A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

My Better Half and i are trying to sell our beautiful Brooklyn manse, so once in a while we vacate the house while the real estate agent shows someone around. Last Sunday morning was one such time, so we headed out to enjoy us some Brooklyn.

Our first stop was Flatbush Farm, for brunch. The Farm has good coffee, which of course is an essential when discussing brunch; tea-drinkers can have breakfast, but a real brunch requires good coffee. I had a beef-and-hominy hash with poached eggs that was 100% delicious; i even enjoyed the Hollandaise sauce, which i usually find heavy and dull. MBH went with her Flatbush Farm go-to, Toad in a Hole, which is consistently yummy.

Next was a short stroll to Pintchik, Brooklyn's premiere hardware store, to pick up some miscellany for the house. On the way we ran into John Turturro walking down Flatbush with a little boy. He saw us notice him, and gave us a "please don't talk to me, thanks" look (different from the "please don't talk to me, i might die!" look we got from Sufjan Stevens last year).

From Pintchik we strolled over to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Takashi Murakami show. (Admission was ten bucks, which seems like a bargain in New York these days.) The Murakami show was a lot of fun, and not even obnoxiously crowded. MBH and i couldn't resist grabbing a couple Murakami plushies in the gift store.

The museum also was featuring a smaller exhibit of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, which we always enjoy. Those guys did some amazing woodcuts and a lot of the colors they used, especially the deep blues, always enthrall me.

After relaxing in front of the Brooklyn Museum's awesome fountain for a few minutes, we headed back home. On every leg of our little tour there were lots of spring flowers, especially all sorts of daffodils; eventually MBH started rolling her eyes at my enthusiasm for daffodil varieties that i hadn't noticed before. I didn't have the good sense to take my camera, so here's someone else's picture of some daffodils:

Ball and Snowman

Our friend Brian is a printmaker/publisher over on the little island. Last night was the print release for a piece Brian did with artist Todd Hebert:

Todd, it turns out, grew up in North Dakota, as did i. Brian asked whether we had lived anywhere near each other -- not really.

The Shins

Last night My Better Half and i met up with friends Abby and Josh at Empanada Mama before heading over to Terminal 5 to see the Shins. Once again Josh picked a winner on the restaurant front: we all enjoyed our deeleeshos empanadas.

Terminal 5 is (i think) a new venue in New York, a bit larger than the old ballrooms that are my favorites. The sound quality is a little sub-par, especially when it gets loud (though still much better than, say, the Middle East). The Shins put on a fun show as always. Highlights: a slow(er) version of "New Slang"; an encore cover of Pink Floyd's "Breathe".

Beach Party 1910

I've been enjoying the old-timey photo-blog "Shorpy" for a while now. They often feature photos of New York City from the early 20th century, and it's amusing to check out what's changed and what hasn't.

Here's a shot of beachgoers at Coney Island, 1910-ish.

Last Week, Redux

Wednesday: My Better Half and i flew to Los Angeles, arriving around noon. She headed to the Galerie, while i finished a day's work by the hotel pool. Later i swung by the new gallery space myself for a sneak peek at the show, and MBH and i joined Eric and Rob (the gallery's tech guy and general fixer) for dinner at Sky Bar (meh).

Thursday: Another day of work and another visit to the gallery, this time for the inaugural opening of Galerie Mourlot Los Angeles! The gallery space is very nice (and very large, compared to the New York location), including some nicely landscaped outdoor space. Keith's work looked great as usual, especially the four-panel "Double Crossing Yourself" (about half-way down this page).

The customary post-opening dinner took place next door at Il Piccolino, an Italian restaurant run by a French-speaking Belgian that serves a fantastic steak frite -- as if the restaurant were made specifically for Eric.

Friday: After more pool-side work, MBH and i hooked up with friends Ivan and Sarah for dinner at Hugo's, which Ivan had billed (correctly) as "healthy food that tastes good". Then we headed back to their place to hang out with them and Twiggy the pug, and play some games on the Wii; MBH struck me several times with the Wii controller, but i didn't take it personally.

Saturday: MBH and i met Ivan at the poured-concrete studio where he's working (and becoming a partner), making counter tops and an ever-increasing assortment of other things. (Some cool concrete vases of Ivan's were on display at Keith's opening.) It's amazing to see what all can be done with that stuff, and great to see Ivan excited about what directions the studio might go.

For lunch we met up with Sarah at one of LA's crazy shopping malls and ate in the food court, which puts most American fast food to shame. A bowl of brown rice, chicken, and vegetable curry, with vegetables that are actually fresh -- mmmmmm.

