Hi Ann Arbor

 

Though I was only in Ann Arbor for a scant two and a half days I tried to see as many people and go to as many of my favorite places as possible.  In addition to hanging out with Larry and singing with Kristin, I also caught up with Kelly and Puffer; made a trip to Briarwood to visit Nicole, Darcia and Jessica; hung out with Emily, the twins and the new baby; and even crashed a night at Brian's!

During the day time I was able to have lunch with my dear friend Phyllis at Totoro Sushi (another must eat when in A2), after which we headed down the street to the University of Michigan Museum of Art.  Some of you might remember her from our trip to the Purple Rose theater several years ago… we just can't help but be classy when we're together!

 

Outside with Marc di Suvero's Orion … WHERE IS YOUR BELT!?!

 

Getting' all Indian style up in Suvero's Shang

 

Other requisites to cross off the list were of course… a meal at Zingerman's and a film at the Michigan:

 

I just can't quit you!

 

The next morning I had an early bus to Chicago but, as is the custom whenever I leave Ann Arbor, I had to have breakfast with Kristin one last time!  This time I got to meet the newest addition to the Eder family AND have doughnuts at Washtenaw Dairy… not a bad farewell!

It's a bit of a hodge-podge of a post, but that's basically how my trip to Ann Arbor went.  Next up: CHICAGO!

 

Artist: Marissa Rinehart / Album: Longing Vines

Detroit City

 

After our second round of performances I had a bit of free time from any Blue Lake obligations and decided to take a bit of a working vacation, first hitting up Ann Arbor to perform the baritone solo in Maurice Durufle's Requiem and then heading to Chicago (much more on both of those later).

The travel aspect of the trip was a bit … circuitous.  Josh and Leah took me from camp to Grand Rapids, where I then hopped on the MegaBus to Detroit and then grabbed the Amtrak to Ann Arbor.  Before heading out, though, I made sure to get my go-to road trip snack and tweeted away:

 

The fact that Combo's Twitter account responded says a lot about my life… both the good and the bad :-/

 

I was surprised to find out the bus made a stop at Wayne State University in addition to the Rosa Parks Transit Center further downtown and took the opportunity (and two hour layover until my train left) to step across the street and visit the Detroit Institute of Arts.  Any chance I had to visit this place when I lived in Ann Arbor was quickly taken and it remains to this day one of my favorite museums, so it was a tad bittersweet that I only had a scant hour to go through.

One of the grandest pieces in the collection is Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry mural.  Comprised of 27 individual panels, the work was commissioned by the D.I.A. and Edsel Ford to depict industry at the Ford Motor Company and was considered by the artist to be his most successful work.

 

   

Get it, lil' Marxist!

 

Other favorites include…

     Nancy Graves: "Variability of Similar Forms"               Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: "Genius of the Dance" 

   

          The leg bone's connected to the… wait, huh?                   Alright Mr. Sassypants with yo' tambourine!

 

Mark Rothko: "Orange, Brown"

Always nice to be reminded a bit of my back yard

 

William Kentridge: "What Will Come"

 

This video installation is based on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, when African civilians were gassed—a fact not acknowledged by the Italian government until 1995.  Just as the truth about the invasion remained uncertain for years, the distorted animation projected on the table becomes clear only when seen in a different way: it resolves on the reflective cylinder.

io9 recently had an article all about the history of anamorphic illusions (as seen above) … check it out if you've got the time!

 

There were also two special exhibits going on, the first of which I was able to see and the latter closed up a little early for the day.

 

 

An hour wasn't nearly enough time to spend but I had a train train train to catch to Ann Arbor.  Waiting at the station wasn't so horrible 'cause it was a beautiful day out!

 

 

Much much more from the trip later!

 

Artist: Tom Jones / Album: The Complete Tom Jones

Summer Me, Winter Me

 

Tonight my friend Paul is giving his master’s recital at the University of Houston and I figured this was as good a time as any to share some more pictures from our day around the city last Friday!  In addition to never having been to the Rothko or Byzantine Fresco chapels, one of the places I have wanted to go since moving here is the Menil collection—lucky for us it’s across the park from the chapels.

