Fanelli's discovered, again.

My son recently discovered Fanelli's - one of the few long-time Soho institutions still extant.  Gone is Food.  Gone is O.G. Dining Room.  And he asked me if  I'd ever been there. 

Studio Shot - - Telephone Poles

I love the way telephone poles and wires slice and punctuate the landscape.  I love the way light hits them and the black wires appear white.  I love their perfect illustration of perspective.

Caillebottte's Floor Scrapers at Musee D'Orsay

I took this shot of the Floor Scraper's a few years ago, visiting Musee D'Orsay with my daughter.  I am dazzled at how complete is the illusion of the shine on the floor.  No matter how close you are to the painting the illusion holds.

A visit to MOMA

Clark's Dairy Bar on Whitney Avenue In New Haven

A friend of mine from Timothy Dwight brought me to Clark's Dairy Luncheonette on Whitney Avenue in New Haven.  Clark's looked as if it had been in place, unchanged for fifty years, then.  With a great central counter that surrounded an ice-cream bar, there was no place better for a stop for ice-cream, french-fries, or coffee or better-yet, all three at the same time.  I brought my fiance there in 1977.  I brought my children there in the late 1990's and up to the present.  A perfect stop, to get away or to travel through time.  I introduced my kids to the wonderful politically incorrect songs of the great Hoagy Carmichael visiting there one day.  And today we all went back.  And it is as it was no longer.  The space is smaller.  The green stools are gone. The menu is expanded.  We sat and mourned the passing of the Clarks that once was and we had coffee and french-fries and milk-shakes.  And I was very glad I had taken the pictures I had of the great green stools that once were there.

Thursday Afternoon at MOMA

Went to the Museum of Modern Art yesterday.  A few things going on: 1) I can hardly find the old museum inside the new museum, except for the old staircase with the Calder mobile hanging over it, 2) The Abstract Expressionist Show - from the permanent collection - great to see old friends, 3) Picasso Guitar Drawings: Incredible to be 'there' at the moment cubism exploded the pictoral plain.  Incredible show. Damn, that man could paint faux wood!  4) Women photographer show - - great survey, 5) Gordon Matta Clark - - three panels extracted from a building - - Gotta love it.

Who thought this was a good idea?

I don't know what the hell we are doing in Libya.  Quadafi is yet another despot we have supported through our insatiable thirst for oil.  The people revolt, but have no means or capability to organize themselves.  And so we bomb the hell out of the place - - since our allies seem to want us in the lead.  And now what do we do....and what do the allies do?  Isn't it time we 1) stop waging war, 2) start educating our young people to compete in the global economy, 3) drive insanely toward energy independence, 4) rebuild the roads, 5) rebuild the rail-roads, 6) create real manufacturing capability in the United States........

Sunday Afternoon at the Wadsworth Atheneum

I went to the Wadsworth Atheneum over the weekend for the first time.  It is larger on the inside than it is on the outside.  This is magic.  The Monet exhibit has about 8 paintings from American Museums which are breath-taking.  There are two enormous sSol LeWitt drawings in two separate lobbies.  And a great little Jackson Pollack. And a Thomas Eakins. So, if you can't get to the Orangerie, go.

Japan, past and future

He's in Ireland now. His roots are there. May the road rise to meet you...

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

The Yankee Doodle Coffee and Sandwich Shop

The Yankee Doodle is no more, I think.  If I had had time and money I would have saved it.  I never went much in college days for lack of funds and intimidated by its single row of stools.  But Ben and I and then Ben, Emma, Clara and I braved it and there was nothing better than the crowd, the closeness, the hustle, and the well, the food was just right.

1985 drawing of New York circa 1896

From Maiden Lane

This drawing is about 25 years old with a glimpse into the Nineteenth Century.  The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883 and the Williamsburg Bridge was opened in 1896.   

18th Street between 5th and 6th

The loft was on the 14th floor of 126 Fifth Avenue.  The three large windows at one end of the loft faced North with a clear view of the Empire State Building, roughly a mile and a quarter away.  Looking  down into the buildings immediately across 18th street, not much changed day to day. Week to Week. Year to Year.  Except the men's suit factories were replaced with Architectural firms and Advertising Agencies.  And the Architectural firms and Ad Agencies were replaced by dotcom startups.  And then they went bust.  And I don't know who's there now.

The time travelers coffee

In 1976, Jay C Butterworth and I rented an apartment at the corner of Thompson and Prince Streets in New York.  The Borgia cafe was in the building next door. Yesterday, I took the subway from Fulton Street to Brooklyn Bridge and changed for the local.  I got off at Spring Street and made my way up to Thompson and Prince Streets.  I went to the Borgia Cafe.  I sat in the corner, happy to be out of the cold, and had a Capucino.  Marie joined me and we drank our coffees.

Tonight I climbed the stairs to Peggy Spina's loft again

Twenty something years ago in New York, once a week, we would climb the 32 step flight up to Peggy Spina's loft.  Peggy is a choreographer and dancer, tap dancer.  My wife agreed to teach singing to Peggy's daughter in exchange  for tap-dancing lessons weekly tap dancing lessons. For her and for me.  I refused to buy tap dancing shoes so I put taps on an old pair of oxfords, pinpoints and all.  I would come from work, suit and tie, and change in to blue-jeans and recycled tap-shoes and we would attempt to teach me to tap.  My wife progressed quickly.  I did not. Tonight, Peggy had a reunion concert.  A jazz quartet played fantastically while Peggy's dancers put on an amazing show.  So tonight, again, I climbed the 32 stairs. And it was worth it.

Last night I dreamed I went to Paris, again.

The first night Clara and I arrived in Paris, to see Paris and to see Ben, who was studying there, we walked from our hotel to Ile St Louis and had coffee at a cafe, listened to the street musicians play jazz and dixie-land-band.  It was too early for dinner, so we walked around the island and had coffee again.  Then we had dinner and walked back to the hotel through La Marais, near where Emma stayed when she went to study there.  And I wish I were there, in Paris. Often.

Able to change the course of mighty rivers

Central Avenue, Humarock MA