Posted on September 30th, 2009 in Europe | Leave A Comment
It’s been a few years since I’ve been out walking around the city at two or three in the morning. Monday night we hit the Comedy Cellar and saw a few comedians. Dave Atell was very funny, he was the main gig. We seem to find ourselves out late here every night!
We were bumming around the lower east side and stopped in the Pink Pony for a Mocha and a Peanut Butter/Banana sandwich – it was wonderful.
We traveled to Midtown to Red Rocket Tattoo and I got inked. I choose Betty Rose at Red Rocket because she’s a Heeb, a woman and from Brooklyn. Those were important reasons for me. I wanted to start my piece here in New York City, and over the next year, or so, finish it in different places around the world (mostly Europe).
We saw, “HAIR” last night. We had front row seats at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and the show was unreal. The cast messed with me a little bit - the performance was very “interactive”. There was full nudity and marijuana smoking (I’m not kidding) – some of the older audience members were visibly uncomfortable. I got a kick out of watching them, considering the storyline of HAIR.
Anything above 28th Street, for me, is somewhat undesirable. Times Square is a joke and disturbing to me. However, we couldn’t avoid the tourist trap today and went to the AMC Empire 25 theaters near Times Square. There were floor after floor of theaters (going up). We saw, “Inglorious Basterds” in theater 21. We really enjoyed the film. It’s a great, “what if” kind of flick.
We had dinner at Umbertos Clam House (my third time – always a winner), in the heart of Little Italy - it was super-delish! I was looking forward to taking Jeanne there (Summer had been there before). I won’t lie, we drank two bottles of fine Italian wine and consumed some unbelievably good seafood.
Tonight, we took a train to Battery Park and sat at the tip of Manhattan and stared at the Statue of Liberty. After we were finished staring at the Lady, we stopped in at the 55 Bar and listened to some live Jazz.
We’re back at the apartment now, and ready to do it again tomorrow!
The Pink Pony – Lower East Side – Ludlow Street, NYC.
Summer’s Converse, Jean’s shoe and these cool table bases all over in the cafes and clubs in NYC.
The Pink Pony – Summer through the looking glass.
The Pink Pony Crew!
Quinn in excruciating pain administered by Betty Rose at Red Rocket Tattoo in Mid-Town.
Posted on September 27th, 2009 in Family, New York City, travel | 1 Comment
New York always fascinates me. The energy, the crowds; I have a “love-hate” relationship with it (mostly love). Every time I visit, I ask myself if I could live here. A lot of me says, “yes” and the rest rest of me says, “Not a chance.”
New York is "on” all of the time. It’s like an exasperating friend – the energy is palpable and exhausting. We were out until 3AM last night (Rocky Horror Picture Show). Coming back to the apartment on the train/subway, you could see the city that never sleeps in all of its glory. Do you want a Falafel at 3AM? A beer? A glass of wine? A movie? Do you want to see people dancing on the train? Playing music? What ever you want, you can get here at any time.
We’ve been hanging out with David, Caron and Issac the last few days here. It’s been a lot of fun. We’ve seen a lot; Sally Mann show, WTC chaos, Times Square, Katz’s Deli, etc. etc. My favorite has been this little neighborhood in the West Village. We have an apartment here and the flavor of the place is very nice. There’s this coffee house called “Jack’s Coffee” just 50 meters from our apartment – I love it. These are the things that interest me the most.
Jean and Quinn in Jack’s Coffee drinking Honey Macchiatos!
Shade Grown for sure!
Quinn and Caron - “Sally Mann, Sally Mann!”
Posted on September 19th, 2009 in Art & Theory, Collodion Images, Europe, Family, Wet Plate Collodion Instructional Videos, nazis, politics | Leave A Comment
I have a couple of really important goals that I want to accomplish in the next few months. One of them is to make work for my project, exhibition and book.
I thought I would get creative with my time and my commitments. We are leaving Thursday for ten days and wanted to post the October Video Podcast on Chemical Pictures before we left. I also had an image in mind that I’ve wanted to make for a few weeks. I thought, why not make a few plates, create an image for my project and cover the podcast, too? So that’s what I did today.
These image are about numbers, labeling, skulls & sockets, history, evilness, genetics and otherness. I distressed plate #3 a little bit. I varnished it shortly after making this copy and it cleaned up quite a bit - I was a little disappointed about that but I still like the image. I look so different in each image, it trips me out a wee bit.
It took four plates to get two that I really like.
Self Portrait #3 With Y-DNA Sequence Backwards (written by hand)
September 19, 2009 Viernheim, Germany - 8×10 Alumitype
Self Portrait #1 With Y-DNA Sequence Forward (not handwritten)
September 19, 2009 Viernheim, Germany - 8×10 Alumitype
