pictures

Since Jennifer and I got married exactly two months ago today, I thought it was about time to share a photo of the event. These were taken by Seattle-based Shutterbug Big Baby T, who takes great wedding and engagement shots when she's not in the front row of a rock concert, hosting a house party in which guests are inexplicably draped in American flags and wearing gas masks, or traipsing along the forested coastline of the Pacific Northwest on all-night birthday drinking binges.

Speaking of photographers, KC Star's magazine for young professionals, Ink, did a nice little write-up on Jennifer today. You can read that here.

Rather than stop at that, I thought I'd go ahead and post a few of my favorite shots taken during our recent trip, along with a bit of commentary.

Let's start with a sequence of Berlin statues from Kreuzberg, Treptow, The Tiergarten and Friedrichshain before moving south.


Adam led us to this wreath of dancing gnomes statue in Treptow park. Till and I had a competition to see who could throw a frisbee through the middle from about 20 feet back. My first and only toss sailed right through. Till's smacked the left gnome right on the face.


This guy guards over bicycles along the side of Volkspark Friedrichshain's "Marchenbrunnen," a fairy-tale fountain that fell into disrepair during the cold war and has recently been restored.


This pair of lions prowl somewhere along the Tiergarten, I think


Visitors to Kreuzberg's Victoria Park will surely recognize the odd copulation shown in this statue, which Wade told me to be sure and not miss. The players are Poseidon and what I can only assume is one of his many sea nymph friends.


Also in the park is this fellow, whose contemplativeness is somewhat undermined by his purple, purple face.


Moving on from the statue category, this is an overlook of Kurort Rathen, a town opposite the Elbe Valley Sandstone mountains, from which this photo was taken.


This shot overlooks the Danube at Walhalla Temple, which Bavaria's Ludwig I built near Regensburg to honor the heroes of Germany. It's impressive, but to the point of absurdity, especially the statue he commissioned of himself wearing robes and a laurel wreath -- not the likeliest choice of clothing in 1842.


In a storm drain leading into the vast English Gardens of Munich, the water gushes out so fast that it forms a permanent wave -- a popular spot for city surfing.


Also in the English Gardens is the Chinesiches Turm, a pagoda tower which you can sit under and drink large mugs of refreshing beer.


It's easy to make new friends in Munich.


The Monopteros is another one of the English Garden's best-known landmarks, built in the 1830s to replace a nearby wooden Apollo temple that had fallen into disrepair. In the Edgar Reitz film series, Zweite Heimat, there's a scene where a group of younger people are laying around the floor of the temple all strung out on narcotics and suffering from drug-induced delusions. I didn't see any of that when I visited, but you could hear the sounds of a nearby drum-circle, which someone documented in this video. The park, it should be noted, is also a nude sunbather's (and voyeur's) paradise on hot summer days.


This is a shot of one of the Frauenkirche cupolas taken from its sister tower. If you look just to the left of it you'll see the hill and Olympic Tower where the next photo was taken.


I'll close today's photo sequence with this image of a group of kids just seconds before they cruised down the hill at Olympic Park in Munich. We saw them ride down and hike back up several times, and I got the feeling they did this all day long. Unfortunately I never saw them do a successful wheelie over the white cross on the slope below, but if they keep practicing I'm sure they'll pull it off one day. If you look at the enlarged version you can see the two towers of the church in the previous photo.

I'll probably be back later this week with some more music or links to more ridiculous election-related videos, but in the meantime I hope you enjoyed this photo essay. Again, Jennifer took all of these, and if you're ever interested in ordering a print, you can do so at her site for a reasonable price.

Thanks for reading and have a nice afternoon.

Music

Today marks the 5 year anniversary of Elliot Smith's death. If you've got all the studio albums and would like to hear something unfamiliar, I'd recommend the 2-disc "New Moon" album, or this collection of unreleased tracks available here.

I was on the air at KJ spinning the jazz show the morning I read that Smith had died, and for a few songs I switched it from jazz to play some songs from his self-titled album, even letting the word "fuck" on the air by accident, which for any college DJ is a big no-no, even if it does happen all the time. The Jazz Guru -- an older black gentleman who called each week to either criticize or complement the show -- phoned in to express his dismay that I'd deviated from the format, but seemed to understand when I told him the circumstances. After the show I went straight to KCI to fly to New York for the College Music Journal Festival, excited for the trip but with my enthusiasm for an indie rock convention naturally a bit deflated by the tragedy.

Fortunately his music still sounds great, with "Speed Trials" still probably holding steady as my favorite Elliot Smith track.

On an unrelated musical note, there's great new music to be heard tomorrow (Wednesday) night at the Taproom that will feature the debut of mysterious artist "Sea Boredom." The flier is below. Hope to see you there.

