Painting Interrupted

A couple of years ago, I painted my entire house (2 floors including the basement) from top to bottom. Borrowed some scaffolding and even worked on the ceiling and cathedral foyer. 30 buckets of paint, 14 colors, 8 paint brushes and enough blue edger tape to circle the world. With that amount of experience and skill doing the same to a cheap imitation shed shouldn't take long. So I gathered my 9-year old cousin, the tenacious arm pincher/bed hog, Miss Morgan to help out. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as they did inside. First we forgot the primer, next we got into a paint war, then grass and bugs blew into the sticky side and finally the clouds spit rain on our day. So much for a simple paint job. "It's plastic you fools!" berated my stepfather, "paint may stick to Morgan but its worthless on anything but wood!". Sure enough, 4 coats and hours of work (and play) washed away in minutes. Phase 2 starts tomorrow and includes a high-pressure hose and lots of hearty horticulture help.

Tanglewood on Parade

Last night I drove like Grace Kelly in "To Catch a Thief" - bobbing and weaving, breaking limits and running lights, my arms flaring around like Segei Ozawa's. I was on my way back from Tanglewood On Parade for the third time this summer and listening to TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture. Crashing symbols, booming canons, raucous crowds and a grand fireworks finale. It was like July 4th on the Charles River all over again. John Williams conducted his most popular scores - "Star Wars", "Harry Potter" and the just released "War of the Worlds" - really, the only reason to see the movie. Other works included Beethoven's "The Creatures of Prometheus" and Bernstein's "West Side Story". Sheer magic, I tell ya! In a venue like Tanglewood, on a blistering hot day, with beads of sweat dripping off my brow onto the viewfinder, and standing ovations the norm, this epitomizes summer at it's finest. Ahhhhh, but where or where was Mr.Lockheart? Keith?

Take Stock in the Woods

Need some introspection and free-thinking? Try a day trip at a Buddhist Monastery in Woodstock! I was there this weekend. The monks gathered to pray, chant, and bang drums in public, a rare ritual that takes place only once a year. His Holiness, a young 20 yr. old Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, and his followers, were in full costume and dress. Inside the Central Temple, my senses were assaulted by an explosion of color and craftsmanship. The labor that went into designing the elaborate stenciling is absolutely prodigious. Karma Triyana Dharmachakra is the name of this great place, only 10 minutes from downtown peace-loving Woodstock. Other advice -- zucchini flatbread at Joshua's, a hike up Trappist mountain and catching a skinny in a nearby creek. Introspection and free-thinking all back to normal again.

Bitter is Back

The 2004 version of Alfie is my favorite chase-conquest movie as of a week ago. Jude Law plays Alfie, a charming young playboy with a wantonly promiscuous appetite for stellar-looking women and top model film star, Sienna Miller, plays the last heart he breaks before getting his own. It typifies the complexities of pretty boys with thick egos that hide their thin veneer of fear. I know the type and I'm afraid they're a hopeless bunch. Jude Law's own real life Alfie moment came this week when he admitted to messing around on Sienna with the nanny of his 3 kids. Poor Sienna, barely 23, beautiful, successful, personable but like so many women before her naive, naive, naive. If women need loyalty in a relationship they should no further than a well-groomed, well-behaved Labrador Retriever, about the only species that stays committed.

Word of the Day

Men find "We are the knights who say ni!,", the 3 stooges and Napolean Dynamite funny. Women find all the humor they need in one word - "dingy". Camilla from Manila was in town yesterday and my Charter Captain and I took her to our clandestine alcove on Lake George. With lightning overhead and our lives in peril we drown our fears in imported Philippino Mango Rum Liqueur and Mike's Lemonade. On the count of 3 Camilla! "One, two...two and half, two and three quarters, come on come on Camilla, jump already, it's like bath water, really" "Ok, Ok!" "One!" And overboard we go, mallard ducks taking flight from the gigantic splash we create. The Captain's next. His graceful swan dive puts us both to shame. "I'm thinking about buying a dingy" he says as we circle the boat. "A dingy!" "A dingy!" Hah, one word and Camilla and I are crippled over in hysteria. Unlike jib, keal, starboard, or port, dingy is the word of the day. It's like trying to understand what makes Larry, Curly and Moe funny to most men - "dingy" works for women, especially those with a healthy diet for mango rum.

