The Week That Was (Oct 23)

A few years ago I was at dinner at Jones with my good friend Dana and her mom and stepfather who were visiting from Oregon. Judy and Huff are free-spirited artists who live in a small town and make art and have a nice but not extravagant life. At dinner that night, Judy mentioned that Dana and I were so fortunate to be here in NYC with so many opportunities for interesting things to do at every turn, and while I have a hard time remember the specifics of it now, it was that conversation that made me start saying “Yes!” to a lot of invitations I’d previously turned down because I was feeling tired, or not social or simply unable to resist the siren call of my TiVO. WWJD? Judy would go out. And so since then, I’ve been going and feeling lucky to do it. The Week That Was is going to be an effort to document all the going that I’m doing, with commentary.

Monday
Out with the inimitable Lux and intrepid intern Alice. First stop: The Strand where Stephen Elliott read from his new collection My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up which is funny and touching and, omg, dirtier than you could ever possibly imagine. No, really.
Next up: Unbeige party @ the pleasantly suprisingly better than not bad Manahatta where I finally got to meet Unbeige 3.0, Alissa Walker, face to face, missed Michael Bierut (alas!), said the briefest of Hi-how-are-yous to Adam Greenfield and met up with Miss who was easily goaded into a spirited defense of the cultural relevance of Godard. Alice, Miss and I shared Mexican Sopas (recommend) and we enjoyed Alissa’s last moments of coherence before collapsing into a “I can’t believe I’ve been talking to people non-stop for three hours straight” stupor.

Tuesday
Hours spent at Beth Schiffer labs in spirited debate with James Deavin regarding print size, image selection, etc. for his upcoming exhibition, Photographs from the New World. Each of us had the dark, I want to kill you moment that inevitably preceeds any exhibition, but overcame it quickly and with great results. Exhausting, emotionally draining - knocked me out for the day.

Wednesday
Lunch with AVC at Veselka. Free-floating pre-show anxiety. A million small disasters diverted at the gallery. More debates about print sizes. Cut to: really excellent and relaxing dinner with John Glassie of Bicycles Locked to Poles fame, members of his clan: his fresh-faced freshman at the New School nephew Max, his brother Don and Don’s biz partner John, who hosted our gathering at their hotel: the Park South, which is entirely civilized and cozy. We sat by a fire and had cocktails while sitting in velvety chairs. Dinner conversation included but not limited to: jazz knowledge, Miami in December and mancations. Stayed out too late, ate too much steak and drank to much champagne. (And loved every minute of it.)

Thursday
The aforementioned Artist Talk with Holly Lynton and Paddy Johnson. Photos by JCN. Beer compliments of Crumpler. (Mmm, Leffe.) Dinner afterwards @ Lure Fishbar where the burger is just as good as William says it is.

Friday
Finally made it to Raul’s show at Nelson Hancock in DUMBO. (Don’t miss it, it’s been extended through Saturday November 4th!) Lunch with Raul himself afterwards at Superfine. Stayed in on Friday night (wouldn’t you?) and ordered in from Puebla, which is some damn good takeout.

Saturday
Totally great day at the gallery. The last day of a show is always bittersweet. I’m excited about the next one, but always sad to have the existing one wind down. The artist talk was a gentle reminder to lots of folks that it was their last chance to check out Holly’s photos @ the jb, so there were tons of visitors. Barry and James came by as part of their very busy downtown itinerary. Lots of regulars made it by for an extra peek. I got reacquainted with someone I knew way back when. And met some new Flickr friends and saw another one who also wishes that Jenni didn’t live so far away.
Saturday night? Scrabble smackdown with Greg and Daniel and Dana and Ryan. Hightlight for me: PEYOTE, with the “Y” landing on a triple letter score and also turning “jaunt” into “jaunty”. 10x better than all those Halloween parties for sure.

Sunday
Baths are divine. Especially when reading a good book. Old Devil Moon has delicious pancakes but wretched coffee. Bar Carrera is sublime, especially with good company.