Sorry 'bout that.

Well, that was quite a long time to be away from my blog. Long enough that I almost considered leaving it alone for another year. Alas, procrastination beckons. Amusingly enough, I convinced myself re-enter the blogosphere [I hate that word] after musing about about Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Spice Coffee on my friend Julie's blog We Are Lumberjacks.

Here's a brief update on the things I intended to write lengthy posts about, and never got around to:

-Frank Gehry wants to sell, not donate, his archives. Whichever museum buys them will end up on my unofficial academic research no-no list. Museums shouldn't have to pay for these things, must less from egotistical architects, no matter how historically significant they think they are.

-There was an avant-garde performance in Stonington, Maine (a town you won't know about unless you're from Maine, and maybe not even in that rare case) in which some awesome dancers hung from backhoes by ropes and cables in some old granite quarries. Unfortunately, the article from the Bangor Daily News has now disappeared into the archives and is virtually inaccessible unless you wish to pay them for the privilege. My own fault for not writing about it sooner, when it was actually going on. I wish I could've seen the show, but almost nobody lives in or near Stonington. Not to deprive Stonington of cultural capital; but if someone were to stage this show in Boston or NYC, it would be an instant hit.

-Bob Neuman is having a retrospective, 1954-2007, at the Beard Gallery at Wheaton College. That's Robert S. Neuman to those of you who are Googling him right now. The retrospective is being shown through Dec. 8th. Sadly, I missed the opening on September 9th--mostly due to my own tragic lethargy, but also the fact that I knew nobody there would recognize me, despite the fact that I've worked down the street from where they lived for the past two summers and sold them expensive photographs on a regular basis. Such is life in Northeast Harbor, but I won't complain. It certainly paid the bills this year.

I recently sat down and talked with Boston-based abstract painter Bob Neuman. Don't be fooled into thinking this was intentional. He's good friends with my boss, a landscape photographer in Northeast Harbor (see June 6, 2007 post), and he was bored enough to talk to me for a while at our gallery opening back in early August. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to him about his art. Hopefully that will happen sometime in the future. The conversation mostly concerned his assertion that the Charles River is soon to be filled in (like the Back Bay was in the nineteenth century) and taken over by Harvard University. I don't know about that. But I do know that you should not be deceived by his plaid suit. In the art, world, this guy matters, and for a reason. I'll have to write about his art sometime.

-For their birthdays in March and April, I got my parents tickets for the sold-out live national broadcast of Prairie Home Companion at the Bangor Auditorium on May 3rd. Please don't tell them; it's a surprise. How did I score the tickets? I know people who know people. Unsurprisingly, I also bought a ticket for myself. And now I have to wait six months to finally see and hear Garrison Keillor in person. I can't stand it!

-Sabra Johnson won So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3. This was way back in mid-August. But the thing is, nobody thought she was the best dancer on the show. Everyone knew that honor belonged to Danny Tidwell, who was unmatched in technique and artistry; Sabra was simply the most likeable option for the uninformed SYTYCD audience, due to the fact that Shane Sparks sabotaged Danny from the get-go by branding him as an egotistical know-it-all. (Not accurate, people! He's just shy and modest!) But I'm proud of Danny for showing compassion and class concerning Sabra's victory; especially considering he's the second dancer in his immediate family to be judged the runner-up of the show. Here's to a successful career in whatever you choose to do next, Danny.

-I finally purchased Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down (2005) from the new Amazon music download service. I have two things to say about this:

1. I wish I had done this sooner. This may be the best Ani album yet, and I consider myself an early-'90s Ani loyalist, so that's saying a lot. I wasn't a huge fan of Educated Guess, so I gave up on Ani for a while. I'm glad I came back. It feels like home.
2. The Amazon music download service is actually pretty awesome. Abandon iTunes; nobody needs closed proprietary formats anyway.

-The Red Sox won the World Series again. It's not art news, but it deserves a mention. Particular emphasis on the word "again." Do I smell a dynasty brewing? I may just need to follow my brother's example and get a Red Sox tattoo. Okay, now I've brought this part of the post back into the realm of art.

-S