Pastel de Bacalhau

Yesterday was a day of delicious food ! Eduardo took me to the mercado central, a beautiful, almost victorian looking building located in downtown São Paulo where we started with an amazing salt cod fritter, it was perfectly light and crispy...totally yummy..we shared one as there was so much other great stuff to eat there. We went to a really great spice stall, saw amazing , beautiful fruit, drank água de coco, had sandwiches of mortadella and pernil, a really cool looking candy made of little pieces of jelly in a big loaf and the burning question that I came down here to research was finally answered..... what do Brazilians call Brazil Nuts ? Castanha do Pára. After that we drove to a giant pet supermarket to get some stuff to keep Thor happy on our trip to Ubatuba, then to a giant supermarket where they had an amazing flavor of yogurt, orange carrot and honey, and I learned that they dont make havianas, the local flip flops in my size.

Then we rested for a while, watched a movie called Man of the Year...it was pretty great and weird and one of Eduard's favorite movies. Then, around 10:30 we headed out for a 30 minute drive to Patricia's, a friend of Eduardo's who had an accident walking her dog last week and is now on crutches, we picked her up then went to an amazing restaurant called Santa Gula, where I had salmon in a passion fruit sauce, a caipirinha made with passionfruit and a delicious root vegetable called mandioquinha that tasted like mashed potatoes with cheese... super delicioso!

Sao Paulo!!

I had a great and easy flight into Sao Paulo, Eduardo met me at the airport, and I immediatly changed into shorts and a tank top...it was about 80 degrees at 8:30 in the morning and a beautiful sunny day. Lots of traffic as people were going to the beach for the new years holiday, we orig planned to do that but since we are going to be away the following 2 weekends we decided to stay here and leave for the beach tomorrow.

We spent yesterday afternoon riding around São Paulo in Eduardo´s blue peugeot. It´s a very groovy car, and of course he really knows his way around, being a native Paulista.

It is a beautiful city with all kinds of great architecture, parts of the downtown area remind me of a taller miami, with lots of great 50´s and 60´s architecture and, yes Niemeyer's great curving building.

We drove around for hours and had a blast, Eduardo is a really good host and he loves his city very much. After a while we stopped at a beachfront type bar that looked out onto a sidewalk and had a big plate of fried steak and capirinhas, it was a great lively place with the tables 3 deep on the sidewalk...nice warm breeze on us...heavenly!

Around the World

One of the best things I did this past year was see daft Punk at a baseball Stadium at Coney Island in Brooklyn this past August. As you can tell from this video...the concert was awesome, here they are doing around the world, and tomorrow I am leaving for a trip around the world...cool huh?

Merry Christmas From Sao Paulo!

Thor wishes you a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas From New York City !

Rachel Harrison is Homosapien Too

Rachel is one of the most fascinating artists around these days. We were in two group shows together very early on in my career and right from the start I've been intrigued and confounded by what she makes. There have been hundreds, probably thousands of articles written on her work and though i haven't read them all....every writer seems to take a completely different approach to her work. There seems to be no one definitive reading of any of her pieces and for me that's what makes them fascinating. Though there are strong visual references and clues, when I try and put the pieces together it never comes together as a cohesive whole, there is no linear narrative to follow, but this doesn't frustrate me, on the contrary, it gives me a sense of relief. Like here's another person like me, trying to organize all the information that she takes in through all of her senses and although the conclusions are illogical, they're deeply satisfying. I think that the best art is the most deeply personal, the personal = the universal. my favorite piece of hers is called "bustle in the hedgerow" and although I found an image of it online, it really doesn't do it justice, of course all sculpture really has to be experienced in person and if you are in new york right now check out Unmonumental at the new museum, Rachel has some work in that. The piece here might give you some idea of the different kinds of information Rachel uses and how she works with it.

I'm Homosapien, Like You

When this song first came out I was kind of afraid of it...it was so ambiguous, and i thought maybe homosapien was code for homosexual, so I was kind of scared of it, afraid to like it as it might mean that I'm gay...didn't want to go there! But now I get from it this kind of longing that we all have to see that we're not crazy or alone, that there is someone else out there that may share some of our hopes and experiences and can see into the ambigous tangle of motivations that fuel our lives.

