here's a POV of opening night- ICE MAN BLUE @ ANTEBELLUM
photos courtesy- Erica Liscano
10/23/10
ANTEBELLUM- CLOSE UP
it's nice to get different perspectives.
here's a POV of opening night- ICE MAN BLUE @ ANTEBELLUM
photos courtesy- Erica Liscano
here's a POV of opening night- ICE MAN BLUE @ ANTEBELLUM
photos courtesy- Erica Liscano
10/22/10
ICEMAN BLUE & MIDNIGHT MAN
ok cartoon addicts and comic buffs... here's your chance to view prints and original comic drawings by artist-
ICEMAN BLUE
mr. blue will be @ antebellum for 2 days only, so make sure to catch him for his first ever solo exhibition and book signing!
ANTEBELLUM presents
MIDNIGHT MAN
book signing & exhibit for the artist
ICEMAN BLUE
BOOK & ARTWORKS will be on sale for one night only!
SATURDAY- OCTOBER 23RD- 6PM til 9PM***********************************
SUNDAY-
SKETCH SALON WITH ICEMAN BLUE- OCTOBER 24TH- 12NOON TIL 3PM
($25 COVER- reservations are necessary)
(guest model- carrington galen)
followed by
TEA WITH THE ARTIST- 4PM TIL 6PM
to pre-order a book or make reservation for sketch salon contact-
antebellum@earthlink.net
323 856-0667
MIDNIGHT MAN
size: 7.5 x 9.5 inch
96 Pages
price: $30
description of the book:
When International Adventurer, MIDNIGHTMAN was assigned to steal the majestic Blue Diamond from Billionaire- Yantzy, he never expected to find a cult waiting for him!
Things quickly go from bad to worse as the cult's malevolent god, DARK EROS appears and demands a sacrifice! Join the MidnightMan as he tomb raids for an artifact that is guarded by a Jurassic warrior. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood of Dark Eros joins the cult with a the goal purpose to get our hero!
about the artist:
ICEMAN BLUE was born in Israel and raised in the U.S.A.
He studied computer animation in college, but found himself more interested in creating traditional illustrations by hand instead.
After graduation, he found employment in the mainstream comic book industry as an Inker. Somewhere along the way, he created his internet alter ego of Iceman Blue so he could showcase illustrations of his favorite characters in more provocative poses.
It wasn't long before custom commissions started coming in and what started out as a hobby took on a life of its own and become a full time job.
ANTEBELLUM
1643 n las palmas ave
hollywood, ca 90028
323 856-0667
antebellum@earthlink.net
10/21/10
THE SPOTLIGHT MOVES TO PARIS
when i first received this evite i thought of the BRION GYSIN saying from 1963 when THE BEAT HOTEL closed for good in paris-
"THE BEAT HOTEL DID NOT CLOSE, IT WAS SIMPLY MOVED TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ON THE SAN ANDREAS FAULTLINE."
and my dear late friend STEVEN LOWE did that with the beat hotel, moving it to desert hot springs from 2003 thru 2007.
so rick & michele have done the opposite.
they've moved THE SPOTLIGHT BAR to PARIS! however just for one night only.
RICK IN NM- DAY 7
up @ the crack of dawn. my plan is to walk to the Buddhist retreat and soak in their natural hot springs. the river that runs thru raymond's property has veins of naturally hot mineral water with the most amazing health benefits. the zen Buddhist retreat has one of the largest pools. some natural, some created.
(the sister cemetery)
although remote, raymond has some interesting neighbors. i walk past the catholic church and priest's diocese, make my way past THE SISTERS OF THE BLEEDING HEART seminary, (i like to call it sisters of the bleeding ulcer). the nunnery has that old school look you would find in films like the nun's story, song of bernadette, or the flying nun. they have a, 'SISTER CEMETERY" when all the nunnie's have been put to rest, and "THE NUN WALK" my favorite location in jemez springs. the nun walk is a quarter mile meditation path where nunnie's go to contemplate their lives. where they have been and where they are going.. although this area is not open to the public, i always take a little stroll on the nun-walk. i guess i'm just an unruly heathen.
this morning i take photos of the majestic nun-walk. it really is special.
