today was of art and beck. tomorrow early i leave, and will probably not be able to post for a while. i'll be reunioning it up at the basin harbor club (for my activities check the basin harbor breeze - "blows most anytime."

i might write entries up there offline, since i'll have this with me (i didn't end up sending it in to have the audio repaired, not yet). so more detail there, but a few choice moments from today:

art:
a side-looking wyeth crone shot her eyes at me from the corner (interrupting cute rivera baby playing with blocks) and i was struck down.

rauschenberg's new stuff is less obtrusive but doesn't speak to me as much, still he shows he's hip by including a pineapple.

17th-century dutch painting (can you tell van ruisdael from van ruysdael? i bet kaori can) involves impossibly fine brushwork, amusing figural scenes, sickly-pale peaches, and peacock pies.

i got lost in the asian wing trying to make a detour.

barb strangely nauseous, kept scoping out bathrooms, lying under the (thierry) table.

the broads have fun taste, tons of money, make their preferences obvious: johns, lichtenstein, warhol, koons, and most enjoyably sherman, whose photo work i like a lot more than her sculpture (which was not represented.)

beck:
spanish "jackass"

best part of the show was a hauntingly gorgeous "nobody's fault but my own" with simple harmonium accompaniment.

wurlitzer jam turned into parts of "where it's at" - the groove, the opening lines, and then the chorus done in a mocking "spyro gyra"/free-jazz style with adlibbed lyrics about boston and spyro gyra.

beck ate dinner on stage, while smokey played bossa dinner music. they chatted about the service, scene, etc. "what's for dessert?" "um, warm chocolate truffle" "how warm is that? i drool a lot; will it scald my thighs?"

a capella "sleeping bag" on request (in seconds), and "asshole" by request too, after a few tunes.

the new songs are hit-and-miss. "lonely tears" was the only tune he did at the upright, which was our only blind spot. it was actually lovely to hear that in the darkened room, without being visually aware of the source of the music.

the theatre is absolutely gorgeous, and is also used to teach economics and psych, etc., as beck joked about (he came out in an academic gown.)

"something's heavy in here. i think it's the statues"

i tried to ask him about the bagel, but he didn't hear me. didn't take my request for "o maria" either.

"tropicalia" worked well as an encore, sung from seated position on the pedestal of big stone statue of some college founder, fondling his legs.

misery waits in vague hotels
to be evicted (i always thought it was "be a victim")