Lolita

My favorite thing about this movie is that when james mason finally get's to run off with lolita, he cant stand the music that she listens to...

Family Ties

I was supposed to have dinner at Rolf's last night, a crazy , over the top German restaurant with my "sister in law" Dot. It's decorated like a Christmas tree that's been flattened and pressed on to the walls and ceiling but I guess we weren't the only ones to have this idea, it was mobbed and even tho we had reservations we couldn't get far enough into the restaurant to tell the host we were there. They put ton's of decorations in the doorway too, making the entrance/exit smaller, which made it kind of feel like a firetrap. I had been there once before during Christmas and had an incredibly fun, crazy, beer fueled dinner with my brother who lives in Costa Rica named, Rolf. He was visiting one Christmas when a 1.3 megapixal digital camera was the size of a Walkman and considered "state of the art". That was a while ago.

Dot and I had a nice walk around the neighborhood, catching up on our various relatives, learning a little bit about each other, I told her about my upcoming trip to Brazil and the incredible circumstances that made it happen, and Dot told me about what it was like to be a personal trainer, and her life with her husband Jack. I don't even remember how long I've known Dot for, but this is the first time we've done anything together, just the two of us. We found a new restaurant called Smith and had a really nice dinner that we both enjoyed.

But the amazing thing was that there wasn't a moment of silence, we couldn't wait to share all these stories of our lives, marvel at the similarities and differences and I was blown away by how lucky I am to get to know this really cool person!

The whole reason I know Dot is through Bill. Bill and I are ex-boyfriends, we were together for 8 years and 5 years ago we decided to split, well, I'm simplifying this, but let's just leave it at that for now. But the really cool thing is that Bill and all of Bill's family realized how much I liked being a part of this Family in addition to my own blood relatives out in the Midwest (and Costa Rica) who I love dearly and think about all the time. But Bill's siblings and Mom and sister in law Dot never stopped calling me, sending me birthday cards, inviting me up for Christmas and Bill has become one of my closest, deepest friends. We talk on the phone all the time, share notes on guys we've met (when I told Bill I was thinking of going to Brazil to see Eduardo, Bill's immediate response was an enthusiastic "Go for it!") and most importantly, we've been there witnessing each other's lives for a long time now, we can be pretty sharp observers of our patterns of behaviour, good and bad. Bill has become one of the wisest, kindest, smartest and most importantly, brutally honest friends i could ever have. He and his family are a big part of why I say I'm the luckiest guy alive.

Which Road To Take

I won’t live, as someone who only does is waiting a new love
there are other things on the path I go
Sometimes I walk alone, taking steps with the loneliness.
Moments there are mine and I don’t give them up.

I already know how to look the river where the live goes by
Without precipitate and lost the time
I rear this silence that lies on me and that’s enough
Another era has started for me now.
I´ll let the street to take me
See the city enlighten itself on
The moon will shower this place
I’ll remember you

Yeh, but I still have many things to fix
Promises I’ve made to myself and that I still haven’t achieved
Words wait for me the accurate time to speak
Stuff of mine, maybe you don’t even want to hear.

I already know how to look the river where the live goes by
Without precipitate and lost the time
I rear this silence that lies on me and that’s enough
Another era has started for me now.

If You Find Yourself Caught in Love

This is such a great song...weird video tho

Beer Flavored Ice Cream

I went skating at Bryant Park tonight, It was a blast, really got into the meditative, round and around groove. There was a special Simpson's movie dvd release tie in so skate rental was free. i decided to try out some new skates since I am using the same ones I got for my 14th christmas, which was a while ago. The new skates were great, but took some getting used to, I feel down twice, no problem, everyone does, just got back up and kept skating...that was 2 hours ago. Right now ive got my legs up, I'm in excruciating pain and considering self medication...that bottle of Pinot Noir, the codeine, the valiums for my trip.....because the beer flavored Ben and Jerrys they were giving out as part of the Simpson's tie in just didn't cut it.

The Lonely Spy

Me and my best friend Van are obsessed with Lori and the Chameleons . I think "touch is their best song, but this is their best video...by far!