(the nun walk)
right next door to the nunnies is the BODHI MANDA ZEN CENTER- buddhist retreat. i make my way down the path and surprise the head Buddhist and a group of monks having their vegan/gluten free breakfast.
i'm really not supposed to be here, since i'm not a monk... now what i am going to do? i politely ask the head monk, (her name is heath) if i may use the hot springs. she asks how i came to be @ the retreat. i tell her that i'm staying with her neighbor raymond, (they go way back). she says, " i'm sorry i cannot let you use the hot springs.. we are in retreat until december. tell raymond i am sorry."
i shake her hand, politely bow and leave the premisses. what a pickle... now i have to walk all the way back in the freezing morning cold without a soak, and very unrefreshed. raymond consoles my delimia with a good bye breakfast.. boy am i going to miss raymond's cooking. i have to figure out how to get him to cook for me when he comes to LA.
TOM is nice enough to drive me to albq to catch my train. tom is raymond's straight friend who acts like his gay friend.. raymond has a straight guy fetish. tom is a real character as are all people in albq. he's lived here all his life and has a heart of gold, with a good intentions gone haywire. albq tends to scatter a person who has the potential to be. to liven up the trip i decide to fabricate my morning story to tom.. this is what i tell him-
" so tom, this morning i made my way to the Buddhist retreat still somewhat asleep @ 5:30am.. in my haze I walked in front of the Buddhist's vegan/holistic/gluten-free commissary and i'm confronted with the head monk and her cult. she looks great although severe with her shaved, bald head and kung-fu style kimono... very minimal. i ask her if i may use her naturally-rejuvenating mineral springs and she shouts out, "breech of security! intruder, intruder- stop him." I guess in my crow-black nylon windbreaker and matching pants i look like a heathen/ terrorist from the middle east.
the Buddhists throw down their vegan breakfasts, (i'm sure they were looking for an excuse not to eat them anyways) and charge me all at once.. i make a run for it, scaling the mesquite wood fence, ripping my crow-black nylon pants to pieces. i am now nude from the waist down.. i do a back flip and end up on the nun-walk.. running for my life... the head monk must have texted the head nun, because all at once the bells at the convent start ringing bloody murder... ohmygod!
even quasimodo could hear these ear-shattering bells... the nuns come barreling out of the convent with their habits flapping in the wind.. one nun is running so fast her sister bertrille-like cornette catches a gust of wind and she becomes airborne.
wow i am in deep shit.. mid-way on the nunwalk i stop in my tracks.... behind me is a posse of monks, in front of me, a gaggle of nunnies.. what am i to do?!.. all at once the, "ladies" tackle me bringing me to the ground on a grave@ the sister cemetery. the tombstone reads- sister ruth. in all the ruckus i scab my knees & elbows. owww."
tom is looking at me incredulously.. "really?!" he responds with all earnesty.
I LOVE ALBUQUERQUE.
5:12pmish
i am now on the train. we are siting here, an hour late for departure.. this happened last time i took the train. you would think i had learned my lesson.
5:30pmish
an abrupt jolt and we finally leave the station.
i've already left my seat next to a boring, large, (of course) white lady... i learned my lesson from the trip over and don't even bother to make small talk. i jack-off in the restroom, (just to take the edge off the day) and i'm now seated in the observation car..
everyone is very chatty. there's the funniest little bookworm boy @ the table next to me. he was telling this good ol boy all about the train schedules and velocity of the train etc.. he's now playing chess with his brother.. i am determine to have a conversation with him without his parents thinking i'm pedophiliac, (which i am NOT- btw)... his father is kinda hot in that goatee/shaved head, gold chain-around-the-neck- suburban/midwest sorta way.
oh the boy playing chess with him is not his brother! his kinda hot dad just told him to introduce himself to his chess partner.. his name is NICO.. sometimes i wish i was a father... very rarely. but sometimes... when i'm on a train.. bored.. have nothing to do.. and the kid isn't mine.. under those circumstances i wish i was a father.
6:55ish
nico just asked his little chess partner, "do you know how to make apple juice?" "no," replies the boy. " put an apple in the juicer," is nico response. what a little smart-alec.
7:07ish
the views from the train are breathtaking... you travel thru parts of the country you'd never see by car.. unspoiled vast desert with random juniper trees every now and again.. and the skyline @ dusk... just wow.
