food (especially Dosas - yum!)
Public Transportation
Taxis

I landed at JFK at 8a.m. uncertain of how best to reach the city. At the information desk, I said to the woman there, "I'm not sure where I'm going exactly." She asked, "How you gonna get there if you don't know where you're going?" That's about the best question any has ever asked me. It's true that I've been asked that question before, but never with a Jamaican accent.

Once I reached the address that appeared to match the one my brother gave me, I called him to let him know I was there. "Hi Dave. I'm outside the apartment. At least I think I am." He replied, "I'll come down to let you in, if you're there. Otherwise, I'll call you." I don't know, it all seemed a little existential.

Every emergence from the subway tunnels was completely disorienting. It felt like I was arriving in a new place all day long for three days straight. The background music for this weekend was a big band orchestra playing mostly Duke Ellington.
I heart NYC.

My First Blog

I decided to start this blog a few days ago because writing more often is much more than a fleeting desire of mine. There's been nothing stopping me. It's not like I need a license, or a certificate, or to win first prize in a contest to be writer. And of course I don't need to purchase special equipment or an advanced education to behave like a writer. So, here in my blog, I guess you can say that I'm in the act of fulfilling a fantasy.

How wonderful. Everyone should do this.