Thursday Tracks: A variety of videos

Tomorrow I'm heading to Chicago on a Choo Choo Train, so I wanted to make sure and leave you with some quality music videos to enjoy over the weekend. Let's start with the following from Ariel Pink. Set in an amusement park, it's a fun, psychedelic and surreal video that I expect only a few of you will actually get through. As calamitous as his music might sound at first, it's pretty phenomenal if you give it a good listen and are in the right light-headed state of mind.



Next up is some old footage of Arthur Lee and Love, with their 1966 song "Message to Pretty." This is the album version of the song, but it matches up pretty well and gives you a decent idea what seeing Love might have been like back then, at least on their quieter numbers filmed on a TV set. Just look at how hip that audience is at the end.



Continuing in the black and white vein is this new classic from The King Khan and BBQ Show, "Why Don't You Lie?" Filmed in Khan's adopted hometown of Berlin, it offers a great chase sequence in the Holocaust memorial.



The following tune by Lee Dorsey (not really a video here -- just music and a photo of the album) is called "Yes We Can," and it's 10 times funkier than any of the other theme songs the presidential candidates have come up with so far. I don't understand why Obama's campaign doesn't hop on this one. I doubt Lee Dorsey would disapprove.



This last one is something by San Francisco Band The Oh Sees. I'm not sure if it's in any way endorsed by the band, but all the weird faces and figures make it a good choice for the Halloween season.



See you soon.

LW

Young Turks: Batman vs. Penguin Debate

Something to whet your appetite for tonight's debate. Peter showed me this brilliant find by the Young Turks. I promise to post some tunes and other pleasant subject matter tomorrow, but for now this is too good to pass up.

two pictures of pumpkins

I don't really don't have anything to accompany these photos, aside from a quick note about where they were taken. One was at the abandoned castle type structure down near 18th and Vine, which is full of garbage and probably lots of other things I don't want to know about. Upon viewing this photo again, I was impressed and a bit spooked to notice how the plastic Jackolantern was just hanging in the tree. Then I remembered that I put it there myself. The photo below was taken in a village in Saxony. It kind of looks like a pig.

Bischofsreut

Should I go through Guttenhofen, or press on to Niederpretz?

The question had me in a tizzy as we sped in our rental car past places like Waldkirchen, Freyung and Schwarzental to get to the tiny village of Bischofsreut, the hometown of my great-grandmother Antonia Madl and our relatives that live their still, Leo and Heddi Kornegger.

Though Antonia left with her family for America over a century ago, my Grandpa Bichelmeyer stayed in good contact with his cousins in Bischofsreut through letters and periodic visits, and in 2000 he we traveled there with my dad and uncles. I'd exchanged letters with our Bavarian cousins before, but never had the chance to visit until last month. Not surprisingly, the visit proved to be one of the most fun parts of our trip.

We arrived in the early afternoon and were immediately greeted by plates of homemade schnitzel, bratkartoffeln and fizzy glasses of limonade. After lunch, we spent an hour or so looking through Heddi's meticulously kept folder of letters, photos and cards her American family members have sent over the years. I pointed out family members in the photos, one of them a group wedding portrait in which I was just a baby. "Klein aber oho," Leo said with a laugh. Small but great.


After that we took a tour through the town of several hundred, stopping at the old schoolhouse, the Catholic church and the small cemetery behind it that overlooks the valley.

Bischofsreut, which celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2005, is not a place you'd likely stumble upon. Part of the "Dreilaendereck" (three nations corner), the town lies deep in the Bavarian Forest along the German-Czech border, with Austria only a few dozen kilometers away. The area is part of the "Goldener Steig" (golden climb), a trade route that facilitated the transport of salt from the Danube towns of Linz and Passau on into Bohemia.


One thing I found fascinating about the town is that until 1989, no travel between Czech and Bavarian towns was permitted, even though most of the land you can see from the hills of Bischofsreut belongs to what was then Czechoslovakia. I asked Leo what was to stop someone from just sneaking through the densely forested hills and into the other side. Not much, he said, if you could get past a 4-meter-tall, 20,000 volt electrical fence and guards with machine guns who would shoot you on sight.


Leo and Heddi's place overlooks the Bohemian side of the forest, and they told us that during the cold war years American troops would park their jeep beside the house and use the vantage point to spy on their Eastern neighbors. On especially cold nights, the Korneggers would offer the soldiers hot drinks and a place to warm up next to the fire.

The snow gets so high in winter, Heddi said, that you can't imagine it unless you see it for yourself. Houses get buried in snow up to the second floor, and the abundant stockpiles of wood are drawn on heavily during those months. Even though most of the houses have gas heating, it's more economical to keep a fire going.


Regardless of the season, the town has a decidedly cozy feel, thanks to the pleasant, sturdy homes (many of which have livestock stalls in the lower level), windows full of flowers, occasional garden gnomes, and most of all, the friendliness of the villagers. "It's simple here in the Bavarian Forest, but it suits us," Heddi told me in the musical German dialect spoken in the region. Everyone knows each other, and even generations after a family leaves to start a new life somewhere else, they're welcomed back during seasonal celebrations and area anniversaries.