7;10ish
i am still in the observation car. seated across from me is a native american lady wearing a boston sweatshirt playing crossword puzzles. next to us is a big, black guy playing solitaire. he has a very large scar on his neck.... it kinda looks like a knife wound. across from him is a white lady who looks also like mink stole, (i guess white lady's on trains have the mink stole look) but she is calm and enjoying herself. not like penny from the train trip over.
in front of me is nico and his chess partner... nico is raking him thru the coals. he talks non-stop... everything he says is amusing. behind him is his sorta hot father and mother. she looks like she may be a teacher. little nico comes off as a real brainiac.
the mink stole lady just got a corona... i guess she wants to unwind. she spots a lady directly behind me and lets out a squeal.. apparently they work together in albq.. what are the chances? this world is the smallest world, in the whole wide world.
7:26ish
it is almost a full moon. tomorrow- october 21st it will be a perfectly full moon.
7:57ish
the native american lady in front of me strikes up a conversation. she asks if i know where hwy 40 is.. i actually do.. we get into a very spirited conversation. she is from bythe, california. she is impressed that i know where that is. "not only have i been to bythe, i've bought jeans & socks @ BIG JOHN's surplus store on the main street.. i've also been to quartsite, (the next town over. just past the colorado river in AZ.)" she is now very impressed with my knowledge of her small hamlet. . she has lived in bythe her entire life! she has 8 children and 21 grandchildren. one of her sons lives in palm springs, another lives in hemet. another son lives in san diego. he is a cop. her daughter lives in boston and is a yale graduate. hence the boston sweatshirt.
i ask her if she's native american, even though i already know she is... "yes! she responds, can you tell?'" "yes," i respond. she says her family is from a reservation close to byth. her father always practiced the old ways. he lived in the tradition of his ancestors and didn't like anything modern. "he always lived by the moon." she said, "he planted his crops according to the moon. he was aware of family births based on the moon cycles. he lived his entire life by the moon."
she asks me about what i do and why i was in albq. i tell her about raymond and ray wiger and how they create organic art by hand. how raymond will be in LA next week and we will present our dia de los muertos exhibitions. she is very intrigued.
we chart for what seems like hours, but it is only about 20 minutes. she wishes us well and knows that our exhibit will be a great success. i tell her that if she wishes us well, i know that it will too.
her name is BEVERLY.
8:15ish
lighting just struck in the horizon.. it is beautiful.. remember when i said i wasn't self-reflecting on the train ride here? well i've made up for lost time.. i'm self-reflecting like a mother fucker.
it's now raining.
8:30ish
i find an empty seat and try to catch 40 winks.. the woman next to me is on a respirator and cannot catch her breath... her husband or boyfriend leaves to give her more room to breath or wheeze. i feel sorry for her. . she looks like she is in a lot of discomfort. her hacking and wheezing become my white noise. i am lulled back to sleep.
8:40ish
i am so mad.. i just got busted and was asked to return to my original seat! i do not want to spend the next 7 hours with that boorish lady in seat # 1.. what am i to do?... i've made my way back to the observation car.. it is still very lively. the table i was seated at before is still vacant. sitting next to me is the large black guy with the knife wound on his neck. he is hitting on this cuteish black girl.. it seems to be working.
nico's parents are seated in front of me.. i guess nico went to bed.
10:29ish
i find another seat and hope i will be under the radar of these over zealous conductors.. we just stopped @
WINSLOW, AZ. made famous by the eagles song- 1972-
'Standin' - On - A - Corner - In - Winslow, Arizona", the lyrics from the song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey.
they've really done an impressive job in renovating the old train station.. the main station has been turned into a four star hotel called- LA POSADA HOTEL. there is art in the lobby and great food i highly recommend it.
11pmish
it is pitch black.. i can't sleep.. neither can the people around me.. i can hear everyone fidgeting in the dark.. just like an orgy, but way more boring.
3amish
AAAAAAAWWWWWIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! someone behind me screams in the middle of the night waking everybody up. "oh" she announces, "that sacred me." "honey, you scared everyone else," says the other neighbor.
6:30ish
back @ the observation car.. the sun is just barley peaking thru the clouds just out of barstow... what a beauty. the guy sitting next to me is a "redo"- a white guy who grew up with all mexicans so has the characteristics of a cholo. slick back hair.. goatee, pendlton shirt. cuffed levis, sneakers.
i ask the commissary for a cup of hot water, (free). raymond gave me some of his tea. so i now have a good black tea, raisins from the Armenian market, and a plum from the two christian boy's fruit stand in jemez the day before. "god bless you," said the little christ-like boy after my purchase.
i'm drinking my tea in the observation car. the guy behind me is snoring like a buzzsaw. the redo guy is seated next to me as the sun comes up just out of barstow. i'm sorry, but it is fantastic... life can be so simple and great.. i feel like that scene from american beauty where the narrator is fascinated with a plastic bag blowing in the wind. i am really that happy, or just plain dumb?
