practically a month, ah dear.  i kept meaning to write.  but there’s always work to be done and overdue emails to be written, and phone calls to be made first, before this personal self-indulgence.

let’s see, i visited the telectroscope and friends in london thru it:

returned to minneapolis in time for rock the garden, an outdoor show incl. the new pornographers and andrew bird; worked; saw friends in 3 states; read a couple ondaatje books; travelled to the atlantic ocean (surprisingly close) and went to rockaway beach:

started seeing the new extravaganza by olafur eliasson - whose water & light art i really liked at ps1 recently: waterfalls which just started flowing at points around nyc!  art funds kind of blow my mind.

and that pretty well brings us up to date.

as negligent as i am in posting to this blog, i’m inversely better(?) at posting photos on my flickr page. all the time. so check it.

also, last week while on a plane and reading a free newspaper,  i wrote the below as i was thinking about why the online & print newspapers always leave me hungry, and separately why i find the believer so satisfying if only in the arts segment…

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Reading the WSJ, an extreme example of what I’m going to talk about, the typical news pattern was simplified and blatant:

Newspapers, and therefore readers’ understanding of world news and priorities, focus only on power. Power includes money. Power includes popularity, which is prestige and legitimacy. It most obviously includes governmental-type actions, authority, business deals, stock market, weapons.

Newspapers consist of:

Power/energy shifts

Power/energy accumulation

Disaster (unexpected power strikes/destruction)

Predictions/forecasts of power migration & growth

And thrown into the mix for good measure, papers will generally also have some

Scandal/gossip (salacious/voyeuristic reads)

Local events & recent histories (how to locally engage, connect into the local power grid)

The oddball story as a snack/dessert

But what if, in proportion to power coverage, media gave equal respect and assumption of importance to:

 wisdom,  health,  and other human development / progress?

This would be a significant shift in perspective and I bet it would suddenly cast some peoples and regions in a drastically different light. Some “developing” nations and regions, currently only viewed with the two-tone lens of “has power or doesn’t” and thus seen as a barren backwater, would suddenly be brought into full color focus. Not as the junior leaguers and innocents presumed, but matured cultures with their own accumulations, just a different concentration in their portfolio, so to speak.

                This region has millennia of medicinal & subtle psychological knowledge and family-centric lives

                This region has a lot of oil and commerce-centric lives

                This region has very healthy lifestyles.

                This region is very rich and hectic

                This region is most of all about military and fighting

            Etc

News coverage that values not only power but wisdom, knowledge, growth in understanding of the universe, and even values beauty as pursuits of equal validity and substance - for they also take hard work and focus - as achievements equal to gathering power. Rather than baubles and hood ornaments on the lives of those who accumulate the most cash. 

[exagerrated example: oh, she knows a lot about painting and literature (that's valuable) VS. oh, she knows about painting and lit because she's rich and has spare time for unimportant hobbies].

It’s somehow kindred to the slow food movement, and real cost economics – factoring in more of the pieces, widening the zoom to include the progression and journey and the whole life experience, not just win/loss, big/bigger, a cross-slice of our days, oversimplified to a bank statement.

- airplane MSP to JFK, 24jun08

governor’s island just opened back up with art & summer events. it’s this island right off manhattan abandoned by the coast guard & sitting unused for years. i’ll have to take that ferry sometime soon.

i’ve quickly turned into doing the things i mocked in new yorkers: not ever making it past/above or out of certain regularly-traveled zones, knowing there are at any point between 5-25 amazing things happening tonight that i’d absolutely love and doing 0..  it’s hard to explain how/why this happens. fatigue? overload? energy conservation?  speaking of…

my workday? at least 3 days out of the work week it’s something like 11 hours, 82 emails sent, even more received (half deleted), 1 new hire trained, phone calls from offsite teams, 1 quick lunch eaten while using computer, 1 gallon of water consumed, half that in tea or coffee, various team conversations, meetings, checking up on employee work, etc.

after recently going through a big round of interviewing for several positions, i was inspired to make a tipsheet for those seeking a job. you’d be surprised how necessary it is.