Paul is FINALLY making an appearance despite the fact I’ve mentioned him several several times previously.  Light is literally streaming down from the heavens in that pic.

 

The Menil collection with a pretty pretty pink tree.  That’s GOD’S ART!

 

One of the special exhibits in the museum had to do with some arctic theme or something.  To tell you the truth I didn’t really read the explanation but was sold on the concept when upon arriving we were told we had to wear cloth footies so as not to dirty up the pristine environment.

We could totally steal something and they’d never be able to match up our foot prints!

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!

 

Artist: Barbra Streisand/ Album: The Way We Were

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

 

Now, if you frequent the blog with any sense of regularity you probably know that I am a pretty big TV/Film fan, so when I saw Netflix was offering one free month (as opposed to the week that I was used to seeing) I immediately pounced on the offer.  I had perused their archives before when at Matt and Joanie’s and was overwhelmed with the number of documentaries they offered, with one in particular catching my eye.

Were I to see this in Toledo, OH they probably would have just called it Europa.  My friend Jamison played for Toledo Opera when they did a production of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucrecia and fearing low ticket sales due to, you know, the word “rape” in the title they decided to change it to simply Lucrecia.  I’m pretty sure I also remember hearing that the Britten society got (rightfully so) really upset about it. 

 

I vaguely remember seeing a preview for The Rape of Europa before it came out years ago and then kinda forgot about it, but with instant view I was able to watch it immediately! I’d love to blather on about how fascinating it is, but just watch the trailer instead:

 

The film begins with a discussion of Hitler’s original desire to become a painter and how his rejection from art school was utterly devastating to him.  Interestingly enough, I have actually seen a Hitler painting; while living in Waco I went to see one of his still life’s on display at the Red Men Museum.  Looks like Jack Donaghy was wrong in this week’s episode of 30 Rock!

 

Artist: Elton John/ Album: Honky Chateau

The Gallery

Now, many of you know I love a good art museum; it’s generally top on the list of sites to see in a foreign city and I have been fortunate enough to visit many of the greats both here and abroad.  So what better way to spend the afternoon than by visiting America’s flagship, the National Gallery of Art.  (Once again, I’ll do my very best to truncate the number of pictures I post… otherwise I’d just end up submitting the entire collection!)

“The Old Violin” by William Michael Harnett.  This has been one of my favorite paintings ever since I was very very young and saw it for the first time with my mom when we visited D.C. years ago.  There’s even a large print of it in my apartment and I love being able to see it every day

Leonardo da Vinci’s “Sheet of Studies.” One fantastic artist and one kick ass mutant superhero

 

Modigliani’s “Portrait of a Young Yentyl”  “Chaim Soutine.”  Yup… you heard me right

Jacques-Louis David’s “Portrait of a Young Woman in White” Subtitled: the face that about 1/4 of the readers of this blog made after seeing the previous picture.  Also, this is how Lena used to glare at Mason and me after making fun of the German language. AUS FAHRT, baby!!!!

Water fountain in the connecting corridors between the east and west buildings

Stairway in the west building.

And now for the family shout out portion of this post!!

Mom (ever the southern belle):

Martin Johnson Heade’s “Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth”

Dad:

Thomas Cole’s “The Voyage of Life: Childhood,” the first in a series of four allegorical paintings representing the different stages of life as well as one of my dad’s favorite art works

Matt:

KILL IT!!! Winslow Homer’s “Right and Left.”  For the life of me I have never understood why that boatman went hunting in such rough weather.  Maybe The Real Housewives of Atlanta was on re-run that week.

Artist: Joni Mitchell/ Album: Clouds

Modern Times

 

Fair warning, you’re most likely going to be inundated with lots o’ posts over the next couple of days due to the incredible amount of museums, sites and events I am trying to pack into my mini-vacation.  I’ll try and vary them a bit so it’s not an art post after an art post, but no promises.

