Pivot

The Brannons drove down to visit family this weekend, and they were gracious enough to load up Pivot for the drive. "Pivot", you ask? The story was posted here.

I was anxious to get my hands on Pivot. The wall above the couch was screaming for it. I was able to gaze upon it from photos only; I longed to get up close and see the texture, the vibrancy, the effort put into it.

It's here. It's in one piece. And it's on the wall. Lara, you really did a beautiful job on this. Thank you so much.

Multiple DC trips yield excessive purchase

OK, so you know I'm a sucker for a quick 4+ hour drive up to Washington, DC. There's so much to see. There's so much to do. There's so much history involved.

One of my favorite spots is the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. I love going there. It just so happens I'm also a sucker for a Smithsonian gift shop. Well, above the main register at the Portrait Gallery gift shop is this really neato piece of artwork. It's a map of the United States where the states have been cut out of license plates. It's wicked cool. Every time I go, I just stare at it in awe. It's just so damn COOL!

Well, in Seinfeld it was "The Summer of George". So I guess this is "The Spring of Christopher". I've been doing a lot of things that, quite frankly, make me HAPPY. My life has gone down into the relative shitter lately, and in response I've been trying my damnedest to bring up my mood and allow me the happiness that I fucking deserve. So what did I do now?

I called the Smithsonian to purchase this artwork.

The great thing is that the artist, Aaron Foster out in California, will make one personally with each order. Vintage license plates and reclaimed wood from old homes and barns are used. I love it. Sure it's probably way too much, and had I still had a housemate to play conscience for me I wouldn't have jumped in the deep end like this, but like they said in the movie Risky Business, sometimes you just have to say 'What the fuck.' Weeks after my initial call to the Smithsonian, a 60-pound awkward box arrives on the front stoop. And with great difficulty, I get it onto the mantle by myself.

Enjoy:

We have a title.

From the artist herself:

No your heart will never be the same....it will be better. Sometimes you are asked to pivot...your choice or not and I firmly believe that one door slams shut another will open wide. those shapes are your pivot.

Pivot.


Lara, thank you. I love it.

Arts patron seeks commissioned piece

You may have heard of Lara before on these pages. She lives in James and Monica's neighborhood up in Alexandria. During my visits up there I've met her and become friends. She's a free spirit and creative and doesn't generally live life, she LIVES it. I first met her drinking James's homebrew in his backyard and found her to be a lot of fun.

Lara is an artist. Her locale is known as doubleWide art studio. Her pieces seem to JUMP out at me. The colors she uses are, as Dave Matthews screams in Grey Street, bold and bright. The textures are intriguing.

I now have a bare spot above the couch in the living room. A blank canvas so to speak. One of Lara's pieces pictured to the left, J, really "did it" for me and spoke to me. Just for kicks I asked if she ever sold her creations, and if so what the price would be for J. It really wouldn't fit the bill as J is a mere 8x11...inches. Not quite the size I'm looking for to fill the space.

BUT, she said, she could create a brand new piece for me. Just for me using J as a guideline and muse. SERIOUSLY? That would be so COOL! No one's ever made a custom art piece for me, let alone personally knowing the artist who created it from nothing.

Sunday I got the call from a paint-splattered Lara: the piece is done and do I like it? Do I like it? I took one look at it via our cellphones and again online to arrive at one conclusion: I absolutely LOVE it.

A personally commissioned 4' x 3' piece of art to go above the couch and stir up emotion, conversation, and generally just some plain old contemplation. It's untitled as of now, and the yellow may need to be touched up as it dries, but it is something created from the heart of an artist just for me. I can't wait to get up there on my next weekend off (that doesn't involve Cleveland Indians baseball) to pick it up.

What do you think of it?

Oh, and as an aside, she's throwing in J as an extra for me to give it a good home as well.

Another DC weekend!

A 3-day weekend off from work yields yet another jaunt up I-85 and I-95 to DC and a visit by me and two canines to the Brannons. Work 8-4 Thursday and have Fri/Sat/Sun off? Looks like a prompt post-work drive up on Thursday is in order!

First off on Friday, a trip to my favorite art museum in DC: the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Modern and contemporary art to make you think. Nifty stuff.