Among the most welcoming spots was our last stop for the night, an old tavern just a quick jog down the hill. Over a hearty meal, schnapps and a few beers, we visited with some of the locals, among them a particularly soused but exceptionally friendly guy named Werner. Werner, Heddi said, used to embark on drinking spells with her brother until the pair passed out in the garden, awakening the next day to the sound of the Bundeswehr (German army) vehicles driving by, which they would invariably stand up and salute. Even though we couldn't follow the much of the conversation, Werner's good-natured rants had us all in stitches, and by the evening's close he was encouraging us to move to Bischofsreut.

I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon, but all the same, it's nice to know the offer is on the table.


(If you'd like to see more of these pictures, Jenn has a folder viewable here)

"In which Nations shoot the breeze..."

Another example of why David Malki's Wondermark is my favorite Web comic

Thursday Tracks: Suzie's EP and Daytrotter sessions

Speaking of musically talented friends, I highly recommend the songs of Suzannah Johannes, whose 4-song EP is out on vinyl now at the Love Garden or on iTunes. You can also hear some of her songs for free at Daytrotter.com, where they were posted a few weeks ago. Suzie writes her own songs with some lyrical contributions from her friend Hans. They're all great and I can't wait to hear more.

Thursday Tracks: Andrew Morgan

Not that there's ever a bad time, but fall is is the perfect time to listen to music by Andrew Morgan, a good friend and very talented and dedicated musician. I listened to his self-titled album a couple of weeks ago while driving across Kansas early in the morning and the sounds matched up perfectly with the misty trees, rivers and humble little hills covered in hazy morning sunlight. You can give a few tracks a listen on his site and download his albums or EPs for a very reasonable fee.

Back

Crime in Kansas City has upset me a lot lately, but I decided against using this blog to pour out my anxieties and frustrations about the violent events in this city, the segregation and social unrest that brings them about, and the cynicism with which we respond to and make fun of these events.

Instead I decided to bring a bit of levity to my corner of the blogosphere, so what you'll be seeing here on through election time is a bunch of short seasonal quips, links, songs and other digital larks more designed to take your mind off the ugliness of reality rather than rub your face in it.

Then again, that's all subject to change, especially if I come across any interesting and provocative copy about presidential candidates or PTSD.

October Tributes #2

"October Song" by The Incredible String Band, 1966

October Tributes #1

A guy in my neighborhood was wearing a sweatshirt version of this t-shirt the other day. At first I thought he probably didn't realize the awesomeness of what he was wearing, and then I reconsidered. He knew full-well.

The guy I saw is of a similar age and hair color to the guy in this photo, although the guy I saw wears glasses with frames many times too large for his face generally looks confused.

"That One"

Can't believe this is already online. Draw what conclusions you will. Whether he meant to telegraph it or not, I think McCain gave us a glimpse of how much condescension he really feels toward his running mate. Just look at his face when he says it and points. The "other" language combined with the derisive body language is pretty damning if you ask me.

Meat Magic

Tonight at Quinton's in Lawrence, the greatest cover band in the universe will show off its stuff. It's kind of redundant to even post this, since I know everyone who reads this is probably already going to be at Quinton's on a Thursday night. But just an extra reminder. These guys play the best hits of the 80s and 90s with a technical prowess and a passion so heartfelt it supersedes all irony, almost like a European rock cover band in that regard. Their falsettos ring true and their Toto covers are nothing short of majestic.

Hope you can make it.

Flitterwochen

Greetings from Berlin. I'm bound for brunch at Boxhagenerplatz shortly, but just wanted to post a quick hello from our trip before it's all over.

Our week in the south of the country was full of bike rides through the English Gardens, a boat ride to the oldest monastic brewery in the world and a rental car ride through the vast Bavarian Forest to visit some relatives we'd only previously had contact with through letters. Sunshine every day.

Berlin is a much different animal, though also very exciting. Highlights include a quiet, cosy stay at Dorothy's Place (which you can rent out, too, if you come to Berlin -- I highly recommend it), a photo-reconnaissance trip through a bizarre fenced-off amusement park that used to be East Germany's most popular, and a early morning voodoo wedding ceremony performed by King Khan himself just east of Kreuzberg.

Most important to us has been the hospitality of friends here in the city, which feels as much like home as any other place I've ever been.

However, we'll be back in Kansas City in a few days, and I'll post some music links and stuff that I meant to put up a while ago when I get back, along with a bunch of photos as we go through them over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, check out this week's KC Star Magazine, which features a piece Jennifer and I worked on together. Thanks to mag editor Tim Engle for making it possible and providing some great editing. Print is not dead, people. At least not yet.

bis spaeter,

LDHW

Today is the day...

An online bouquet for those who can't make it



See you soon, though!

