Lows In the 20's - Cold Weather Sucks

Ok, one last night in Michigan, the temperature stands at 42 degrees at the moment, which does not seem to bad  but the low for tonight is 22. That is 20 degrees in reverse, not great. This mild event for around here makes me think of complete misery when the going gets tough in the middle of February.

So I got to see some of the town after I finished the class. Every house in this place looks expensive, even the ugly houses. It is a nice and safe, lots of S Class Mercedes and big Suvs. So much so the host of the class said she does not lock her house during the day. The downtown is not that large but it is full of women's boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants galore. This place is big money to say the least. People say that Birmingham is the nicest suburb in the Detroit area. I am sure the other nice suburbs say the same thing.

As I walked up West Maple after peering through windows of women's clothes almost giving up hope on something interesting I found the Backcountry North outdoors store. It is a smallish typical outdoors store that is full of expensive Northface, Kuhl and Patagonia clothing articles which included some gear for backpacking, white water and yoga. I met a couple of chatty locals working inside who were eager to exchange conversation and eating suggestions around the area, one suggestion I will talk about in a bit. It was refreshing to meet a girl who said dude more than I do. I also got the inside that the Detroit scene was not sketchy at all and very cool.  I bid my farewells, thanked them for the suggestions and headed down a side street where I found a skate shop named Pogo. It was another typical tiny skate shop (all be it nice and well organized) that had the usual boards, trucks, stickers, t-shirts, hoodies and a plethora of shoes. It was managed by one guy who like the other store employees I had encountered was eager to chat me up and just talked about whatever came to mind. Since we were in a skate shop  we talked about skating, imagine that. I did learn that Louisville Kentucky has one of the largest skate parks in the world. He boasted about some of his buddies doing a camping session there that sounds like fun one day when I can actually skate transitions again. I ended up leaving there and getting a burrito at Qdoba, not the greatest I have ever had but then again I met another chatty employee. He was happy to tell me how he was preparing for a 10 day canoe camping trip on some river north of here.

The next day was grueling in the class room, tiring since I have not taught this particular material in over a year. It was great, I did fine but it sucked in the fatigue department. After I rapped up the class I went back to the room and did a bit of writing and decision making on what to do next. At the outdoors store the dude, not the girl, suggested that I go check this place out in the neighboring suburb called Inn Season Cafe. This is an exclusively vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Royal Oak about five mile away from the hotel.  As soon as I turned into Royal Oak it had some of the same feel as Birmingham but not the pomp. The houses seemed a bit more affordable but nice from what I could gather from just appearance alone. The down town was bigger and was more rustic in  appearance, it did not have the refined look of Birmingham, which is welcoming. This is a arty community that has some real feel to it. There was a bustle about the street and tons more regular folk and young people walking about the streets. Inn Season was located just on the other side of the downtown. I was really up in arms and apprehensive after I passed this trendy little Thia place on the way. I parked my car and was off to Inn Season thinking that if I was not impressed immediately I would keep walking to the Thai place. I got to the door and could see people sitting just inside the door waiting for a table. This is always a good sign on a Tuesday night if there is a wait. It most often means there a line to get in because it is worth waiting for.  So I walked in and put name down, waited for ten minutes and got my table. While I was siting there I was mesmerized by the girls waiting tables. They were beautiful, trendy and tattooed.  The food was great, I had a burrito filled with pinto beans, rice and cheese served with a side of sour creme, garnished with blue corn chips and shredded greens. I started the meal off with a cup of red bean cashew soup, great as well.


Now I sit in the hotel dreading what comes tomorrow, dread. I have  a full day of teaching then as soon as that is done I have to run off to the airport, fight traffic and catch a plane. I am slated to get home around 1am which really sucks. Maybe I will tweet hostilities tomorrow.

Finally  -  I wanted to honor the death of a friend that died last night of a seizure. Pat Boyd you were a great guy and will ever live in our memories of the smartest goofy bike wrench known to me. Good knowing you buddy.

TA!

Its Cold in Michigan

What is interesting so far about Birmingham, MI? The question I am asking myself while sitting in a Panera Bread (a favorite place to hold up in when on the road). Yes, when I do these classes I always find a Panera close by, that has always been the case, not sure why. It must have to do with the economy of always being in a area where there are dozens of strip malls and Targets close by, I love Target and can do with out strip malls but they coexist anyway. They can't really live without each other in the end, they might both die if the other did not exist.

