One more to go...

I'm very happy to report that I recently finally got the limited Factory boxed cassette of Happy Mondays' first album, Squirrel & G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carn't Smile (White Out)

(explanation)

Back in the late '80s, Factory Records started producing a number of special boxed cassettes of their bands' albums.  Since I was a big 'walkman' listener, I bought a number of them.  They were really cheap ($7.50), because I bought most of them directly from 'of Factory New York'.  They had a small collection of them there, in their Spring St headquarters, in Manhattan.  There were a few that I didn't have interest in because either I didn't like the band or already had the album on Vinyl.  I started making exceptions though for New Order and Joy Division albums because the cassette versions were so cool, and before I knew it I had 20 of these so-called 'boxed cassettes'.  Then, after New Order's Substance album came out, Factory pretty much stopped making them.  I found out a number of years later that they had only made 22 and it turned out that I was only missing two to make a full set:  Happy Monday's first album and a random classical album by Wim Mertins, called 'Educes Me'.  Well, I never got the Happy Monday's first album because I already had it on first vinyl pressing with the cool plastic slip cover and the original track list intact.  The Wim Mertins album, I didn't get because it was a harp player and I was more into Post Punk and New Wave.

Well, long story short, a pristine copy of the first Happy Mondays album (a masterpiece, by the way - produced by John Cale of the Velvet Underground) made itself available to me recently, so I bought it.

So, only one to go to make a complete set.  Please, if you have, or know where to get that Wim Mertins album 'Educes Me', please contact me.  My other 21 boxed cassettes are lonely!

A few new pics added to the Street Art album

I just added a few new images of recent street art in the city.  I still haven't had a chance to photograph the new HowNosm wall on Houston.  Hopefully I'll get to that soon.
Oh, P.S., note Ron English's nod to Little Italy in the tatters at the bottom of baby Hulk's pants!

Joseph Saccio - Memory and Transformation 2012 sculpture show

I've posted a photo set I took recently of Joseph Saccio's current sculpture show at the Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven, CT.  You can view the photos HERE.

A Brooklyn Day, September 2012

I had to work for a bunch of this weekend, but it's amazing what you can do and see in a few hours on a Sunday in Brooklyn.  I harvested some figs from my tree, went downtown to see PowderKeg (my wife's new writing space) and was fortunate enough to get a chance to finally see Stephen Powers' amazing artwork next to the Brooklyn Macy's.  I have to say that Powers' piece is the best combination of street art and poetry I've seen.  Then, when we got home we had the most amazing fig, bacon, and caramelized onion pizza.  Check out the three photosets here (click on the titles in the bottom left of the photosets to choose which one to see).

Finland Photos - Second Trip

I just posted a whole bunch of photos I've taken on my second visit to Finland. I have had a great time and hope that I get a chance to come back at some point in the future. I'm so glad to have had this experience, and I've got to hand it to the Finns, they really know how to celebrate a Midsummer's eve! (Special thanks to our Sotkamo hosts) Here's a link to the whole collection, but feel free to just look at the 'selects' if you're short of time.

Finally Finland Fotos (sic)

Don't know why it took so long.  These are mostly just tourist photos from my brief April visit to Helsinki and only a few art-shots thrown in there, but several people have been asking to see, so here you go.  Sorry, the architecture section is pretty long, but I think there are some interesting buildings there.  Oh, the Art Museum is 'Chiasma' by Stephen Holl

Anton Vill

Here's another very talented individual (says she's female on Facebook, but isn't Anton a guys name?) This person lives in Estonia and has just done some amazing work at the new Maritime Museum in case you're in Tallinn any time soon.  A must see!

Escif

While we wait for me to get my act together to post recent photos I've taken, here's a really great graffiti artist I heard about recently.  Check his work out.

Fountain Art Fair

We had a pretty interesting time checking out the Fountain Art Fair at the Armory on Lexington and 25th St this weekend. Here are a few of the shots I took, along with a couple from out and about in the city (Know Hope and Retna's new wall on Houston). I tagged a few of the artists whom I particularly liked, in this post. Check out the photo set here.

More Street Art shots

Just updated the Street Art album with some new shots from the Jonathan Levine Gallery and surrounds. Check it out here (the last 6 images in the set):

Street Art

Washington D.C. 2012

We visited D.C. last weekend ahead of a reading my wife did for PEN Faulkner on Monday (it was really great!) Here are a selection of shots I took while there. We walked around the canal along Georgetown and visited a number of museums and memorials, so the photos are mostly of those things, but I tried to give them my own little personal twist, as usual. Check them out here. *Update: I've taken a number of the less interesting photos out of the set to provide a more streamlined experience.