The Near Far

Saturday at 8 p.m. Sounds like fun. Thanks to Adam for the tip (Yes -- I sometimes rely on Berliners to get the word about what's going on in Kansas City)

See you there maybe

The Near Far – A one-time performance conceived and orchestrated by Jane Beachy + Randall K. Cohn

Charlotte Street Foundation

On August 16, 2008, a group of 14 artists from a dozen cities will present The Near Far, a performance built out of material they have spent the last year developing primarily through email exchanges. The piece will feature photography, video, text, music, choreography, and other materials created around the themes of distance, longing, mediation and mobility. The piece was conceived and orchestrated by Kansas City natives Jane Beachy and Randall K. Cohn (former director of The Evaporated Milk Society).

Beginning in September, 2007, the participating artists exchanged material once a month, building on and adapting each other’s work according to assignments from Cohn and Beachy, who archived all of the material and administered the exchanges. The artists, many of whom had never met each other before the project, will gather in Kansas City at la Esquina, August 10 – 17, for an intense workshop during which they will turn the
resulting raw material into a one-time performance.

The project was born out of an observation that while concepts like community and immediacy are often central to the rhetoric surrounding theater and performance art, the lifestyles of people working in those fields are often particularly itinerant, and their important relationships are increasingly maintained through electronic media across vast distances. The Near Far seeks to explore this paradox, both in the form of the collaboration itself and in the chosen themes around which the project was built.

Participating artists include Christopher Cromwell (Bar Harbor), Cara DeFabio (San Francisco), Laura Frank (Kansas City), Adam Greenfield (New York), Joe Hammers (Kansas City), Brynn Hambly (Seattle), John Kaufmann (Iowa City), Eric Lendl (New York), Carrie Louise Nutt (New Brunswick), Dhira Rauch (Los Angeles), Ava Roy (Oakland), and Allison Waters (Eugene).


Saturday, August 16, 2008
8 pm

Venue: la Esquina (an Urban Culture Project space)
1000 West 25th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
Jackson County


Phone: 816-221-5115

Venue Website: http://www.urbancultureproject.org

Parking: parking on street




FREE

Ghosties on Daytrotter

www.daytrotter.com

Tour dates:

Aug 8 2008 / Record Bar / Kansas City, Missouri
Aug 9 2008 / The Matinee / Cleveland, Ohio
Aug 10 2008 / The M Room / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aug 11 2008 / The Red and The Black / Washington DC
Aug 12 2008 / Cake Shop / New York, New York
Aug 13 2008 / Death By Audio / Brooklyn, New York
Aug 14 2008 / Space Gallery / Portland, Maine
Aug 15 2008 / PA’s Lounge / Somerville, Massachusetts
Aug 16 2008 / Radio Bean / Burlington, Vermont
Aug 17 2008 / The Bug Jar / Rochester, New York
Aug 29 2008 / Eighth St. Taproom / Lawrence, Kansas
Sep 5 2008 / Record Bar / Kansas City, Missouri

Cory's Drawing Game (Selected Works)

As self-absorbed as blogs can get, the best posts to me are ones involving the talent and bright ideas of others. Today's featured artwork is just that -- a collaborative text and illustration narrative brought into being via the game Cory introduced us to at the Stained Glass Factory circa sometime last year.

The instructions are pretty simple. If you've got 5 players, each person should start out with 5 index card-sized sheets of paper stacked on top of each other. Once everyone agrees to start, each player independently (and privately) writes an aphorism, common saying or quotation on the first piece of paper in ink. They then pass the whole stack counter-clockwise (I believe -- variations may exist) and the player then interprets his lefthand neighbor's text with an interpretive illustration. After only a few minutes, the stack is again passed, and the illustration re-interpreted and a new caption given (although the possibility certainly exists that the original caption may be recognized in the drawing, I've yet to see the same caption duplicated on subsequent cards).

After the players have received the stack they started with, the players go around the room and -- frame by frame -- reveal the story they've constructed together.

The four sequences I'm unveiling today were completed by Toby, Dave, Stu, Jenn and I, but Cory's imagination is easy to recognize in the overall spirit of the pieces.

I was going to post them one day at a time through the rest of the week, but I think it's best to keep them together. Besides, if you want to see more you can always come up with them yourself. Well, you and a few other people who are up for playing a cool drawing game.

...............

Believe It Or Not...


Space IS The Place


It Takes Two To Tango


The Fate of Humankind Is An Eternal Infancy

Yelle au Parc des Princes

Don't Feed the Giant Bunny

My family has left me and gone to Mexico. Evenings this week you can find me on Adams Street sipping on assorted beers, bottled waters and flat sodas, pacing around the backyard, tossing Frisbees and listlessly lighting tiki-torches.

I shouldn't complain, though. I did get to do some serious travels last weekend. Jennifer and I went to Big Brutus, the 11-million pound steam shovel and the second largest electric shovel in the world, located in the quaint hamlet of West Mineral, Kansas (I'm pretty sure there's a bitter rivalry with East Mineral, but I didn't spend long enough in Cherokee County to confirm this).