So far my hotel room is very nice. It is a Holiday Inn Express that was converted from some other older Hotel building. The building is most likely a construction from the 40's (will have to look it up, first guess). It is a five or four story building located on the edge of what I think is the downtown. There are various shops and restaurants, there is this nice little Dairy Bar right around the corner, people walking about, yadda yadda yadda...... I dont know the whole story yet. I am still sitting in Panera sipping my Light Roasted Coffee miles away from there (I through have a car). Maybe this afternoon I will go back to the hotel and just venture out from there, walk until I get lost and have to ask one of the polite locals how to get back to my room. 

I will say this, people's foot wear does differ from my southern delights. People wear rugged shoes around here, I see a lot of hiking type shoes and leather boots. I have also noticed a increasing number of split level architecture in housing, must be a cold weather thing. Cold weather climates approach building with a different mind set. In fact, I would rather have a builder from Northern Wisconsin than Texas any day. O yeah, another thing that was interesting - I have been using Four Square to check in and all of a sudden this girl from Birmingham started to follow me on Twitter. I wonder if it is like one of these accounts that follows you anytime you tweet about their town. For example if you tweet that you are in Atlanta, GA, I will bet you that at least three businesses will follow you for your stay there. This happens to me every where I go, some business tries to promote them selves based on my location via twitter, interesting world we live in these days.

I will say that it feels different up here in northern United States. It was 30 degrees when I got into my car this morning, yeah, and that is warmish for around here. There is a nice warming trend that will take the temperatures into the forties for the next few days of my stay. It is practically spring time and there is still excess snow drifts in the backs of parking lots. As I drove through town to my Panera Bread I wondered what it would be like to live an entire winter here..... I bet it would be interesting. I am very interested in what these winter conditions do to people's mind sets. Does it make them harder individuals, what is different at the core of these people, how does being cold all winter effect who we are? Not that they are cold all winter, I know it is warm indoors, but it gets freaking down right cold. But this is just Detroit, it get colder every step north you go.

Gotta Go, will post something later I think.

Off To Detroit

I am presently sitting inside the Memphis International Airport waiting on a plane that will fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, there I will then find my my number two plane that will take me into Detroit. Once I secure a rental car I will travel 25 mile north to Birmingham, MI - "A Walkable Community."  We'll see about that, I do like to walk.  I have decided to write something about going to the Detroit area. There are a couple of indoor skateboard parks and then Lake Erie. I am only going to be there until Wednesday afternoon, then I jump back on the carousel of airplanes to return home. Why am I going?? Not for my health and not because I dont want to go, I am really interested in what I will find - if anything. Apparently Birmingham is quit the place. No, I am going because I will teach a class in how to use the companies software, it should be fun. 

First oppsy, I just popped the sd card slot open on my camera to no sd card, luckly the camera has a onboard memory card of about 100 megs, not much. Looks like I need to buy a sd card, needed another one anyway.

Ok, well, I dont have anything to report yet other than that. Here you go:

Exit Through the Gift Shop - An Art History Lesson by Banksy

I was not expecting to get rapped up in another movie, I thought this was just going to be another documentary about another street artist. I had no prior knowledge of what I was about to embark on or the excitement and ideas that were about to spin around in my head. Even after watching the Roadsworth documentary I was not inclined to get off the couch but this film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, brings on a whole new meaning in my book. Even as you roll through the first part of the movie I am thinking that this is just pretty good, nothing more. Then, at some point, Terry's role in the documentary takes on some serious.... well watch the movie and you can see for yourself.

By the end of the movie I wanted to get out the overhead projector, exacto knife and start cutting stencils. Wasn't that the point of the movie?? I want to join the revolution now, the one that Terry joined, the one where Sheppard Fairey is a leader, people like Wordsworth,  Invader, Mr Brainwash, or Swoon, to name a few. It is street art the revolution and this movie points out its place in the world of art, on top in my opinion. That surely is up for argument, we will say it is my favorite movement then. What Mr Brainwash does in this movie, the enormity of what he pulls off is just mind blowing. How one man just all of a sudden puts together a body of work like this, how does he do it? 

I did not pick this interest up yesterday by the way. It was 1994, I was attending Memphis College of Art and certain people were tagging walls inside the college. Actually the idea of graffiti really started in eighth grade when I would spend an entire class hour drawing Rat Bones. That year in 94 it became quit controversial  since the administration of the school were threatening expulsion of who ever was caught, luckily it never got to that. I had my own tag line that I came up with hanging out local punk rockers who were from the old faithful band Man With Gun. Mark Gunner always carried a big ass black marker in his pocket and would tag the hobo sign for man with gun of random objects we would run across. If we were at a show, he would tag the bathroom walls. If on the street, a  utility box would get a tag and so on. So it was not long before I was carrying around a similar black marker and started doing my own tags. It was a variation of the man with gun but I would write horsfly under neath, so I was HORSFLY.  I never got more sophisticated with it other than that, no cutting of stencils or big murals to speak of, other than my tag ending up a various outdoor objects in  mostly downtown Memphis along with a few inside MCA, very small time.

