Condomania

I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Many of the owner occupied condo units are now “renter” occupied. So many new faces where once there were familiar faces, but it seems to be the trend now, the result of foreclosures and those people seeking a place to call home. It’s the economy, stupid. As one who has occupied various rental units throughout the midwest (Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee), owning a space is not necessarily desirable. These days it’s downright dangerous. A few months ago, our resident manager told me the rentals were about 10 percent, but they surely…

A few columns back, I wrote about attending the Parachute Project, a two day art installation held in empty spaces at the historic Plankinton Building. A collaborative effort by Colin Matthes and Kati Heck, the creative duo hit a vein of gold with their spectacular “We Buy Gold.” And I’m here to tell you it was so spot-on that I later learned  a few visitors actually thought it was a genuine place to sell their family jewels. Overheard: “Wow, it’s great to know there is a place to sell our stuff.” The place being floor two of the gorgeous building.…

The 1916 Plankinton Building is on fire, fueled by the first creative venues taking space to do their thing. I recently visited floor two to attend the opening of the Parachute Project, located for two days in the space where I once shopped for fat clothes. This is the floor where thirdcoastdigest.com is busy refurbishing a space for their daily online magazine, set to move from Walker’s Point in late August. Their next door neighbor is Daly’s Pen Shop. Good company no matter which tool you use to write stuff. A few doors from that is a shop that promises…

Not only is there a current lust for vampire movies, there is now a lust for reading about Vampire Bats of the rabid kind. Recently, I watched a news clip about bats in Hartford, Wisconsin. Two of the rabid kind were reported to the town’s health department. I know about bats in Hartford, having lived in Sconfinato, a development of funky houses built in a valley just south of that town. It was an idyllic life among the rolling hills where I lived for a decade (1980-1990) in a small cedar-sided home designed by Michael Johnson, who went on to…

On the south wall of my condo living room is a ceiling-to-floor display of diverse photographs, primarily from local artists. Most of them have been with me for a number of years, and most of them are black and white. It’s my “Wall of Fame.”  Today I removed one of my favorite photographs, a splendid black and white work by William Klein, purchased in 1999. It’s a romp and reminds me of the rounded women in Fellini’s films. In this famous image, the rounded women pose in Paris, gathered together in steamy silence in a Turkish bath. The ladies are…

    Land lines: headed for the museum? As I write from floor 17, we’ve had a cooling break in the weather, and this past weekend the first of the Thunderbird jets shrieked by shortly after a blast on a boat’s horn and the first water skier shooting down the lagoon outside my balcon. Old pros like me have seen many daring devils of the air fly by and at times, though not many times, I find myself shutting the patio doors to keep out the noise. Government “specialists” bustled about shooing problematical fowl away so as not to foul…

Mehrdad? Merhdad? Which is it? I now know two chaps named Mehrdad, and what are the chances of that? One of them is a partner in Third Coast Digest, and gee whiz, he recently lost a huge amount of weight via dieting. I didn’t recognize him at a publication party at the home of Jon Anne Willow. And the other chap with the same first name runs the PCDoctor downtown on St. Paul Avenue, which is where I went when I got the dreaded blue screen on my Gateway, an old warhorse that gave up the RAM ghost. Merhdad (Merhdad?),…

    Water feature or laundromat? As I write on the 20th of July, today’s temps are expected to soar above 95. In Iowa and Missouri where I was raised, a temp like that is no big deal, in fact, much of their summer is a giant sauna. The cool marbled halls of the Calatrava is where I’m headed to do a little writing for thirdcoastdigest.com. In addition, my grandson will be with me on this return trip to see what we haven’t seen in the China exhibition. He really liked the forest of Yue’s “Chinese Contemporary Warriors,” and remarked…

    The Meaning of Life, World War II, Iowa hometown. Recently I strolled out of my condo and north to the Oriental Theater in my ’hood to see “Tree of Life,” then I wrote a nasty review of the film and titled it “Tree of Strife.” The concept was fine, but director Terrence Malick seemed to wander in the woods a tad too long. I got lost in the tangle, besides which, Brad Pitt, try as he did to mime a strict bulldog-type father, walked like he had a rod up his backside. However, “Life” did intrigue me enough…

    Photo by Richard Drew. Noodle! I was just wondering what happened to you. Thanks for the tip NOT to see Green Lantern, appropriate for my grandsons, but not for me who much prefers film noir or ’50s New Wave. My tip to you is to go to thirdcoastdigest.com and read my review titled “Tree of Strife.” Let me know if you saw the film and your take on it. Lest you think I’m a movie snob, I do own a double set of “The Fly.” The ’50s version is the best. Jeff Goldblum looks stupid as a fly don’t…