Hard to believe but at the end of this month it will be three years since I started my Substack ‘newsletter,’ and this post is my 300th. Thanks to all of you who read my ramblings. As I’ve said before, I’m not a journalist, and my posts are merely my own musings; a way of thinking and analyzing the strange world we live in. If you enjoy perusing my contribution to the cultural and political milieu, please share my posts and encourage your friends to sign up. It’s free! I will say that 5% of my subscribers are tossing some coin my way which always helps a working artist and musician (and a writer) such as myself. You have that option, too, but I’m just happy that you’re willing to sign up at all. And as a special treat, here is the first Cartoon-O-Philosophy from post #3. Thanks, everyone!
1.
I only recently heard of Luna Luna, a theme park built entirely by artists including Salvador Dali, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, David Hockney, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It was conceived by the Austrian showman and artist André Heller and made its debut in Hamburg, Germany, in the summer of 1987. Unfortunately, according to the New York Times, plans for the city of Vienna to buy the park and display it permanently were thwarted by political concerns. Amid rights concerns, disputes over charging admission and other complications, the foundation attempted to pull out of finalizing a deal to sell to the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation, setting off decades of litigation in courts from Delaware to Switzerland. In time, the project languished in storage throughout the legal saga, and in 2007, was transported to rural Texas, where it would sit untouched for another 15 years.
But, in early 2022, a team led by rap idol Drake’s unconventional entertainment company, DreamCrew, acquired the entire contents of the original presentation. They transported it to a Los Angeles warehouse, where a team of experts, led by Rosa Lowinger for conservation and Joel Searles for reassembly, meticulously reconstructed the works.
Supposedly opening later this month in Los Angeles, check here to purchase tickets.
2.
A historic project in Maine shows that when dams are removed, a river and its fish can recover with surprising speed. The project was unprecedented in its ambition and its success. The Trust ultimately raised $60 million to purchase the Veazie, Great Works and Howland dams in 2008. In 2012, the Great Works Dam was the first to go, followed by the Veazie in 2013. The Trust was unable to convince the community of Howland to remove its dam, and so a compromise was reached in which a fish bypass was added to the dam to allow an open route for returning fish. As a result, nearly 2,000 miles of habitat was opened for salmon and other species.
“We went from 2,000 animals to five million animals in the span of 12 years. That’s as good-news-story as you see in ecology, as you see in natural resources,” says Saunders. The return of the salmon holds significance to the Penobscot Nation as well. “It’s not just the fish,” explains Kusnierz. “It’s restoring a huge part of the culture of the tribe. Those are their relatives that have long been gone and are here again. That’s what the vision of the tribe was in those negotiations. [It] was kind of the opposite of ‘build it, and they will come.’ It was ‘take it down and they’ll return.’”
Butch Phillips, a Penobscot Nation elder, said the river had been sick for generations. He became an ambassador for community outreach as the progress of dam removal began over a decade ago.
3.
In the early 2000’s Stephanie Courtney was so broke that her car wouldn’t go in reverse, but the repair cost something like $2,500, so she just drove it forward. Uhhhhh, who the heck is Stephanie Courtney? You know her best as Flo from Progressive.
In a story of how Courtney became Flo, and what she sacrificed to do so, check out this piece in the New York Times. Flo debuted in 2008, working the checkout of an eldritch white store uncannily devoid of shadows or edges. The extent to which Flo is responsible for the company’s subsequent surge in popularity is impossible to quantify; the character is so inextricably linked with the brand that the two can no longer be separated for measurement. If it could be represented photographically, though, the relationship would look something like the inverse of the famous image from the psychologist Harry Harlow’s experiment, in which a baby rhesus monkey cleaves to a wooden “mother” — with the insensate entity fiercely clinging to the flesh-and-blood woman.
And, due to more than one subscriber missing my Tiny Tidbits pieces, I bring you:
Tiny Tidbits of Goddamn!
1.
Republicans have been playing dirty with gerrymandering for years. Now a Democratic gerrymander in New York could offset the GOP one in North Carolina. New York’s high court gave Democrats a big leg up in the dogfight for control of the House of Representatives, so the ruling opens the door for Empire State Democrats to gerrymander the districts, ousting several Republicans in one swoop. I’m not usually one for retribution but the current House in on fire with extremist do-nothing Frumpers…we need to take the House next year. Goddamn!
2.
A new congressional investigation found that the largest pharmacy chains in the U.S. give patients' medical records to law enforcement without warrants. Axios reported that three of the country's biggest chains, CVS Health, Kroger and Rite Aid, instruct pharmacy staff to respond to law enforcement demands immediately. Five other chains, Amazon, Cigna, Optum Rx, Walmart and Walgreens Boots Alliance, require legal professionals to review law enforcement demands before responding, but they don't require warrants unless state law mandates it. Goddamn!
3.
Besides the University of Arizona having a financial crisis, thanks to President Robbins, now the University is in progress of dismantling iconic architect Paolo Soleri’s hidden-gem chapel at the campus Cancer Center. The Soleri-designed chapel was “named one of the most endangered historic places in Arizona,” according to the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation. Goddamn!
4.
Here’s a giant nothingburger…Republicans are pushing forward with a formal investigation even though their yearlong scrutiny of the president and his family has turned up no evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors. The orange man made us do it! Goddamn!
In art news, I told you about two pieces I have in the Small Works show at Untitled Gallery in downtown Tucson in my post dated November 17th. The show runs through mid February and the gallery is open on Saturdays from 12-5—also by appointment.
I am also thrilled and surprised that two of my pieces have been chosen to be included in the 45th Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition held at the Mesa (AZ) Contemporary Arts Museum, which highlights the finest in contemporary crafts from across the country. The show opens February 9 and runs through April 21.
And in the spirit of Christmas-turned-folk-art-site in the neighborhood a couple blocks away, I give you these images.
And now…
I guess I missed this post back in December, but it turned up today when searching for something else. What a great post!
Demolish and harvest - something to name a rock band not something to do to art.