Well, I’ve seen the sun for 2 hours, that’s it for today. It was so foggy you could hardly see then the sun came shining through and it looked like this.  But now it’s gone and the fog has rolled back in.  Glad I saw it.

I saw the latest exhibits at the Walker Gallery and Tate Liverpool, both were very good.  The Tate’s new exhibit is called Afro Modern: Journeys Through the Black Atlantic and features art by Picasso, Man Ray, Kara Walker, Jean Michel Basquiat, David Hammons and Ellen Gallagher, who had two of my favorite pieces one called Deluxe and the other called Bird in Hand.  Both pieces are collages that are interesting, and layered.  The detail work done in Bird in hand was amazing I must have stood at that piece, which is massive for 15 minutes.

Bird in Hand collage by Ellen Gallagher

Deluxe is a piece done with much humor, it’s a commentary on the struggle black people have had with self image and presentation specifically with hair.  Gallagher uses hair product and wig adds from the 1930s through the 1970s.  Here is a well written review of her work that may help convey gallagher’s work: http://www.recirca.com/reviews/2007/texts/eg.shtml And there is the piece by Glen Ligon called Nobody knew me, which is a Richard Pryor joke painted on a gold background.  I laughed out loud when I got to it because I remember hearing Richard Pryor tell that joke years ago, it’s funny.  Needless to say I enjoyed the exhibit.

At the Walker Art Gallery the new exhibit is Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire.  Williams was a Guyanese artist influenced by abstract painter Jackson Pollock, Mayan culture and Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.  The paintings are very moving, particularly when you listen to Shostakovich while viewing the pieces Williams painted to that music.   I like this quote:

“The act of painting, the act of daring to make art, the Arawak had a word for it and they called it Timehri… Now, Timehri to the Arawak means the mark of the hand of man…That is the word for art for me.” Aubrey Williams

And of course the This is Sculpture exhibit and the Rothko Seagram Murals still on display.  Some of the things I am looking forward to this summer and fall are the Dali exhibit , the allure of the automobile exhibit and the Radcliffe Bailey exhibit, all will be at the High.  Dali is my favorite painter.  I continue to be awed by his work and to see a couple of pieces here at Tate Liverpool has been a treat.

Cheers.

Went to Cain’s brewery for a tour and some free beer a few nights ago with friends and had so much fun.   If you’re in Liverpool and want a fun evening take the tour.  You will see the Brewery, open since 1850.

In the lobby of the brewery

See the beer being made although the night I went they weren’t running any lines, get the explanation of how beer is made and get lots of entertaining stories and jokes from the tour guide and of course sit in the Grapes Inn and drink some beer.

Now for something completely different – Manchester United beat AC Milan 3-2.  Go Man U! I have been a Man U fan for eight years.  One of the best things about being in England is that i can see them play on their homefield, Old Trafford stadium.  Even though Beckham no longer plays for Man U I still love to watch him play.

In case you didn't know, David Beckham

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney scoring twice and giving Man U the win was brilliant.

A few words about the Daytona 500.  Crazy…

Jamie McMurray Daytona 500 winner 2010

Jamie McMurray won the race.  It’s great for Jamie after a couple of lackluster years at Roush racing.  Both my drivers finished in the top ten: Carl Edwards, my favorite driver, finished 9th and Clint Bowyer, my second favorite finished 4th and lead the race for a number of laps.  Is this the year Carl wins the big one and spoils Jimmie Johnson’s Drive for Five?  We shall see.  The big hole in the track was a spoiler for lots of drivers particularly,  Jimmie Johnson and as the fates would have it Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 2nd, about time.  I miss the fact that I can’t tune in and watch racing on telly but it’s only for a while.  Next up Fontana!

I was out this morning doing a bit of shopping but more importantly enjoying the SUNSHINE…that’s right,  I said it, SUNSHINE. It’s been quite grey here, lots of rain, some snow and most of lots of fog for the ghosts to appear in. There are so many ghost stories in Liverpool, it’s such an old city and a port city which seems to increase the ghost sighting quotient. I’ll add some ghost stories as I hear them in future posts.  As I type this the sun has come out again, yeah. Here’s what it looks like right now.