11: the number of destroyed umbrellas seen on jersey city sidewalks yesterday following a rainy, windy day.  i’m trying to understand why people leave them at the very spot the umbrella became useless.  too embarassed to be seen with an inverted, ripped umbrella? too dangerous to continue carrying one in the wind while all its metal prongs are sticking out every which way, exposed?

10: the number of sailboats sailing a stretch of the hudson visible between two piers

9/8: number of shows discussed below. depends on how you count.

7: a lucky number?

6: months i’ve been working f/t in nyc

5: the number of times i’ve thought ‘it’s going to stay warm now’ only to have to break out the heavier coat again

4: days until my family comes to visit my in new york

3: the nyc fireworks displays i’ve seen

2: the number of cruiseships seen escorted passign through the hudson river; number of weeks ’til michigan & spackfest

1: for the number of thousands that is not enough to get you a place without roaches in nyc.

sitting on the rooftop deck of neighboring bar  iron monkey, i heard quite the 80s alterna-mix of music playing.  eventually an ad came on - satellite radio’s “fred” station.  over a glass of biting ipa, i realized it was not just 80s music but particularly white 80s music and wondered more about the name ‘fred’ being assigned to the station.  has anyone ever been named fred who wasn’t white?   

separately, i’d like to reclaim and reinvent a phrase. i think ‘light in the loafers’ should mean slightly tipsy, buzzed from just enough alcohol to feel lighter, floatier…  what term(s) deserve a redefinition in your book?

reverse chronological list of my recent cultural event adventures as of may 5:

sunday, may 4 - i forgot to go to the mayday parade (of giant puppets)!  but i did walk in the sun, pick up some summer dresses at local hip shop cliche, and attend an art opening of the wonderfully colorful paintings by laura bennett at delectable and generous cafe maude in south minneapolis. the wine flowed freely.  they often have interesting live music, too and the owner also treats musicians well!  may his restaurant continue to thrive.

saturday, may 3 - flew back to mpls.  nachos at glms fave pancho villa. talk & walk around lake harriet with tom, and have a followup glass of wine at the old firestation.  met up with holly, heard about her band aviette’s new cd and our life developments (haven’t seen each other in years), then walked across the sculpture bridge from loring park over to the walker art center to see the 11pm set of  dosh & friends (incl. andrew bird) rockin’ out.  only ran into andrea & patrick briefly.

friday, may 2 - met up with old ‘cbners at a bar patio in brooklyn for a pint before we walked down the street to bam for a performance of samuel beckett’s ‘end game’ starring john turturro(!) and the sidekick from dougie howser.  weird play; wish i’d read it first bcs it took me a while to adjust to the twisted sense (of humor).  got on the c train to head back to my apt before an early morning flight when i remembered the david murray quartet was playing birdland that night.. stayed on the c train until 42nd st & went over to the club in time for the 11pm set.  stormy sax & lovely piano…

monday - thursday, may 1 - worked like mad

sunday - walked around soho, saw a great doo wop quartet, bought a ring from a street vendor, and a pair of the least expensive john fluevog shoes i could find at their room of supercool shoes.

saturday - brunch at prune with madill, laura, marty, & mike’s friend kristen. delicious food & mimosas/bloody marys. followed by a short walk and euchre & pints in the back patio of dba for.. much longer than intended.  mike went record shopping & marty, laura, and i went to the mcnally robinson bookstore & browsed for a while.  i just barely didn’t buy anything and in our last minutes there saw a magazine ad for crazy shoes called fluevogs. made a mental note to look them up online. we walked outside and across the street and there’s a fluevog shoe store.  i considered this a serendipitous hint not to be ignored.  ended up having a superlate dinner at mangiamo, i had salad & sparkling water, saturated from our rich indulgences…

friday - kidnapped early from work by visiting mike, laura, & marty and delivered 1 block away at the ear inn. pints and spy theme singing ensued. so did other things, but i don’t remember where/what now.

thursday - met up with laura & the just-arrived-from michigan mike madill. wandered up the west side from canalish area to the meatpacking district. first maybe-celebrity sighting. when i remember his name i’ll let you know. all the intended restaurants were too full so ended up in a corner open window spot, jarnac, which turned out to be great.  the staff was right - bread pudding with caramel gelato, all the way.

