Squirrel and Mourning Dove

Mark Kozelek

We went to Rochester to see Mark Kozelek (of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters) on Tuesday night. I found the above clip on YouTube, but it is basically exactly what the show looked like from our vantage point, I think he was even wearing the same clothes. I don't really know his songs very well but Colette is a big fan, if you were to look at the MK play counts on her iTunes you would see some ridiculously high numbers. I like his music, but it is extremely slow and probably better enjoyed while sitting in a chair (or a hammock). I find standing in clubs for that kind of music annoying, you end up thinking about your feet.

Wake Up People, Apes Are Not Monkeys!

I get really irritated when I hear people in the media failing to make a distinction between monkeys and apes. Just a few minutes ago I heard a radio story about the effort to get Cheeta (the chimp from the Tarzan movies, who, incredibly, is still alive at 76!) a star on the Hollywood walk of fame (it only seems fair, David Spade has a star). The reporter used the terms monkey and ape interchangeably. Can you imagine a news story about a squirrel where half the time the reporter referred to the squirrel as a porcupine? That is roughly as stupid as mixing up monkeys and apes.

Check out the forks in the tree, it would actually make more sense to use ape and human interchangeably.

Ape: Does not have tail

Monkey: Does have tail

A Navy Destroyer in Union Square 1917

I visit Shorpy: The 100 Year-Old Photography Blog almost everyday, they post a wonderfully random selection of old photography (click on the image to enlarge) I find the above image amazing, it's explained on the blog this way:

New York, 1917. "Landship Recruit on Union Square." The U.S.S. Recruit, a wooden battleship erected by the Navy, served as a World War I recruiting station at Union Square from 1917 to 1920, when it "set sail" for Coney Island. This is the first in a series of photographs depicting life around and aboard the landlocked boat. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Some Installation Shots / Going Home

We arrived back in Buffalo some time after 3 am this morning. We were on the 10:55 out of JFK, but due to thunderstorms in NY and bad weather in other places we were delayed by several hours. We were not happy, by the time we took the train out to the airport we were feeling drained by a full day out in the 90 plus heat. I can't take the New York Summer heat for too long, after a couple of days my skin starts breaking out in strange rashes (for those of you who have never met me, I am very pale). It's a relief to be home and to have my show up, but also a bit weird, I am not sure what to do with myself right now. Who knows, maybe I won't be able to stop killing spiders...

Opening Night / Chelsea Hotel

The opening went well, there was a good turn out (a lot of B-lo expats), and the response to the work seemed pretty positive (of course people lie to your face when you are the artist, so who knows). Colette took the above pictures.

We have been staying at the Chelsea Hotel for the last two days in a small room with a shared bathroom, it's one of the cheapest rooms I could find in Manhattan. Fortunately the incredible history of the hotel turns the rundown condition of the room from minus into a plus. My only internet access has been in the lobby, so I have not had a chance to post as much as I would like. When I get home I have a bunch of things I want to write about the shows I have seen while in the city.

View from our window at the Chelsea Hotel

RED ALERT: OPENING TONIGHT!!!

If you are in New York this evening come to my opening:

TO KNOW THE SPIDERS

OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday, June 5th, 5-8pm

Black & White Gallery
636 West 28th St., Ground Floor
New York, NY

June 5 - July 12 / 2008

Checking in on my Socrates Pieces

There has been a lot of spontaneous plant growth in the first container.

The third container started out with the most plants and has done really well, apparently the lilac I actually flowered a couple weeks ago. I am really curious to see what it will look like 2 months from now.

This is a bit of trash that someone threw into the enclosure, it fits right in

The weather has been brutal on the shower board that covers the outside of the pieces. The caulk has cracked and let a lot of water get to the glue. There has been a lot of bowing (see above). I am going to go out there tomorrow and try to use epoxy to stick things back in place.

Misc photos

from the last 2 days