7ish
a latino guy sits next to the redo guy and strikes up a conversation.. they speak to each other with that "cholo" accent i mentioned... it's very popular with straight guys. the dialog is peppered with "o de lay," and "ese."
the latino guy is asking the redo guy a lot of questions... the reno guy is a tattoo artist currently living in arizona and is looking to move to LA to further his career. in the meantime he's going up to visit family in salt lake, (that means he's ex-mormon) the latino guy lives in LA and is very impressed with reno's tattoo and career aspirations. if i didn't know any better i would think that the latino guy is hitting on the redo guy.. hard.
7:30ish
we're now in san bernadino! the train station is very american gothic with it's brownstone buildings and vine covered entry way. it's beginning to rain.
as i mentioned before, train travel is si different than air travel. it's slower paced,, gives you time to check out the surroundings and acclimate yourself to where you're headed.. unlike air travel where for one hour or so, you're suck in a cabin and then plotted into a frantic airport with security ready to do a cavity check. these days i actually find train travel more luxurious. if you have the time.. i make the time.
we pass graffiti, and these sad little houses.. wow some people live in complete poverty. just like tjuana. a little wood shingle house has homemade halloween decorations. we pass the old colton train station. it is teeny.. my father is from colton. we go under a fwy bridge.. a brand new car is parked underneath with no-one inside.. very suspicious.. we pass a dull suburb. people like plastic patio furniture. we're picking up speed... there's a lady standing in her doorway chatting on a cell phone.. it looks like a slum.. her front yard is cracked cement. her house is sooooo bleaaakkkk!!! i cannot believe someone lives like that.
7:44ish
we're now in riverside.
we pass an old fashion market called - olympic. a semi- modern cemetery.... an ubiquitous cell phone tree..... a group of kids waiting for the bus.. they are all wearing hoodies..... a football field.... it is empty... a cul de sac.. someone has a small boat parked outside their house..... .. a huge tumbleweed. .... a dead body...... discarded mattresses.. the guy that was snoring like a buzz saw just walk by.. he looks somewhat refreshed.... a little orange tent with a homeless guy inside.. he has a dog... .. pepper trees!.. i love pepper trees... more graffiti.... a discarded sofa is coved with graffiti... i think that's clever....
btw, i was just kiddin about the dead body.. i just wanted to see if you were actually reading this..
we just passed west covina... southern california sure is crowded compared to arizona and new mexico.... we pass a golf course... a natural an river! what a surprise.... an orange grove... condos... a trendy young girl in the rain.... huge track homes.... an industrial park.... . actually many industrial parks.... car dealerships.... suburban sprawl.. .. an oil well?... a pumpkin patch.. a guy walking his dog.... an auto graveyard with an oil well surrounded by rusty car parts... a huge ditch freshly dug up for possibly underground parking for a future mall... ..two guys with leaf blowers.... a cell phone tree made to look like a pine tree.... "undocumented" guys waiting for work outside a home depot.....
8:25ish
we're in fullerton!
what a bland town... the sun is peaking thru the rain clouds... we are really picking up speed now! we are booking.... passed a backyard with left over balloons from a party.. they are gold & burgundy.. they're sitting in a bunch on the lawn... they look like large grapes...
(the sewer they call the los angeles river)
8:45ish
we're right next to the LOS ANGELES RIVER.. if you can call it that... it looks like a sewer.. i mean compare this eyesore to raymond's river in his front yard... there is no comparison.
RICK IN NM- DAY 7
(the river of sandoval county)
i never like leaving jemez... LA is fine, but the big city is not all that... not when you're my age... all those things that seemed so important like leading the faux A-list life become so mundane and unimportant..
I AM BACK HOME... i know my kitties missed me.
(the sister cemetery)
although remote, raymond has some interesting neighbors. i walk past the catholic church and priest's diocese, make my way past THE SISTERS OF THE BLEEDING HEART seminary, (i like to call it sisters of the bleeding ulcer). the nunnery has that old school look you would find in films like the nun's story, song of bernadette, or the flying nun. they have a, 'SISTER CEMETERY" when all the nunnie's have been put to rest, and "THE NUN WALK" my favorite location in jemez springs. the nun walk is a quarter mile meditation path where nunnie's go to contemplate their lives. where they have been and where they are going.. although this area is not open to the public, i always take a little stroll on the nun-walk. i guess i'm just an unruly heathen.
this morning i take photos of the majestic nun-walk. it really is special.
