one piece: Food and Drink

31 October 2009

"Song of the Witches"

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

By William Shakespeare

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983)

Photograph: Yasuhiro Ishimoto

Halloween, Chicago 1950s

28 October 2009

Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Noel Coward--step aside. We've got John Wallowitch, composer and cabaret performer extraordinaire. And in this wonderful cd, he sings his songs of love for the greatest city in the world.

"While Noel Coward is no longer around to set the standards for a certain kind of sophisticated songwriting sensibility, John Wallowitch nimbly carries the torch."--Stephen Holden, NY Times

Available at: moss

07 September 2009

"Milkmaid" in Manhattan

Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece "The Milkmaid" is coming to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art for a special exhibition on the 17th-century Dutch artist.

The exhibition opens Sept. 10 and runs until Nov. 29. It will be the first time in 70 years that the painting will be seen in the United States. It was last exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair.

"The Milkmaid" dates from 1657-58. It shows a milkmaid in a delft blue and yellow dress pouring milk from a jug into a bowl.

The exhibition will also feature all five paintings by Vermeer in the Met's collection and works by other Dutch painters.

"The Milkmaid" is being loaned by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Only 36 of Vermeer's works survive today.

via: The Huffington Post

07 August 2009

Hand on the Wheel

ArtistAlfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946)
TitleGeorgia O'Keeffe
Descriptive Title[Left Hand on Car Wheel Fender]
Date1933
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions24.1 x 19.5 cm (9 1/2 x 7 11/16 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

07 July 2009

Ace Hotel, Palm Springs

Set in the desert outpost of Palm Springs just east of LA, the Ace Palm Springs is a sprawling, high-design 1970’s throwback – recently renovated from a 1965 Howard Johnson motor Lodge. Entirely solar-powered (thanks to the 354 days of sunshine the Springs receive per year), the hotel is a lot more than just a sepia-toned, rough and ready take on the design hotel.

With spongy, tanned-leather seating, a rope-festooned lobby from costumier Michael Schmidt, a giant Swim Club pool, and rooms replete with vintage vinyl and Americana aplenty.

via: Wallpaper/Travel

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06 April 2009

Summer Illustration Class in Venice Italy

I'll be teaching a concept illustration class at

The Associazione Culturale Teatrio

July 10-15, 2009.

This class is open to college students and anyone entering the practice of illustration and communication design.

Please visit The Associazione Culturale Teatrio

website for more detailed information concerning the class and application deadline.

You may also send me an email with any questions.

Ciao!

11 January 2009

“Whatever else has been said about me personally is unimportant. When I sing, I believe. I'm honest.”
Frank Sinatra

Singers, more than other musicians, depend on what they know — as opposed to what they don’t want to know about the world. While there is a danger in this — the loss of naïveté, for instance, which holds its own certain power — interpretive skills generally gain in the course of a life well abused.

Want an example? Here’s an example. Take two of the versions of Sinatra singing “My Way.”

The first was recorded in 1969 when the Chairman of the Board said to Paul Anka, who wrote the song for him: “I’m quitting the business. I’m sick of it. I’m getting the hell out.” In this reading, the song is a boast — more kiss-off than send-off — embodying all the machismo a man can muster about the mistakes he’s made on the way from here to everywhere.

In the later recording, Frank is 78. The Nelson Riddle arrangement is the same, the words and melody are exactly the same, but this time the song has become a heart-stopping, heartbreaking song of defeat. The singer’s hubris is out the door. (This singer, i.e. me, is in a puddle.) The song has become an apology.

To what end? Duality, complexity. I was lucky to duet with a man who understood duality, who had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment.

This is our moment. What do we hear?

link: "Notes From The Chairman" By Bono for The New York Times