Tracking current trends in visual art is a pleasure, and it’s a treasure hunt that always leads in multiple directions.  It’s simply impossible to follow your nose, because every doorway leads to a hundred more, and there aren’t enough noses in the world for this kind of investigation.  It is impossible to avoid New York, though, at least to avoid any reference altogether.  Any one artist will eventually lead back to this city, and usually the link is made pretty quickly.  There are some critics who will avoid the city at all costs, and then there are those who decide to save some frustration and just go ahead and dive into the belly of the beast.

Fortunately, it’s a very nice beast to visit.  Some of the top hotels in the world are in New York, and they make any stay here worth remembering.  Hospitality seems to have been invented in this city, or at least perfected.  From here, it’s not difficult to get lost following your own instincts into the art world, and every step can lead into diverse and unpredictable new realms.  One of the most exciting artists today, then, is Saya Woolfalk who’s been working in multiple directions herself.

Multimedia seems to be a wise path to take for artists today, because it allows for multiple methods of communication.  Being able to make work in other forms is every bit as useful as knowing another language, and it serves the same purpose ultimately.  Her work has been visual, with examples in painting and in sculpture, and it’s also branched into performance.  These paths may not be lucrative, but they will certainly allow for opportunities to make work, and that’s what really counts when an artist like this starts to breathe in the world.  Her particular play of symbols is fascinating, and helps to create uncanny and autonomous worlds.  It will be interesting to see how it plays with the other works in the Bunny Redux exhibition at the Warhol in Pittsburgh next month.

NY’s Saya Woolfalk is a post from: Xoonco

A trek through a country, seated on a road bike or a mountain bike is a great way to see that country, and to really grasp a feel for the elements of a country and of the culture which may get passed by while traveling through in a motorized vehicle.  It is the total experience of the sights that are to be seen, and the air that is to be breathed.  For some avid cyclists, it is a way to experience what the champions have, such as in those that follow along the exact route of the Tour De France.  For others, it is a relaxing way to tour the wind countries of South Africa, Italy, or Napa Valley, California.

For families traveling the island of Phuket, it is a way to spend quality time together, and to experience all aspects of the environment, the jungles, and the beaches.  There are many bike tours available, most leaving from the myriad of hotels located in the city.  For a listing of the hotels, look here.  Located throughout the world, there are almost two thousand National Parks, a number which does include the natural reserved lands.  One such park is located just outside the city of Phuket, and a one day bike tour geared towards family excursions will lead you right to the park and to one of the natural wonders of the world, the hatching of the grand sea turtles, an event that occurs each year in the months of March through November.

The ride to the Haad Thuy Muang Turtle Sanctuary is a fine way to escape from the crowds, and it is a ride that all members of the family can enjoy as the difficulty level is low.  Families are led through the winding roads, along the coastline, through plantations of rubber and pineapple, and through the villages, gathering stories for the locals along the way.  After heading across the Sarasin Bridge the tour ends at the sanctuary, and will have the beautiful experience of the hatching of the sea turtle eggs and watching the delicate creatures make their way to the sea.  All of the equipment is provided, and a tour van will follow the cyclists should at any point someone would want take a break from the ride.  This is a lovely way to spend time while vacationing with the family, and an incredible way to fully experience the wonderful Island of Phuket.

A Bike Trek to the Phuket National Park Turtle Sanctuary is a post from: Xoonco

In Los Angeles, if someone said “Atchafalaya,” that person might well receive a gesundheit as as response; however, if that person were in Lafayette, Louisiana, everyone would know the subject under discussion is one of the largest river swamps in America.  The Atchafalaya Experience is a tour of this wilderness area, conducted by a father and son team, Coerte Voorhies, Jr. (the father) and Kim Voorhies (the son); the former is a semi-retired consulting geologist, with a thorough knowledge of the area’s history and and culture, while the latter is retired military, who has been accompanying his father into the swamps and marshes of Louisiana for years.  Their expeditions have been on numerous cable and foreign television stations, such as BBC, Discovery Chanel, French TV1, A&E Channel, France, Polish, Italian, and Australian TV.  They go out into the swamps twice a day, every day of the week, as long as the weather allows it.  You’ll need to make a reservation, though, to arrange for the time.
 