With the morning and large portion of the afternoon free, Mary Anne and David were kind enough to act as tour guide to some of the Smithsonian museums and the first stop on our list was the Hirshhorn Museum of Contemporary Art.  As with future posts from the other museums I will do my best to limit the pictures to those of only my favorite pieces, a process that seems almost unfair due to not only the breadth of instillations, but also because I liked so many.

I feel no remorse in including Edward Hopper’s “First Row Orchestra” at the top of the heap.  If, with a gun held  to my head, I had to choose a favorite artist, Hopper would undoubtedly be the name that would immediately pop out.  It’s certainly audacious to assume a pistol bearing miscreant would take the time to inquire about my taste in the visual arts in the midst of, you know, robbing me an all, but stranger things have happened I guess.

She is NOT in the mood for Bartok tonight

 

This next piece reminds me of a row of dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of Crockett.  I wish I had a picture of them to show a comparison but, unlike other random photo holdings I have, it’s not hiding in the bowels of my computer’s processor.  I even told Mary Anne something like: “The sad thing is that a part of me wants to call someone in Crockett, have them go to Grapeland and take a picture of them and email it so I can use it for the blog.”  Yes, folks, that’s what my life has come to these days.  Those of you in my Houston County entourage will hopefully know what I’m talking about!

Siah Armajani’s “Fibonacci House Bridge” (1986)

 

Our next piece comes from Mr. 15 Minutes of Fame himself, Andy Warhol; though, to be honest, I found it to be lacking something and took it upon myself to add the finishing touches to his piece entitled “Marilyn Monroe’s Lips.”

Even movie starts need a little help from Burt every now and then

 

I’m ashamed to say I failed to get the name of this instillation piece and it’s artist, but it’s getting awfully close to encroaching upon DOUBLE RAINBOW territory. (Watch here if you are unfamiliar with this viral video deliciousness).

IT’S SO BRIGHT AND VIVID!!!!!!!!

 

And finally, the tail end of a much longer (22 minutes, I think) video by Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck entitled “Staging Silence.”

They should TOTES get a job with the Pottery Barn design team

 

Artist: The Black Keys/ Album: Magic Potion

10,000 Times

 

For this, my 175th post, I thought I would celebrate a blog milestone: this week I some.how passed 10,000 page views.  This is both an over (and oddly enough) understatement as A.) a modicum of those are my own visits BUT B.) the numbers only go back to June for some reason, so data is missing from March, April and May.

There’s a lot more statistics I’ll share at a later date about exactly how I might have gotten that many, but today I figured I’d provide a chance for some of you to catch up on the previous 174 posts with my “Top Ten” selection—now with updates on some older ones!

 

May 4th, 2010: President Obama speaks at my graduation

Another National Anthem

     

 

June 20th, 2010: Introduction to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

Into the Woods

     

 

August 29th, 2010: Moving from Ann Arbor to Houston

If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)

  

 

October 14th, 2010: The Houston Museum of Fine Arts

Sophisticated Lady

   

 

November 20th, 2010: A collection of stairs (yup, that’s it…)

On the Steps of the Palace

  

December 5th, 2010: The John Cleary Gallery Christmas show

A Snowglobe Christmas

  

December 19th, 2010: Ultimate party crashing

The Party’s Crashing Us

   

 

January 16th, 2011: Hester’s goodbye party at Girl Talk

Shut the Club Down

   

 

February 3rd, 2011: Dead Man Walking at HGO plus after party

Woman on the Tier

  

 

February 10th, 2011: Amelie/Yann Tiersen at Fitzgerald’s

The Ballad of Booth

   

Obviously this is only a brief smattering of these last eleven months… so feel free to do a little back catalogue viewing whenever the boredom ensues.  You know, like how you felt about a third of a way into reading this post.  I love comments and/or suggestions and while you’re at it, go ahead and subscribe—I’m still at a paltry (and unlucky) thirteen.

Anyway, here’s to approximately 10,000 more!!!!

Artist: Blu Cantrell/ Album: So Blu