Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Catmen- Perce Blackborow And Mrs. Chippy


Stowaway Blackborow and handsome Mrs. Chippy, pictured outside the galley of the Endurance, which may explain why Mrs. Chippy was the only one on board to gain rather than lose weight. This photo made in 1914 is the only picture of Mrs. Chippy.




This most honorable Tom is the famous Mrs. Chippy who accompanied Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the Endurance as they sailed from London to the Anartic in 1914. Mrs. Chippy actually belonged to the ship's carpenter whom he followed around like a possessive wife, thus his name-Chippy is slang for carpenter. His "second mate" is pictured with him above. Perce Blackborow was a 19 year old stowaway who was allowed to stay on board and became Mrs. Chippy's devoted companion. Mrs. Chippy was handsome, devoted, good natured, and intelligent according to the crew. As the Endurance became trapped and broken in the ice with the crew spending a year in distress, one crewman wrote that the cat carried on unfazed, and that "Mrs. Chippy's total disregard for the diabolical forces at work on the ship was more than remarkable-it was inspirational. Such perfect courage is alas, not to be found in our modern age." Perce and Mrs. Chippy, two courageous fellows.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Fashin' Report: This Is The Way...

All 63 year olds should be required to dress..work it Ronnie Wood

Happy Birthday Skydog

Only a few months before he died this prophetic photo was made. Front center is the Duane. If you don't listen to this music, you are missing a big thing. The "Black Angel" behind Duane is Berry Oakley who was killed in a motorcycle accident also a year later only 3 blocks from Duane's accident.



Duane Allman, probably the second best, if not the best, guitarist of all rock and roll time would be 64 today. What in the world would we be able to listen to today if he had lived 39 more years...maybe it would have been too much to handle. Hope you're still flying high old gypsy.
"There ain't no revolution, only evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I eat a peach for peace."

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Birthday Boy-Oscar Claude Monet

A photo of the young Bohemian Monet from 1860-age 20.
November 14th--Happy 170th birthday, Claude Monet, the Frenchman who left us with so much beauty while he was fathering Impressionist painting. The Impressionists were the rule breakers of 19th century who cut loose with accurate depiction of light, natural surroundings out of the studio, broken color, and rapid brush strokes. Claude was the daddy of it all, being the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy. The term Impressionism came from his painting, Impression, Sunrise, (1872), when the critic, Louis Lecroy, wrote a
satirical review of the painting and the term stuck. Monet had titled the painting, Impression, because he felt the image created could not be accurately taken as an actual view of Le Havre harbor, but was his impression, instead. It is fascinating that even though the sun appears to be the brightest spot in this painting, research has proven it actually has the same measured luminance as the sky. If a black and white copy of the painting is made, the sun practicallydisappears. According to neurological researchers, this gives the painting a very realistic quality because the older part of the brain's visual cortex, which we share with most mammals, measures brightness only and not color. Only the newer visual cortex found in human and primate brains perceives the color.
Monet rarely painted a scene only once and this was the case with the Cliffs at Etretat (shown below) in the Haute-Normandie area of northern France.

The Cliffs Etretat, Sunset 1883

The Cliffs at Etretat After a Storm 1870. I like the 'caloges' in this painting..the thatched boats turned into little abodes. This painting was done from a hotel room window. The real thing, no impression here. The rock formation pictured is one of the many "hollow needles" or natural arches in this area.






Is The Poe Toaster Nevermore?

This is old news that I somehow missed, but on January 19th of this year, a 60 year old tradition came to an end as the Poe Toaster was a no-show. Each year on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, this mysterious cloaked stranger has made a middle of the night visit to the grave in Baltimore leaving French Cognac, three roses, a note, and a toast to the gravestone. Is it a coincidence that the tradition ended in 2009 which is the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth? Will he resume his duties January of 2011, or will there be imposters who rally in the night to take over the tradition? The curator of the Poe museum who observes and opens the gate for the ritual each year says there is a gesture made by the dark visitor that only he knows and will serve as verification of his authenticity. January 19th will tell...my suspicion is that unfortunately, this honorable tradition may have ended.


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Exibiting Multitudes

The Age of Adz album cover with artwork by Outsider artisit, Royal Robertson.