On these trips, visitors can see up to 38 bird species, as well as a number of beaver, nutria, mink, deer, otters, and squirrels.  If the season is right for it, you’ll see alligators, too.  In addition to nature watching, the Atchafalaya Experience may also include sport and commercial fishing.  People who have been on the tour praise Kim Voohries for his knowledge and passion for what he does, saying that it’s clear that he really knows the area and truly loves it.  The tour is especially praised by people who have been on other swamp tours, saying that this tour is among the best they’ve been on.
 
After spending a day in the Atchafalaya, it’ll be nice to get back to the hotels Lafayette provides for its visitors and relax, before heading out for a Cajun meal or a night at the Lafayette Theater.

The Atchafalaya in Lafayette is a post from: Xoonco

There is a nephew of mine who loves manuals. His name is Hoyt. He is only thirteen but he is obsessed with them. He has a special kind of autism the name of which I can never remember because it is him I remember and not the way his brain had been wired. Besides, our ancestry, past and present, is spread out here and there throughout the world. There are small clots of us in locations that are always close military bases, but those bases dot the globe the way pushpins might decorate a map.

But this kind of autism, though it makes him kind of awkward in social situations not really because I always get what he is trying to say though the words might come out in jigsaw puzzle piece makes him a kind of expert in his interests. But he has a thing about manuals. The mechanical is his kind of thing, the automotive kind. He is a sort of steampunk with preference for things that are made with all the gears and guts visible, where you see where the hand that touched the small engine. Repair manuals from the old days are what he wants to read these days because those kinds of repair manuals suit him, demonstrating how baroque and yet seemingly elegant mechanicals things went together to make things make the road turn to an oil painting blur.

Manuals from the 1970s are his current thing. He says this was the last decade before we got detached from our technology. I always thought it was the Victorian era because of the whole steampunk thing, but he insists it was the 1970s. People still touched engines and gears and pipes and bolts in a fond way, constructing a mechanical artwork from the metal and oil. He wants an automotive repair manual for his birthday, which is soon coming upon me. I browse old antique shops hoping to find repair manuals to sate his automotive addiction of late, but I come up empty and I do not want his birthday to be empty. Because while others find his words empty and dislocated from logic, I find those same words maintain a fond touch and art.

Steampunk: An Automotive Repair Manual Love Story is a post from: Xoonco

The rich history of the prominent people of New York, those of the world, and some that are not so well known, is illustrated literally on the streets of the city, through the numerous sculptures and statues that were created in honor of them, and their lives and their achievements.  In many areas, such as Central Park, these are public, outdoor sculpture gardens which give everyone the opportunity to see not only great works of art by some of the most famous artists of the world, but a bit of the history of the subject matter as well.

The Concert Grove in Prospect Park is European inspired, as not only is there a place now to watch and hear live music, but it is surrounded by such sculptures and beds of flowers, lily ponds, and well tended gardens.  Many of which are found in the parks of France and Germany, as the arts and music and nature, were all encompassing, they all contributed and played equal parts in the entire experience of the day, or the night.

Not only now, do the musicians of today delight audiences, but those of the past and the most influential are remembered in the form of these sculptures.  Three portraits were donated to the park many years ago, those of faces that are now so recognizable, and whose music has inspired and influenced the lives of musicians everywhere, Ludwig von Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Karl Maria Von Weber.  Other musicians and artists are honored throughout the park as well, such as the poet Thomas Moore, Abraham Lincoln, the author Washington Irving and the composer Edward Grieg.

The support of the arts, and the appreciation of the effects that art has on society, is what most of New York City is about.  From public parks, to museums, and galleries there is much to see, and much to learn.  Plan a walking tour next time you visit.  To find a hotel located to your desired destination of discovery, check out www.5starnewyorkhotels.com.  Here you find listed a variety of options, in some of the finest hotels in the city, and each day you return to your room, you will be amazed at just how much you have discovered, as well as just how much more is out there to see.

