Couldn’t help but notice…

…the resemblance:

…and Brando lived at Neverland.

 

“Red or green?” (the report from your chile-roasting Ba-ristra)

The New Mexico chile report:

So I got my 5lb. shipment this week – the first of the (2 weeks early) harvest from Hatch, New Mexico. It made for a busy afternoon / evening: washing and then roasting all 5 pounds in our little broiler. On the one hand it’s hard work, on the other, it’s pure entertainment (the chile-roasting smell alone is intoxicating). I ordered the “medium” and the first taste was disappointing – too subtle in its flavor but further tasting provided some wonderful zest and more robust flavor. Overall, I can’t be critical. I’ve been eating it all day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and in between too). John asked me (with a smirk), “…do you want me to hide it?” I’m beginning to think there’s nicotine in it. Then again, I come from the land of “red or green?” – the only place where chile is not an option is Baskin Robbins. New Mexico’s McDonald’s has green chile, so do all the pizza joints. They couldn’t compete without it. As for the report: I’ve been advised to wait a couple weeks for a better pick of the harvest. Great! – I hope those nicotine patches work in the meanwhile.

Roasted chiles stacking up...

The tasting: toasted w/ tortilla & cheese

 

It was once upon a place…

In my recent posts, an unintended theme has sprung in reference to Talking Heads / David Byrne: concert, songs, lyrics. This time, as a matter of circumstance, I allude to one more of their song titles upon learning the calamitous news: the historic (Huning) Castle Apartments in Albuquerque were gutted, if not totally destroyed by fire. Fortunately no one was hurt. Nevertheless I’m disheartened over the loss of this beautiful building and edifice of my own history. I used to live there.

View from living room overlooking courtyard, April, 2000

...amidst architecture school work (and clutter).

John in front of the courtyard, December at the Castle

The Castle Apartments is where John and I made our first home together. Although we were renters, it was a dream home to us with higher ceilings, wood floors, a surround of windows, big kitchen, lots of storage, best heating ever (radiators so warm we could open the windows in the winter and noisy in a good way like a John Cage piece), downtown to the right, Old Town to the left, Dairy Queen across the street, work was 5 blocks away (I worked at FMSM which was housed in the renovated Breece Mansion. I swear I felt like a princess walking from a castle to a mansion everyday). It was in that building (the Castle) that I labored to earn my masters degree in architecture and it was from our apartment we would hear, almost every Saturday, the sound of car horns honking – racing up “Route 66″ from Old Town Plaza or its cathedral – celebrating and announcing the “just married’s.” One day that sound was our own as we left our Old Town wedding and headed back to our place.

I’m grateful to have such fond memories and the images that capture this gracious place and time and my heart goes out to those who lost their ‘now.’

One of our last evenings living at the Castle before moving to LA: our "chandelier" over the dinner table as seen from Central Ave. "Route 66."

 

Goodbye Kitty…

…so much for the Sanrio-esque Republican brand.

 

The Tao of June…

…chocolate, NM wine, NM green chile: a trifecta of ‘yum’; add to that a David Byrne concert in Santa Fe and a visit with family and relatives and it makes for one fine month.

For my birthday, at the start of the month, I got an awesome birthday treat at the office: “Inspiration”: a salted caramel, dark chocolate, ganache/cake/chocolate grenade (say-no-more) from Jin Patisserie – just up the street – along with a stirring choral performance of “Happy Birthday” and lunch out too. Viva la ‘Risa! Many thanks comrades!