Every blue moon, one is lucky enough to attend a concert with a sum more than its parts. You leave with a feeling...a feeling of newness, of understanding, and with a connection that lingers for days, weeks, or if you are lucky, for a lifetime. Sufjan Stevens has been quoted as saying that "music is a spiritual language" and he did his part to bring that thought to life at his Age of Adz concert in Asheville, NC, Sunday night. I was thankful I had taken the time earlier to look up previous concert setlists before arriving, noticing that he had played mostly new songs and they were the same songs in the same order for almost every show. So as I sat in the 2nd row (thanks to my best sister, the ticket fairy), I thought to myself, "this is a man with a plan." And a plan indeed it was. Sufjan Stevens took us on a voyage, and the Asheville crowd loved the ride. I could try to describe the sights and sounds, but that has probably been done plenty and my words would in no way describe how wonderful it was. It was great music, great effects, crazy
dancing, crazy hats, mesmerizing screen images, and a gifted performer baring his heart on a stage. It was an interactive and physical experience even if you never budged from your seat. It was an artist who traded the familiar and popular image of low keyed, softly sung guitar strummed songs for a busy, techno, synthesized, melodramatic performance that packed more bang to the heart than two hours of whispered secrets. And I am still asking myself, how on earth did he do that? A moment of enlightenment did come near the end when Sufjan paused

and referred to a quote by Walt Whitman saying "Walt Whitman said we all contain multitudes. So we should exhibit multitudes." You felt as though it was an apology combined with hope of an explanation and you could almost feel the audience sigh, "that's right." Sufjan also stopped in the middle of the concert to tell of his inspiration for Adz which came from the Outsider artist, Royal


Robertson. Royal was a mentally ill sign painter in Louisiana, who lost everything to this illness, but like most Outsiders, his art was his constant. Royal's illness led him to be consumed with scorn for his ex-wife, Adell, and this scorn led him to find his inspiration for his art. Sufjan explained that in spite of his scorn, Adell loved Royal and was at peace with him. This was a

"When I give, I give myself" Walt Whitman
man she had 12 children with... he was much more than an unemployed, mentally ill sign painter. It was evident from the way he spoke of her, that Sufjan was very connected to Adell. Maybe because there were multitudes to Royal and Adell understood.


Royal Robertson, the Louisiana Outsider artist who inspired The Age of Adz. He died in 1997.
Sufjan ended the set with his older, most famous song, Chicago, just as he had so beautifully begun the voyage with the older and popular, Seven Swans. After almost 10 minutes of hearty applause with the crowd on their feet, Sufjan came back and performed four of his old, bare-naked songs, strumming a guitar and bringing forth his soul-shattering falsetto. He left the stage, walking backwards, facing the crowd, placing his hand from his heart toward the audience over and over again. Like Whitman, who was transitional between transcendentalism and realism, Sufjan had just gone full circle and beautifully incorporated both spectrums of his work. At his other concerts this year, he has always done old songs at the encore, but usually only performing two or three songs and rarely four. I think he did four songs Sunday as a gift to Asheville because he was truly appreciative. Appreciative that we took the ride and we got it. We filed out of Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, somehow different, ready to exibit our multitudes.









Saturday, November 6, 2010

Taking To The Wing

...with Sufjan Stevens tomorrow night in Asheville, NC, at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium....preparing for unbearable beauty with a cold night flight...

Friday, November 5, 2010

Where The Road To Nowhere Leads

A while ago I heard friends talking about a hike and they referred to the "Road to Nowhere" in their location. Just the name alone perked up my ears and I made a promise to visit and find out a little more about this mystery located on the North Shore of the Fontana Dam in Bryson City, North Carolina. In 1943, when many rural North Carolinians were only beginning to recover from the depression and others had left to fight in WWII, the United States Government and the Tennessee Valley Authority displaced about 1300 people to build the Fontana Dam project and hydro electric plant. Many of these people received little or no compensation when forced to leave their modest yet thriving communities. As a "peace pipe" of sorts, the Department of Interior, the State of North Carolina, and TVA promised to build a new road to replace the highway that provided access to the area where 30 or so cemeteries were left behind. The National Park Service began to work on the promise in the 60's but after constructing apx. 6 miles of the 26 miles planned, stopped construction in 1971. It seems that acid bearing rock was discovered which when disturbed can cause dangerous runoff in the surrounding forest. The years that followed have been filled with anger and legal battles to have the road completed. The battle is still going strong today.
Don't be fooled by the light at the end of the tunnel. The Road to Nowhere stops right beyond the tunnel's exit.
I am sure this story is only the tip of the iceberg and there may never be a harmless solution. I suspect there could be environmental concern and awareness today that was unknown or possibly unimportant in 1943. I don't believe anyone having lived in this beautiful area would want to intentionally harm it in any way. But I also know that a promise is a promise, and a promise to a people deep rooted in the land and their heritage is a promise to those who follow after them as well. Folks not having access to their ancestor's grave sites (unless they are physically able to walk, hike, or ride a boat to get to them) is a big deal in this part of the land. Graveyards are people's tangible history and serve as their "fixed stars" when everything else in their world starts spinning with unwelcome change.
So take a walk on the Road to Nowhere, and maybe it will indeed take you somewhere--to a beautiful place deserving the remebrance of a broken promise and the sacrifice made by those who called this place home over 65 years ago.

In areas near the road, one can hike to the beautiful graveyards and also see the remains of several automobiles from the 30's left behind as families were forced to leave.