wednesday - the creek & the cave in long island city. comedy night alternating with back patio. saw brandon z.   had ongoing antics & hilarity with anthony f.  late night pie & coffee at a diner then the discovery of a dastardly night construction shutdown of the necessary train station.  cab over the brooklyn bridge.

monday - saw a michigan night at the knitting factory!  scott sellwood (as drunken barn dance), chris bathgate, and fred thomas, with 2 out of 3 having a birthday!  fun times & lots of michiganders. missed moore’s dylan project right down the street, though.

sunday - opt out of the bill frisell show in order to see modern dance at the joyce theater with one piece featuring a hailed dancer & with props that captured my imagination upon seeing the photo & writeup.  ended up being the wrong choice.

saturday, apr 19 - thai food with ludis in brooklyn before we went to pete’s candy store to see a coworker’s band play.  neat little bar with an old train car for a venue room. no candy, though.

before that? i can’t remember back that far…

happenings in my world lately?  mostly working longish hours, but also caught a few shows and fine meals, and did a bit of new york touring, finally making it out to coney island / brighton beach.

the journey wasn’t as easy as i’d heard since that particular saturday the train track was under construction and they made everyone transfer to shuttle buses! and then back on the train. but it was a beautiful spring day to walk along the atlantic shore & boardwalk.

also ventured around manhattan’s south seaport and a part of chinatown i’d never been to, more southeast from the well-known section.

back to the city living, saw the boredoms, now with a 7 neck guitar totem thing. they wouldn’t let us bring cameras into the show, so no pics. crossing the street to the venue, ran into greg b. from detroit, to my great surprise. things are going well at the new venue he books, crofoot.  he has excellent music taste; i’m glad he now has a multiroom venue -with a good sound system- to play with.

saw aged post-cult (literally; father yod’s clan from the 70s) psych jam band ya ho wa

at the knitting factory, with nnck and some band by the jackie o mf guy. nnck was more sparse & improvisational than i’d expected and the other band’s set was bad. ya ho wa was jamming away [clip here of the highlight tune] but since i wasn’t.. stoned let’s just say it wasn’t doing it for me. but really, i just went to see wade who was in town because he did their tshirts.

then (drumroll, please) wednesday, i went to midtown to see robyn hitchcock and nick lowe each play a solo set.

  hitchcock’s set was rough around the edges until the last few songs, and included extensive tuning between every number. but the self-described “nick lowe’s younger, psychedelic brother” gave forth much of the absurd, spontaneous storytelling i’d hoped for - he was hilarious. although the two literal-minded new yorker guys next to me didn’t think so.. they couldn’t figure out this strain of humor.

nick lowe came out and after a couple tunes explained to us that he had a throat virus and would be hitting some ’revolutionary notes’ that night, but his voice sounded great - so rich and resonant these days, and the revolution never came. and, in honor of the recent reissue of ‘jesus of cool,’ he did a -lot- of older material to my great joy! (when i saw him in oct in mpls, he mostly stuck to songs off the last 3 albs).  so wonderful.

at the end of lowe’s set, hitchcock came out and they played a couple tunes together, including a cover of a pre-beatles rockin’ song, ‘hungry for love.’ (listen to the live clip here)

at the back of the room, and knowing there’d be an encore, i decided to slip out the door when the applause started and hit the merch table before the post-show rush, figuring i’d be done & back in the room by the time the music actually started back up.  the seller wasn’t behind the table but stopped & asked if i wanted to buy something. i said yeah, and was pointing out what, when he blurted out, you -do- know elvis costello just took the stage, right??  i froze for a second, then we both dashed into the room.  costello & lowe onstage together -  i was thrilled as i’ve never seen costello before & couldn’t imagine a more perfect person to see him with.  they (mostly elvis) did ‘indoor fireworks’  (click here to hear & see 3 blurry clips of this performance!)

 then robyn came out to join them. 3 brits on stage, so they had to cover the beatles: ‘if i fell in love with you’ (& that’s another clip link back there, too):

and then for some reason they covered ‘mystery train’ with hitchcock doing most of the singing, and all 3 strumming as fast as they could.

