TO BEGIN WITH

NOT LONG AGO Lil'LADY AND I SPENT A FEW DAYS AT ST.PETE BEACH. TAMPA.
THE NEW SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM WAS JUST A FEW MONTHS OPEN WHEN MADE A VISIT AND TOOK THESE PHOTOS

AS YOU CAN SEE THE FIRST 3 PHOTOS STACEY TOOK WERE OF THE STAIR CASE. IT IS A TAKE OFF ON DALI'S MUSTACHE

WHERE YA AT

This is the latest transmission for the good Dr. John. Usually we find him in some far away forest
or such. This time he's on his way to the great outdoors via Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sent: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 7:56:02 AM
Subject: Brooklyn

Hey T,
I am sitting in the New York Loft Hostel in Brooklyn eating breakfast.
I got on the Q33 bus out of LaGuardia and met a lady named "Lucy" who
had just flown in from Canada.
"Can't I connect to the L-subway line from here," I asked.
"I don't think so. I think you have to go into Manhattan first."
After some discussion, I figured out how to connect and get down to
Brooklyn from Queens, and we decided to navigate it together.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Morgan Ave stop."
"You going to the Loft Hostel?" she asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I live around there."
When we got to the Morgan stop on the L line, she said, "My husband is
coming home from work just now too." And there he was walking down the
platform.
Not much for local restaurant flavor here, so after I checked in, I went
back to the L-line and took the train to Williamsburg. That would be
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Lots of people
walking, riding bikes, waiting for the bus, getting off the subway.
Just a nice neighborhood. There were restaurants, diners, hardware
stores, food markets, bakeries. I got dinner for 3.80 plus a beer for
about the same. I found some homemade fig bars in a food market for
dessert. Bought some bread for 1.50 at a bakery for my lunch the next
day and picked up some cheese to go with it. All on or near
Metropolitan Ave. I have specifics written down in my notebook. What
amazes me is all the produce sitting outside these markets and no one
steals a piece as they walk by. Its like there is this unwritten social
contract. Later. jd

RUNNING

I worked at a pawn shop in the late 80's early 90's. Most folks have no idea how a pawn shop operates. I know that a pawn shop can do a lot of folks a lot of good, I'm sure most folks think otherwise. I know I helped a lot of people the 10 years I worked there. But, that's not the subject of this post and I don't care to defend pawn shops.
What I know is that you can't change a persons mind about things like pawn shops, same sex marriage, war, kids living on the streets or things like that. So I don't try to do so. I just want to share a story that took place when I worked at the pawn shop.

One day this kid came in the shop. I guessed he was maybe 13 -14 years old. He wanted to sell his cd player. I ask if he was 18, the minimum age one must be to do business with a pawn shop. He said he was not. He told me he was on his way south and need more money to continue his greyhound bus trip. I bought the kids cd player myself. I gave him twice of what the shop would have given him and he headed back to the bus station.

A couple hours later the kid came walking back into the pawn shop. At first I chuckled wondering what was up with this kid. He told me that when he got back to the bus station he was relieved of his money. It's been awhile so I can't remember exactly what went down, but he was upset and broke. I learned his bus was leaving at 8 p.m. and he needed $40 for a ticket. I told him to be back at the shop at 6 when I got off and I would make sure he got on the bus.

I got a couple of the guys at the shop to throw in some money. I called Stacey and told her I was gonna bring home this kid after work, feed him and get him on the bus.
Of course Stacey wanted to know where this kid came from and where was he going.
I had grilled the kid about all this earlier knowing hustlers come in all ages and sizes. The kid only said he was on vacation going to see friends. I ask about Mom and Dad, he said they knew what he was up to, but he could not reach out to them for money. I didn't press it. Although it was only about 20 years ago things really were different then. Now days the chances of me getting into trouble for aiding a minor are far stronger. I didn't think the kid was was trouble and I knew he needed help.

So there he was at 6 o'clock. I took him home and Stacey ask him lot's of questions, but we never thought to do anything but put him on the bus.

A friend came over and the four of us went to the local BBQ joint to get some food before we put the kid on the bus. At the BBQ joint I filled the owner in on the kid and he paid for the kids meal. A funny thing was one of my regular customers from the pawn shop happen to be at the BBQ joint at the same time. Hearing me talk to the owner about the kid the customer gave me $20 for the "effort".