Big Brutus is indeed big. In fact, it's enormous. Unfortunately, you can no longer climb out on the 150-foot-long boom, where people with mullets used to get married, according to the short informational video shown in the museum. Brutus, in case you were wondering, did not dig coal. The bucket removed dirt and rocks covering coal seams and was operated from 1962 to 1973, when the thing was finally retired due to the drop in coal prices and a monthly electric bill of over 27,000 dollars. You can learn more about Brutus and buy some nifty souvenirs at www.bigbrutus.org.

These are a couple of our close friends playing in the dipper...

Actually I don't even know those kids -- some lady named Rosemary posted this picture on her blog and I thought it was so sweet I'd reproduce it here. Rosemary also took this picture of the Webb City Praying Hands monument. I got lost here one time. Also, there is absolutely no sledding allowed at Praying Hands, especially in the summer.



Praying hands are not the only oversized thing you'll find in this part of the world, however. While skirting the Oklahoma border we came across this former parachute shop that is the home to a bunch of run-down cars, statues and a giant bunny rabbit. More pictures here.



If you'd rather check out footage of more remote and mountainous territory, the New York Times' "Frugal Traveler" has posted a video of his hikes through the Harz region of Germany, which my friends know I am semi-obsessed with even though I have never been there. The part where Frugal Traveler encounters a guy in the middle of nowhere clearing fields so he can shoot wild boars from a lookout tower is pretty special.

While I'm linking, I'd like to encourage you to check out this viral video posted and analyzed by reporter/raconteur J. "Scoop" Tucker. I thought the "Crazy Titch vs. Dizzee Rascal" battle was intense, but that's nothing compared to Eli Porter vs. Envy.

On top of my playlist lately are a pair of Scandinavians and two bands from San Francisco. For tunes by Pugh, Lau Nau, The Ohsees, visit the lukebox. To hear some stuff by the Sic Alps, who I saw this week at the Pistol, check out www.sicalps.com. This is a band I can heartily endorse, not just because I like experimental psychedelic rock from the Bay area, but also because they deleted their MySpace page -- perhaps the last act of rebellious negation that exists for today's rock and roller.

More soon.

LW

But Mrs. Andratti, isn't it true that everybody's being uptight about those freaky chromosomes?

These are difficult questions

Remember the pilgrim

Excuse any sassiness or unpleasantness of tone in the last post. I'd just taken my first stroll down Electric Avenue (KC Live, Power & Light, whatever the hell it's supposed to be called) and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing. Initially I was just relieved that they let me in with just my blue v-neck tee and flip-flops. The place was pretty cool, in that it's outside and crowded, but I don't know that I'll be going back anytime soon. The music is the same tired playlist I've been hearing at frat bars and skating rinks since the beginning of time (or at least 1986). And the DJ up in the booth didn't even have a Mac. He had a Dell.

But I do wish downtown the best, even if its new bars and fancy backdrop don't interest me in the slightest. It's trying its hardest, much like the sub-par/past-her-prime beauty who slaps on too much makeup in hopes that people will notice her again. Just flash a sad smile and walk on by.

The light rail thing, on the other hand. Now that could be fun, especially if they allow you to carry drinks around the way you can at Power & Light. I'll definitely ride it around and I'm sure lots of other people will, too.

I drive around as much as anyone, and it's hard not to feel a slight bit of panic or at least anxiety about skyrocketing gas prices... But after I watched this lady struggle to see over the dashboard of her giant land-cruiser the other day in the Half Price books parking lot, oblivious to the cars whose paths she was blocking, I found it hard to muster up too much sorrow about the twilight of our gas-guzzling glory days. It'll be uncomfortable not to have the same cheapness of mobility we've always enjoyed, but on the other hand, good riddance to all the diminutive Hausfraus powering along in their "urban combat vehicles," as my track coach King Karl used to call them.

King Karl also once said, in the middle of class, "By the time you guys are my age you'll be running around with a computer up your butt telling you what to do every 14 seconds." If you look at the advances in hand-held technology, I think he might have been right -- mostly. Another, perhaps more accurate, way to look at it would be to say, "By the time you guys are my age, you'll be running around telling a computer what you did every 14 seconds." All of you with twitter accounts probably know what I'm talking about.

Still, there's something to be said for regularity, and one of my old years resolutions was to either cancel this thing or post on a regular basis. So I'm going to try and do that, although the regularity will probably cancel out any coherence I might have achieved when this blogging thing was still a bright new country and not some tired electronic wasteland. We'll still have fun, as long as some of you comment once in a while. I don't ask for much, like real names or anything of substance, so what's the harm?

Well it's almost midnight so I'm going to finish up my Shock Top Belgian-style ale, brought to you by the St. Louis InBev subsidiary, Anheuser-Busch (don't get all up in arms, St. Louis factory workers, I didn't realize what I was buying until it was too late -- I just saw the logo of the orange peel with the mohawk and I couldn't resist).

If any of you see King Leopold's ghost paddling down the Mississippi, throw a drink on him for me.

