Man about town...

Today, we decided to do the tourist thing in a big way. For 20 euros you can get a two day pass for the tourist bus which, pretty much, takes you to everything you´d want to see in barcelona.Today we did museums. We started at the Museu Nacional d´art de Catalunya.Beautiful place. The buiding was constructed for the 1929 international exhibition and looks more like a palace than it does a museum. It was 6 euros to get in and well worth it. They happen to have the largest collection of Romanesque and Gothic religious art on the planet. Awesome. I was wishing for an audio tour in English though because I´m not as hip as I should be to Christian Iconography and Symbology. Cool collections anyway.

After we grew tired of seeing depictions of Saints being tortured in every way imaginable (dude, Santa Lucia had it rough, that´s all I´m sayin´), we decided to get on the bus and completely shift art gears and visit the Miro foundacion. Great place if you are a fan of Joan Miro, and we are, so, it was cool. I´d only ever seen two or three pieces by Miro and was floored by his prolific output and the range of media that he worked in. They have everything from textiles to sculpture to a huge amount of his paintings and sketches. It was great fun to really get a chronological understanding of his career. Also, I had a cheese sandwich. (bocadillo con queso).

Three hours in the Miro Foundacion was enough to chase us back on the bus for the remainder of the afternoon. We got prime seats on the upper deck and decided that it would be wisest for us just to stay put. So, we rode around the city until nightfall and made our way home, stopping only for a pizza. Which, by the way, was decent but for some reason the waitress hated me. I think it´s because I tried to use my lame Spanish on her and, I must confess, I don´t really understand the whole Spanish v. Catalan thing so I probably pissed her off. Have to remember to ask our hosts about that.

Tomorrow we see the Gaudy buildings. Hooray.

G´night all.

Good boy...

The Rain in Spain

O.k., so I thought I was going to put this blog on hiatus while I was gone but I´m desperately trying to stay awake in order to get my body clock adjusted to the time difference here and I thought typing would keep me concious. Lucky you.

Arrived in Spain today at 7:30 am. I slept the whole way over (thank you modern chemistry!), but Sharon was not so lucky. I see no good reason that she shouldn´t take one of my pills and nod off but she claims that one of us needs to stay awake in case there´s an emergency. Yeah, right. First off, if there´s a minor emergency, nobody is going to single us out to help. And if there´s a major emergency, well, we´re dead. Personally, I´d rather sleep through that. Anyway, bottom line is that she got zero sleep.

Which is what made her think it was a good idea to go on a cruise this afternoon. Two hours of sitting on a boat looks pretty attractive to a sleepy person and, being the indulgent boyfriend that I am, I agreed to go along with this idea. Well, what they don´t tell you at the ticket booth for this hellride is that as soon as you leave the protected harbor of the city, you will encounter five to eight foot rolling swells that will toss the tour boat around like a cork in a swimming pool full of fat kids. I kid you not people. If you´ve never been on a ride like this, I don´t reccomend it. Especially if you have jet lag. Longest 2 hours of my freakin´ life. And to add insult to injury, there´s NO scenery on this trip. It takes you around the most industrial and ugly parts of Barcelona. Bah!

Once we were back ashore though, and I had recived Sharon´s assurance that she would never, under any circumstances ask me to do that again, things started looking brighter. We walked the old part of the city for most of the afternoon and saw one of the most stunning cathedrals in the world. The craftsmanship of every single detail was mindblowing. Not to mention the scale of the thing. Huge! The only downside to this attraction was that nearly everyone, except us, was ignoring the massive signs that were posted everywhere that said "SILENCE" in about ten different languages. I mean, WTF? Even if you aren´t Catholic, it´s called "respect" people. Mostly Germans. Figures. I´m sorry to call you out Germany, but you produce the bulk of the world´s annoying tourists.Fact! Good thing too, or we´d be in first place.

Spent the rest of the day wandering alleyways and watching street performers, the best of which was a guy made up like a mime who was sitting on a toilet with his pants around his ankles pretending to take a crap. And people were giving him money for this. I´m going to try it as soon as I get back. Sounds easier than work.

Well, dear readers, I´ve done it. The clock has now struck ten and I´m going to sleep.

