'skgivin pizza in Destroit

11/25
After a semi-confusing but exceedingly pleasant morning at Arbor Vitae and the surrounding food establishments we made our departure to Detroit. The drive was not bad at all; I'm guessing this was due to a majority of people being at Thanksgiving celebrations. Speaking of which, there was an NPR progam discussing people who couldn't make it to be with their family and compatriots. During the call in period we kept spacing out on the digits to call in but, coincidentally, the next three or four people to call in described a particular facet of our situation quite well. Or at least it seemed like it. I was in need of coffee and feeling slightly disassociative.

In approximately an hour, we made it to Detroit. Our exceptionally hospitable host, Erin, had left us a key hidden on the porch so we could let ourselves in, as she was out of town until later in the evening. So, not knowing what to do in Detroit, we checked it out via internet and sat around being congested and eating pretzels.

Eventually we began to gain the hunger and decided to find a grocery store. Alas, they were all closed so we retired to the house again. I found a "market" by the name of Marcus Mart and decided to check it out, leaving James at the house to greet Erin who would soon be home. Marcus Mart was no grocery store but they had frozen pizza, extra cheese, and decent beer. When I got back we made super Thanksgiving pizza by adding lots of caramelized garlic, tomato, and lots of extra mozz.
YARRRR PIZZZA WAUGHHH

Later we met Amy, Erin's roomie, and chilled out for a bit, watching 'Home Alone'.
Afterward we went to The Old Miami, a vet type bar with a killer back yard. It was quite cold though.


A view nearby

Ann Arbor

11/24
Packed up car, went to bakery down the street with the rest of the household and had a portion of the most delicious pumpkin cookie ever. Eventually we left and started heading out to Ann Arbor.
Just before we left Buffalo I realized the GPS was giving us directions through Canada so we rerouted through Cleveland instead.
Observing all of the dilapidated structures as we drove out of Buffalo was fun. The sky was pretty overcast and grey and even though we were driving around the lakes we never even got to see them.
About 2 hours outside of Ann Arbor ice began to fall out of the sky but it wasn't all that bad really.
Highlights from the drive:
-The River Raisin
-the prolificness of european city names around here, Toledo, Paris, London(well thats in Canada but whatever),etc
-and a car wreck that blocked off half the interstate.

We made it to Ann Arbor around 8:30 and met up with Ian, a friend of Malia. He lives in this mind blowing space called Arbor Vitae, with four other people, and they hold shows there occasionally. It used to be a speakeasy and a dance hall.
Wow, so Ann Arbor is really nice. It feels wayyy safer and cleaner than any of the cities we have recently been to. I guess this is due to it being a college town.


Later we went out with Alx, one of Ian's roomies, and some other people, whose names I forget, to this place under The Blind Pig, The 8 Ball. It was a dive bar of sorts, the whole place smelled of vom but they had pool tables and a good jukebox, plenty of space.
And that's Ann Arbor



This is a cat at Arbor Vitae. Unreal cute factor

Buffalo continued

11/22
Another late start day, good thing because it was cold and rainy. We eventually made it to Cafe Tazo before it began to get dark. This place is nice but very small, big enough for maybe 6 people at a time.
Took a nap.
Chilled out and journaled and read some Anais Nin and went to sleep early. Rain is no bien. James went to a show with Malia and Emma and stayed over there but I was kind feeling under the weather so I crashed out early.

I took some more pictures of the Bird House and some stereo ones too. I need to get these negatives scanned, badly.


waking up


Bike pile


I cleaned the hell out of this counter.

11/23
Foodinz at Bird House.
Checked out Sweetness 7, a coffee shop. Apparently the owner owns a majority of the block which includes a gallery and a clothing store(?). I was told that the place Emma and Malia are at only cost the landlord about $5k which is amazing.
So after a while of biking around by myself I eventually found a market thing of sorts and got some produce to make food. When I got back to Bird, Darwin and Jean were arriving and so that was fortunate.
I made some food as Darwin, Tim and Justin butchered a deer. We made pasta stuff and deer/veg thing.
Later I decided to go find James who was hiding out at Emma's after the show I didn't go to from the night before.
We had decided to head out to Ann Arbor in the morning and stay there due to the fact that where we thought we were gonna stay in Detroit had disappeared and I'd hate to show up in a city I know little about with no where to stay. Later I got a message that another place was available and so we go there in the afternoon after leaving An Ar.
So, onward to Ann Arbor.

P.S. This was on Emma's refrigerator, drawn by one of the kids she watches. Tattoo?

BUFFALO! NIAGARA FALLS!

