Hummingbird in the Bronx

I am going to Las Vegas to visit a friend, plus I must go before any more museums close. Too bad I missed the Las Vegas Book Festival. These Cornell-like boxes were part of the festival. Note they are made from hollowed out books. You might still catch a hummingbird at the Reed-Whipple on Las Vegas Blvd., vulgarly known a "The Strip."

The metal sculptures are by Dennis Oppenheim. One is titled Exit Ramp to the Bronx. His sculpture of two paintbrushes will be installed at Charleston and Las Vegas Blvd., vulgarly known as "The Strip."

Now, what kind of book would it be appropriate to hollow out to make your own work of art? Books are not props, you know. Ah! There is the answer. The kind of book would be a prop book. Prop books from stage productions do not even need hollowing out and in fact are not separate books. Another kind to use would be the kind of real books people have in their library or their living room that they do not read, but are just props. A set of the Great Authors, etc. Also there are the books presidents have behind them to show everyone on television that they read. Remember Nixon was sitting in front of a set of bound transcripts? Another suggestion: an embossed leatherette collection of The Complete Works of Some Hack. I am tempted to hollow out my copy of Tobogganing on Parnassus. I will not though. The cover has the mask of Comedy.

How to Manage an English Pop Group

I've been managing an English pop group called Razorlight. They will be performing at the V Festival in Weston-under-Lizard. Get your tickets now so I can get paid. Below is a pic of the car they tool around in. Pretty cool, huh? Here's a blurb from the V Festival's site "Compared to the hippy, spaced-out vibes of Glastonbury and the harder rock element of Reading, the event is positioned squarely in the mainstream - don't expect late-night communal parties round a bonfire." Razorlight is not mainstream. I am certainly not positioning them that way.

Joan Didion's Little Yellow Corvette

Once you scroll down past the dental whitening ads you will find at this link the 50 Most Famous Cars of All Time. Glaringly missing from the list is Joni Mitchell's Porche (see Steve's comment on my last post). How could they forget Joan Didion with her little yellow Corvette? And what about, in the day. Gena Rowlands and John Cassevetes' matching Cadillac Sevilles? What about Cesar Romero's white Electra? Richard Carpenter's Avanti?

Tiptoe through the tulip chairs

I was watching Three Days of the Condor for the 20th time last night and there was a gray IBM Selectric at the receptionists desk! Here is the platen again...reminds me of The Crawling Eye. The platen IBM Pavilion is designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen Associates. The Knoll tulip chair by Eero Saarinen beginning a long tradition of uncomfortable form-fitting chairs. I think there's still a Knoll store in San Francisco's Design District near the Transamerica Pyramid (speaking of 70's architecture). Muscular yet human

The Tulip Chair

The Dickies

Manny, Moe and Jack. One of my favorite punk rock groups from the San Fernando Valley along with the Dickies and Troubled Norwegian Youth. The Dickies did these covers:
"Banana Splits (Tra La La Song)" (1979) - UK #7
"Nights in White Satin" (1979) - UK #39
"Manny, Moe And Jack" (1979)
"Gigantor" (1980) - UK #72
"My Pop the Cop" (1998)
"Free Willy" (2001)
List courtesy of Wikipedia