Finger Lakes Micro-mini Vacation 3/31-4/1/2012: Day 1

I seem to always be a couple of weeks behind getting these things posted. If I wasn't working full-time as an executive recruiter, if I didn't have other things I like to do, if I didn't need to sleep, maybe, just maybe, they'd be posted in a more timely manner.

That said, I eventually get around to it.

The weekend of March 31-April 1 was overcast and then rainy. On Saturday morning, we stopped at the Montezuma Winery and Hidden Marsh Distillery. They are known for their honey and fruit based wines; mead in particular. A few years ago they began distilling liqueurs, brandy and vodka - the vodka is made from honey, and is very good, and on March 31, the day we visited, they released their white dog, a.k.a. corn whiskey, Judd's Wrecking Ball. I tasted the dry mead, the vodka and the white dog. I liked the mead but I couldn't imagine when I'd be drinking it. At the cash register, the cashier told me it was the first bottle she sold. I said "today?" She said "ever!" so I asked her to get the whiskey maker to sign a bottle for me. He came out, we posed together for them and I got a picture of him holding up that first sale. That's the sort of thing that doesn't happen too often.

We drove west along US 20, through Waterloo, NY to Geneva. I don't know Waterloo. It's an exit off the NY State Thruway and their's an outlet mall not too far from that exit. The village is about half-way between Seneca Falls and Geneva, and therefore about halfway between the northern ends of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. I don't know much about the place, but there are signs stating it's the "Birthplace of Memorial Day." It is a typical looking northern Finger Lakes village.

Being the birthplace of a holiday that for most people in the USA nowadays signals the first weekend of the summer, instead of a moment of reflection and remembering the lives lost in all the wars the US fought, is an achievement, I guess. I admit it's not so significant that I'd go out of my way for it.

In Geneva, drove through the eastern side of the city, where we never went before. Then we wandered around downtown just a little, stopping in the Geneva Antique Co-op. There were six sisters shopping for the wedding of one of their daughters, which was to be on Long Island. I wasn't clear exactly what brought them to Geneva, since they were from all over the Northeast. I'll add some of the downtown photos in my next post.

At last, we parked the car about 1/2 mile west, on Castle Street and walked up and down through the neighborhood. It is a neighborhood noted for it's single family homes in various styles dating back to the 1850s, set back from the streets behind broad, tree-shaded lawns. I took a bunch of photos of the homes along Castle Street, which you see here. It is a very pleasant district, indeed. It's inhabitants describe it as being "walkable," and certainly there are sidewalks and the cars don't speed through. That said, there were only a few people out that morning, mostly jogging. But still, I liked the look and feel of the area.

Notice, too, that though it was only the end of March, many trees are already in flower, the lawns green. It was a notably warm winter in Geneva, NY this year, too.

 As always, click on the photos to enlarge them.

Next up: we stopped in to the William Smith Inn, on Castle Street, where Theresa Gage gave us a tour. Details and photos to come.

Street Corner Theater of the Mind

Here's the scenario. You see a glove lying on the sidewalk. About a block away, you see it's mate. What's the story?

 "Damn, I lost my glove. Well I don't need this one anymore,"the laborer growled, slamming it to the ground.

All of the above occurred on Madison Avenue in the high 20s on a beautiful March afternoon.
The gloves are real and shot as I found them. The story . . .  if mine's not good enough, make up your own.

Fusion Arts at Space Womb Gallery: Carter; Hokanson; 1 KA

This is the fifth and final post of the performance event at Space Womb Gallery on 3/24/2012.



Michael Carter, who some people group with the Unbearables - I've never asked him if he does - continued the festivities. He was followed by Erik Hokanson.




Hokanson's piece portrayed the pickiest person in Long Island City, even though he lives in Brooklyn, poor guy. He was waiting for a delivery and when it came, he had a pizza to indulge in, and indulge he did. I know people who only like the cheese on their pizza, or prefer the crust. Hokanson's the sort who only likes the middle. He took a slice out, took one bite from the part nearest the center and promptly through the rest of the slice in the trash. He repeated this for the rest of the pie except for one slice rescued or wasted, depending on your point of view, by an audience member who couldn't sit and watch most of a pizza end up in the trash. Since I didn't get a bite, I can't say whether she or Hokanson was right.

He continued along the same path, taking one sip from a beer can before tossing it, lighting up a cigarette, taking one puff, then tossing it, and so on.

He was followed by a rapping poet whose name I don't know.













 

 The performance concluded with the artist 1 KA crawling into a folded sheet of metal, rolling around and making thunder sounds, illuminated only be a garish red light.

The performers posed for group pictures, the orange haired photo-lady insisting on getting in everyone's way - I edited her out of mine - before we all faded into the Long Island City dusk.

On the way back to the subway, I ran into some people who were there earlier but left long before I did. They were freaked out by Rebecca Cunningham's performance and didn't know what to make of it. I couldn't tell them what was on her mind, which they expected me to know, only that I found it very intenses, somewhat disturbing and I was sure that the woman who stopped Cunningham from going too far, was not part of the act.

An interesting afternoon, reminding me of the type of events I would've seen and participated in back in the bad old seventies and eighties of the last century. It seems so long ago.