what about the plastic animals?

If thy eye offend thee...

Sometimes things turn out right. The band Pere Ubu was playing at Prospect Park Thursday night and I wanted to see them. If you haven't heard of them they are a semi-obscure, but very influential art-punk band from Cleveland that has existed in various mutations off and on for thirty years. The one constant has been their founder David Thomas. One way to think of their influence is Pere Ubu is to the Pixies as the Pixies are to any number of current bands.

But I was not having a good afternoon. I was dead tired. There was a horrendous traffic jam getting to the bridge. I stopped in a deli to get the smoked turkey and brie sandwich advertised on their specials board only to be told "we don't have any brie". I guess that's what made it special. I got home, ate half the curry chicken sandwich bought at another deli and fell asleep on the couch for 15 minutes. I was not in the mood to go to Brooklyn, but decided to check the schedule to see when the show started.

What do I see? A picture of Ray Milland in X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, a classic Roger Corman film that I haven't seen in years. Pere Ubu will be playing along with the movie. Hmmm, a band from Cleveland whose music often has science fiction overtones playing along with a sci-fi classic? Having lived in Ohio and being a fan of old horror movies, I suspect this can only mean good things are about to happen.

Minutes later I'm on the 3 train to Grand Army Plaza.

I get to the bandshell just as the opening act finishes. I find a semi-decent seat. After the huge screen is set up David Thomas comes out and introduces the band because "after an hour-and-a-half movie I'll have to leave to take a pee." He pauses and says "This is dedicated to 'Ghoulardi' Ernie Anderson." and mentions something about Anderson's son.

My suspicions are correct! Back in the sixties Anderson played an anarchic horror movie host named Ghoulardi on WJW TV in Cleveland (great Fangoria magazine profile of Ghoulardi written by Michael Weldon, another Cleveland native and publisher of Psychotronic Video). Ghoulardi would interject himself into the movie, blow things up with firecrackers, and played records over the movie. The band was going to play the role of what must have been one of their childhood heroes.

They played off the movie almost perfectly. They played over the movie, under the movie, sound clips from other movies ("Calling Dr. Howard. Calling Dr. Fine."), and interjected new dialogue into scenes. It wasn't the concert I was expecting. It was something rarer and more than this sleepy guy could have hoped for.

A new place to sit

After suffering too many years on a cheap office chair I finally upgraded to a much nicer sitting environment. I bought a Herman Miller Caper multitask chair on Sunday and it was delivered a few minutes ago. So far the only task I've used it for is sitting. I can lean back! And I no longer have to contort myself into odd positions to get comfortable. This is a definite improvement.

Busy as a bee today and tomorrow so I may not post again until Friday.

Belated Birthday Greetings

Technically I didn't forget. Technically I was thinking Shawn's birthday was next month, not last week. That's slightly different than forgetting isn't it? Shawn is three! Happy Birthday, Shawn!

Tomb of an Amiable Child

"Erected to the memory of an amiable child St. Claire Pollock Died 15 July 1797 in the fifth year of his age."

Tomb of an amiable child (foreground) with Grant's Tomb and Riverside Church in background (photo taken last March).

On July 15th, 1797 five-year old St. Claire Pollock died. Most likely from a fall down the cliffs of Claremont Hill to the rocky shore of the Hudson. In 1800 George Pollock, either St. Claire's father or uncle, sold the land with the restriction that the grave of the child be kept "always enclosed and sacred". And so it has for 207 years (see photo circa 1900). This is the third monument that the grave has had. Quite coincidentally I walked by on July 16th, one day after the anniversary of Pollock's death. I think there are one or two other single-person burial spots in Manhattan (General William Jenkins Worth is buried near Madison Square Park and Mother Cabrini is resting in Inwood).

New York's best known tomb is across the street from the amiable child. Ulysses S. and Julia D. Grant are interred in Grant's Tomb in the background of the second photo.

Foreshadowing

Gotta love a park where parents and guardians have to be told where in public it is proper for their children to urinate.

About a week ago I started working on a photography project that came to me on far west 72nd St. on a really cold day last winter. It is good. You will laugh. More photos still need to be taken. Tune in on August 1st or soon thereafter for the debut.

My Old Lady

So, do you think Neckface used a ladder, or a paint brush on a long stick?

More Neckface. Interestingly, Neckface's work has been spotted in San Francisco and Oakland recently, as has Ribity (see SF and NY).

Shake Shack Revisited

To give it a fair evaluation, it is important for any good restaurant reviewer to visit a restaurant several times, so that a variety of menu items can be sampled. Multiple visits also ensure that menu items and service be experienced several times to evaluate consistency. Never is this more true than for eating establishments with milk shakes as their signature items. I went to the Shake Shack before it officially opened and again today (and maybe one or two other times in between).

The Shack Burger (ground sirloin and brisket, american cheese, lettuce, excellent tomato and "shack sauce") is outstanding. Juicy, beefy, cheesy and all-around delicious. The bun looked kind of sad but tasted fine. Next time I'm trying the double. The frozen custard, vanilla and chocolate, is also excellent as are the shakes (vanilla and chocolate) made from the custard. They also offer, and I haven't yet tried, sundaes, floats and concretes. Concretes are a St. Louis area specialty, as are the frozen custards, in which the custard is blended with any number of mix-ins. The first item on the Concrete menu is the Concrete Jungle, which consists of frozen custard, hot fudge, bananas, and peanut butter.

One more thing before I make myself a ginger-honey milkshack of my own creation: There is no line on a drizzly Sunday afternoon.

Since this job commenced

Like a lot of people I sometimes get frustrated at my job. Then I see a sign like this one on lower Frederick Douglass Blvd. There are jobs where people get threatened with termination for bringing coffee to work! The odd thing about this sign is that it is posted on the door of a building being renovated. There's all sorts of construction debris inside so it is hard to imagine that a few stray coffee cups or Egg McMuffin wrappers are causing a problem.

When Winning is Losing

If you win this jackpot you have to give the lottery commission $29 million dollars.

Subway Division Does Not Compute

A little math at the West 4th St. station for everyone to contemplate. More work from this artist.