Back at Ivan & Sarah's, Ivan beat me at Scrabble (barely), while MBH and Sarah went shopping. We watched the Red Sox start winning game 2 of the ALCS... Then Ivan & Sarah went to see Morrissey's "last" performance, while MBH & I returned to our hotel to ...watch the Red Sox lose game 2. Then to bed.

Sunday: We met Ivan and Sarah for brunch at Frank's Coffee Shop, which proves that even a greasy eggs and corned-beef hash breakfast can be made healthier on the west coast without compromising deliciousness. Then they dropped us off at the airport, where we met up with Keith and Beth and flew back home.

Where it finally feels like October, thank goodness.

Blissful Unemployment, Day 6: Serrated

On Thursday the 6th i finally went to see the Richard Serra show at MoMA, first thing in the morning. Early on a weekday morning is the ideal time to visit the museum, which is great if you're unemployed. (Though not if you're broke -- $20, ouch!)

The focus of the show of course is the main gallery of gigantic steel sculptures, which are amazing. I'd seen several of Serra's sculptures in this vein at Dia Beacon and Gagosian, but it's always a pleasure to see them again and again -- especially in a museum setting, where even the teenagers who normally wear "i could do that" sneers are enthralled.

For me (and, i assume, for most of us) the materials and curves evoke naval vessels -- but i feel like these pieces can be appreciated and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere, without requiring any awareness of the history or vocabulary of contemporary art. Some of the spaces created by the works feel like temples or grottoes of steel rust.

Another gallery held a retrospective of the massive (but smaller-scale) sculptures Serra created throughout his career, largely made of big lead plates. I hadn't seen any of these in person before, but i was less enamored of them -- probably one should start here and move on to the ginormous steel pieces after.

The one piece in this section that completely blew me away was the 1967 "To Lift". I kept coming back to it on several passes through the gallery, and each time it almost made me laugh out loud at how much it packs into the pure simplicity of its presence. It really is the immediate physical evidence of a single bodily action of the artist, a raw artifact that is its own description, an object that is exactly how-it-was-made and nothing else. It melds the aesthetics of both mathematical curves and the human body and its scale in a way that i, at least, have never noticed before. It must have been an awesome thing to see in '67.

"Youngsters: Observation Changes Everything"

The opening for Keith's new show "Youngsters: Observation Changes Everything" is this Friday at Posey Baker, 7 to 9 pm. Everyone who is not there will be considered square.

Another Busy Weekend

The Ides of March was My Better Half's birthday, which we celebrated with friends Keith and Beth, Brian and Lindsay, Karin and Alex, and Abby and Josh; the fun started at Kasadela, and then we moved the party to Ben & Jerry's to sample Stephen Colbert's new ice cream, "Americone Dream". MBH brought in a good haul this year, but the winner (in my opinion) was this gigantic, crocheted eyeball made by my sister:

Friday was a quiet dinner at home.

Saturday i made MBH a birthday breakfast, featuring Eggs in the Basket (which a nearby brunch spot calls "Toad in the Hole" -- wikipedia disagrees), accompanied by one of MBH's favorite brunchy cocktails, Bellinis! Proper Bellinis, too, not some stank mix with peach schnapps.

MBH's parents came to town Saturday afternoon (with a birthday poundcake), and we went back to the little island (which i like to call Lisland) for the evening. Dinner was at Steak Frites, which was OK. (You'd think a place that called itself "Steak Frites" would build its menu around a streak frites to wow a schlub from North Dakota, but as Sharmila says, you'd waste a thought. The tuna tartare was very good, though.) Then we traipsed across Union Square to see "Be by Mayumana", a percussive/musical dance/acrobatic performance along the lines of Stomp and Blue Man Group (or so i've been told; i haven't seen either of the latter). We all had a good time and were quite impressed with the crazy stuff those dancing kids can do onstage.

Sunday afternoon we all took a short tour through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (just around the corner from our house), then MBH and i saw her folks off and went back to Manhattan to meet friends Jess and Mike. We had a nice dinner at Palacinka (a pressed sammich with merguez, goat cheese, tomato, and olive tapenade -- mmm!), then MBH and i had a drink and listened to some music at Toad Hall before heading home. We both wish Toad Hall was closer to home, but you couldn't pay us to live in Soho.

Fun With Science

Yesterday was the first Sunday in March, which means it was time for Roald Hoffmann's Entertaining Science Cabaret! The presenter was Herb Meltzer, who talked about the role he and others have played in the development of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia. (The talk was fascinating, but a bit over the heads of most attendees, i think.) Act II was The Amygdaloids, a four-piece bluesy-country-rock band that plays "Brain Rock" (originals and covers), a kind of Electric Company/Weird Al/neuroscience blend.