(the nun walk)
right next door to the nunnies is the BODHI MANDA ZEN CENTER- buddhist retreat. i make my way down the path and surprise the head Buddhist and a group of monks having their vegan/gluten free breakfast.
i'm really not supposed to be here, since i'm not a monk... now what i am going to do? i politely ask the head monk, (her name is heath) if i may use the hot springs. she asks how i came to be @ the retreat. i tell her that i'm staying with her neighbor raymond, (they go way back). she says, " i'm sorry i cannot let you use the hot springs.. we are in retreat until december. tell raymond i am sorry."
i shake her hand, politely bow and leave the premisses. what a pickle... now i have to walk all the way back in the freezing morning cold without a soak, and very unrefreshed. raymond consoles my delimia with a good bye breakfast.. boy am i going to miss raymond's cooking. i have to figure out how to get him to cook for me when he comes to LA.
TOM is nice enough to drive me to albq to catch my train. tom is raymond's straight friend who acts like his gay friend.. raymond has a straight guy fetish. tom is a real character as are all people in albq. he's lived here all his life and has a heart of gold, with a good intentions gone haywire. albq tends to scatter a person who has the potential to be. to liven up the trip i decide to fabricate my morning story to tom.. this is what i tell him-
" so tom, this morning i made my way to the Buddhist retreat still somewhat asleep @ 5:30am.. in my haze I walked in front of the Buddhist's vegan/holistic/gluten-free commissary and i'm confronted with the head monk and her cult. she looks great although severe with her shaved, bald head and kung-fu style kimono... very minimal. i ask her if i may use her naturally-rejuvenating mineral springs and she shouts out, "breech of security! intruder, intruder- stop him." I guess in my crow-black nylon windbreaker and matching pants i look like a heathen/ terrorist from the middle east.
the Buddhists throw down their vegan breakfasts, (i'm sure they were looking for an excuse not to eat them anyways) and charge me all at once.. i make a run for it, scaling the mesquite wood fence, ripping my crow-black nylon pants to pieces. i am now nude from the waist down.. i do a back flip and end up on the nun-walk.. running for my life... the head monk must have texted the head nun, because all at once the bells at the convent start ringing bloody murder... ohmygod!
even quasimodo could hear these ear-shattering bells... the nuns come barreling out of the convent with their habits flapping in the wind.. one nun is running so fast her sister bertrille-like cornette catches a gust of wind and she becomes airborne.
wow i am in deep shit.. mid-way on the nunwalk i stop in my tracks.... behind me is a posse of monks, in front of me, a gaggle of nunnies.. what am i to do?!.. all at once the, "ladies" tackle me bringing me to the ground on a grave@ the sister cemetery. the tombstone reads- sister ruth. in all the ruckus i scab my knees & elbows. owww."
tom is looking at me incredulously.. "really?!" he responds with all earnesty.
I LOVE ALBUQUERQUE.
5:12pmish
i am now on the train. we are siting here, an hour late for departure.. this happened last time i took the train. you would think i had learned my lesson.
5:30pmish
an abrupt jolt and we finally leave the station.
i've already left my seat next to a boring, large, (of course) white lady... i learned my lesson from the trip over and don't even bother to make small talk. i jack-off in the restroom, (just to take the edge off the day) and i'm now seated in the observation car..
everyone is very chatty. there's the funniest little bookworm boy @ the table next to me. he was telling this good ol boy all about the train schedules and velocity of the train etc.. he's now playing chess with his brother.. i am determine to have a conversation with him without his parents thinking i'm pedophiliac, (which i am NOT- btw)... his father is kinda hot in that goatee/shaved head, gold chain-around-the-neck- suburban/midwest sorta way.
oh the boy playing chess with him is not his brother! his kinda hot dad just told him to introduce himself to his chess partner.. his name is NICO.. sometimes i wish i was a father... very rarely. but sometimes... when i'm on a train.. bored.. have nothing to do.. and the kid isn't mine.. under those circumstances i wish i was a father.
6:55ish
nico just asked his little chess partner, "do you know how to make apple juice?" "no," replies the boy. " put an apple in the juicer," is nico response. what a little smart-alec.
