all hallow's eve

to all my dearest ghoulies!

this saturday, come out to get down at Factory Studios!

art show/ costume/ dance party aka the monster mash. curated and created by the ever energetic debbie allen [the friend, not the dancer].

marcel the shell with shoes on

one time i looked at a diamond and got a sunburn.

thank you jenny slate, thank you.

soul friday

i dig these up-tempo, sorrowful tunes. enjoy this passing thru of the hit parade.

first we have mr. excitement:

diplo does a decent mix of california soul, but can't beat the classic.

crest fest!

the [unofficial] mayor of williamsburg, mister joe franquinha, curates and directs a community event called crest fest. there's music and art and food and serves as a non-profit event to benefit the City Reliquary Museum. clickity click the link for the whole scoop:

http://cresthardwareartshow.com/

also, i'll have 4 pieces in the art show side of the festivities. two old, two new. you supply the something blue.

come see, have fun, say hi [i'll be volunteering during the afternoon, partying the rest of the time]. all the happenings are conveniently located where the G and the L makes sweet love, 558 Metropolitan Ave.

i'll take nerd, please.

who doesn't like ven diagrams?

via dasha via anthony

gosh. jeez. man.

why is life SO hard?!

http://whitewhine.tumblr.com/

my empathy is is at a all time low. maybe its because the AC is just too cold today. i mean, why did i even bother getting iced coffee? ugh , i hate that.

Car Carcass

call me crazy, but looking at a burnt out car as i exit or return to my apartment just ain't my thang. probably because i'm so high brow.

and probably because my lovely neighborhood has been pulling itself up by its bootstraps over the last 2 decades [please let's just avoid the gentrification tangent for a moment and focus on the positive, shall we] and abandoned car carcasses aren't doing much for the general aesthetic.

here's where my particularly low-threshold impatience comes in handy to my fellow neighbors, whom i'll assume are also none-too-happy about the charcoaled astro van. [backstory: a car caught on fire and has been left untouched since sunday on my street and it's ugly and it smells and is an eye-sore. and i seriously doubt anyone is chomping at the bit to do a thing about it]. i decided today, that hell, i'm over this, let's find out how much longer its going to be sitting there. complaining is all fine and well, but its even finer and weller when, should you complain to the correct person, you actually accomplish something! preemptive hooray for a not-yet-accomplished job!

and here, now, with you, dear reader, we will go on the long bureaucratic journey that is :

GETTING SOMEONE TO REMOVE A BURNT-OUT, ABANDONED CAR!

step #1, call 311

unsurprisingly, the operator passes the buck to the police, but not before she astonishingly questions why in god's good name would i want a burnt-out car removed from my street. i mean, it's only been there for 4 days. i mention to her that it smells [which it does, something terribly acrid and what i can only imagine to be poisonous, carcinogenic fumes lingering around the automobile...yuck!]. she says this problem isn't her problem and to try the police, 88th precinct to be exact.

step #2, call 88th precinct

similar 'round about as above, but this time they say, oh golly gee willikers, would love to help a dame like you out, but you've got the wrong guys. try the 79th precinct.....

step #3, call 79th precinct

hmmm, i'm onto the trend here. no one wants to take responsibility. gotcha. at this point, i'm pointed to brooklyn sanitation, everyone's favorite government department! yay!

step #4, dept of sanitation nyc

the man on the other end of the connection informs me of two things: 1. everyone is passing the buck and 2. its's not in his jurisdiction. i'm not sure if he thought he was off the hook of said buck-passing by enlightening me to the other buck-passing, or if he thought that by acknowledging his own buck-passing it rescinded him, but either way he offered yet another outlet to my complaint: my community board. mister dsny says that the plates need to get gone, then the po-po have to tag it, then sanitation can whisk the car off to the big garage in the sky.

step #5, cb 3

newsflash, apparently complaining to your local community board can be more effective than 311. find out your cb here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/main.shtml here, i am greeted with the most preternaturally upbeat woman; so upbeat that i'm convinced she must be mocking me. i move past my paranoia and give all the details that i've repeated so many times that i may recite them in my sleep tonite. i am told that it's already 5pm [its 4:30pm] and that nothing can be done about it today, may she have my number. sure, why not. oh, what's that? my cell is no good to you with its boston area code because YOU DON'T HAVE LONG DISTANCE?! really?! wicked pissa. fine, take my office number then, whatever. can't wait to chat tomorrow, new besty!

le sigh.

to be cont.

UPDATE:

15 days later [and a few more phone calls] and its gone!

yer welcome.

philadelphia international flower show

cherry blossoms 8' x 10'

mt. fuji detail, full piece 18' x 10'

lunch break at reading terminal market

giant birds of paradise. GIANT.

half finished elephant topiary. built by carl hagerty.

rolls of sod. smelt like mud. loved it.

the whole she-bang, completed. worst lighting ever.

the phila flower show is the world's biggest indoor flower show. more than 1/4 million folks wander the convention center each year to stare at petals and leaves and dirt.

http://www.theflowershow.com/home/index.html

i was commissioned again by the good people at the american ivy society to throw some murals on the walls. over two cold days in the unheated convention center, i painted 260 sq ft in 16 hours.

the american ivy society's interpretation of the 'passport to the world' theme was japan; one mural was mount fuji [18' x 10'] and the other was cherry blossoms [8' x 10']. the 2010 phila international flower show runs Sunday, February 28th through Sunday, March 7 at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

furthermore, the art adventure doubled as a trip to the homeland. a special shout out to the mama y papa and the lovely, talented miriam singer [http://www.inliquid.com/artist/singer_miriam/singer.php] for their hospitality and car rides.

& a year later...

i joined twitter:

http://twitter.com/kimbeauxxx