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

Man in the Box

 

I'm always up for some equal opportunity birthday celebrating and as luck would have it there is another Blue Lake celebration to be had today!  More specifically, though, it's the first birthday of Giuseppe Mezzadri, the son of Danilo and Susan Ruggiero-Mezzadri (the flautist and soprano from our La Boheme production, respectively).  More specifically specifically, I was lucky enough to spend the mornings of first session here at camp babysitting this sweet lil' stinker!

Scrunch your nose!

 

As many of you wish small children are aware, sometimes it's the simplest things than can provide the most amusement.  For example…

Diaper boxes are waaaaay more fun than diaper changes

 

Don't worry, 'Seppe, you can still play with them when you grow up… as is evidenced by my former stint at Pottery Barn a couple of years ago. Though, from the looks of it you are a bit more adept at it than I was!

 

I'm pretty sure this was off the clock … ?? :-/

 

With the exception of the fact that he was teething, Giuseppe was absolutely no trouble at all.  After one of his bottles he fell asleep on top of me and I was too worried moving him would wake him and so I just let him snuggle for an hour :)

BABY ON BOARD!

 

Happy first birthday, boo! 

 

Artist: Alice in Chains / Album: Facelift

Don't Blow This Putt

 

Today is the first birthday I will have spent in the States since 2009 and there is certainly something to be said for being on your home turf.  Every other Sunday here at Blue Lake is the final day of each session, followed by a three day break for the faculty who are returning to teach the next session.  As such, many of my new found friends will be headed out directly after lunch and it wasn't exactly possible to plan some type of party.  Fear not, though… that's what Friday nights are for!

ANY chance to get away from the camp cafeteria is quickly taken and I was lucky enough to find the Hearthstone, a bistro in nearby Musekgon.  Let's just take a comparison of the two, shall we?

Blue Lake

 

 

Cheddar cheese soup with popcorn and cheese puffs (!) / pommes frites; roast beef, goat cheese, and grilled asparagus tartine

 

It really is hard to express how grateful I am for everyone who showed up… all 20 of y'all!  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the group, but someone was nice enough to get a shot of my birthday dessert.

That woman in the background was loooving the singing.  "They MUST be from that fine arts camp nearby!," she was overheard saying.

 

After dinner a group of us made our way to Putter's Creek for some good ol' fashion putt-putt golf and go-cart racing.  I'd love to offer some of the juicier quotes from the game but let's be honest… get a group of adults playing putt-putt and the evening is nothing but sexual innuendo.

One would think I was turning 12 lol 

 

  Lonel (Rodolpho): "We got a Bagger Vance up in here!" ;)

 

Strike a pose!: Tiffany (Musetta), Terrance (Marcello), Ele (our costume designer extraordinaire) and her adorable daughter.

 

Carole and Jolene: comment redacted by Standards and Practices

 

I lost by one point (and only took one McGonagall in the process)!

 

Michigan has been enduring a heat/humidity wave in the last week and ending the evening with a go-cart race seemed to be the most logical way of forcing a breeze upon ourselves, if only for five minutes.

Me, Andrew and David (our director).  From the looks of this picture it would appear I won the race!!! [Shut your mouth David, it's my birthday]

 

I am genuinely touched that so many people came out and apologize for those of you of whom I didn't get a picture.  Thanks to all y'all for a fab.u.lous celebration!!

 

Artist: Bob Baker / Album: Talking to the Ball

King of the Dairy Queen

 

When spending the 4th of July at Josh and Leah's this past week I overheard him talking to his parents about their trip to Country Dairy, a family owned processing and bottling plant nearby that produces milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy derivatives.  So naturally I piggy backed onto his family plans and invited myself along!

I shall call you "Bessie"

 

Before the official tour began it was required of us to attend Moo School, where we learned about this history of the farm, the dairy business and how their myriad of products are produced.

 

FYI: Milk comes from cows.  <----- VALEDICTORIAN OF MOO SCHOOL! (Other acceptable names could have been Halstein Moo-niversity, the Michigan Moo-ntesory School or Bovine Cow-llege.)  Myself with Josh's parents and some random family who totes failed Moo School.

 

In true farm fashion we were carted about in a trailer pulled by a tractor from location to location.  At least the breeze was nice!

