Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
March 31, 2023
art, museum art, art museum, dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA 1 Comment
Who even knew that Dallas had a world class art collection? I mean, I should have known since all that oil money has been sloshing around since the ’70s. An unexpected stay in the city (stranded much)?) had a silver lining. Here is some of what I saw at the DMA.
If you get stranded in Dallas, make sure to visit.
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Detail first..
Whole work is amazing.
Sure, clams. Mmm hmm.
March 9, 2023
art, photography art, art museum, chagall, kandinsky, kreeger, mondrian, monet, museum, romey, sculpture, washington, washington dc Leave a comment
On a windy but very clear crisp Spring day, we visited the Kreeger—a small but excellent collection in an interesting architectural space. Chagall, Monet, Picasso, Kandinsky (though the wrong periods), and some very interesting Mondrian are among the finds. What a stunning place to have lived. Must be nice to be an insurance plutocrat!
Ghost Romey in the jungle.
Romey’s favorite, this Picasso woman.
The architecture is 1960’s modern, but still very tasteful and beautiful.
The light on Piet.
Outside was chilly but likewise very well structured.
A series of “wrong” Kandinsky. Late and early, but no just right. Where is Goldilocks when you need her?
This gallery has the feeling of a japanese dojo.
The wind was perfect.
Still.
Motion.
The Kreeger efinitely well worth a visit.
February 15, 2023
photography, who knows frame job, natural mane, new door, romey, salon, the natural mane, winchester star Leave a comment
As a brief addendum to Romey Buys a Building, describing The Natural Mane salon (now a town institution) at 29 West Main, we offer this posting.
Romey secured a grant from the town to beautify her building as part of the main street COVID funding. The grant covered a new door, stonework pointing, flashing update, and fixing A/C drainage. While the work was being completed, the Winchester Star snapped this picture and put it in the paper.
You can book an appointment online here.
February 6, 2023
music, travel ao arena, concert, england, florence, florence and the machine, free, heaven is here, lisa, live music, manchester, morning elvis, my love, never let me go, noel, romey, shake it out, ship to wreck, uk, you've got the love 2 Comments
There is a back story of sorts. Way back in the summer of 2022 in Virginia, we decided it would be fun to see Roxy Music and also Florence and the Machine when we could. Happily, we managed to do both, but only with some doing.
The plan for the Florence show was to get to the UK on business in November, skip American “dead turkey day,” meet up with our best British friends, and catch the show in Manchester. But somehow Florence broke her foot in London (while we were there) the day before the Manchester show.
We vowed to return.
Here are some bits from the show, an emotional powerhouse led by a charismatic master of the stage. What a show.
The AO arena is a great place to see a show, mostly because the crowd is fantastic. But the best reason to see a show there is because Noelie and Lisa are excellent hosts and are really fun to hang out with.
The crowd gathers.
We don’t even remember who the opener was.
Then, it was showtime!
Heaven is Here was the first song of the night. Florence had shoes on.
Ship to Wreck
Free
Dog Days Are Over. This is my favorite Florence song, and I was psyched it made the setlist. The fucking phone diatribe was captured in bits. Here it is in all its glory.
Of course the real Florence fan (and the reason we were all here) is Romey. She knew all the words to all the songs and had a huge smile on her face.
Romey dances.
Morning Elvis
My Love
You’ve Got the Love is Romey’s favorite Florence song. She was super psyched that it made the setlist.
The encore song Never Let Me Go had 20,000 people singing along.
Never Let Me Go, performed for the first time in a decade.
Shake it Out
January 30, 2023
music Allen Kitselman, bitter liberals, blue wing frog, clark hansbarger, front royal, gary mcgraw, original music Leave a comment
Somehow COVID put a mega-hurt on the Bitter Liberals. We stopped playing shows for all of the obvious reasons, and eventually we also stopped practicing together. For whatever reason, we haven’t managed to restart yet.
Clark to the rescue!
Bitter Liberal Clark Hansbarger is one of two master songwriters in the band. As you may know, all of our songs have stories behind them. Read about some of Clark’s excellent songs here.
We played a gig at the Blue Wing Frog, a restaurant in Front Royal that has been hosting a songwriters series of small shows. Clark agreed to play a show, and Allen Kitselman and I sat it as side men. It was magical playing this music again.
