@ sixes & sevens

On Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum

Takashi Murakami: I open wide my eyes but see no scenery. I fax my gaze upon my heart., 2007 Acrylic and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on board. 242.6 x 281.9 cm. Collection of Linda and Harry Macklowe (source)

Prompted by a curmudgeonly review by Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker and some contrasting exuberant encouragement from colleagues at work, I vowed to see what all the fuss at the Brooklyn Museum was about today. On a hunch I texted my Brooklyn buds Amy & Benny to see if they were free to join me, and we met up in front. I don't think I've seen the museum 'happening' as much as it was on this warm and overcast spring Saturday.

Atlantic Antic Festival

I headed out to Atlantic Avenue on Sunday to take in the 2007 Atlantic Antic Festival. I'll admit it was the Transit Authority's Bus Festival (left) that drew me out there in the first place. But that was clearly only the lure. As it happened, the AA festival was a kick too.

So I brought my camera to record the buses, some candids from the festival, and whatever else caught my eye. I couldn't find a good shot from among the buses -- maybe I was just too nostalgically overwhelmed -- but the Brazilian-inspired drumming ensemble Maracatu NY certainly was photogenic. I whipped out my camera and started an extended video of their performance. Not long after I started videoing, the camera went 'Click!' and the exhausted battery message came up. Sorry, folks! I guess the upside is that I wasn't obsessed with finding the perfect shot for the entire rest of the afternoon.

A little beer, a burrito with EVERYTHING, and the street stroll was off and running. I found some great original (not out of a crate from overseas) jewelry from wabi sabi (no pictures, cuz some it's destined for Kiki's birthday), some dishtowels for MPOW and our two households, and even got suckered into browsing artəz'n (again, a blackout until after this weekend). It must have been the beer that made the geezer rock group Windsor Terrors (@MySpace) sound so good. (And all the ol' guys around me equally blown away by the lead guitarist must have been drinking the same stuff.)

Whoever it is who's talked up the festival every year for the last couple of years, until this year on totally deaf ears, thanks!