Rock 'n Roll Love Letter

Dear sister poet, dear brother poet too
These tears that words are
Make me wanna be with you
But I need to spend my body
I'm a music makin man
And no page can release it like this amplifier can

This is my rock and roll love letter to you
This is my rock and roll love letter to you
Gonna sign it, gonna seal it, gonna mail it away
Gonna mail it today

God I must be crazy to express myself this way
But there ain't much romance livin in the U.S.A.
This guitar is a blessing, This piano is a muse
And electricity's a devil with a twenty amp fuse

This is my rock and roll love letter to you
This is my rock and roll love letter to you
Gonna sign it, gonna seal it, gonna mail it away
Gonna mail it to, gonna mail it today

Dear mama, papa hey your boy is doin fine
And this energy, you gave him
Keeps on tryin to unwind
'Cause I see an ancient rhythm
In a man's genetic code
Gonna keep on rock and rollin
Fill my genes explode
(repeat chorus)

This is my rock and roll love letter to you
This is my rock and roll love letter to you
Gonna rock it, gonna seel it, gonna slake it away
Send me back one, send me back on someday

Busy Day

This is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.....thanks to Van for showing this to me

Work That

Song of the Day!!

This video is 30 years old

this video is 30 years old and amazing, saw it for the first time today, thanks to Bill for getting me to think about the awesome awesomeness of X ray spex.

Tim McGraw - Live Like You Were Dying

While I'm on The Subject....

On The Radio

This Is How It Works...

Sourbano

If you want to meet my friend Eduardo who i am visiting in Brazil, he is on here as sourbano

This is How It Works

I think of all these big questions, "how can I have faith in another person after I've been hurt... ?", "how can I leave behind what isn't working for me for something new and unknown ...?", "how can I strike a balance between trying to control my destiny and accepting my life as it is...?" and then someone like Regina Spektor comes along and explains it all.

Carinhoso (Pixinguinha/Braguinha)

Adriana Calcanhoto - Fico assim sem você

i love this song, the video is brega...but in a good way!

Raul Seixas

elis e tom - aguas de março

Hey, i'm a Blogger

I guess Im doing this in preparatiuon for a big trip I'm taking in a few weeks. Brazil! I wont have a lapee topee with me and i want to stay in touch with friends and family so I figured Id start a blog where i could post some pics too. Why Brazil? well, i met a really cool guy who is living there , for now..we met in New York, and immediatly it dawned on me that he was exactly the person i was looking for. He has a great positive outlook, believe's that anything is possible, is not afraid to open up and share with me and is doing a pretty good job of learning what makes me tick..

Top Ten reason's to Go To Brazil..

10) I've never met a Brazilian I didn't like...

9) All of my Brazilian friends have always told me I would love it there..

8) Everyone I know who has ever been have told me "If you ever get a chance to go....GO!!!"

7) The Music is AWESOME...everything from the Punky "os mutantes" to diva Balladeers like adriana Calconhoto, crazy pop sensations like baby consuelo, geniuses like caetano veloso,
amazing songs like cantieros, gosotso demais, oceano,vai levando, aquas de marco, fogo, tive razao...well you can see I'm obsessed

6) It's summertime there now!!

5) I'll get to stay in my friend's apartment and be in a residential neighborhood so i can walk around and get a feel for this place unlike being a hotel-bound tourist...

4) I'm crazy about latin american art...i saw the show "Geometry of Hope" at the Grey art Gallery at NYU 3 times. i saw another show from a related collection at the Fogg at HARVARD in 2001 and was blown away then. And when Bill and I went to buenos Aires in 96 all the museums there had a whole different history of modernism than I was used to from MoMA, so I hope to make some more amazing discoveries this time too....

3) I already know one Brazilian dog

2) I'm finishing up a big project, a year of drawings which is going to be published in a book this spring and I need a vacation!

1) I'll get to know a very special person on his home turf..

Os Mutantes -

I'm obsessed with this song today...this was the only video i could find of it though...check out some performances by brazil's answer to the velvet underground Os Mutantes, on YT

Brazil

Wow, i never thought I'd be a blogger but...here I am!