We brought our own sound system and lit the place up with crystal clear sound. The venue was sold to capacity (around 50 people came on a very rainy evening). The crowd listened intently.
Clark opened the first set with 6 or 7 songs performed solo.
Eventually Allen and I joined in.
It was a rewarding and magical evening. Thanks to all who came.
January 30, 2023
music aimee curl, barns of rose hill, berryville, BORH, danny knicely, fiddlin' dave, furnace mountain, Furnace Mountain Band, live music, morgan morisson, music, photography, video Leave a comment
One of the great bands from this area, Furnace Mountain counts the Barns of Rose Hill as its home venue. They consistently sell out their shows at the barns, and for good reason. Here are some pictures and videos from the Dave’s Birthday Bash show.
A superb song like Suzanne showcases the band’s high level of talent.
Of course there is classic old timey music to play as well.
There were some non-standard parts of this show, it being a birthday bash and all.
Doritos were served, but only to select teenagers.
As the show happened on the Lunar New Year’s Day (welcome to the year of the rabbit), a Chinese folk song or two were offered from the stage. Normally, the band sticks to Americana.
Danny plays a mean mando. Of course he plays everything else too.
The medley.
A crowd favorite and one of the band’s best songs, Bluebell.
So next time Furnace Mountain plays, get your tickets early.
January 28, 2023
art art museum, modern art, MoMA, new york, NY, nyc 1 Comment
We were just here in April (thanks to Bill and Lisa). Things are just about the same, except there is now an ML exhibit curated by an algorithm. Interesting. Here’s what we saw.
We’ll have to come back to see the ML thing properly as we have an actual ML security event to host.
Helicopter from the sky.
Not Kandinsky
Rothko.
This picture does not do this picture justice.
8-finity
Look up!
American pop euphoria air force.
Ah, Vincent
Kandinsky.
Chagall, sorry Romey, “The Birthday” is still out on loan.
Trapped in paint
Is Piet infinity?
Rumors of surveillance capitalism.
Latino shines through.
About that surveillance capitalism.
Helicopter from the floor, and a sense of closure.
January 12, 2023
museum, music, photography art, art museum, charles arthur, gem, guitars, richmond, RVA, stephen mccarthy, video, VMFA Leave a comment
The Strings exhibit at VMFA is devoted to the guitar. If you like guitars, guitar history, and historical curation you need to see this. We’ll ignore the fact that the most important strings are usually on a violin for now (LOL).
Romey and I learned about this exhibit by watching a video shot to promote and expand on the show with some live music featuring my friend Charles. Both Stephen and Charles are way better guitar players than I will ever be! Check out their session here.
Here are some pictures and commentary about the exhibit.
Charles as guitar.
In one of the rooms, there were a couple of guitars. So we just had to play them. They were squishy and hard to play.
The master goofs off.
Proof that I should stick to the violin.
Bill got into the act too.
Guitar versus violin. What turns you into a geezer faster? Guitar of course!
The dog is named Fay Ray. We knew another one of those once.
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Fond memories of a session? Charles in front of the recording studio.
The world’s smallest guitar.
January 10, 2023
art, dance, music cd release, JOBIE, live music, richmond, RVA Leave a comment
Tonite Only
JOBIE!
The Southside Lounge is a private juke joint situated at a non-disclosed location just south of Richmond, Virginia. And it’s a damn fun place to play a gig.
My good friend Charles Arthur’s daughter performs as JOBIE mostly in Boston. Her first CD “grendel” is available on Spotify. It’s excellent work. The show was a CD drop party in Richmond where JOBIE grew up.
First comes sound check. (I played fiddle on one song.)
This was Romey’s birthday gig present to me. Here’s the birthday girl herself. All we need is…LOVE.
And then come the people. The place was packed with an engaged, raucous crowd.
Family gathering on the stage.
Behind the scenes from the green room.
The star of the show, herself.
Mandolin.
Cello
Drums
Here we go.
Irish Goodbye included some fiddle and pole dancing
Loudoun and Romey had a great evening.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
January 10, 2023
farm, horse cleanup, farm, Spring cleaning Leave a comment
Unseasonably warm weather brings out Spring behavior. Chicken palace? Clean. Horses stalls? Clean. Goat enclosure? Picked up. Baryard? Clean.
