MOMA Dearest

The wife and I had to be in San Francisco this past Saturday, so we left a bit early for our evening appointment and made a trip to SFMoma with the intention of seeing the Mexico as Muse: Tina Modotti and Edward Weston photography exhibit. It by itself was worth the trip. I was familiar with most of the Weston pieces displayed, but much of the Modotti photographs were new to me. She lacks the formalism of Weston, but in her images of street scenes in Mexico she makes wonderful use of the frame.

Also showing is the ongoing exhibition, Matisse and Beyond: The Painting and Sculpture Collection, which is a survey course in modern art, from the aforementioned Matisse to Picasso, Miro, Duchamp to Rauschenberg.

Apple to the Core

Photos from Apple Hill.

Located in the Sierra Foothills, along Highway 50, just outside of Placerville, Apple Hill is a great day trip. Driving through farms and orchards you can sample apple pastries, fresh apples of many varieties picked yourself or from the farm, visit pumpkin patches, and view great fall color (at least for California).

We were a bit early last weekend for the fall color, which should peak in a few weeks, but there were some lovely splashes of orange and gold to be found.







And there never was an apple, in Adam's opinion, that wasn't worth the trouble you got into for eating it.
~Neil Gaiman

Psychedelically Speaking

Today is my birthday. 48.

As a gift to you I tracked this down on YouTube. I posted the lyrics to this once before, and it has been one of the most googled postings on this site.

The great Dick Shawn doing Love Power from The Producers. This is the bit that didn't make it into the musical version. Too dated.



"That's our Hitler"

Hey hey, my my, rock and roll will never die

James Wolcott writes a eulogy for the now defunct CBGBs.

As a west coaster, I never went to CBGBs, but I had my own chapter of punk history and this quote from Wolcott struck a (power) chord. "I tended to hang at the back, taking the wide view, but for the second set I'd stand nearer the stage, not wanting to miss a thing. I think I'd knew even then that I'd never be that close to anything that phenomenal again, and that nothing else the night had to offer could compare."

In college, I went to Winterland to see the final Sex Pistols concert. At the time we had no idea that the band was in the middle of a melt down. We made the trek once again from Berkeley to San Francisco to see Elvis Costello's first US tour, back when he was angry.

After leaving Berkeley I lived in LA where there was a thriving punk scene in bars that were once Chinese restaurants, like Madame Wong's and the Hong Kong Cafe. We saw X and Fear and a ton of other local bands whose names are lost in memory. And to once again quote from Wolcott, "I think I'd knew even then that I'd never be that close to anything that phenomenal again."

Over Six Served

Heh!

MC Escher - that’s my favorite MC

White and Nerdy



This hits way too close to home.

When the going gets weird...

Via the Onion AV Club, Ralph Steadman, illustrator and Hunter S. Thompson collaborator has a memoir out, The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories—Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson And Me. The folks at the AV Club give it only a C+, but as a long time fan of both Thompson and Steadman, I think it will be a must read.

And I notice there is also a foreward by Kurt Vonnegut. That alone should up it to a B- at least. Buy it here.

Crossroads

Via Kevin Drum, 60 Minutes reports on names not to have. Common names that have found their way on to the terrorist watchlist. "Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson are some of those names."

I don't know why Gary and John made the list, but Robert is obvious. The man sold his soul to the devil.

And for those of you unfamiliar with the tale of Robert Johnson heading down to Rosedale and meeting old man Scratch at the crossroads, here is an interesting version of the story.