Buenos Noches

Yes, we voted...

Before anyone asks. We voted absentee tonight. Damned instructions on the envelope said to use a #2 pencil and the instructions on the ballot said to use a pen. Must have been designed by republicans.

Europa...

When I got out of grad school and went to work way back in 1992, I figured the window of opportunity for me to visit Europe had closed. All my friends who had been to Europe had done it fresh out of undergrad and here I was, broke and lost, entering the job market without ever having set foot on another continent. Little did I know then, that as luck would have it, I would go on to make multiple trips to Europe and see more things than I had dreamed of and make some life long friends along the way.

Ten years later, we've been lots of places. I've travelled more than anyone in my family and have been lucky enough to lead a life that is both satisfying and rich in experience. So, you'd figure that on the eve of our trip to Barcelona, I'd be excited to get back over there after a three year hiatus. But I'm not. I know, it's an asshole thing to say. Many people will never have the opportunity to see another country. I should count myself among the lucky few. And I do. It's just that I'm trying to get on with having a life in my new adopted town and shit keeps getting in my way. Not the least of which are two week trips abroad. See, I've never had a real wanderlust anyway. I'm not a homebody, but nor am I the type who can't control his urge to split town and ramble. I dig new experiences and am always glad to have them, but I'm just as happy to tinker around in my garage as I am to jet across the planet. Happier even. I think part of it has to do with the fact that in my twenties, I spent a lot of time running from myself, so travel was an excellent distraction from my real life. In my thirties I finally caught up with myself and now have no reason to run. I'm happiest where I am.

So, Sharon and I have decided that this will be our last trip over for a long while. I have always wanted to see Spain, so this seems like an excellent ending to what has been a fun ride.

This blog will be on hiatus until November 9th.

See you then kids.

Cab...

6 layers. From a pic by William Gottleib.

Bam!

Self Portrait on vinyl.

At the fair...

I love fairs. And when I heard that the state fair was coming to Raleigh this month, I knew that AJ and I were definitely going. Sharon took her little sister last week and came back complaining of the crass commercialism of it all. But, I kind of dig that in a fair. Crass is the name of the game. Fairs tend to just skirt the line between good and evil and that's what makes them so fun for me. Nowhere else can you see people preaching while riding unicycles AND the worlds biggest rat in one place!


As fairs go, I thought this one was pretty decent, although, there was an awful lot of "midway" type attractions and not nearly enough "country fair" type stuff. They had all the 4H stuff, the livestock, the amateur art show, but just not enough of it. Sharon's assesment was right on in that there were many more opportunities to spend wodges of cash than there were free things to do, and that did wear on you after awhile.


But fun was had. There were numerous hilarious WTF moments that only happen at places like the fair. The carneys are still carneys, the shell game is still firmly in place, and the battle of light and dark rages on. Go fair!

On the record...

Yep, it's my new stencil...

Not to blather on, but...

I found some more amazing stencil sites. My favorite artists, so far, are Logan Hicks and Freddie C, who's stuff is located on Workhorse Collective. Also, Stencil Revolution has some great stuff.

More of my stencils...

Picasso/Matisse and a ten year old...

I took AJ to see the Picasso/Matisse show at the North Carolina Museum of Art yesterday. The show mainly consisted of pieces collected by Etta and Claribel Cone, wealthy and adventurous sisters from Baltimore who's family made it big in the textile industry in North Carolina.

The show was decent. There were lots of studies and portrait sketches and a painting from the blue period that I wasn't familiar with. All in all though, I thought the show was far too "generally" historical in that kind of " here's Monet, here's Cezanne, here's Picasso, get it?" kind of way. I was hoping for more specifics on that particular time in Paris and what it was like to be a wealthy woman with Bohemian leanings at the time. Not to be though. Still, AJ seemed to like it which was the whole point, so, mission accomplished.

Stencil madness...

Inspired by stencil archive, I decided to do some of my own. I found this picture in a magazine from the 50s, scanned it, ramped up the contrast,

and set about cutting it out of a manila folder. The stencil held up well through the eight times that I used it today and looks like it could do about twenty more. Anybody want a t-shirt?