In the meantime, check out this amazing series of deconstructed toys put together by whiz-bang designer Matt Kirkland, my old roommate at the hallowed halls of Grace Pearson.

Lover what you started now that you parted

Friends,

Not sure who still reads this. Apologies for my long absences. Life is so busy these days. And it's so hot outside. Definitely not blogging weather. As the old proverb goes, "drink iced tea while it's hot -- leave sagacity to the fall."

I will get back in the swing of things here. Probably. Perhaps. I get married in less than a month and then I leave town for about that long so there is a lot to do.

I heard some Funkadelic at the bar tonight. The same old bar I go to most Fridays, where there's only one bartender, no doorman and the enthusiastic discombobulated DJ spins soul/funk 45s on a single turntable. The Funkadelic track was something off "America Eats Its Young," I think, which in my high school days struck me as a funny title but nowadays strikes me as all too true.

I wonder what I'm still doing here, sometimes. I've lived elsewhere before. Before I had a blog, I actually traveled quite a bit and did things which at them time did not seem suitable for Internet postage. That's always sort of been the challenge with this site -- to keep it local and still keep it interesting. I think I've got at least one more year left. After that all bets are off.

The beat, however, must go on. And to that end I have added quite a few more tracks on the lukebox, accessible here. Plug in and enjoy. Or ignore and go about your business. All the same to me. But whatsoever I play, it's got. to. be. fun. kay?

love and kisses,

L.D.H.W.

I Could Never Fight A Cat Like That

I thought back about the last post a little while ago and decided it really didn't have much of a point. Although that hasn't stopped me from posting more than my share of shaggy-dog stories in the past, yesterday's gator photo-sequence was worthwhile only for its exposure of what really goes on in America's zoos.

But don't worry, fair readers, friends and spam-bots: There are no gators in the KC sewers, and if they do show up here they arrive at night, peaceful-like and made of plywood.

In more somber animal news, a legendary Midtown feline passed away last week. Ronald Reagan -- a black-and-white house cat that at 30 pounds was an outright colossus -- died last week at the age of 10. Ronald was my neighbor's cat for the past 2 years or so. He was already in possession of his presidential name when my friend adopted him. In fact all we knew about Ronald's early years was that they were almost entirely spent in the back rooms of a Kansas City BBQ joint. I'm not even kidding.

So Ronald is gone from the apartment building, and from this life, but I'm sure I'll still picture his sleek but massive frame in the first-story window, head raised, hair spiked and stuck together after a flea bath, sitting with all the street-tough aplomb of a brooding, self-grooming prize-fighter; fat has hell and fully aware he's in a class by himself.

So so long, Ronald Reagan. It's goodbye all over again.

I have a long and involved history with gators

"A day in the life of a zookeeper" by Natalya Bond


Gator jockey


Face 2 Face

Mad is sun

Madison is a nice town and a good place for 4th of July fun. Pictures courtesy of Natalya.

(Welvis says this looks like time travelin and Welvis knows what he is talkin about)

Pi

Liz's art opening is at 6 tonight at the Pi Gallery, right next door to Grinders. If you can't swing by tonight, her art will be up for another two weeks or so.

Fairer Sex Last Show

Tonight at the Taproom, with the Roseline. Should be fun.

Thak your lucky stars

If I want a bit of local news, I read the Kansas City Star. If I want some cheap entertainment, I read kansascity.com. As the paper itself has surely figured out, the comments section takes on a life of its own, often superseding the story itself in terms of excitement and even informativeness. Take, for example, this comment left on yesterday's story about police killing a gunman in Swope Park (my disc golf park of choice). The comment -- left in all-caps by someone named S/S -- is worth quoting in full. Citizen reporting doesn't get any more riveting than this.

I WAS JUST PASSING THE STOP LIGHT AT GREGORY AND JACKSON, WHEN A TAN SEDAN FLEW AND I MEAN LITTERALLY FLEW PASSED ME HEADING INTO SWOPE PARK AT A SPEED OF NO LESS THAN 70 MILES PER HOUR, I COULD SEE HIM PASSING, WEAVING IN AND OUT OF TRAFFIC, BY THE TIME I REACHED THE TURN TO THE ZOO, I COULD SEE HIM TURNING THE CORNER TOWARDS OLDHAM. WNEN I WAS GETTIG READY TO TURN THE LAST CORNER TOWARDS HILLCREST,I SAW HIS CAR, IN THE TREE, FRONT END STEMING AND CRUSHED, I DID STOP, THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER CARS ALREADY THAT HAD ALSO STOPPED 3 OF THEM FROM WHAT I SAW ON THERE CELL PHONES, I ASSUMED THAT THEY HAD ALREADY CONTACTED THE POLICE. TO MY AMASEMENT,JUST AS I WAS REACHING FOR MY PHONE AND THE CAR DOOR, THE MAN OPEND THE DOOR OF HIS WRECKED CAR, GOT OUT WITH A SHOT GUN IN HIS HAND, STAGGERED, STRAIGHTENED UP AND MARCHED STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. NOT SURE WHAT TO DO, I DECIDED THAT I HAD TO GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, AND OPTED TO QUICKLY PASS HIM.
THIS MORNING I HEARD WHAT HAD ACTUALLY HAPPEND YESTERDAY EVENING, AND THAK MY LUCKY STARS THAT I GOT OUT OF THERE. GLAD NO INNOCENT BY STANDERS GOT HURT.