After the musical set, Dr. Meltzer got back on stage for a short conversation with John Nash, which sounded exciting but didn't really go anywhere -- though once freed from the iron grip of PowerPoint, Dr. Meltzer became a much more engaging speaker.

Of course, in addition to being a hot Greenwich Village performance space, the Cornelia Street Cafe also has delicious food, so four of us (My Better Half, my mom, my brother's father Todd, and i) stayed for dinner. Mmmmm, boudin blanc!

CharlElie

Last night was another opening at Galerie Mourlot, where My Better Half works. Apparently this fellow CharlElie has been a big-time music star in France since i was in short pants. Who knew? Anyhow, he now spends at least part of his time in New York and paints and sculpts and what-not.

Upon arrival the small Galerie was packed to the gills with French speakers. Not being fluent, i hung out with friends Gerard and Toni Ann and discussed whether CharlElie was the Elvis Costello, the Lou Reed, or the Jerry Garcia of France. None of us had heard his music, so we were shooting in the dark.

After the show MBH and i got to tag along to dinner with the artist and gallerist Eric Mourlot and his wife Charlotte, along with various other hangers-on. The venue was Le Bilboquet, not the kind of place we (MBH & i) typically pop into, but they do make a mean steak tartare. Here's Eric (left) and CharlElie (right):
And an awesome picture of MBH's hand:After dinner we two split a cab back to Brooklyn with Eric's architect friend Doug, visiting from Baltimore, and Doug's architect friend (and fellow Brooklynite) Edmund (Edwin?), and chatted about their kids and stuff. Once they were dropped off, the cabbie referred to our neighborhood as "the dark side of the park", which made us laugh. And, finally, bed time.

Busy Weekend

Friday:
Met up for dinner with My Better Half and friends Abby and Josh in the East Village, where MBH and i used to live for a short time. (I love Brooklyn, but i still miss the East Village. Well, until i see someone who manages to look pretentious while riding a skateboard; that can be a buzzkill.) Plan A was Momofuku Ssam Bar, which turned out to be a silly plan -- people were crammed in there like sardines. In light of that, Plan B, Momofuku Noodle Bar, was extra silly. (Each had recently been favorably reviewed in the Times.) Plan C worked out spectacularly, though: Kasadela, Japanese small plates and sake. One highlight was "spicy winter vegetable miso soup", a kind of rich vegetable stew with just enough spiciness to be warming on a cold night. (Thanks to Josh for plans A-C.)

Saturday:
Friends Keith and Beth fired up their go-mobile and we four motored over the bridge to see the LA Art fair. It was mostly "enh", but the fairs tend to be fun, at least for the first hour. Nice dinner (homemade for the first time in what seems like ages) with K&B and their super-lovable dog Lucy.

Sunday:
We met up again with A&J along with friend Shira, this time to see PULSE. In general we liked the work at PULSE more than at LA Art, and we stopped and chatted at Richard Levy Gallery's booth, because they're really nice and represent our friend Teo González. MBH and i picked out a Lia Halloran ink-on-vellum piece that looks something like this one.

Then teamwork happened. MBH applied Josh's Friday Plan A to current conditions and produced Plan Awesome: Momofuku Ssam for lunch! That really made me wish i was back in the East Village.

After lunch, it was back to LA Art; MBH had decided to pull the trigger on a new Kahn & Selesnick photograph we had seen the day before. Like models of art-procurement efficiency we had it wrapped, out the door, and in a taxi before i could grumble about the price.

And then K&B&L were back, this time to watch a DVD: Gotham Fish Tales, which MBH had picked up in a jewelry store in the East Village. Highly recommended if you like fishing, New York City, or quirky little documentaries about interesting people.

Three trips to the little island in one weekend: that's a lot for me these days! (MBH is there all the time now since she got a job over there.)

We Went To The Opera...

...and it was OK.

Last night My Better Half and i saw La Traviata at the Met; it was the first time either of us had seen a complete opera performed in an actual opera house. Unfortunately, i have to disappoint various people who seem to think it's my responsibility to get into opera. Orchestral music doesn't do much for me, i prefer my stage dialogue spoken (preferably in a language i understand), and the much-vaunted emotional content of the work is pretty much lost on me through the stilted form. Clearly there are enough people who feel differently to pack the house, and it seems a shame for me to take one of their seats.

In fact, i was getting pretty bored during the first half. But then we got to Flora's crazy party, and things really picked up -- some dance, some humor, and a lot of spectacle. Maybe we should pick something a little livelier to see next time; MBH really enjoyed the whole show, so i'm sure we'll be back from time to time even if i'm not cut out to be a regular opera-goer.