Travelogue

the road - ea - Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 : goo

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centralia

sparrows at the natural history museum

national art gallery

calder

bonnie's corner

it's possible to buy coffee in montana for 39 cents at any gas station (if you provide your own cup), the featured benefit being that it's mostly warm. and virginia looks like every antiquated colonial hunting landscape portrait you've seen, but in addition has a wide proliferation of the customized license plate phenomenon. even as you reach into d.c. and maryland, virginians are easy to spot. there is a town in central colorado named guffy inhabited almost entirely by antigovermental hold-outs. they elected a dog mayor. when the dog died they elected a cat in its place. and another called buena vista where they voted to change the pronounciation to "boona vista", speculatively to reject their hispanic originations and population.

newly ancient. federal. greco roman. still trying to find the most succinct adjective to describe the vibe of the capitol. decided on the way out of town that the washington monument should be a giant stone O instead of the current 150 foot dagger planted in the mall. better metaphors available with that shape. virginia will also hereby be known as the place most likely to see a bizarrely motiffed water tower. this would be a hilarious photo series. water towers adorned with paintings of apples, high school pennants/logos, and somehow communisticly shaped concrete ridges. something to be said for portland's tripod-perched forest-service-green spaceships. I always loved those anyway.

the hirshhorn art museum in washington dc is an architectural masterpiece, and I'll tell you why. but first I'll start by saying it is midway down the mile long national mall, an expansive rectangular park lined by cherry trees and museums, stopped at one end by the capitol building and at the other by the (soon to be redesigned) (by me) washington monument. the hirshhorn is a 4 storey cylinder, and it goes without saying that it's neutral beige since every last building in dc is the same height and color. I suggest this concept be referred to as "soaring capitol mediocrity". so the underside of the museum entrance (I hesitate to call it a roof because it doesn't protrude from the thickness of the strict cylinder) has pockets of concavity, white modernist eggcrate. chunky black & white verigated terrazzo flooring washes the entry and corridors around the single escalator bay. but what's really amazing is the shape, the experience the shape creates, what it does to your mind. the cylinder is so tight viewed from the sidewalk below. concise. but once inside you are only ambiently aware of gently curving walls. mostly, of course, you are there to view the art on display. begining your walk at the stairs, you follow the only available path in and out of still, smooth rooms and across an occasional window with its sudden flood of park beauty. so taken with your immediate next step and what piece of framed artistic brilliance you might see there are you that you...behold!...but what's this?...dont even notice you are again at the begining. it surprises every time, on every floor, and (as I've heard) on every consecutive visit. architectural genious.

baltimore turned out to be an unparalleled 24 hour sensory experience. the art, the food, the music. after the art show we went to a tapas bar (not topless. it's tricky, don't feel bad) four of us, and we shared 8 plates of things I'd never dream of. such as pea fritters.

and then on to The Greatest Music Store In The World (commonly known as Sound Garden). in a Pike-like district along the water, deep cobblestones and meandering pathways cut their way between cafes and boutiques, toy stores and niche markets. everyone who works there knows everything about music. I meant to pick up the Scratch documentary, but had Style Wars in hand instead. I said to the guy, "excuse me, I have a question" he said, "you need that". it's a 1983 film on the development of street art and hip hop in New York City. I apparently also really needed the Tribe Called Quest album I found, Neko Case's Blacklisted and several free samplers. I pretty much loved it there.

graphically speaking, well...do the Orioles not deserve a less pediatric logo?

sara kate, amy and I stepped down from the frigid dc street into a dim, crowded basement room. the beats hit us at the door, we squeezed between bench and patron lined walls to the bar and stopped in front of, well he absolutely looked like, Mos Def. an old man coyly offered his seat to sk and we proceeded to c h i l l to the grooves of trifecta, enamored by what seemed like a disproportionate number of beautiful black people to...us. sara kate's new friend thought it was his lucky day while Mos Def laughed behind her saying, "aint get nuthin for free, not even a chair! this is why I come out, to see hilarious situations like these". it felt like future perfect at Jojo's. like everyone around us was on the cusp of fame. like we could say we were there before anything really started. and maybe we were.

I never should have told Bonnie I am an interior designer. I should have said I pour cement, or I count printer cartridge inventory. but she definitely wants me to come to her house and look at her upholstery project, and she really really wants me to come to her restaurant in the mall and see her palm tree mural. sponge painted! she did it herself! but that's just a hobby, of course. usually she is perched behind the counter of her smoke and "express-o" shop on a lively asheville corner. right where everything converges. people come in because she knows them, and so will I. she knows my whole story, and first things first, told me if I'm going to stay in asheville I need to find a church and keep god close. but also if things aren't working out, don't be afraid to leave. she sure is glad I'm here.

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