I am approaching the end of my third month here and my day to day existence has evened out so that life in Liverpool has become the normal.  I think when I return home it’s gonna be weird, to hear southern accents again and the slower pace of life.  I look out my window and the sun is gone and it’s now snowing.  That’s Liverpool, the weather changes minute to minute.  A couple of weeks ago we had a day that started out sunny, then it rained, then it hailed finally it started snowing.  If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t believe it myself.

Currently here is the music I’m listening to:

John Mayer Trio’s  live version of Every day I have the Blues – and thinking about the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn.  I still miss his music.

Sade, Soldier of Love.  She’s baaaack.

Corrine Bailey Rae, The Sea, heartbreakingly beautiful

Vampire Weekend, Contra.   And yes, Vampire Weekend will make you smile when you listen to them.  Thanks Peter for turning me on to them

Stereophonics, Keep Calm and Carry On.  Another one of my favorite UK bands.

Maxwell’s Black Summer’s night.  Thank goodness Maxwell recorded again.

Muse, The Resistance – symphonic rock n’ roll

Kings of Leon, Use Somebody- I’m listening to them more.

The Fireman, Electric Arguments- Paul McCartney is my first musical love.  I was raised on the Beatles and I have listened to all of Paul’s music.  The Fireman is experimental and interesting.  I have always loved the fact that Paul McCartney has never gotten stuck in one sound but continues to try new sounds.  Check them out.

I had a couple of days when I first got to Liverpool that I thought it sounded like I was in a Beatles movie.  The accent remains the same.  Oh and I almost forgot, racing season has begun baby!  Kevin Harvick won the Budweiser Shootout,

K. Harv wins the 2010 Budweiser Shootout

and Danica Patrick drove in an Arca race.  All I can really say is that despite getting wrecked Carl Edwards got the poll, I hope it’s not his last and Clint Bowyer made a good showing.  4 Days until the Daytona 500.

Ta Luvs!

It’s not every night that you see a car sitting upside down in the middle of an intersection surrounded by police and fire vehicles right out your living room window.  But I did last week.  I was going to see Henry Rollins spoken word show but was feeling under the weather and decided not to go.  I’ll have to catch Henry another time.  Instead I stayed home, out of the wind and cold, and had  guests over at my apartment for a couple of hours.  After my guests left  I looked out the window and saw an armada of police and ambulances surrounding an upside down vehicle in the middle of an intersection.  They were trying to get a woman, apparently the driver, out of the car.  She had to be cut out of the car.  I kept looking at the car wondering how did it end up on it’s roof, what flipped it over?  My next door neighbor said she saw the driver turn right too fast and hit the median flipping the car over.  I tried to take a picture of the car surrounded by flashing lights but the picture below was the best my camera got.

attempt to photograph flipped car

I know you can’t determine what you’re looking at but I love the photo it’s a wonderful abstract.  So that was my artistic endeavor for the day. Here is the story in the Liverpool Echo:

Afterwards I watched an exciting football match, Blackburn vs Aston Villa.  There were goals until the very end the final score 6 -4.  Around the time the match ended about 22:30, the wrecker had finally come and flipped the car back over and taken it away.  19 more days until the Daytona 500.  And two of my favorite football teams will be playing in the Superbowl.  I like the Saints but I gotta say the Colts will win.  If you doubt watch and learn!  Cheers.

C. G. Jung

Welcome to my first blog.   I’ve been in Liverpool almost 2 months, time is going really fast.  It seems hard to believe but there you have it.  It just keeps getting better every day, always something new.  Today has been a really chilled out day.  I had a very interesting conversation with a guy downstairs about african/european politics and how he got to England.  Everyone has a story.  His was fantastic.  A couple of days ago I went to Matthew Street to the Cavern Club and pub, check out the pictures in the gallery.  Great place, I will be back.  On the way I passed an irish pub with a bust of C. G. Jung, pictured above, my one of favorite writers/philosophers, in the wall with the quote: “Liverpool is the pool of life.”  Liverpool has so much art- statues, galleries, street art and interesting architecture to see.  It’s much better than I ever would have hoped.  I’ll post as much of that as possible.   And of course the Daytona 500 is 26 days away.  Can’t wait, go Carl Edwards, go Clint Bowyer!  Don’t know how this NASCAR thing is going to work out without cable over here.  But I will see some racing somehow you can be sure.