Belgian Red

Each bottle of New Glarus' Belgian Red contains one pound of cherries. I brought a few bottles back from Wisconsin, so if you want to give it a try you'd better give me a call very soon. Or else just drive to Wisconsin yourself and pick up a case. This beer has won a lot of awards. It is very tasty and only costs $7.49 at Festival Foods in Oshkosh.

Hanging Around

Yeah, I'm still around.

It's still raining here and I keep making the mistake of sitting in the one lawn chair I didn't dry off, so I thought I'd better come inside and type a quick catch-up note before my stylish gap shorts get soaked all the way through.

I'm heading out tomorrow on a road-trip to Wisconsin. I plan to hit Madison for the 4th of July, where I've received an offer to eat a watermelon full of some kind of liquor and walk around various bodies of water to watch (and participate in) fireworks displays. After that, a short drive to Oshkosh for Wade's wedding reception, then a return route through Chicago where I will hopefully connect with James & James, one of whom will likely be held up at roman candle-point for a mix-tape.

But first, a shout out to Canada. Tuesday was Canada Day, and from my (admittedly limited) experiences in the Northern provinces, "Canada Day" is a cultural observation and spirited party that often stretches over several days and nights, drawing to a full close only at dawn on the 4th of July.

If you're staying close to town, don't miss Toby Terrance opening for 4th of July and Archetype at the Replay in Lawrence. Also opening Friday night is Liz Gardner's show at the Pi Gallery next to Grinders in the Crossroads. She'll have some new larger paintings and textile creations on display along with a fresh installment of the pocket-sized pieces, accompanied by some of my haiku. There will be a reception on Friday the 11th, which I'll likely post a flier for, but her art will be up starting this weekend.

What else...Work has been enjoyable and busy, and there are a number of creative projects in the works (I'm not trying to be cryptic, but I want to be in bed by close to 3).

The Shakespeare in the Park performance of Othello was pretty solid. In that natural outdoor venue, the line between audience and stage can get kind of blurred, and that combined with some convincing acting made me want to hop on stage and throttle Iago before his deceit incurred a body count. But history can not be altered, and it would be rather rude to interrupt a play.

So let's see...That's about it for tonight. I'll continue to maintain a blog here until I get a proper Web site, which is in the very earliest stages of research and development. (If I get lucky I might even try to enter it in the non-traditional category of Shawnee Mission Schools "R&D" Forum, but that's unlikely, because there is no non-traditional category, and besides I would be no match for grade schoolers when it comes to Web design. To be honest, I don't really even know how to use the Facebook!)

Things that I will continue to post here: useful information for the informed and classy Kansas Citian. For example, Royal Liquors on State Line has 4 or 5 quality varieties of Vinho Verde, all for under 10 dollars. Also, the New York Deli does a wicked pastrami/baby swiss/spicy mustard on pumpernickel as well as some delicious mohn pastries.

Things I likely won't blog about just yet: my growing fascination with the former ferries along the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, especially the olde watering hole/din of ill repute known as "Pensineau's Trading House." The above photo of me swinging over the Big Muddy was taken near the former location of Pensineau's place. Photo credit as usual to jennybros.com.

Speaking of, for those friends who have not yet heard, Jennifer and I will be jumping the proverbial broom in less than two months time. Much left to plan, but it will be fun.

So Aunt Margaret, break out your dancing shoes.

The rest of you, Happy Independence Day and I hope to see you soon.

LDHW

P.S. Thanks Teresa for mailing the swim suit and jelly beans. Much appreciated.

Out Look

Definitely on the summertime blog schedule lately. Plenty to report, but my free time lately has been best spent outdoors, much like the photos above and below. Look for some more snapshots and stories later in the month, and enjoy your summer.

ApocalyptiKC

This day trip I spoke of several weeks ago has turned into a much longer ausflug from the world of blogging and society as a whole. And just in time, too.

The above image, taken by Chris, is an actual photo of what downtown looked like yesterday (thanks to Chris for letting me post this amazing shot). The electrical storm started about 6 p.m. and carried on until well after I finally went to bed at about 2. At about 7:30, a 1,000,000 gallon fuel tanker in Kansas City, Kansas got struck by lightning, sparking a giant fire that rose 20 stories high and is yet to burn out completely.

