jim henson

Last week was so busy that I find myself finishing writing my wrap-up to it on the following Monday.
And so it goes...

1. I'm pleased to report one big blog update recently completed;

I've added an additional 125 images to my flickr set - - 'Nostalgia for the Scholastic Book Club, circa '60's & '70's' - - bringing the total in the set up to 187!

Because no one demanded it!
Too many juvenile lit memories!

More cover scans, more illustrations, more links to author and illustrator info, back cover images & info now appearing on the same page as a book's cover image, more, more more!

Please follow this link to my flickr set - - 'Nostalgia for the Scholastic Book Club, circa '60's & '70's'!

















































2. One nugget thrown my way this past week included a peek at the charmingly disturbing ◀ManBabies.com.

Father / Son photo switcheroos that are the stuff of nightmares!

(Thanks to My Friend Topic for the link)

3. I've been all over the San Francisco bay area in the last week or so, as I start to lay the groundwork for moving back home after my two-year Idaho experiment.

Those wheels are turning, but I've also been greatly enjoying visiting friends, family, and locations both familiar and new.

I've pretty well boxed the compass here; Down the South Bay towards San Jose to see my Godson and his folks, over to the East Bay and up to Sonoma for home-cooked meals with my siblings and their families, great lunches, dinners, and hangtimes with folks in various parts of San Francisco, Berkeley, and all over Marin County.

It'll be good to come back.

A few days ago I met a friend at the wonderful de Young Museum in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park.

We went to catch the Gilbert and George ▶ exhibit they'd been running, before it was gone.

Found the show a bit disappointing, a little overrated, derivative.
As so much of the work reminded me of advertisements, CD jackets and club flyers, I felt as though the pieces often suffered due to their lavishly large scale.

More is less.


◀ Fortunately, the de Young is a wonderful adventure in itself - -

- I'm still marvelling at the beautiful 2005 remodel that I'd long ago been determined to hate.

- It's impossible not to enjoy their 360-degree view observation tower (it won't be long before the remodeled California Academy of Sciences will be ready to re-open, just across the park's band concourse!!).

- And the new underground parking garage with its entrance at 10th & Fulton is so elegantly civilized and forward-thinkng that it's slightly difficult to believe it's in San Francisco.

One painting I spotted near an entrance to the deYoung's bookstore resonated for me unexpectedly - - Painter
Harvey Dinnerstein's figurative work can stand out among the often less realist fare of a fine art museum.

Dinnerstein's 1999 painting, 'Sundown, The Crossing' ▶ looks like it could be the cover image on a genre fiction paperback, and I confess that helped to draw me to it. (It sends its message more successfully when the details are clearer)



- you can see more of Harvey Dinnerstein's artwork at the Frey Norris Gallery website.


The icing on my slice of deYoung cake that day was spying an old
Morris Minor 1000 ▼ sitting parked in the garage.

Just another memorable work of art...






4. I'm quite certain that She & Him don't need a bit of help from me in getting the word out about their charming debut album 'Volume One', but I do feel compelled to say that I've really been enjoying listening to it.

Big thanks are sent to my buddy Snappy for the definitive reminder about the existence of this collaboration between musician M. Ward and actress / singer Zooey Deschanel.

The blend on their album of sunny pop music combined with a country twang and occasional girl-girl group vibe hits me just right.
Cute without being precious, light but not lite, sweet without too much processed sugar.

There's plenty of info, audio and video available at the official website and (of course) at
She & Him's MySpace page.

In marking the passing of American artist Robert Rauschenberg, we can celebrate his enormous and eclectic body of work, the innovations he brought to the art world, and his notably optimistic and upbeat demeanor.

Rauschenberg died of heart failure this past Monday evening at the age of 82.

His New York Times obituary includes a wonderful quote from composer
John Cage - -

- - In reference to the transformative power of Rauschenberg's art and his celebration of the common object, Cage said “Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look.”

'Bed', 1955 ►

Rauschenberg was a very prolific artist, and there will likely be new works of his to discover for several years to come.

- - But, as an important 20th century artist who in his continued passion for work has so often occupied the present tense, by marking Rauschenberg's passing we are once again made to mourn yet another end to an era.

See also:

- an index to Rauschenberg work available online at Artcyclopedia.

- A PBS 'American Masters' bio page includes a video clip link to Rauschenberg discussing his 1955 piece, ◀ 'Monogram' and the origins of his combines.







- In the video clip below ▼, Rauschenberg relates the story of his famous 'erasing' of a DeKooning drawing in 1953.

In the early sixties,
Georgie Fame had come up through London clubs playing a distinctive blend of R&B, jazz, ska and rock & roll .

This swingin' and supremely catchy instrumental was released on the B-side of Fame's big hit single of 1967, 'The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde' - - his only top ten charting 45 in the U.S.


Listen to:
Georgie Fame - Beware Of The Dog
(Epic Records 45, 1967)
(click for audio)


See also:
- An Official Georgie Fame Website

- Georgie Fame at All Music.Com

- A 2005 blog entry about this very same B-side, lurking in the archives of Funky16Corners

- A 1965 video clip of Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames performing their earlier hit, 'Yeh Yeh' on Britain's 'Ready, Steady, Go'