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May 25, 2006
TT: On the town
Our server was out of commission yesterday, making it impossible for OGIC to post her account of our fun-filled weekend in Chicago. (Yes, it's coming.) I couldn't post anything, either, so I spent the day planning and booking theater-related travel instead. It seems I have quite a complicated summer ahead of me. I'll be seeing a couple of shows in Philadelphia and Baltimore this weekend, followed shortly thereafter by trips to Georgia, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah--and that's just in June and July!Once my calendar was neat and tidy, I headed over to Hollis Taggart Galleries for the opening of the Arnold Friedman retrospective about which I posted earlier this week. It is a truth universally acknowledged that nobody goes to gallery openings to look at art, but I actually managed to pay close attention to a couple of dozen canvases in between sips of Veuve Clicquot. I also chatted with an interesting assortment of interested parties, including Tommy LiPuma (who collects Friedman's paintings, though he's better known as a record producer), William Agee (who curated the show and wrote the catalogue essay), and Friedman's grandson (who told me that he remembered seeing a copy of Skater and Dog, a Friedman lithograph I bought last year, hanging over the artist's bed). Best of all, I ran into Albert Kresch, another chronically underappreciated American artist about whom I blogged enthusiastically a couple of years ago. Needless to say, I plan to go back again and see "Arnold Friedman: The Language of Paint" under more favorable (i.e., less crowded) circumstances, but I had a good time anyway.
From there I went downtown to 55 Bar, a low-ceilinged Christopher Street hangout where good jazz can frequently be heard, and caught a set by Amanda Monaco's quartet. When not playing guitar with the Lascivious Biddies, of whom she is a charter member, Monaco performs her own very interesting compositions with a tight little band that's always worth hearing (I commend their CD to your attention).
What next? I'll be spending most of Thursday writing a Commentary essay about the new Clement Greenberg biography, after which I plan to meet the beauteous Sarah at the Jazz Standard to hear Roger Kellaway.
Yes, I'm back in business again, and it feels great--but now I need some good old-fashioned shut-eye. See you later.
UPDATE: Here's an online interview with Albert Kresch that's very much worth reading.
Posted May 25, 2006 12:00 PM