Music at the Concert Grove of New York is a post from: Xoonco

New York is a city of originals, and a city of excess.  In the midst of the excess, there are also those who are extremely minimal in taste, and they carry this to an excess.  It’s all about statements and gimmicks, but at the same time, New Yorkers are some of the most discerning citizens of the world.  This means that with the flash that can capture anyone’s attention, there also has to be a solid core of talent and inspiration behind everything.  This doesn’t mean that everything here is the best, only that there are enough people here with excellent taste who expect the best.  This kind of expectation leads to some very high quality in music and art.

There is also excellence in hospitality and accommodation, and five star New York hotels have a tendency to make their guests think that these lodgings are the industry’s standard.  There is always a sense of splendor and extravagance, and all done with impeccable taste.  It should impress, because this is the city, after all, that gives birth to bands like Sonic Youth.  Not that there are many bands like them, and even their imitators have a tendency to give up the initial inspiration for new artistic directions of their own.

Sonic Youth is definitive in both sound and ethos.  The DIY, do-it-yourself, aesthetic that characterizes so many alternative music groups, reached a kind of peak in the band’s early days, and still defines much of what they do.  Their music is as much guitar noise as it is formally innovative, drawing on influences like John Cage, to make  this group an experiment that has done very well in 3 decades.  They continue to play and make new work together, as well as venturing off into some remarkable side projects.  This is a New York original, with a terrific combination of excess and restraint, coupled with a constant sense and talent for innovation.

New York Youth is a post from: Xoonco

I’m now on my 15th day here in Seattle, USA. Seattle is a very strange place, I never would have pictured myself staying here at all, for any reason, but well, here I am, early summer, still a little chill in the air, but the sun was shinning, which I’ve heard is a rarity here. My motives for coming here are of no interest, because it’s far more interesting to shed some light on this place.

Right now, I’m at a cafe’ called Victrola; it’s been a favorite of mine to just relax and watch the world of Seattle walk past me. The location I’m in is Capitol Hill, a ‘anyone can be anything they want to be and no one will care neighborhood’. This is an area where people can walk around doing absolutely anything they feel like and seem to get away with it; a very liberal America. Currently, the sun is out, so the day is uplifting and not the usual dismay gray rainy day that typifies Seattle. I’ve been fortunate, that ever since I arrived, the sun has been shining. June must be the time to visit Seattle.

However, this really isn’t a normal month for Seattle, but from what I can tell so far, there is nothing in Seattle that is normal. When I first arrived in Seattle and checked into my luxury hotel, one I booked on-line at this site: http://www.seattleluxuryhotels.com, I was warned that it rains all the time; to be exact, it’s only rained once since I’ve been here and that only lasted an hour or so.

I think I’ll be staying through to July 4th, I’ve heard there is a fantastic festival involving old-time ships in the harbor. There is an actual replica of the Bounty that will be featured. Sounds very entertaining, enough for me to delay my trip back home.

Sunny Seattle is a post from: Xoonco

There are always good reasons to come and visit Los Angeles.  There’s a lot more here than the industry, although it does tend to get into everything, and news about famous people is always interesting, no matter what circles you’re in.  There are stories about J-Lo going to get consultas with Lucumi priests in town, and stories about Lucumi priests going to hear J-Lo sing, so there’s some reciprocity here.  Of course, anyone who’s spent a little time here, or even out of the womb, understands that reciprocity is not one of the best ways to characterize Hollywood, and that the deck is seriously stacked.

Understanding that is one of the keys to enjoying the city, whether it’s for a weekend, or the beginning of a much longer adventure.  There are many lives that changed completely after beginning an adventure in a Los Angeles cheap hotel.  There are many fantastic ways to spend a weekend here, and plenty of clubs, raves, and art parties, or even lusty revelries on the beach, but there are also some magnificent corners where art happens along with the rest of these things.  At this point, the city really does start to breathe, and that breath is nothing less than true inspiration.  One corner is Sunset and Cahuenga, where you can find Theatre of NOTE.