This, combined with a recent shooting down the street from me that I was still upset about, gave the night a distinctly apocalyptic feel. It didn't help when the downstairs neighbor knocked on my door at midnight to let me know some sketchy middle-aged dude had been peering in her back window before pounding on the back door and demanding gas money for his car 10 blocks away. We called the cops, who checked it out and didn't see anyone.

I had a bit of a horror-movie moment, though, looking out into the porch where she said the guy had been lurking just before the police drove by. The wind and rain was blowing over us, and the intermittent lightning made it pretty easy to see for a few seconds at a time. And just when I was convinced there was nobody out there, I thought heard a noise on the fire escape just above us. Fortunately it was just a cat.

So I'm doing what I can do be a good citizen and look out for the folks in my neighborhood in whatever way I can. I was talking to Jenn about this yesterday and we decided that's one of the main things that separates a community from a neighborhood where no one feels safe. But I feel awful for people like CJ, the name of the kid who was attacked just down the street last Saturday. I generally feel safe in the neighborhood, but you never know when something crazy will happen.

I guess all you can do is take Voltaire's advice and tend to your garden, or in my case, mow the lawn. As of yesterday, I'm now the official grounds keeper for the apartment complex. I'll be mowing the lawn once a week and picking up trash in exchange for a pretty steep reduction in rent. I've even got a bandanna and some neon green t-shirts left over from my days at Westwood Public Works. So if you see what looks like a renegade Johnson County maintenance guy weed-wacking his way through the urban jungles of KCMO, don't be surprised.

Peace.

LW

Gunshots

I normally like to blog about happy things, the cheerful sights and events in my city and beyond. I was actually just writing some lighthearted piece about the neighborhood when I heard what happened last Saturday just down the block from me.

The story and news video clip is here, but to sum it up, a 19-year-old student at Kansas City Art Institute was shot 8 times after refusing to buy drugs from some guy who confronted him on the street. The student had been walking home from work at the time, down the same sidewalks I walk or ride by several times a week.

While trying to find out some more information about this, I came across the blog of one of the nearby residents that heard the shots and screams and ran out to help the victim. The dude (I recognized him as one of the guys who builds and rides around on those freakishly huge bikes) gives a pretty harrowing account (link no longer live) of the sensory intake surrounding the event.

It's easy to be cynical about crime in the city, to either ignore it or invent some justification about why it must have happened. And I know innocent people get messed with every day in this town. But this happened down the street to one of the kids I see walking by all the time. Just imagining that dude getting shot so many times and being tended to by a fellow student while bleeding half to death is pretty distressing.

I suppose I could follow fellow twenty-something trends and buy up in Waldo, Brookside or across state line, but I live here because it's a liveable balance between crack zombies and dog-walking suburban drones. The art students, however, are sort of limited in that most of them need to live near campus. It's a strange contrast, really -- you've got this idyllic little pocket of Kansas City with KCAI, Southmoreland Park, the Nelson, and the Plaza just to the west, but stray north a block or two and all of a sudden you've crossed into a zone where someone might shoot you 8 times because you don't want to buy drugs.

You've also got to wonder what goes through a shooter's mind when they decide to do something like that. In a few seconds you can end or seriously mess up someone's entire life as well as bring a lot of grief to their family and friends. Thankfully the kid didn't die in this case (if he had, I suspect it would have been a much bigger story), but he sustained some pretty heavy injuries and lost an eye.

Most message board posters on stories like this will either a) blame the victim for being out so late at night b) advocate gun control and/or carrying concealed weapons -or- c) turn it into a racial issue, point fingers and cite the downfall of society as we know it.

The (sad) thing is, these kinds of things happen all over town. I doubt people in other neighborhoods feel any less upset by a shooting down their own street than I feel about one in mine. You have to wonder why it is -- beyond socioeconomic and racial factors -- that one neighborhood gets stuck with the stigma of being a bad neighborhood while another gets a reputation for security. I'm not talking Leawood vs. KCMO, either, I'm talking block-to-block, Hyde Park to Ivanhoe, any juncture of space that could be labeled a community.

For people my age, the word "community" generally conjures up associations of meetings, signs, volunteer work, boring luncheons and tea parties and other things we feel there will always be plenty of other and/or older folks to take part in. But community as a concept is actually a lot more basic and integral. To build and be part of a community, people have to look out for each other.

I can't say I do much, but I try and do what I can to be a good citizen. I've given people rides home before in the rain (yes, strangers, and of different ages and races). I'll hand out the odd bit of change, food, beer, etc. if someone asks nicely. I even bought a soda for a kid at the QuikTrip the other day when he realized he didn't have any money (not a monumental deed, but I doubt he'll be shooting at me anytime soon at least).

I'm not about to suggest that we all wear name tags, but we could certainly stand to be a bit friendlier or at least more respectful to one another. If we viewed each other as fellow citizens and not anonymous adversaries in some high-stakes urban drama/video game, this kind of thing will be less likely to happen.

In the meantime, I'll just spell it out simply for those of you trolling through local blogs while polishing your firearms:

Stop. Shooting. Art. Kids.

Please.