Andi and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable ladies weekend with Jennifer. Here we are chowing down on veggie dogs before Andi kicked both of our asses at foosball (she had never played before!).
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Texas Trip
The other weekend I traveled with my friend Andi to Austin, TX to visit our friend Jennifer. It was awesome. Here I am catching up on my reading at a spring fed swimming pool (as a side note I found Miranda July’s stories like reading candy, but not quiet so satisfying). I was also introduced to the wonders of Frito Pie and a city that has rivers clean enough to swim in inside city limits.
Havana Harbor 2004 in a show!
One of the things I have been working on lately is a staff exhibition at my work. It opened (to other staff members and their friends and families) at the end of May. Looking at my co-workers artwork made me realize how long it has been since I have made anything significant artwise. I’ve been busy working with other people’s work through POV, my current job and riffrag. This is fun and satisfying, as I love finding platforms for people to share what they do and make and how art plays a community building (hence why I worked on the staff show), but I also want to make things again. It was really inspiring to see the work that my co-workers make. Some of them identify as artists and others do not, but clearly everyone who works around art so often has some kind of personal connection to it. You can see the full installation shots and individual pieces on my work’s flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum.
Don’t Ruin Coney Island!
This sign was taped to plywood encircling the now empty lot where the go karts used to be. Thor Equities has purchased Astroland and plans to “make it nice,” but no one really knows what their plans are. Rumors are circulating- will the wonder wheel stay or not? What about the cyclone? What is considered a landmark? This whole looming tragedy of the disneyfication of Coney Island reminds me of a recent argument I overheard between my co-workers concerning the Ratner arena project in Downtown and Prospect Heights Brooklyn. One was insisting that he supported the project because “the city has to expand.” The other was patiently explaining that “expansion” and “development” does not mean destroying peoples homes for stadiums and parking lots and building luxury housing and no schools. Or, in the case of Coney Island, destroying what makes Brooklyn Brooklyn to turn it into a theme park version of itself.
Horse friend (carousel version)
Chris and Emily’s wedding also featured the historic Carousel at Lighthouse Point, which is a “piece of American folk art” according to their website. I have been fascinated with carousels (or really, anything to do with horses, living or carved from wood) since I was a very little girl. The reception features carousel rides which LJ, myself and the other (former) zine kids who were there enjoyed very much. Each horse had it’s own name, our favorite being “Fancy Prancy.” More photos on flickr!
Chirs and Emily’s Wedding
Last weekend LJ and I traveled to New Haven, CT for the wedding of our friends Chris and Emily. Emily makes beautiful books and zines and Chris is a musician and producer. The table setting here feature the combination of their collection genius- electronic animals! Yes, anmials fused with vacuum tubes in beautifully letterpress printed packaging. Congratulations Chris and Emily, may your relationship continue to bring you (and your friends and family) hope, inspiration and companionship for many years to come!
Family
I got really terrible news last week and while it’s not like me to be posting about things like this, my parents called me to say that Thea, the terrier I am holding in my arms in this picture from December, died an untimely death. All my life animals have been really important to me and they have taught me a lot about listening, feeling and observing. They can be patient and they are willed by their own nature. They teach respect and have made me humble, reminding me there are always things I will never know, even about those I am closest to. Maybe someone says “Oh, she was just a dog,” but in my mind, animals are souls with personalities who have roles to play in this world and we forge important relationships with them. My mom pointed out how Thea had brought so many people together, from my grandmother to friends who stopped by our house from time to time, made them laugh and made them feel good. She was an important companion to my parents and to me when I was in Maine. She will be sadly missed.
Electrelane Rock It To The Moon at Irving Plaza
First of all, I love this picture because you can see the whole band. What I love about Electrelane is that they write amazing songs which they count and play perfectly, while barely expending any obvious effort to do so. It’s as if they feel each change instintively. Mia Clarke touches her guitar and it sends off squalls of feedback. It’s hypnotizing watching each note fall perfectly into place. While I was transfixed by their Irving Plaza show, it didn’t feel quite as high every as when I saw them in Paris. They are such a confident band though, they don’t fail to rock and it’s great because when you look at them together, they do not make the kind of music one might stereotypically expect. However, perhaps one can not say that music made by a group of four ladies could have any stereotypical sound. I think the history of women making music, and especially rock and punk, shows that quite clearly. On a personal note, the lyrics to their song “To The East” resonate quite a bit lately, “If you said these words, I’d come to you, where you are, it’s too hard to be apart…”
Electrelane’s Mia Clarke Shreds
Because seeing Electrelane once is definetly not enough, I had to go catch them again at Irving Plaza last week. Here is Mia Clarke playing her guitar and amp and drummer Emma Gaze. There are way more photos on flickr and I think they turned out better than the Paris ones because I basically glued myself to the stage for the evening!
Posing on a Post-Bike
My last full day in Paris was May 1st and with a national holiday came a perfect day for a picnic. We took the RER into the 93 and walked along the Marne river until we came to this pratically empty lawn bordering an old hospital. It was the perfect place for a picnic away from the crowds and heat of the city. P. transported tons of good eats on his retirned from the post office bike, which seems like one of the more useful city bikes I have seen.
The day also included marches and rallies that were most definetly anti-Sarkozy in tone, so I would say that perhaps those are warm ups for what will and must come in the next 5 years. My condolences to France for being stuck with (as my sister said) “a little Napoleon,” I know how it feels…
For more pictures see my flickr page at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/killerfemme
Killerfemme 