7:07ish
the views from the train are breathtaking... you travel thru parts of the country you'd never see by car.. unspoiled vast desert with random juniper trees every now and again.. and the skyline @ dusk... just wow.
7;10ish
i am still in the observation car. seated across from me is a native american lady wearing a boston sweatshirt playing crossword puzzles. next to us is a big, black guy playing solitaire. he has a very large scar on his neck.... it kinda looks like a knife wound. across from him is a white lady who looks also like mink stole, (i guess white lady's on trains have the mink stole look) but she is calm and enjoying herself. not like penny from the train trip over.
in front of me is nico and his chess partner... nico is raking him thru the coals. he talks non-stop... everything he says is amusing. behind him is his sorta hot father and mother. she looks like she may be a teacher. little nico comes off as a real brainiac.
the mink stole lady just got a corona... i guess she wants to unwind. she spots a lady directly behind me and lets out a squeal.. apparently they work together in albq.. what are the chances? this world is the smallest world, in the whole wide world.
7:26ish
it is almost a full moon. tomorrow- october 21st it will be a perfectly full moon.
7:57ish
the native american lady in front of me strikes up a conversation. she asks if i know where hwy 40 is.. i actually do.. we get into a very spirited conversation. she is from bythe, california. she is impressed that i know where that is. "not only have i been to bythe, i've bought jeans & socks @ BIG JOHN's surplus store on the main street.. i've also been to quartsite, (the next town over. just past the colorado river in AZ.)" she is now very impressed with my knowledge of her small hamlet. . she has lived in bythe her entire life! she has 8 children and 21 grandchildren. one of her sons lives in palm springs, another lives in hemet. another son lives in san diego. he is a cop. her daughter lives in boston and is a yale graduate. hence the boston sweatshirt.
i ask her if she's native american, even though i already know she is... "yes! she responds, can you tell?'" "yes," i respond. she says her family is from a reservation close to byth. her father always practiced the old ways. he lived in the tradition of his ancestors and didn't like anything modern. "he always lived by the moon." she said, "he planted his crops according to the moon. he was aware of family births based on the moon cycles. he lived his entire life by the moon."
she asks me about what i do and why i was in albq. i tell her about raymond and ray wiger and how they create organic art by hand. how raymond will be in LA next week and we will present our dia de los muertos exhibitions. she is very intrigued.
we chart for what seems like hours, but it is only about 20 minutes. she wishes us well and knows that our exhibit will be a great success. i tell her that if she wishes us well, i know that it will too.
her name is BEVERLY.
8:15ish
lighting just struck in the horizon.. it is beautiful.. remember when i said i wasn't self-reflecting on the train ride here? well i've made up for lost time.. i'm self-reflecting like a mother fucker.
it's now raining.
8:30ish
i find an empty seat and try to catch 40 winks.. the woman next to me is on a respirator and cannot catch her breath... her husband or boyfriend leaves to give her more room to breath or wheeze. i feel sorry for her. . she looks like she is in a lot of discomfort. her hacking and wheezing become my white noise. i am lulled back to sleep.
8:40ish
i am so mad.. i just got busted and was asked to return to my original seat! i do not want to spend the next 7 hours with that boorish lady in seat # 1.. what am i to do?... i've made my way back to the observation car.. it is still very lively. the table i was seated at before is still vacant. sitting next to me is the large black guy with the knife wound on his neck. he is hitting on this cuteish black girl.. it seems to be working.
nico's parents are seated in front of me.. i guess nico went to bed.
10:29ish
i find another seat and hope i will be under the radar of these over zealous conductors.. we just stopped @
WINSLOW, AZ. made famous by the eagles song- 1972-
'Standin' - On - A - Corner - In - Winslow, Arizona", the lyrics from the song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey.
they've really done an impressive job in renovating the old train station.. the main station has been turned into a four star hotel called- LA POSADA HOTEL. there is art in the lobby and great food i highly recommend it.
11pmish
it is pitch black.. i can't sleep.. neither can the people around me.. i can hear everyone fidgeting in the dark.. just like an orgy, but way more boring.
3amish
AAAAAAAWWWWWIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! someone behind me screams in the middle of the night waking everybody up. "oh" she announces, "that sacred me." "honey, you scared everyone else," says the other neighbor.