Some of the most interesting minds in Hollywood are here, along with some very bright talents, such as Phillip Curry, Michelle Hillyard, Lisa Liang, and Ezra Buzzington.  You’ll recognize Ezra from a dozen horror films, and you’ll no doubt recognize everyone else, too.  These are working actors who’ve been committed to making good work in a city where good work is low on the agenda.  There’s also an intelligence about the place, reflecting the people who make up NOTE, that speaks toward world views that reflect on the most essential questions of the day, and respond with new and bold art.  Their parties are fabulous, and the season is fantastic.  Be warned, however, that they offer the kind of experiences that make visitors consider moving here.

Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood is a post from: Xoonco

New York has everything in the world that anyone would ever want, except for maybe some peace and quiet, but that can certainly be bought here.  Everything is negotiable, and everything exists here.  It’s one of the most exciting places in the world for many good reasons, and it continues to attract members of every generation and every culture every day.   It’s a wonderful place to visit, and of course, a very difficult place to live.  It has the potential to accommodate everybody, from youth hostels to New York hotel suites, and for short trips, there is no place on earth that’s more delightful or interesting.  But for long term living, it takes a lot more money than most people have access to.

That’s one of the reasons why the hippie scene had such a different vibe than the rest of the country in 1967, the year I was born.  I can’t give first hand evidence, but the stories go that living in the city had all the same challenges then that it has now.  The countercultural scene has always been very strong here, at least since it defined itself as a bohemian paradise at the turn of the 20th century, and it certainly wouldn’t miss out on a movement like this, not with all the eyes of the world watching for signs of peace and love from all the corners of the world.

New York had its highlights, and its major contributions to this particular culture, at this particular time.  But the challenges were much more difficult, because it’s hard to live in a city.  Food and rent have always been the biggest draws on personal accounts, and even in those days, no one was willing to overthrow a delicate infrastructure for a barter system, at least not on any grand scale.  Many of the hippie generation looking for the kind of experience San Francisco was famous for would leave the city for New York’s rural areas, hippie havens where you could live in communes, with more than a little less attention from the other citizens, or the authorities.  But those who stayed in the city left a very strong imprint on its sensibility.  Nothing was overthrown, and no revolution had any visible lasting effects, but there are signs everywhere of what happened here when people decided to take a stab at dancing as if no one was watching.

New York Hippies is a post from: Xoonco

I took the subway to Tribeca and wandered about for a while. It was so very cold, so I stopped for a cup of coffee to thaw out a bit, then carried on with the walk about towards Ground Zero. I couldn’t believe I got a bit lost, but I’ll blame it on the massive construction going on and many roads were closed and diverted. I did find a small gallery commemoration 9/11 and looked at future renderings for the plans to restore Ground Zero. I didn’t spent too long there, I wanted to keep up my body heat.

I walked through the Financial Center and on to Battery Park, which is located right at the southern most tip of the peninsula where there is a memorial for the police. Battery Park has a great view of all the buildings across the Hudson. I also had a good view of the Statue of Liberty, which gave me my bearings. The wind was really blowing and I was getting colder by the New York minute, so I headed along Wall Street and walked past Tiffany’s and up to Chinatown.

I was hoping to find something in Chinatown to buy for my brother, but nothing seemed interesting. So, I headed to West Broadway and found the Billionaire Boys Club shop and found him a great shirt. I finally had lunch and really enjoyed ease-dropping in on the three policemen sitting behind me. I just loved their Brooklyn dialect, made me really feel like I was in New York, not that the cold didn’t.

I headed back to one of the small hotels New York has plenty of and took a nice long hot shower. I was chilled to the bone. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. New York is beautiful in the winter. I hear it might snow tomorrow, which for me will be perfect!

New York is Beautiful in Winter is a post from: Xoonco