 

Our first stop was the bottling plant, which also housed the cheese aging room.  Before we were allowed to enter, however, it was incumbent upon us to wear hair nets… I'm pretty sure I rocked the look as best I could.

 

Primpin' for some cheese with Josh!

 

 

Learning about homogenization and the bottling process from our guide, whose name I can't recall.  Let's name him "Pepper" Jack, shall we?  Side note: my one complaint about the tour was that he kept on pronouncing milk as "melk." WTF dude, this is your industry!

 

 

The aging room… with cheddar so sharp they might as well call it "Joseph's Wit"  (wah wah)

 

Country Dairy takes great pride in the fact that all of their products are completely bovine growth hormone free!

Puns are both my most and least favorite form of humor

 

Our next stop was to visit the baby cows… I mean, seriously!  Luckily, with the help of Josh, you get to see the same view from two different angles.

 

Yes, that is the most attractive photo I could take of the calf

 

And finally, we were able to visit the milking room itself in all it's mechanically induced glory!

 

Yeah, so let's be honest: I'm a little less interested in the process than the final product :-/

 

After the tour was completed we were given free cheese samples and a "bottom-less" cup of milk/chocolate milk.  (Not to mention that giant cup of the freshest of fresh ice-cream … sorry body!)

 

Artist: Cooder Graw / Album: Live at Billy Bob's Texas

On the 4th of July

 

I had the pleasure of spending yesterday's July 4th celebration off camp (and in the States for the first time in two years) at Josh and Leah's house doing all those wonderful Summer things our founding father's had in mind when splittin' from ye Old England: grilling, fireworks, beer and friends!

 

We were also joined by Josh's parents, who were in from Illinois, both of Leah's assistants from Blue Lake, and a couple from across the street.  Not just any couple, mind you, but part of North Muskegon's political elite—the wife was the first female city counsel member who then went on to become the first female mayor of the city! (Which, unfortunately, is probably not what the founding father's had in mind :-/ )

My contributions to the evening were two of my go-to fav's: Jezebel sauce (a spicy jelly concoction served, of course, over a block of cream cheese) and watermelon salsa.  And what Summer in Michigan is complete without Bell's Oberon!

 

 

Josh also picked up some de-licious burgers from Mac's Meats and Country Road Bakery in the nearby town of Rothbury. I'm just gonna go on and put it out there that these burgers could kick your burger's ass from here to the Canadian coast.

Grill, baby, grill!

 

After dinner we headed out to the "party-o" to enjoy the fireworks display to be held over the nearby lake. 

Please note… the presence of fire does NOT equate to a chill in the air

 

While we were waiting for the sun to set, the former Mayoress told the group about a recent death in another nearby community.  Apparently a local man who had run a fireworks stand every holiday season recently passed away and requested only one thing: that his remains be packed into a firework and shot off over the lake during the festivities. 

R.I.P Tom: As it oft repeated in these somber moments: Earth to Earth, ashes to ashes, dust to highly-combustible-multicolored-dust and GOD BLESS 'MERICA!

 

Unfortunately my phone battery died before the official show began so I have no real evidence of the real display.  At any rate, here's hoping everyone had a fun and safe holiday!

 

Artist: James Taylor / Album: October Road

Land of a Thousand Words

 

Everyone knows the old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words," right?  Erroneously ascribed to Confucius, the saying has nonetheless become synonymous with the ability of a photograph to capture our collective imagination.

Brooklyn-based "creative technologist" Matt Richardson has taken this notion to it's logical next step and created the Descriptive Camera, a device which works thusly:

Point it at subject and press the shutter button to capture the scene. However, instead of producing an image, this prototype outputs a text description of the scene. Modern digital cameras capture gobs of parsable metadata about photos such as the camera's settings, the location of the photo, the date, and time, but they don't output any information about the content of the photo. The Descriptive Camera only outputs the metadata about the content.

 

 

The device is still very much in its infancy and the descriptions aren't exactly the most picturesque, but I could imagine with the right person behind the keyboard they could be quite poetic.  If anything it'd certainly make for an interesting show at the John Cleary Gallery!

 

Artist: Scissor Sisters / Album: Ta-Dah