Mid-month, John and I flew into New Mexico and drove up to Santa Fe for the David Byrne concert at the Lensic. I had a BLAST! The Lensic is an older, smaller theater off the plaza with Spanish Baroque-deco detailing; pretty dazzling. It took a while for the audience to getup, standup – for their right to dance – as we were advised to be considerate of our fellow audience members (and not block the view). I worried the band wasn’t getting their due feedback of energy and I certainly was feeling the urge to “stir-the-punch” (so to speak). Finally, the swell hit and the audience was on their feet – phew! The music was fantastic. So were the dancers. We were treated to several encores – the second (or third?) of which delivered the Talking Heads classic: Burning Down the House (pictured). WOW. The possibility, would he? YES! Stirring the audience to the climatic frenzy for the evening he then closed, with tantric erudition, with “Everything that Happens” – a lullabye energy to send the audience off in a released-and-then-calmed afterglow. Eno, Byrne, musicians, singers, dancers (choreographer): fabulous synchronicity.

@ Overland Sheepskin Co., Taos, NM

Back to Albuquerque the next day to visit with family. Not only to visit with my awesome mom, but got to see my wonderful uncle, aunt, and cousin too, not to mention my near-and-dear bro., sista-in-law Mary, nephew and niece. Bro., cousin, and I headed up to Taos the next day. The trip was great: the visit along the drive, the sky, the landscape, the food (breakfast burrito smothered in green chile at Joann’s in Española). I managed to score John’s new “briefcase” at Overland Sheepskin Company there in Taos after a few phonecalls and cellphone photos. He likes it in person too.

On the way back we ducked into the Vivac Winery tasting room. I bought the Tempranillo with its complex layering of rich flavors and a box of their artisanal chocolates, and regret (and still think about) not getting a bottle of the tart, “old world,” rose´.

Saturday included a visit to Old Town (Albuquerque) w/ Mary and niece and nephew. I was worried visiting in late June it would be hot and glarey (NM is prone to brief, solstice heatwaves) but the air felt great and the light was wonderful: late afternoon with marginally monsoon weather – a light breeze, spritz of rain, and diffuse daylight through gently moody clouds to make it cool and softly bright. There was a wedding on the plaza too to add a dash of ceremony and festivity. I regret not having my camera.

Sunday I was out and about with mom and sent off with a batch of green chile to take home to LA (thanks Mary!). I went through it so fast and selfishly I already have my pre-order in for a modest 5 lb. delivery in August (Berridge Farms). I prefer mild summers and absorbing the heat through NM chile. I’ll let you know if it’s worth it’s season. June was.

 

Water flowing underground… (Fort Worth, Texas)

You may ask yourself-well…how did I get here? I had a free ticket from Southwest Airlines and wanted to maximize the value – so, from LA, we weren’t squandering it on a trip to San Francisco. I was thinking more along the scale of Boston, Manhattan, or Washington D.C. But a recurring thought was I really wanted to see the Kimbell Museum designed by Louis Kahn. So off to Fort Worth we went for a long weekend. I wondered what else we would do to fill the rest of our weekend over and beyond seeing the Kimbell and half-heartedly shook out a few more leads. It turns out we had a great visit.

We stayed at a B&B called Azalea Plantation. It’s such a treat not to be an anonymous ghost in some cookie-cutter institutional building of a hotel. We really enjoyed our breakfast visits (and the great, home-cooked breakfasts too) with our hosts / “innkeepers” Martha and Richard and other guests as well. It was a chance to learn some Texas history, get leads on where to dine, hear about a local quirk – the customary blue-bonnet flower photo-ops., and tornado stories

Got to the Kimbell. The outside of the building, formally, was a little lackluster for me – a bit coffin-like. But beautifully scaled down with a water feature and grove of trees at its upper-level entry. This is the same grove of trees Kahn intended for the courtyard of the Salk Institute (good thing Barragan’s response at the Salk won out – see October 21 post). Given the Kimbell’s scale and context, the grove idea works here and creates an inviting outdoor room with cooling shade and draws the visitor into the museum. The Kimbell’s interior is the soft underbelly to its otherwise stalwart exterior. The building was designed in section to bounce and spread daylight into its galleries and so its interior is graciously daylighted – not only casting the artwork into a true-color reading, but rendering the concrete of the building itself into soft, subtle colors of skyblue, rose, and amber – which means Kahn is not just a great architect, but a great Kahn-crete salesman too. I’ve never seen concrete cast this warm and colorful – except at the Salk. As for that radiant daylight though, the effect is radiant thermal warmth too. I wondered what kind of demand the daylighting puts on the cooling requirements in the summer.

