July 13-19, 2006
Culture Shock
This Week in A & E
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In May I went to Mexico City for the International Mural Painting Conference. The last day a group of us went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. The Toltecs lived there at one time. Check out this book: The Four Agreements, a Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miquel Ruiz. 1. Be Impeccable With Your Word 2. Don't Take Anything Personally 3. Don't Make Assumptions 4. Always Do Your Best. These are the things I think about as I go about my day. May there be peace on earth and let it begin with each of us, each new day.
You can find these at Wing Phat Plaza, at 11th and Washington. You bring them home, slam a heavy anything down on top, and sit down and enjoy. I contemplate its health benefits while dually contemplating my lack of health benefits. I remember that the milk crate on my bike was stolen after I left it hitched to a pole for a month and remind myself I need a new one for the transport of these coconuts. I reach over and put on a Lee Dorsey 45, take another dripping swig and accept my reckless existence.
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2, 13, 51, 25, 42, and 35 are among the numbers that adorn the backs of several current New York Yankee baseball players. A visit to Yankee Stadium is necessary to see these classic white and navy pinstripe uniforms, just don't expect their names. I require a summertime pilgrimage to this House of Champions, where the history is as thick as the accents and the players as manicured as the gingham-patterned grass. Though there is not a bad seat in the house, the perfect one is where the beer passes through a row of fans and the peanut delivery is like a sinking curveball.
I recently attended a concert given by Bluebond Guitars' kid students and it made me realize the importance of these student rock shows put on by schools in the city. I would have never thought to go unless I knew someone performing, but now I think otherwise. It's like seeing art in its purest form: before others have had their input, before our own minds have deemed what we produce unimportant. To see the 9-year-old belt her heart out, to see the teenager wrestle with his clumsy hand to make a chord — the intent and the feeling are there. Check out a local show. There seem to be tons of schools here that give them. It may make you pick up that guitar and have fun again without caring what the hell you sound like.