Park Bench Refuge

Before evening performances in Quebec, my mornings were reserved for exploring the city. I've a tendency to go overboard with activities and Mondays line-up was no exception. The local "Velo Magasin" was renting bikes for a mere $15 for a half day trips, so I threw myself into a 50 mile exploration and discovered places not found on travel itineries. The paved bike path carved its way around the mouth of the St.Lawrence River, across bridges and overpasses, alongside train routes and through fields. I wasn't alone for long on this lengthy journey. The people of this city are ridiculously in shape and to my surprise, avid cyclists. It took everything out of me to keep up with a 50 something year old female climb a San-Fran size incline. The return trip coasting back down allowed me to catch my breath. After 4 hours, I forfeited the bike and roughed it on foot. 2 museums awaited, first up Museum of Civilization followed by "fateful encounter"; the works of Claudel and Rodin at the National Museum of Beaux Arts. Later, 300 acres of Abraham Park had me hiking endless nature trails and fields of history. With my energy waning I collapsed on a park bench. A few hours later I awoke to crashing symbols and drum beats in the distance. I'll never make another park-bench joke again - mine refueled my soul to continue well after midnight.

Boom Boom Boom...

lets go back to my room... hey girls (and Kenny) it's "Boom DesJardins", yes, that's his name and how adorable is this guitar-toting Canadian! Boom is Quebec City's favorite alternative pop rock singer right now, attracting throngs of face-piercing, purple-haired, skateboarding masses. I just returned from Quebec City's 38th Annual Music Festival, 10 days of world, rock, folk and classical by hundreds of foreign performers. Unlike concerts in the US, this was a music mind-trip minus the marijuana. France's Jamait, the UK's Porcupine Tree, and this state's New York Dolls playing in 3 venues surrounding Canada's oldest city. Quebec City is like going to Europe without the jetlag - 16th century stone buildings, horse drawn caleches and the most photographed hotel ever, the Chateau Frontenac, all protected by 2 ancient surrounding walls. GoNomad will be posting an article on the trip, as soon as I write it, so be looking for it.

What's in a Name?

Sony Corp. is after my name! I received a FedEx from their lawyers the other day with demands to cease and desist using my nickname in my domain name address. The ego of this company. Sony is a shorten version of my name that I've been using long before I was associated with video production equipment, long before websites existed and long before I ever heard of Sony Corporation. But Kenyon & Kenyon Associates of Intellectual Property Law see's it as an infringement of rights that won't be tolerated. It's like Country Time going after a portion of the revenue a child makes at a lemonade stand. Incredulous. The good news is that hits on my site are skyrocketing - thank god too, I need the work to pay for all those pending lawyer fees.

Free as the Wind

My Charter Captain passes me the rudder and rigging of his 27 foot cruiser, codename "Unplugged", and says "Go ahead, she's all yours Sony, sail away". And so I do. "Ready to come about?" "Ready!" Nice and slow with calculated timing we tack or turn into the wind exactly as planned. Pulling 8-12 knots Captain "Unplugged" or "U" for short hurries to let the jib out. That's a triangle shaped sail forward the mask. The centerboard or keel keeps the boat aligned so all of this fancy sailing stuff works properly. Today Lake George couldn't be more beautiful and celebrating this country's 234th birthday on it's waters seems like the quintessential expression of freedom. This lake carries a history lesson on the Revolutionary war at every turn. Later in the evening fireworks go off directly overhead. Captain "U" and I forget that fact as we make for quieter and less traveled waters at the sandiest beach bottom ever felt between the toes. "Anchors away!" hollars Captain U. Our alcove is suppose to be a clandestine one but at least a dozen other motorboats, party barges, and jetskis have discovered it's treasures. Our swim to shore is like wading in a tub of bath water, warm and inviting. Captain "U" later treats me to fresh cooked salmon and veggies ala a convenient stainless steal cooker off the aft. "Oh, shit, I just spilled EVOO on my Henri-Lloyd cargo's!" So jump Cabana boy, jump - and so he does. Really now, could life get any better?

Concepts of Time

"It's almost like a 3-D Tetris" explained the architect looking to make his fortunes on the Guadalajara Guggenheim, a conceptual museum in the first stages of planning. I visited Guadalajara last October and the iconic presence of a Guggenheim, especially one that looks like a lighthouse, positioned over a 2000-foot gorge, would simply be amazing. However, I won't be holding my breath for this one anytime soon. While in Mexico last October, I learned of the "Manana attitude" of Latin Americans. Work, leisure and concepts of time in Mexico correspond to an entirely different cultural mindset than us Americans. Americans beleive time is money, Mexicans beleive it is the "powerless" who wait - so having endless coffee breaks with friends and relatives while leaving someone waiting for an appointment makes them the powerful. It's crazy. When my ex-pat friends relocated there and needed something fixed, a scheduled appointment would take days, even weeks. My friends couldn't complain about the wait because then the work would never get done. Time also tends to be circular rather than linear in Latin America, that is, the past and present are perceived as equally relevant and so Mexicans do not do things in chronological order. This project might take longer than Spain's Bilboa, Berlin's Deutsche Guggenheim, and the Soho Guggenheim all combined.