11/21
So in the morning I rallied James and Malia to go to Niagara falls. Emma decided to come too, which is fortunate because after yesterdays fiasco with the GPS I didn't feel particularly inclined to trust it, and Emma knew how to get there.
After 20 minutes of driving and getting turned around once or twice we arrived at the falls. Beware! The guys with the flags at the parking lot will try to get you to go into their lots and make you pay $5 if you don't drive past them to the free parking space on the side of the street.

the flag bearing decievers

After loading up on film we stomped over to the visitor center/entrance and made our way down to the falls.




The misty bottom of the American Falls

A nice view of the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls in the distance. Taken from the observation tower.


MOAR


I really wanted to go down here but I think it's only possible during the summer months when there are tours.
There is an elevator that will take you down to the CAVE OF WINDS but you have to pay $6 to go. :(




Going over the bridge towards Horseshoe Falls


Why for? I canna fathom...


From the observation spot on Goat Island.
Speaking of rainbows


Did we already make it to Seattle?


Approaching Horseshoe Falls. The veil of mist from these falls is unreal.
I read that during the winter, when freezing temperatures become more regular, the mist will freeze on the trees and accumulate over the winter until it is fairly thick.









Wow.
Also, if you wanna see the pictures bigger, just open them in another tab/window and delete the "l" off the segment before .jpg




Ok, it is cold now and we go back to the car. I saw this bizzare visual on the side of this building. It turned out to be a casino.


In the gift shop and history of the falls section of the visitor center, I saw this picture. I thought it was kind of clever and reminded me of this photographer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that put post cards over top of photographs. Er, but I can't recall their name...



After that we went back to Emma's place, hung out for a bit, made food and then drove over to the infamous BIRD HAUS.
a good friend of mine had recommended the place and I had planned to stay here for the duration of Buffalo. Actually, this place was really the only reason I came to Buffalo. So yeah, we waited on the steps out front for awhile, drinking tall boys and playing cards. Eventually a character by the name of Darwin came outside. After some introductions and a small tour of the place we went out on an amazing bike ride around Buffalo.
We went over to Squaw Island first and on the way over the bridge we spotted some deer on the other side.


Then we biked onward for a bit, stopped at a friend of Darwin's and about 3 people joined us on the ride. More biking, some beverage-ing in a roundabout, and we met up with some more people to ride with.
This billboard artwork was out front of an art institute of sorts. It would change the orientation of the stripes every minute or so.



Then more biking, meeting people, and shenanigans. Climbing on stuff and whatnot. Hanging out on piers or something. And dumpstering beer and sandwiches.





We eventually made it back to the Bird House and by then it was about 3 or 4am so I
crashed soon after.

Onward to Buffalo

Ah, kinda slacking off here and there's alot of awesome to catch up on real quick so Ima try and bust out a weeks worth of blahgbacklahg. Annnnd go.

11/20
So we got up a little later than anticipated, 11:30 really, and didn't get on the road until about 12:30. Blah. As we exited New York City a wave of relief washed over me and for the rest of the day I kept exclaiming "wooohooo, not in new york! wooo".
About and hour and bit, the gps directs us off of the interstate just before the toll booth and sends us off into the wilderness. I was relieved to not be going through another toll and for some less stressful driving so I didn't question it. Soon enough we were going through some gorgeous woodlands and there were these amazing lakes. Sadly I didn't get any pictures that do it justice. So yeah, we're just driving along, oooing and ahhing, and then the gps tells us to go in a circle around this round about and go back the way we came. what. the. hell.
I pull off at a camp ground thing and reset our route and we've gone 60 miles north of our route. Why? I dont know but it was pretty. The place is called Harriman State Park and this part was off of Seven Lakes Dr. I'm assuming it's called that due to there being a number of rad lakes in the area. What struck me the


prettywater

What stuck me the most about this section of New York state is the mountains. They're very similar to those in NC but there is alot more exposed, jagged rock.


Malia and James on rocks. They almost look related.

After a lot more driving, gas station antics, a social study of the one-upping of prepackaged snacks extremeness, a dog almost being hit by a car(not ours), being told to "eat drugs!", driving in the shadowy valley of routes 6 and 7, then everlong back country driving for some reason unknown to me, we arrived in Buffalo.
It was kind of late so we ended up staying at Malia's friend Emma's house. There was a small dance party with crazy lights.

Last few days in NYC

11/18
Chilled out for most of the day and then we ended up going to a noise/experimental show at this DIY space called The Silent Barn.
This was awesome but my camera was dying so there are few pictures.
The first group was called Clutter and was a six piece with one guy doing a bunch of wood winds, a bassist, guitarist, some droney vocals, a ?, and another guy who seemed to be mixing in parts of the soundtrack from 'The Forbidden Planet'. This oversimplfies what they were doing.
Then there was a not so fun trio.
Then an awesome duo by the name of TwistyCat
After that was Heavy Medical which was ok but by then everyone had left so they played three song for 6 people.