rather slapdash but a real new york moment with that guest cameo!  jazzed up afterwards, laura & marty & i took a cab down to the west village blue ribbon bakery for a midnight dinner and had the best pinot noir, roasted garlic, cheese plate, and many other edibles.

on food.. currently enjoying a slice from galactic pizza, an endearing mpls upstart using local ingredients, hemp, and electric car & bike deliveries by staff dressed in homemade superhero outfits. (1 once chased & caught a pursesnatcher so the shiny tights & capes ain’t just for show!)  i’m so glad they’ve survived a few years of being in business now. started by a twenty-something when i first moved here, it’s one of those grassroots efforts that make the twin cities so interesting & enjoyable to live in.

speaking of idealistic food providers, saw an interesting blurb about a handful of restaurants that are pay-what-you-like – and doing fairly well!

and back to environmentally savvy businesses, former a2 homebase leopold bros brewery in ann arbor has its closing party may 3rd, featuring good music by various friends. leopold’s opened back when i was living with friends just a few blocks away in the pink house near the stadium. the brewery was on my walk home from work, so to speak, and we were its first regulars, befriending staff including todd, the awesome brewmaster and now expert distiller. we had many great times there, including new years eves… when they had to stop having awesome live concerts, todd then stocked the best jukebox around. i’m proud of and happy for him and his brother scott for expanding into new areas and making such fantastic drinks with a conscience. i wish them well in their new colorado location and with their liquor biz.  i won’t be at the farewell shindig, but good drinks & people sure will be.  (sigh)

friends darren & geoff have been recording bands in n.c. for years now and one of their projects just got reissued by zorn’s tzadik label - the asheville band ahleuchatistas. check ‘er out!

other news of people within 3 degrees:  amanda’s cousin phil is a scientist in antarctica(!) and is interviewed by the bbc here.

not anyone i know:  frogface!  fish arms!  weird billowing fish discovered in indonesia. the story here and more fish photos here (click ‘gallery’ & choose ‘ambon frogfish’). 

from a coworker raised italian catholic speaking on the ’holy week’ before easter: 
“i -hated- the stations of the cross!”
apparently, they had to make the rounds & pray (for a long time) at every station every day that week.  hardcore.

the past fortnight in ny was hyperactive, with a beautiful saturday day out & about with friends, walking the williamsburg bridge to brooklyn & pub crawling around williamsburg; met up with sadie before she heads back to beijing, and saw friendly familiar faces at the soul dance night, then sang in the morning in a private karaoke room ’til they closed at 6am.  then saw the -pogues- the night before st paddy’s day!  shane mcgowan only fell down once.  and we were far enough back that he nearly looked dashing.  he introduced every song and you couldn’t make out a garbled word he said (take a heavy irish accent and now slur it with drunkenness for 20years).
 
and that’s all just last weekend.

st patrick’s day: i didn’t make it to the massive nyc parade after all, since it would’ve required leaving work right after lunch and heading uptown. instead i just skipped out a -little- early and headed back to tom & jerry’s for the first time since an indulgent night out with andrea and matthew, the notorious head of fat possum. anyway, so i steer clear of that place because the pints of guinness are too good. but st patrick’s day, was the perfect time for a comeback.  me, laura, marty, & damon stayed ’til it became too packed to breathe and then hit the grocery store and took it back to laura’s for music & cards.  there’s something very satisfying about playing euchre in nyc after at least 6 years sans euchre. but eventually, after so many pints,  i hit a wall and it was time to head for the jersey shore.  have i mentioned how good it is to not ever have to drive? 

friday night, went to hear colin stetson for the first time in years!  a most incredible saxophonist from a2 college days who i haven’t seen since i moved from mich and he moved from san fran.  he’s now playing in arcade fire, tv on the radio, and who knows what else.  awesome.  anyway, although he now lives in montreal, he had a cd release last night in brooklyn and holy –!   solo for much of the first set but sounded like a huge band due to all his multiphonic capabilities. he doesn’t need a sampler but can play several things at once. even when he wasn’t playing the (huge) bass saxophone — that thing’s like getting blasted with a fog horn — he blew our hats off. eye poppingly good.  my my.