This movie has done two things for me at the moment if you were wondering. The first has educated me on how powerful street art has become in the eyes of collectors and I hope art history. Don't get me wrong, this just did not occur to me on the whim, it is realizing some details I did not realize before because of the movie. Banksy and Sheppard Fairey are my two favorite street artist, the best in my opinion. I don't know where they even stand as far as the art world views there work. For me they (street artist) are the next generation of artist, for me they are the only real artist of our generation, their work is the truth. It speaks miles above most all contemporary art, no, this is not me comparing this piece of art to that piece of art and trashing peoples work, no, none of that. Everybody is entitled to create art and call it what ever they want, do with it what ever they want. What I am saying is these guys (actually Banksy and Sheppard this time) are the leaders of a movement called street art like you have never seen art before. The work is commentary on society, politics, fame, everyday ordinary life and much more, that is the truth I am talking about. The Number Two part of it is the action of doing part. I still have ideas that could be acted upon. I really did go to art school for three and half years before I realized you didn't need an art education exclusively to create good art. Then there are the art teachers who most of which should stick to just teaching the skill and stay away from their judgements. My Mom asks me for a piece of art every year and I never turn up the goods.

So what now?? I dont know, watch the movie, go enjoy street art, google Banksy and see if you notice anything familiar. My next trip to London will include a guided tour of street art for sure, can't wait.

Spring has Sprung

Wow, who turned the lights back on is my first question. That winter was like living in a small dark closet being forced to watch reruns of Chelsea beating Liverpool, it was awful in some respects. It crosses my mind on a daily basis on which sandy beach I should move to until now since Spring has Sprung. The weather has been getting warmer and warmer every week and then last Sunday the time changed. We gained a hour of day light which means it is dark at 6am now and light until 745pm, those times will get stretched, eventually as the summer rolls in dusk will happen close to 830pm.

All my routines will start changing now that I don't have to sit inside the house doing in side the house kind of things. This worries me a little bit and over joys me to no regard. Why the frowny face? No huge deal but I got better at playing the guitar this winter than last winter. I can play  over ten songs now where as last winter I could play four. I have developed some strength in my hand and a few calluses and if I don't play they will fade.  Probably wont play darts again until next winter either.

Now that the time has changed and the weather has improved, the dance with the outdoors has been continued. Yep, the slow lovely waltz that I have been working on all these years. But this year I am incorporating some new moves that I have been working on, some old and some new.  The old moves are mostly listed under skateboard mini ramp, hiking, commuting by bike and knife throwing. The new moves are a full on assault on Backpacking, traveling to Asia and eating totally different.  I feel like a new person in a way although I have not fully ventured into everything I have set forth for myself. All I have to do is just do, including Asia, the flight is booked. All I have to do is get on the plane. NO, it is not Japan but I am suppose to connect there, we will see.

Some people keep telling to sell all my belongings and move move move, to some place nice. And I might just do that but there are a few odds and ends that I need to take care of first. The last few months I have stepped up the hiking around town and carrying weight which has partially led me to backpacking. I first started backpacking back in the mid 90's in Colorado near Steamboat, but I only did it once. Then I did another over night trip near Carbondale, IL a few years later. Both of these trips we walked in about five miles, camped and walked back the next day. Super easy. The other part of the fueling interest has to be my fascination with Ski Mountaineering. Honestly, backpacking and skateboarding are the closest I am going to get to Ski Mountaineering, so why not!! I have a trip planned what I think will be over Easter Weekend on a trail that is called Sylamore Creek, you'll get to see it at some point. I figure it is the closest to nature and the outdoors that I can get at the moment. You carry your life on your back and live out of a bag, it is great. I also think that it might help me mentally prepare for being in Asia surrounded by a culture that is a unknown for me. To me the backpacking will help give me a sense of independence and clarity in decision making. I know that the center of Bangkok is not anything like Arkansas in mid April but just go with it for now, trust me. I will be planning more backpacking as things get going, at least three trips this year if not more.

Then there is commuting by bike which I think I will talk about soon enough. I plan to stop driving my car for a greater extent. And if you were wondering about the mini ramp, it was uncovered two days ago and I have been skating. Thats why I want to go home early so I can get it on.

Finally, all the thoughtfulness and mindfulness go out to those in Japan.