After a pretty cool morning at the Hirshhorn, it was meeting James and the kids in Arlington at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery for a late lunch. James drove and I took the Metro out from the Hirshhorn. Planned to, anyway. One small snag: "apparent police activity at the McPherson Square stop" stopped ALL train traffic on the Orange and Blue lines. Seriously? So, I was stranded at Federal Triangle. Luckily, the boys weren't too far gone, and they were able to catch my phone call and pick me up on the street at Pennsylvania and 13th. Yikes. So Rock Bottom's delicious Asiago Cheese Dip and Beer Bread was on the menu. It ROCKS. And if you want the recipe, I have it. Got it from the Cleveland Rock Bottom YEARS ago after raving so much about it. Tasty stuff. Plus a couple pints of Hop Bomb IPA quenched the thirst nicely.

From there, we dropped the kids off at home and hit 14th and U Street in the, ahem, "gentrified" section for some bar hopping. Well, A bar anyway. Marvin, a Belgian beer bar. The skinny:

Inspired by the story of Marvin Gaye's infamous two years in self-imposed exile in the small Belgian town of Ostend, the creators of Marvin have combined the cafe society of Belgium, with the proud soul of Shaw. Belgian moulles-frites are served along side southern-style shrimp and grits. The classic steak-frites and fried chicken with Belgian waffles are just two of the many top dishes created by Chef James Claudio. Adding to the experience is a soundtrack of rare funk, soul, ska, and jazz created by Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton.

Upstairs at Marvin you'll find one of DC's best lounges and rooftop decks. The turntables inside the lounge are manned by a collective of friends that have been digging for rare soul gems to create the right atmosphere. The roof deck, is heated, partially covered, and open year round.

Nice. Inspired by Marvin Gaye, but none of his music playing, and minimal photos of him anywhere. Aside from the name, I guess you'd never really know. Chatting with a friendly bartender and plenty of Allagash White and Corsendonk Brun flowed easily.

Finally, a walk up 14th and down U Street to a staple of my visits: Ben's Chili Bowl. Just absolutely cannot go wrong in a jazz-influenced African-American neighborhood eating delicious sloppy chili. A favorite of my trips to DC. And when random gregarious girlies agree to be photographed, it warms the heart...and strengthens the Marvin-induced buzz.

That was Friday.

Hunter's Pie, nifty lights, and blues.

Sounds like a full docket, huh?

Saturday night, I drove over to Winston-Salem and the outstanding Foothills Brewing to meet friends Greg and Louise for dinner. Hunter's Pie, with beef, ostrich, buffalo, and I forget whatever else gamey meats thrown in. Pretty good, been wanting to try it for some time now, but in the grand scheme of things the meat was rather bland. Garlic mashed potatoes and broiled mozzarrella cheese on top gave all the flavor. Oh well. Next time it'll be the beer brats with saurkraut.

After dinner and schmoozing with Scott the Foothills sales guy, we made our way a little further into downtown to view "light painting". What's this you ask? Arts students from University of North Carolina School of the Arts have "painted" the Millennium Building with color. Pretty damn cool. Read the story here.

Greg got some new nifty camera lenses and whatnots so he went to town while Louise and I watched the master at work plying his craft in the cold. He took some really outstanding shots. Incredible.

Shamelessly stolen (I guess it's not "stolen" if he knows about it) from his online Flickr account:
One of the artists saw (how could you NOT?) Greg's mammoth photographical equipment display and came over to chat. Cameras can be used as a great pickup line: "Hey what kind of lens is that?" Anyway, Alex Fogel came over to talk with us about the displays. Pretty interesting guy. Graduating this year. And of course, Greg had me pose in the street with him while his display was lighting up. Notice the contemplative pose peering away from the camera that Alex gives. I mean, he KNEW where Greg's camera was at. You couldn't miss it. What's he looking at? He's so artsy, pondering life and the goings on. Not content to look directly at the camera and into your very soul, but rather, looking (literally) down the road wistfully into the future, wondering what promise is held for tomorrow.

Whereas I am just a big oaf and smile grandly directly into Greg's lens like a frickin' groupie. Once the final display was over at 11:00pm, we made our way BACK to Foothills for a nightcap and a great North Carolina blues band, WSNB, "we sing nasty blues". So true. I first saw them a year or so ago at the Hickory Hops beer festival over in (appropriately enough) Hickory. Loved 'em. Every time they played Foothills on their usual bar circuit, I always had to work or was out of town. Last night however, I was off and they were there. Couldn't miss them.

We hung around and listened to some really heavy bluesy bass lines, some wicked harmonica, and just generally had ourselves a good time. Foothills Mug Club mug #17 certainly got a workout. Chatted with Jamie the brewer for a little while, learning that he's really good friends with one of the band members, which lends itself well to having WSNB play Foothills so often. Louise liked them so much, she asked me to burn a copy of their CD for her.