11/19
Decided to go back to The Met to see the other section of musical instruments. Alas, camera batteries are still dead and thus, no pics, but I wrote down the names of some cool ones.
PUNGIS
VIDEO

VINA
SARINDAS
DODAKU... is a type of Japanese trumpet...
SHO
MOUTH ORGAN

TROMBA MARINA, this was one of my favorite instruments.
VIDEO

Later we met up with Malia, who is to be our rideshare buddy to Buffalo.
The evening was well spent terrorizing lame-o hipsters in Bushwick and the subway.

The Met

11/17
So this morning took awhile to gain momentum but we eventually made it out the door and wandered over to a falafel joint by the name of Mamoun's in East village, I think. This was amazing, and the spicy sauce is unreal. It is recommended to only do this on a stable stomach. After spiciness and free coffee from down the street, James and I made our way over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That is, after we took the wrong subway to the wrong side of Central Park but it wasn't too much of a walk really.
The great thing about the Met is that there is only a suggested donation rather than a fixed price, so I paid a dollar and began wandering.
So I started off wandering through the Ancient Greek and Roman art...


I got a good picture of this sculpture with the stereocamera


Busts


This level of detail in Greco-Roman sculpture is what completely boggles my mind


Polynesian Totems, I think?


Dali, Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus), 1954

This was a particularly intriguing installation. It is a small room construction with several windows available to the viewer to peer through. Each window is actually a pane of two way mirror creating an infinity effect when one looks at another window through a window.

Katrin Sigurdardottir, Boiserie, 2010

Kline is one of my favorite artists. His work with encaustic is incredibly simple but the patterns and dimension of the work is captivating.


Martin Kline, Nest, 2000



Chuck Close is unreal

This work would shake,rotate,rattle and clang for a minute or so when you pressed a foot switch

Jean Tinguely, Narva, 1981


Bridget Riley, Blaze1, 1962


Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1969


Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 2007


Johan Christian Dahl, The Eruption of Vesuvius, 1824
According to the identification card attached to this painting, Dahl was at Vesuvius when it erupted and made several studies of the eruption.


Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864

There is an exhibit currently up at the museum that focuses on Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand. It was really nice to see these older photographic processes and documentation of progress in photography along with other inventions such as flight. There are even autochromes to see!



Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer, 1912
An Album of gelatin prints documenting his success in a vertical flight vehicle.


Bragaglia, Change of Position, 1911


Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Le Grande Prix ACF, 1913


William Mayfield, Orville Wright, 1913


Unknown Artist, X-ray Broken Right Femur, 1916


Man Ray, Woman, 1918


Still from 'The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari'


Unknown Artist, The Medium Eva Carriere Conducting a Seance, 1919


Edward Stiechen, Vaux #2 After Attack, 1918


Stieglitz, 1907
I think this is an autochrome of Rodin sitting in front of one of his sculptures.


Alfred Stieglitz, 1907

This is a photoseries by On Kawara titled 'I got up'. Everyday,from 1968 to 1979, he sent two friends a postcard stamped with the time he got up.




Robert H Vance, The Great Man Has Fallen, 1856
This is fantastic. This daguerrotype commemorates the death of a famous trash journalist . It is framed and has a velvet cover.


James Adam Whipple and James Wallace Black, The Moon, 1857

So after all of that I started to wander about a bit and decided to ask one of the security guard people when the museum closed. 5:45, it is 5:25. So... I wander about some more and eventually find a map of the museum and notice there is a Musical Instruments gallery! So I rush around through the Chinese art section, take a short break in th Zen garden thing and then find out I have to go all the way back around the building to make it there. I eventually make it and have about 15 minutes to check it out.
GO








Ringo Star's Snare Drum










This is interesting




Marine Trumpet is not a trumpet but can emulate the sounds of one.
One leg of the bridge is slightly detached so it will drum on the body when the string is bowed. Cool.




Bird Flute!

The photo and musical instrument sections were both very inspirational and now I just wanna make old timey photos and weird instruments.

Later:
We met up with Gabe, got some pizza, and found a one hour photo place so that I could develop some film from the stereo camera. Unfortunately they could not scan the negatives due to the fact that they aren't standard 35mm frames. So I gotta find somewhere that'll be able to scan them before I can post any. Boo.
After that we caught the end of a show at the Knitting Factory. Twas Human Eye and something else. It was alright but we only caught the end of the set.