(Digression: also worth mentioning, the film “My Architect” is a great documentary film by Louis Kahn’s son, Nathaniel Kahn, about his journey to learn about his architect-father. It’s a “must see.”)

Then came The Modern. The Kimbell is an appetizer-size museum so when we ducked out of its lower-level gallery, we were presented by the main course: the Modern Art Museum. What a gem! Designed by Tadao Ando, the building riffs off the rhythms of concrete galleries that comprise the Kimbell, scales it up to 2- stories and organizes it around a reflecting pool contiguous with the floor of the museum itself. Much like the MOMA redesign in New York, also by Ando, the visitor gets a sense of procession and progress through the building with long views that connect back into distant galleries or out of the building – providing a sense of phrasing to the galleries and rest for the visitors’ eyes from the constant close-ups. The exhibits presented some refreshing surprises too: drawing studies by DeKooning illustrating his process of abstraction, and, a personal fave, one of Motherwell’s Elegies to the Spanish Republic. I’ve managed to see a handful so far. This was one of the sharper renditions. Also among artists’ series: a Serra sculpture punctuates one of the building’s corners outside – a daunting vertical mode of his oeuvre. Additionally, the cafe there was one of the better museum cafes I’ve been to – good food, and hospitable staff. We went back a second day just for lunch (day one was just a wine & cheese pick-me-up).

Another highlight was the Fort Worth Water Gardens (designed by Phillip Johnson). Every city should have one of these. The “Bilbao effect” has nothing on this.

done

 

Post”ah!”polis LA

Ah!…

…ah-ha!…: that one pixel; that one bright spot!

John and I braved LA’s dreary downtown to attend Postopolis Saturday night (April 4) to rub elbows with our comrades in art, architecture, and blogs. It was on the rooftop of (relatively speaking in terms of scale: the diminutive) Standard Hotel. I have to admit I was appropriately distracted (from the presentation about “aesthetics and protest”) by the chilly breeze and the bounce of light at sunset as the surround of downtown’s loomingly-large building’s created this magnificent urban room for cocktails and conversation.

Thanks Postopolis peeps for a great urban experience!

 

Image, oppression, and American corporations’ business ethos

It’s tax time and it looks as though my husband and I are going to have to write a check to the IRS. But let’s be real: those letters are the cryptogram for AIG among others including (2 of *) “the big three”- which reminds me of Ford and my post of June 9, 2008. My post prompted a snarky comment from “I Believe.” With a little curiosity and a quick google search at the time I had unveiled an uneasy irony of information which now is hauntingly relevant.

I found that the struggling Ford Motor company, instead of investing in producing a relevant and quality product, threw money at a high-priced advertising agency for strategic marketing (i.e. “emerging media strategists” who use blogs, for example, to promote and defend their brands) and at the same time I found articles about how the company was monitoring employee bathroom breaks because of a supposed slowing of production (not sales…?). Essentially, Ford Motor focused on the vapid marketing of its brand and its tired line of autos and scapegoated its employees – policing the personal habits of its workers instead of making the effort to create an authentic meaning for its brand by increasing the value and quality of its product; instead of investing in better tools, better materials, better quality of life for its employees, and responsive design approaches for its cars, it threw money at ad agencies and timed employee bathroom breaks – bringing new meaning to the term “bottom line” instead of to its cars.

When did brand-boostering, instead of producing something substantive, become economically viable?…oh,… that’s right, it hasn’t!…

…’scuse me while I go cut a check.

*(note) although Ford did not accept TARP money, they’re still culpable.