6:30ish
back @ the observation car.. the sun is just barley peaking thru the clouds just out of barstow... what a beauty. the guy sitting next to me is a "redo"- a white guy who grew up with all mexicans so has the characteristics of a cholo. slick back hair.. goatee, pendlton shirt. cuffed levis, sneakers.
i ask the commissary for a cup of hot water, (free). raymond gave me some of his tea. so i now have a good black tea, raisins from the Armenian market, and a plum from the two christian boy's fruit stand in jemez the day before. "god bless you," said the little christ-like boy after my purchase.
i'm drinking my tea in the observation car. the guy behind me is snoring like a buzzsaw. the redo guy is seated next to me as the sun comes up just out of barstow. i'm sorry, but it is fantastic... life can be so simple and great.. i feel like that scene from american beauty where the narrator is fascinated with a plastic bag blowing in the wind. i am really that happy, or just plain dumb?
7ish
a latino guy sits next to the redo guy and strikes up a conversation.. they speak to each other with that "cholo" accent i mentioned... it's very popular with straight guys. the dialog is peppered with "o de lay," and "ese."
the latino guy is asking the redo guy a lot of questions... the reno guy is a tattoo artist currently living in arizona and is looking to move to LA to further his career. in the meantime he's going up to visit family in salt lake, (that means he's ex-mormon) the latino guy lives in LA and is very impressed with reno's tattoo and career aspirations. if i didn't know any better i would think that the latino guy is hitting on the redo guy.. hard.
7:30ish
we're now in san bernadino! the train station is very american gothic with it's brownstone buildings and vine covered entry way. it's beginning to rain.
as i mentioned before, train travel is si different than air travel. it's slower paced,, gives you time to check out the surroundings and acclimate yourself to where you're headed.. unlike air travel where for one hour or so, you're suck in a cabin and then plotted into a frantic airport with security ready to do a cavity check. these days i actually find train travel more luxurious. if you have the time.. i make the time.
we pass graffiti, and these sad little houses.. wow some people live in complete poverty. just like tjuana. a little wood shingle house has homemade halloween decorations. we pass the old colton train station. it is teeny.. my father is from colton. we go under a fwy bridge.. a brand new car is parked underneath with no-one inside.. very suspicious.. we pass a dull suburb. people like plastic patio furniture. we're picking up speed... there's a lady standing in her doorway chatting on a cell phone.. it looks like a slum.. her front yard is cracked cement. her house is sooooo bleaaakkkk!!! i cannot believe someone lives like that.
7:44ish
we're now in riverside.
we pass an old fashion market called - olympic. a semi- modern cemetery.... an ubiquitous cell phone tree..... a group of kids waiting for the bus.. they are all wearing hoodies..... a football field.... it is empty... a cul de sac.. someone has a small boat parked outside their house..... .. a huge tumbleweed. .... a dead body...... discarded mattresses.. the guy that was snoring like a buzz saw just walk by.. he looks somewhat refreshed.... a little orange tent with a homeless guy inside.. he has a dog... .. pepper trees!.. i love pepper trees... more graffiti.... a discarded sofa is coved with graffiti... i think that's clever....
btw, i was just kiddin about the dead body.. i just wanted to see if you were actually reading this..
we just passed west covina... southern california sure is crowded compared to arizona and new mexico.... we pass a golf course... a natural an river! what a surprise.... an orange grove... condos... a trendy young girl in the rain.... huge track homes.... an industrial park.... . actually many industrial parks.... car dealerships.... suburban sprawl.. .. an oil well?... a pumpkin patch.. a guy walking his dog.... an auto graveyard with an oil well surrounded by rusty car parts... a huge ditch freshly dug up for possibly underground parking for a future mall... ..two guys with leaf blowers.... a cell phone tree made to look like a pine tree.... "undocumented" guys waiting for work outside a home depot.....
8:25ish
we're in fullerton!
what a bland town... the sun is peaking thru the rain clouds... we are really picking up speed now! we are booking.... passed a backyard with left over balloons from a party.. they are gold & burgundy.. they're sitting in a bunch on the lawn... they look like large grapes...
(the sewer they call the los angeles river)
8:45ish
we're right next to the LOS ANGELES RIVER.. if you can call it that... it looks like a sewer.. i mean compare this eyesore to raymond's river in his front yard... there is no comparison.
RICK IN NM- DAY 7
(the river of sandoval county)
i never like leaving jemez... LA is fine, but the big city is not all that... not when you're my age... all those things that seemed so important like leading the faux A-list life become so mundane and unimportant..
I AM BACK HOME... i know my kitties missed me.
