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.
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 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
An important new year’s resolution for me this year is to play more music. We started things right with a session on January 2nd. Rhine came into town for a day. Clark popped by for some music. Our best audience was lulled to sleep.
Playing in the living room.
We had some Scot Toddy’s in Romey’s xmas cups and kept the bar open late.
This year we rang in the New Year with delicious food and an intimate two person party.
Nine hour Burgundy Mushrooms are absolutely delicious! But they do really take nine hours. Six hours of simmering with a lid on and three more with the lid off. The new Mauviel christmas pot (my best present by far) was perfect for the job.
We also roasted a chicken and veggies in the new pink pot using one of Romey’s recipes. Likewise delicious.
This was “first dinner.” The coup de grace was still to come.
Mr Skaggs paid a visit while the cooking proceeded and we had a couple of Seelbach cocktails (take care of the time warp!). We’re pretty sure that’s why we accidentally fell asleep before midnight. LOL.
This was a fancy pants Seelbach iteration with veuve clicquot champagne and blanton’s bourbon. Absolutely fantastic.
And then it was time to cook up blinis for the caviar. We went to the “gold plated groceries” store for the fixins. Crème fraîche for the win. So delicious.
Incidentally, these were fried to perfection in another new pan.
This special meal called for a vintage bottle of pink veuve clicqot.
We attempted to watch Fight Club (which I had never seen) , but we fell asleep just before the end (and just before midnight). We blame the Seelbachs.
The leftover champagne and blinis made a great first breakfast of 2023.
The adult kids were in town from their far flung new homes (Josie in Berlin and Eli in Indiana), xmas music was on constant rotation in the living room, we had a surprise visit from a four year old, petisa was baked, a beast was roasted, the Sydney opera house was constructed, and the christmooses showed up in IU Cogsci gear. Warm and cozy and Christmas-y.
The xmas eve eve bar spread. Beer cheese for the win!
A little mouse visited on xmas eve and kept us up all night. Romey reads the Moomin book as all the animals listen in.
Petisa goes best with veuve clicquot.
Christmas morning before the deluge.
One very excited granddaughter. She graciously jumped up and down after opening each present.
Eli (the resident artist at my house) and I went to the brand new Rubell Museum in DC on the solstice. It was excellent: well curated, beautifully displayed, provocative, and socially relevant. Go visit for yourself.
The sexual revolution will be YouTubed
Over the Rainbow
Goat in a pot. This one is hilarious and very surprizing.
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