Monday, August 18, 2008

Vierra and Friends




If you want to know where to get the best hair cut in town, this is it. Vierra and Friends has a relaxed retro decor (new finds keep appearing at every visit;recently glass buoys showed up). Robert Service cuts my hair. I went through a lot of different salons before my friend, Ravenna Taylor, recommended Robert and I have not had a bad hair day since: no hiding under hats anymore!Vierra and Friends is tucked away in Cole Valley: 85 Carl Street, 415.665.9335.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

We Be Sushi


I never wanted to eat at We Be Sushi and have avoided it for years. I tend to eat at immaculately clean-looking sushi restaurants which has something to do, I believe, with an underlying nervousness about eating raw fish. These "immaculately clean" restaurants inevitably translate to spectacularly expensive. Regardless, last week I went with a friend to We Be Sushi and was surprised by its fantastic food coupled with its reasonable price. I went back by myself the following day for lunch (see above). As it turns out, I was also synchronously reading Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes at the time. Kawabata, by the way, studied to be a painter but published a novel at an early age and consequently became a writer instead. The book reads like a visual poem. The story of an ill-fated love affair is imbued with larger universal significance though the ageless beauty of the ceramic tea cups and bowls used in the tea ceremony.













Monday, August 11, 2008

"Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror")

I just heard a beautiful piece of music called "Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror") by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt
played by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt. This is an podcast I can't seem to access, perhaps you'll have better luck: http://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/artists/artist/index.php?ac=bailey_pratt.

Here is a review by Jane Palmer in the World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2008:
Cello-piano duo enchant audience


Heavenly music briefly held an audience in rapt attention Tuesday night at the Holland Performing Arts Center.

Inspired by the clarity of sound in the Kiewit Concert Hall during the first half of their program, cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt changed their second half performance choice. They picked the emotional "Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror") by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Notes hung in the air. The audience soaked them in as if they were gentle strokes of the hair and sips of luscious wine. Heads were still. Feet were still.

Compared to the complex Mendelssohn and Shostakovich compositions in the first half of the program, this Pärt piece for piano and cello was simple. The impact came from the way a single note, one finger strike on a single piano key for example, could convey a melody and resonate in the hall. The moment was simply perfect.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Sidewalk

I did not realize that my camera was in film mode when I photographed a broken plate shard. I just went with it and continued filming the sidewalk. I attached a sound track , Six Pack, from the Dirty Projects, and kind of liked the results.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Guarino Guarini + miscellanious sightings

Here is Guarino Guarini with his paws lined up:
This is the table setting for a dinner on July 27 at Jamie Brunson and Walter Robinson's place. I was happy to see my painting next to Jamie's on the far wall with Walter's cookie-God over us.Shoes:

Saturday, August 2, 2008