My musical tastes are all over the board as you may well know. And blues may be a revelation to you. But this band just "clicks" with my head. I love listening to them.

All in all, another wonderful late, late evening.

Day 8, Sunday 09.21.08

The plan today was to have breakfast at our hotel, then catch the train southward to see the "fairy tale castles" of the southern Bavaria Alps. Breakfast was tasty at the Angelo: eggs, bacon, veal meatballs, fruits, croissants, and fantastic preserves. As we finished our meal, we realized looking at the train timetables, that we missed a key train and would end up with a rather lengthy layover. So we scratched the castle gig and decided to hop on the metro a fair bit to the north edge of town to go to the BMW Welt and Museum. "Welt" meaning "world".

An enormous complex with their world headquarters, a manufacturing plant, the "welt" where people can pick up their newly purchased cars in a ceremony, and the museum. It was here in the welt that Chris has found his new car: the pictured BMW 120i. Sure it ain't $80,000 of pure luxury, but it's relatively fancy, and has fold-down backseats for luggage, Home Depot trips, and fat black Lhasa Apso's to travel around in. Loved it.

In order, the first BMW aircraft engine, the first BMW motorcycle, and the first BMW car all displayed with pride. Race cars, old cars, futuristic cars, and a hydrogen car. As it was a museum, and they had panels in English, we spent quite a bit of time here. Quite a fun complex to visit.

From here, we took the metro in to the Pinakothek der Moderne, the modern art museum. Four museums in one actually: art, design, architecture, and works on paper. Some pretty eclectic pieces here, but not filled with the real oddities and crazy stuff that really make us think. Some Warhols and Picassos adorn the walls, so it wasn't a failure by any stretch. And non-flash photos were allowed! Cool!






Afterward it was dinner at Weisses Brauhaus, the home of Schneider-Weisse and Aventinus beers. Another beer hall with old wooden bench seating. Dried hop vines, as seemingly in all of Bavaria, adorn the walls, windows, ceilings, bannisters, everything. Kimberly is almost at her wits end in finding anything edible in Germany besides Italian restaurants, hotel pizza, and wine. More interesting sausage dishes on the menu here. The pig is an animal that Germans love to butcher. Nothing goes to waste. Nothing. Observe:

Yum! Diaphragm!

Then it was off to the hotel. We had an internet connection in our room, so the 4:15pm Browns/Ravens game occurred at 10:15pm local time. We fired up ESPN Gamecast to follow along until it got out of hand and we shut it off. Damn Browns.

Day 5, Thursday 09.18.08

Morning hotel breakfast again before we head out on the 11:05am train to Brugge. About 60 minutes of train time to go northwest fairly close to the North Sea. From the train station in Brugge, we took a bus into the center of town. Gorgeous.

Brugge is called the "Venice of the North", so of course we took a canal tour of the town. Beautiful. An old medieval town. Stunning landscape.

After our canal tour, we took in the Groeninge Museum, a collection of Belgium's "Flemish Primitives" artwork. Odd. Violence and all things Catholic are big hits.

From here we hit up a fantastic beer store, De Bier Tempel, to peruse their wares. It was here that we found the heralded Westvleteren Abt 12 noted in the "Surprise Post from Germany" note below. If only we had 4 or 5 extra empty suitcases. The proprietor was enamored with our joy (well, at least just Chris's) that he gave us coupons for free beer at the restaurant Cambrinus down the street. Cool! He gives them out to the "big spenders" that come into his store. It wasn't THAT much....

With a heavy backpack full of beer, we made our way through busy streets and confusing alleys to De Halve Maan for a brewery tour. Kimberly stayed with the backpack in the pub with her Newsweeks and coffee while Chris squeezed up and down a multitude of steps to take the tour. Seriously? Who installs steps where you need to descend BACKWARDS like a ladder? But all the climbing was well worth it with the view from the brewery's roof:

We cashed in our free beer tickets at Cambrinus where it was rumored that Westvleteren was available for consumption. Giddy-up! Sadly, the free beer was for house beers only, so those had to be gulped down before the nectar of Westvleteren monks was consumed. Delicious.

Sadly, it was time for the bus, the train, and the metro back to our hotel in Brussels. But when we arrived at the train station in Brussels, before heading to the metro and our hotel? A WAFFLE!!!! Energized by delicious sugary carbs, we pack for Munich. Our train to Munich leaves tomorrow, so sadly we must bid Belgium adieu.

No more Belgian beer. No more Belgian chocolates. A new adventure awaits us....