Interesting Contrast

Seen on a recent walk, within 1 1/2 miles of each other.

Marisol at the Brooks

I remember when the Brooks Art Museum commissioned The Family (pictured above) and installed it. I fell in love at first sight. I don't know what about it delighted me, but I have always loved it. I've had a framed postcard of it on my wall as long as I can remember. The museum staff took it off display years ago, and I mourned. I never got a satisfactory explanation for why I could no longer visit with it.

When I heard the Brooks was bringing it back out as a part of a retrospective of Marisol's work, I was in heaven! I've been to visit several times during the exhibition. Marisol is a fascinating artist. Maria Sol Escobar was born in Paris in 1930 of Venezuelan parents. Most of her work was done in New York City. The Boston Globe has an overview of her life and work

In addition to The Family, my particular favorites from this exhibit are Mi Mama y Yo (the work shown above that includes a parasol), and Women Sitting on a Mirror (1965-1966):

Two of the most striking are The Funeral:

image from ElMuseo.org

and Desmond Tutu:

image from CarolDiehl.com

Visitors are encouraged to take a photo of themselves with the family, and here's mine:

The first time I saw the exhibit, I went with The Daughter. We had a delightful lunch out on the patio of the museum's Brushmark Restaurant:

I had chicken salad croissant and coffee:

It was excellent. The Daughter had a hamburger, and she enjoyed it.

The Daughter and I also went downtown to view the works that were inspired by Marisol's sculptures. That link will take you to decent pictures. It was hard for me to get photos through the storefront glass, but these are the best I could do:

I will miss The Family once it leaves, but this exhibition is going to New York City where Marisol currently lives. I hope that once it comes home it will receive the treatment it deserves and can be viewed anytime I go to the Brooks.

Join the T Party over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog, where Elizabeth is shining in her exploration of Abstract painting.

Downtown Blues

Downtown Blues (1928):

by Frank Stokes, who was born here in 1888. He died at age 67 in September, 1955, after a stroke and was buried here in the Hollywood Cemetery. One of the best (if not the best) of Memphis' bluesmen.

lyrics:

And I don't drink whiskey but I'm crazy 'bout my beer
And I don't drink whiskey but I'm crazy 'bout my beer
This is 1928 an' it must be a brand new year

An' if I's young? I'd take me to your back door
Ahhhhh.... Now take me to your back door
As the times get rough I ain't gon' make the trip no more

And I'm goin' downtown, gon' stay 'round there 'til dark
And I'm goin' downtown, gon' stay 'round there 'til dark
You don't like my treatment you can make you another stop

An' I'm sittin' right here, now, lookin' straight in your face
An' I'm sittin' right here, now, lookin' straight in your face
If you gon' do better, girl, it's time for to you make haste

Now when you lay down at night, lay down early, try to take your rest
Now when you lay down at night, lay down early, try to take your rest
You'll get a call by four o'clock, wake up and try to do your best

Now what make I know that my good gal like me so
Now what make I know that my good gal like me so
Because she takes her time, she do work everywhere she go

I saw the ghost of Elvis

on Union Avenue? Well, no, but I did see this 42:

on Union Avenue at Main Street downtown.

The Delta Fair & Music Festival

I grew up going to the Mid-South Fair, an annual event held here in Memphis. Daddy would get off work at 4:30, we would eat supper at home, and then we would head for the fair. We would go to the livestock barns, see the crafts exhibits, look at the art submitted for judging, eat cotton candy, ride rides.... all those wonderful fair "things". We took our own kids almost every year. We would go first thing in the morning, pick up Mother on our way, go to the livestock barns early, go see the exhibits when the buildings opened at 10, and then head for the midway for rides and food. Once Mother quit going with us we would bring her a box of salt water taffy as a souvenir. We have wonderful memories!

Some years ago the Mid-south Fair moved down into Mississippi, and we haven't been since then. There is another Fair that came to Memphis to fill the empty hole left by the moving of the other one, but i had just never had the chance to go to it. I didn't want to be that inaccessible to Mother by that point.

This year The Daughter and I went to the Delta Fair. We looked at the exhibits in buildings first: the art, the sewing, the crafts, the vegetables, the baked foods... Then we headed for the midway. We rode a lot of rides, including the Scrambler (I think they called theirs the Sizzler), the Rock & Roll (which goes forwards and backwards) and -under whatever name- has always been a favorite:

and this swing:

We ate lunch there. The Daughter had a double pronto pup, and I had chicken on a stick and lemonade:

We rode 2 different ferris wheels. The photo at the top of the post was taken from this one:

Here are some other shots from that ferris wheel:

We went through 2 Haunted Houses. This was the first one:

It had a sign up advertising an employment opportunity:

The Daughter didn't encourage me when I said I could run away and join the carnival. Hmmmm....

The livestock exhibit can't hold a candle to the offerings of the old Mid-South Fair, with its multiple barns and rows and rows of different kinds of cows and sheep and pigs and goats, with official judgings and presentations of ribbons. This fair has a Children's Barnyard Petting Zoo. That's about it as far as "livestock" goes. Not at all the same thing. But we had fun nevertheless, and I got kissed by a young camel:

There were tents with singers, stages with entertainments, and much more. We bought fudge as a treat to The Husband, who wasn't up to a Fair trip, and The Younger Son, who seems to have caught some kind of coughing/sneezing illness. We are already looking forward to next year!