10/20/10
RICK IN NM- DAY -5&6
RICK IN NM- DAY 5
woke up this morning to the smell of raymond's cooking!
raymond made a traditional new mexican breakfast with eggs bacon and prerequisite red chili. yum!
we glued ourselves together and took the scenic route to visit antebellum artist RAY WIGER who lives in TAOS.
raymond & i stopped off at this quaint little vineyard just outside of dixon and we did a little wine tasting... it was very good. we ended up taking with us two bottles. one for ray wiger and one for ourselves.
on the way into taos we passed THE RIO GRANDE GORGE BRIDGE. know for the famous scene in NATURAL BORN KILLERS where juliette lewis looses her scarf and it slowly flutter down the canyon.
we then make our way towards taos. RAY WIGER asks us to call him from the corner of the highway so he can meet us outside. and there he is! what a vision.. he looks like a classic american nomad in the tradition of ernest hemingway.
originally from washington DC, ray wiger has lived in taos for 12 years.
RAY WIGER'S art is very beautiful- creation of male & female figures in wire mesh. ray creates these all by hand- no tools. both ray wiger & raymond sandoval approach their creations organically, and all by hand. we pop open our first bottle of wine.
ray took over what was once the TALPA TAVERN build in 1902, and has made it is private residence. the charm and haunting still abound...
with all the reservations, settlers, and sacred burials, of course much of new mexico is haunted. much like hollywood with all the past layers. no wonder i love new mexico as much as hollywood. it has the same vibe, except one is urban and the other is remote nature, but both have a tremendous amount of past energy.
raymond sandoval insists that a ghost that keeps reappearing in the niche next to the chair or "throne" that once belonged to the artist- R.C. GORMAN, (July 26, 1931 - November 3, 2005).
rc gorman was a Native American artist of the Navajo nation. Referred to as "the Picasso of American Indian art" by the New York Times. gorman opening his Navajo Gallery in Taos in 1968. It was the first Native American-owned art gallery.
(r.c. gorman)
ray wiger was good friends with gorman and talks about all the people who have come thru the tavern over the years, (and have sat on the gorman throne) andy warhol, dennis hopper and elizabeth taylor.
ray wiger takes us to his favorite restaurant where we just pig-out on the tasty meal and more red wine. we walk across the street to the local market and go shopping together.. how fun and domestic. the girl at the check out counter looks at us like she has never seen our types before. i'm sure she hasn't. she really checks out ray wiger. he does impose an impressive figure. he looks like a literary scholar from Clash of the Titans.
back @ ray wiger's place we have conac and cigars... what a way to end a perfect day... just like the lou reed song-
RICK IN NM- DAY 6
(talpa tavern's original outhouse- circa- 1902)
up at the crack of dawn and we have a sweet little breakfast from the items we choose @ the market the night before.
poppy-seed bagels and cream cheese, and a nice black tea. i make a fruit salad with pears, grapefruit and pomegranate seeds.
i am very proud of it.
as we drive back we take the scenic route and pass by the EARTHSHIPS
of new mexico. originally founded in 1994, the earthships are the world's largest self-sufficient residential development. the community is an eco-freindy- self sustained suburb that is TOTALLY OFF- GRID. they catch their own rainwater and use it 5 times, drinking, showering, washing dishes & clothing, watering indoor gardens and then toilet which eventually goes to the outside gardens. they generate their own electricity from solar panels.
the houses, (earthships) are made from abandon tires filled with dirt, aluminum cans and discarded bottles. once built they are virtually indestructible. remember SUSAN POWTER? the fitness guru who used to say- STOP THE INSANITY." i saw a doco about her where she says she lost one million dollars and now lives happily in one of these earthships.
they are amazing in a post apocalyptic way.. they look like a cross between the spanish architect - gaudi and planet of the apes.
i am reminded of the road trip from thelma & louise. raymond is thelma. raymond stops and picks wild sage.
we simply have to go thru ESPANOLA, (where the low-rider was invented) and visit raymond's favorite bar- SAINTS & SINNERS. this will be the theme for ANTEBELLUM's halloween exhibition- 2011.
we pass the vast open field called VALLES CALDERA. bill clinton passed a land acts bill that eventually made this a national preserve in 2000. it is the largest grass valley in america, and it's located in SANDOVAL COUNTY!
now back @ raymond's house he makes tom and i these incredible sandwiches- ham & cheese on oatnut bread, with red chile, swiss chard and tomatoes from his garden.. i am in heaven.