So we ate and took the kid to the bus station. We all went in and bought his ticket.
We walked him to the bus, gave him the extra money we had collected, gave him back his cd player and put him on the bus. We watched it leave with him on it.

We felt good helping this kid, but sometime later it kinda hit us. What was this kid up to? What was he running from? We really had no idea. He was nice and he answered our question, but we really didn't know much. Stacey and I talked about it. Did we do the right thing? Was this kid a runaway who needed to be sent home? We had no idea.

In the end we decided we did the right thing. This kid was going somewhere one way or another. I think he was running from a bad situation, but I'll never really know.

I am glad we did what we did.

GENKI GRAND OPENING

The sushi restaurant Genki had a grand opening Wednesday night and invited me. Stacey had plans so I took my official photog Katy. She took some great shots of the different pieces I did for this place. I really appreciate her effort. She took over 50 shots and took each til she thought she had a good one. I think you can hire her for casual events.
Here a some of her shots. The first one is looking in from the street. The door folds up and creates this awesome view.
















s.

SOME OTHER MUTHERS DAY

So we had the M and P unit up for my show at the Gallery at Serenbe. It was Mothers Day weekend and it was my first gallery show. Come December it will be 4 years since I started painting and selling those paintings. I have always wanted to be approached by galleries and ask to be part of a show. Finally my friend Mary ask me to be part of a show down at Serenbe. Mary wanted to have me and Tim Mosby, an artist in the Serenbe area, team up, fill her gallery with our art, tell everyone to come by Saturday and buy art. And, eat BBQ. And that's about the way it went down.

Tim took my art and laid it out around the gallery. He then went to his barn/studio grabbed pieces he thought would look good with my stuff and hung the whole gallery. It looked great and we both sold a lot of art.

We also took the M and P unit all over town, quickly.

Local 3 for an awesome dinner. Soft shells. Mussels. Craw fish and sausage on risotto. A broad pasta with fava beans, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and mushrooms. Duck meatloaf. Panko fried flounder in a lobster stock. Braised short ribs /kimchi. Martinis, bourbon tasting. Need I SAY MORE?

Saturday night we ate at the Feed Store where Patrick made us martinis with his favorite vodka, 360. We ate shrimp and grits, Frito Misto [fried soft shell CRAW FISH, fried pickles and

onion rings] and for the third visit in a row Lil Lady ordered wings on a sweet potato waffle, smothered in sorghum syrup and butter.

We also managed to work in a pound of craw fish and shrimp poboys earlier in the day Saturday.

And, a couple friends from Hoover, Al. showed up at the gallery opening, that was nice.

And, now, M and P unit are home, Hoover is back in their house and me and the Lil Lady are on the front porch eating craw fish and drinking beer.

B.I.G. T.I.M.E.

Finally, I've made it. Straight to the top. I got my own t.v. show. That's right my very own show.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel.
Maybe not my own show, but real close.

Check out this video clip from the local Atlanta t.v. station on the Local 3 Kitchen and Bar.
It shows really nice shots of the bar I made from a felled oak tree and my 3 pig paintings.

Ok, so it's not even close to a t.v. show, but it's kinda cool.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4684353

GENKI

Just finished and hung the art for a new sushi joint in Virgina Highland. Genki is the name of the restaurant.
Here are some photos of the finished product from the Genki job. I had the pleasure of working with Peace Design. Hillary and Bill run an awesome business and were great.

The fans above are 6' in diameter. The painting below is a take off on a Japanese playing card.
It is 6' tall and 3.5' wide.
This was a really fun project. I was forced to work outside of my comfort zone. In a huge format.
Really, I'm not sure how I pulled it off, but everyone was very happy.

Next project is my first gallery show. This Saturday, the 7th, from 4 pm til 8 pm at the Serenbe Gallery. There will be cool art, cold beer and BBQ.
The art will be up for a month.
On Saturday the 14th there is a huge May Day Fest at Serenbe. There will be a lot of cool vendors and music and BBQ. The Gallery will be open as well. So go check it out if you get the chance. There are other galleries and shops and a couple of really good restaurants down at Serenbe. They also have a organic farm that has been in operation for 6 or 7 years so you know lot's of the food at the restaurants come from the farm. If you have never visited Serenbe and you like some of the above you need to go.
Alsoooooooooooooo. They have a farmers market every Saturday starting in May and running til December. It's a great day trip, I'm just saying.