Ender's Game

Ender's Game is a 2013 science fiction film based on the Orson Scott Card book by the same name. Steve Jablonsky did the music. Suraj Partha, one of the actors, was born here in Memphis. The film stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, and Ben Kingsley. It's been years since I read the book, but I remember enjoying it. I don't remember it well enough to compare the two, but I didn't see anything here that was inconsistent with what I do remember. I need to re-read the 1st three or four of the Ender books. This movie was well cast; everybody was pitch-perfect. The special effects were wonderful. If anything, this movie could've easily been longer, but I have no complaints.

trailer:

Moria spends a lot of time discussing Card's views against gay marriage, says the film "ends up better on screen than one expected before sitting down to watch" and concludes: "It works reasonably well as an illustrated version of the book for those who have read it. On the other hand, I have my doubts whether anybody who comes to it as a film without reading the book is going to become a rabid fan." SF Signal gives it 1 1/2 out of 5 stars and finds much to criticize. Empire Online gives it 2 out of 5 stars and closes with this: "It admirably avoids many of the pitfalls of adapting this book, but seems to have lost some of the life and pace as well." Slate closes by saying, "I can understand wanting to skip Ender’s Game as a matter of moral principle [because of author Card's anti-gay activism], but you can also feel free to blow it off just because it’s not that good." EW gives it a C+ and calls it "oddly lifeless and emotionally unaffecting". Roger Ebert's site doesn't like it. Rotten Tomatoes has a 60% critics score.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl is a 2012 best-selling mystery novel by Gillian Flynn. from Flynn's web site:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Employing her trademark razor-sharp writing and assured psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Ah, the unreliable narrator. Not a favorite style for me. Not at all. By the end of page 30 I was thoroughly disgusted with both main characters, and the book is 415 pages long. I've heard people say it's a page-turner, and I wonder if that's code for can't-wait-til-it's-over. The writing is good, it's not that; I just don't like it in spite of the good writing, which is unusual for me. I will say I liked it better in the 3rd Act, which seems to be going against the grain. Most folks seem to like the earlier part of the book more.

a quote that struck me:

There's something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.

I quit marking anything by page 30, though, so that's all I've got. One of the secondary characters is from Memphis. I have 2 other books by her, and -since I enjoyed her writing style- I'm looking forward to them.

Reviews are positive, and there's a film nearing release. I just don't like it. It is just me. I own that.

NPR has an interview with the author, in which she says,

To me, marriage is the ultimate mystery. You know, there's that phrase: No one knows what goes on in anyone's marriage. And I guess the bottom line of this book is no one knows what's going on in [their] own marriage, a little bit, because we can't entirely know each other..

The Telegraph reviewer says, "it’s the best thing I’ve read in years, with a cleverly woven plot, toxic characters and twists as jagged as barbed wire." Kirkus Reviews says, "It’s a smart book. I mean, vile and delicious, yes, but also incredibly savvy about the media saturated world that we live in".

Memphis Music and Heritage Festival

Every year on Labor Day week-end the Center for Southern Folklore sponsors the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival downtown on Main Street. I had never been before and neither had The Daughter, so this year we decided to trek on down there and see what we'd been missing. Quite a lot! There was a stage set up on Main Street at Beale and another at Union and a third about half-way in-between. All along Main Street between the music venues were artists and vendors of all sorts.

Here's a promotional video for the event:

Memphis Music & Heritage Festival 2014 from RDP on Vimeo.

We had a wonderful time. Next year we plan on eating on one of the patios close to a music tent.

After we finished at the festival, we walked back to Tom Lee Park where we'd left the car but thought we wouldn't leave downtown quite yet. We decided to walk along the Riverwalk a ways, since we aren't usually on the southern end of it. We went along the Mississippi River down to Martyrs Park:

This park honors the martyrs of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1878.

We walked back to the car via the pedestrian lane on Riverside Drive:

A lovely way to spend a summer afternoon!

On the Avenue

We tried out Avenue Coffee's patio early this summer and loved it. Avenue Coffee is fairly new, and here's hoping they do well. They don't seem to have a website other than their Facebook page, and I can't find a copy of their menu online.

We each had a 10 oz pour over coffee. The Husband also had a blueberry muffin and The Daughter also had a chocolate chip muffin:

The patio was very pleasant and inviting:

The prices were reasonable; but The Husband paid, and I forgot to ask him what the total was. The pour-over concept seems to be spreading in the local coffee shops. They use ceramic, while we use a plastic cone at home. It's fun to see the different ways of making coffee.

Choose 901 has photos and a positive review. Yelp gives it 5 out of 5 stars with 7 reviews.

Please join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for their T party. There's a lot more than tea goin' on over there.

Pedestrians Count

Maybe I should say that pedestrians should count, because evidence from a recent walk bring me to conclude they don't actually count at all. In one short stretch of a busy street, trying to walk on the sidewalk, I was confronted by someone whose yard waste took up the entire sidewalk all along the front of their house:

one homeowner with not nearly as much brush but who just as effectively blocked the sidewalk:

and yet another whose lovely plantings encroach so far into the sidewalk area that there's barely room for one person to walk there safely with no median to separate the walker from the traffic:

I've known people like this. I had a next door neighbor once who had her "yard man" move my bags off my lawn and into the street. I moved them back. After she had him move them again I talked to her about how it's illegal to pile the yard waste in the street where it blocks the gutters. She had him move the bags onto the sidewalk. *sigh* I told her that blocking the sidewalk was also not allowed. She said, "But it will kill your grass." I assured her that I didn't mind, that if the grass died it would grow back.

Now here's the telling part: She said, "But I can see it from my window, and it looks ugly." It was all about her and what she wanted.

Such a self-centered mindset is hard to imagine, but there it is; and my experiences walking show that she is not alone.