Who do, voo doo, you do

So many things to write about this morning... perhaps coffee will crank my engine. It is rainy with occassional thunder breaking the quiet. Timing has been everything this week. It's been cold, grey and wet since we woke on Friday to Miro's bellowing.

I spent most of the day dreading the inevitable reality of listening to the infamous Dr. John perform outside in the cold rain at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. I don't blame the Dr. - who observed we all had more heart than brains... I blame the greedy promoter and the naive staff at the LGB garden for putting together such a thoughtless arrangment on an October evening. Yes, the folk festival is next weekend and yes it might rain but the folk festival is free and there will be tents. This event was not cheap, our tickets were purchaced more than a month ago and there was no tent. I'll never purchace tickets in advance again for an event to be performed there. It was simply lame. Putting together a music program isn't rocket science.

The ONLY reason I could justify staying the length of the show is that regardless of how miserable we were I knew it was nothing compared to what the artists and residents of New Orleans endured post Katrina. I tried not to whimper, but once again, I blame it on the management for their greed and unwillingness to address their responsibilities. C'est la vie.

The Who do link here will take you to an interesting artist blog I've been following. If you are interested in the questions artists ask other artists you'll enjoy it.
After visiting the Dr. last night, we saw some solid art and heard people still buzzing about the Jerry Saltz lecture from this past Wednesday. Mr. Saltz was just what the doctor ordered...
and more. He was a real ham... but the good kind.

Can you tell me who's in charge here? I thought you were. Can YOU tell me who's in charge here? Yes, I can.

He reminded us that its hard to make a difference from the center so you make wherever you are the center... the words of Dave Hickey - who should be a southerner if he isn't. That was certainly always my protocal growing up... particularly at university. It's much harder now... not impossible... just harder. The art world really doesn't care about anything other than gazing at its own navel so it doesn't matter if better things are happening elsewhere else as long as the belly of the beast is being fed. Yes, I agree with Saltz... the artworld is the wikipedia of places to have a career... much less make art.