Street art...

Just ran across Stencil Archive for the first time. Great site based in San Francisco that showcases street art that is made with stencils. Even has a FAQ about how to be stealthy while defacing public property. Dope!

Awesome...

How
awesome is it
to be
a
Big
Brother?

Post debate...

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President: I'm beginning to believe it."
-- Clarence Darrow

If there is one thing that I came away with from the debates, it is that, simply, we are in deep sh*t. If Kerry wins, and I fervently hope that he does, he will have a hell of a quagmire to get this country out of. How many years will it take to undo all the errors of this administration? How many more sons and daughters will die as we try to extricate ourselves from Iraq? How long will it take to reduce this deficit to a manageable size? I'm not convinced he can even come close to accomplishing any of those things, but at least he seems to have a plan. Every time W opens his mouth about his policies, he appears to be simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Out of balance...

My response to the debate? I'm very very, sick of hearing them speak. so I'm going out to balance rocks. I think it's just as sensible a use of my time as worrying about the election. After the rock balancing, I'll probably ride my bike, pet the dogs and play some ukulele. I suggest you do the same.

Surprise...

Both candidates are lying bastards. If you don't already know about spinsanity.org, you should. It will just reinforce that you are not, in fact, voting for the better candidate, but rather for the lesser of two evils. In this case, the much lesser of two evils, but still.

Bright lights, big city...

O.k., so despite the drive up and back, we did have a blast in New York. On Friday, Sharon thought that I could use some calming down ( I was extremely nervous about the panel discussion on Saturday), so she took me to Coney Island and we stared at the water for awhile and then went to the aquarium where we saw walruses, otters, seals, and a great exhibit on Jellyfish. Very soothing to be with animals for awhile.

Saturday was a whirlwind of activity. In the morning we went out to score some Ukuleles for our friends Keith and Marilee, who are now completely assimilated in to the cult. Nice! Then, there was a huge photo shoot involving all generations of swing dancers from the 1920's to present. A lot of folks came out of the woodwork for the photo and it was great to see all those generations of dancers laughing and carrying on together. Problem was that it took forever and left me very little time to eat, shower and get back for the panel.

I was a wreck before the panel. I usually perform fairly well under stress, but this time I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. Luckily, six out of seven panelists turned out to be really nice guys and GREAT storytellers. Clark Terry, Benny Powell, and Albert Murray are three of the nicest guys I've run across and they made it very easy to get through fear I was feeling. So, it went off without a hitch. People seemed to like it, so, job well done.

Saturday night was a dance with 1200 people. No room to swing out, so I sat in the balcony and dug the band. Later, I went backstage and got to meet George Avakian, which was unbelievably cool.

Sunday, we went to The Strand bookshop and then proceeded to Central Park to get coffee and see some jazz. The band was great and happened to include some ukulele playing. Awesome! That night, we had a little jam session at Keith's house with Marilee and I on Ukes, Keith on Sax, and Sharon on bongos. Hilarious!

Monday, we drove, and drove and.....

Off to New York...

I should really be looking forward to this trip, but the sad truth is that I'm not. I've driven up and down the East Coast so much this year that I'm beginning to feel like a trucker. I'm sure that once I get there, I'll have a blast as usual, but, right now, I just want to hide in my house and do nothing. Travel always seems so exotic to the people that never do it and, I guess, it is. But when you do it for a living, every place starts to look the same. Your brain starts to think crazy things and you start to lose any semblance of a grounded feeling that you may have had. Can't help singing "man in a suitcase" by the Police tonight. Wonder why...

The Basie 100...

Here's the event I'll be moderating this weekend

Basie Centennial...

Having a hard time blogging this week because I'm busy studying up on Count Basie with every spare moment that I have. Why?, you may ask. Well, Because Thursday we leave for New York where I will be the moderator of an all-star panel of guests who's topic will be the Basie Band. Such Luminaries as Phil Schapp and Albert Murray, as well as members of the Basie Band will be on the panel, so, I'm nervous, to say the least. I've moderated many such panels, but never with so many big dogs and never in New York for Count Basie's 100th birthday celebration. Cross your fingers for me.