lucky perro

I am really loving this whole album by Madi Diaz.  The very first song on the album We Threw Our Hearts in the Fire reminds me of someone specific but I’m a glass of wine in this evening and I can’t put my finger on exactly who…it’s a little bit Au Revoir Simone, a little bit Lykke Li/El Perro del Mar/Taken by Trees.

Speaking of wine, I got about four hours of sleep last night because someone’s incisors are coming in.  I realize it could be far worse, but we are used to not hearing a peep out of our guy for twelve hours, so we were kind of out of our minds.  I went grocery shopping today and, unusually, I picked up two bottles of wine (we already have a lot of wine, and I rarely buy it at the store unless it’s for an occasion.)  I’m only now making the connection.

I’m going to have to call this an “occasion.”

That was not the dirty secret.  The dirty secret is that I am completely ashamed that I learned of Madi Diaz because this song was featured on Pretty Little Liars.  The show is silly on a number of levels, but it has pretty consistently introduced me to some great new music.  Or maybe I just have the musical taste of a teenage girl?

New Year’s Resolution #6 was:

Try something new every week.

I am pretty literal about what constitutes “something new:” a heretofore untried recipe, a daring lipstick color, a train ride with an 18 month-old–every day presents new experiences and possibilities.  This resolution is intended to remind me to seek out adventure, and I often try to drag other people along for the ride, which is (usually) a good experience for all.

Last week’s new adventure was a trip to Glenstone.  It was, in a word, fabulous.  The collection was superb, the setting is amazing, and the experience of having a private docent for our group of two to talk with about art was completely invigorating.  My friend and I especially loved the Richard Serra sculptures.  They’re immense, geometric, and have this weird liquid, spacious quality you wouldn’t expect in a hunk of metal.  We can’t wait to go back in the spring and check out the new collection and see the property in the sunshine.

One of the things I was interested to see when we were in Brooklyn was the finished Barclays Center, because it’s been kind of controversial.  I really liked it.  It reminded me a bit of the Bird’s Nest from the Beijing Olympics, but the rusted steel gives it a harder urban edge–it’s sleek, but rough and industrial.  And because they were so fresh in my mind, it reminded me of the Richard Serras.  At first I thought this was blasphemous, until I read the following, from someone at the architecture firm behind the Center, SHoP: “it’s what would happen if “Richard Serra and Chanel created a U.F.O. together.”  Is that complimentary?  I have no idea.  But I love the idea.  And apparently I also love rusty metal.

Glenstone doesn’t allow photos, so I have none.  The above pic is Serra’s Torqued Ellipse IV in the MOMA Sculpture Garden, taken by Alexandra P. Spaulding.  Barclays Center photo and quote from ArtInfo.