 

The Bleeding Edge

I’m a Marxist; and I’d like to clarify that I’m not a Lenninist but given the drastic economy I am wondering when and where the violent revolution will occur: when tax-paying Americans are losing their modest homes AND their jobs and our “taxes-don’t-apply to me” government-”leaders” are debating over the terms of bailing out the pirates who thrust US into this panzer attack – only to find out that taxpayer money was applied to redecorating CEO offices (John Thain’s, Merrill Lynch office:  $1400 waste-paper baskets…?) and corporate-kumbaya vacations to Laguna Nigel spas and casino-junket sprees; not to mention that Obama’s $500,000 cap on CEO salaries is met with the criticism that financial institutions will lose their top talent. Ummm. To what? These are the perps who got us into this mess! If they have the saavy and any sense of responsibility (which, by the way, SHOULD have qualified them for their positions) they can step up and take it in the belly with the rest of us. If not. Good riddance! If they managed their lifestyles’ with the same delusions with which they ran their banks and corporations, please, PLEASE, let them burn! I will contribute to Exxon’s record profits and buy the gas to fuel that fire. What’s more is, for the first time EVER I’ve agreed with Dick Cheney’s hardline stance toward bailing out the car companies: “I see no compelling reason (to do so)…”

So back to the question: when and where the violent revolution? Based on my mom’s New Mexico report, I’m suspecting universities, in general, will be the first raw confrontation of corporate perversion versus the quotidian. Word is the bowed-out commerce secretary (due to gnawing New Mexico pay-to-play corruption scandals in New Mexico) Bill Richardson appointed some high-priced corporate-pledged president to the university while tuition goes up and instructors get laid off. No doubt Bill(k)’s not alone in setting the stage.

God bless us everyone.

22 February 2009 update (Albuquerque Journal): “Faculty, administration at war over University of New Mexico’s future”

 

Choices: Dick Cheney…

…shudduh-had the oatmeal.

 

All of us, free at last.

Thank you America!

We can do it!

 

The Salk Institute: Forever – on a cloudy day too.

Finally. Got away for the weekend. John and I took Friday off for a long weekend to explore San Diego and hang out in La Jolla to see the the Salk Institute. It couldn’t have been a better day. I think I’ll forever be biased by my first impression/experience of this place on an exquisitely cloudy day. The moody, gray-blue, palpable sky cast the architecture and its materials into its warmth and its blush – when everything is neutral or grey, the subtleties of color blossom. And no contrasty/distracty shadows either. The diffuse light of a cloudy day illuminated the building and courtyard into a clear rendering of its form which lent a better feel for its scale and proportion and connection to the ocean-scape. Much like the architecture of classical Greece and of the Renaissance – those eras in which (hu)-man is the measure – you feel that balance and connection with a larger pattern; that harmony.

Our architectural nightcap (literally) was our stay at The Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla. Another architectural thrill as it was once the George Kautz House designed by Irving Gill -one of California’s prescient (early modernist) architects. I happen to know this especially because I have the book by Marvin Rand on Irving J. Gill: a compilation of Rand’s exquisite photography of the architect’s buildings; prefaced and edited by his wife Mary Ann Danin and, just to brag, signed by the both of them.

(Click here to get your own copy of the book)

 

Out of the Blue: Sarah (Anita Bryant) Palin and the blind-date effect.

Much like America, I was single for eight years. After a long-term relationship I found myself afloat looking for someone with whom to share a promising future. I remember being single and, consequently, getting “set up” – the blind date -having a friend or co-worker set me up to meet their other single, “eligible” friend. It was always doomed. The shared history or context isn’t there of having cultivated a relationship and then finding that “spark”. You’re meeting somebody out of the blue; an embodied interpretation: “…so THIS (person) is what my friend thinks of me?”

And so America, meet Anita Bryant, Anita (a.k.a. Sarah Palin),…America. THIS is what McCain thinks of America (…not that there’s anything wrong with that).