November 30, 2008

Bryan Raughton climbed over barricades to snap this picture. Priceless.

Gym in the morning. Worked in the shop. The weather was miserable today. Cold and rainy. Came home, straightened the house chilled on the sofa. Read. Needed to relax.

November 29, 2008

Ben was in Philly. I woke and worked again. Sandra worked with me for another day so that was a treat. Came home and ordered sushi with Ben. Watched some TV.

November 28, 2008

Early train with Sandra back to the city where I knocked my thermos of hot coffee all over my pants! Doh. Black Friday. Busy. Lots of work and customers. Dinner with Sandra at Mercer Kitchen. Came home and designed our Xmas card.

November 27, 2008

I woke up early and made a lovely breakfast: olive cream cheese, multi grain toast, lox, fruits, and yogurts. Then I started cooking.

We watched Tropical Thunder, some 30 Rocks, and Enchanted (which I loved, do not judge, thanks Brian Babst). Pam made us all feather headdresses and we marked our face (and lips) with warpaint (lipstick). Gerald came over and we ate what I think was the most perfect Thanksgiving meal I've ever concocted.

Menu:

1st course
pureed roasted red pepper soup
olive toasts
havarti dill and emmenthaler
pomegranate and persimmons
mixed herb greens with honey-dijon vinaigrette

2nd course
herb stuffed turkey
simple gravy
cornbread, apricot, chicken sausage stuffing
macaroni and cheese
spinach mashed potatoes
roasted yams and beets with rosemary
roasted cauliflower, fennel, and shallots

3rd course
banana cream pie
pumpkin pie with cinnamon whipped cream

Heaven. We watched The Birds. Drank wine. And slept.

He showed the promise of making an album like 808s & Heartbreak with the single Stronger. The beats were more techno-pop than hip-hop on that record. His look and the sound were early 80s. Shiny, new, futuristic.

Kanye West is obnoxious. But he is sexy, talented, and stylish. His look, much like my own, consists of sneakers, suits, bow-ties, colors and patterns. He rocks too much LV, but other than that, he is pretty much a style icon. I love that he runs away from most cliched hip-hop looks.

The album is a mixed bag of ingredients. Throw in these references: Madonna, New Order, Nintendo, Kraftwerk, Human League, early 80s NYC rap, Cher (yes), and Depeche Mode. Couple it with sad lyrics, in the classic sense of most break-up records. And what you have is an album more Martin Gore than Jay Z. It is not unlike Annie Lennox or Alison Moyet. But where their voices were the human foil to the soulless, robotic pulse of their respective bandmates' tunes, Kayne wants to become that soulless sound. He sings here. He alters his voice to remove the human emotion. He becomes one with the bleeps and blips and pulses. He sounds like the Tin Man would sound: heartless, tin, and silver-colored.

But the lyrics do say something. That is where he taps into classic techno-pop territory: human emotion via heartbroken lyrics coupled with those 808s. It is a wonderful exploration for his artistry and it is a big risk methinks. It could alienate his core, and he knows that, which makes me respect him even more. He truly believes in his art: music, cover art, videos, live shows, image. He is more like Madonna than any other artist in pop. He is gambling with risk. It will pay off.

When he sings "I'm just not there, life's just not fair," you believe the man with everything is realizing fame and fortune doesn't make you happy(reference Madonna's Ray of Light record).

The album cover, a deflated red balloon heart, is like Kanye: deflated yet beautiful, high-art yet simplistic. A contradiction. Something once fun, damaged, and then new again. The damage making it beautiful.

He wears his heart on his sleeve. And lapel.

I love pins, buttons, flowers on lapels.

I am however a little behind on this trend, but so what, and with Kanye and his heart-art, I finally got a lego heart brooch from Dee and Ricky. Gorgeous. You should get one. Feminine, yet street.

Like me.

I love Madonna. She makes great records. Her voice, say you will, is fragile, shaky, and beautiful. I think she is underrated as a lyricist and singer both. Her records have all held up to the harshest critic: time.

Her live shows, however, I find bloated, tacky, soulless, and overpriced. After the last tour I vowed to never see her again. Until free tickets fell into my lap.

Divorce looks good on her. While I won't go into a review song for song I will say this: Madge is having fun again. She wore cooky-costumes (not super-serious-sexed-up ensembles). She decorated her set with Keith Harring and images of her past incarnations. She sang with surprising clarity. She vogued. Humped. Giggled. Cursed. She let her guard down. Interacted with the audience. Go figure? Demanded we danced.

And we did.

She was that Madonna I love. Not the one I roll my eyes at. She brought me home. Made me feel young.

And again, she reinvented herself. I hope you caught the tour. It was a glorious, gay, engaging spectacle. She remains the queen and I just one of her adoring court jesters.

November 26, 2008

I woke and ate in Rhinebeck. Shopped: wine, turkey, Target. Came home and prepared tomorrow's dinner. Made fusilli with cream sauce and pancetta and a lovely bruschetta with anchovy and olives. Tyler Pankratz, Alireza, Pam Johnstone, and Ben came up and we watched 30 Rock and drank wine.

November 25, 2008

I ran in the morning and then I shopped for Thanksgiving at Whole Foods. Bought some movies at Virgin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?!) and drove upstate. Read and watched Magnolia. God, I love that movie.

November 24, 2008

I worked a rather long day and stayed late. Met Ben at home and we ate Indian and watched TV.

November 23, 2008

Hunter, unable to sleep, woke me up way too early! We left AC (with breakfast at McDonalds, I know, I know) and drove home. Well, he drove me to the train station and then I took it into the city. I unpacked and went to the gym and ran 6 miles, listening to Madonna remixes as I was still so happy. Some girl stopped me in the gym and asked me to take a pic of her with a friend. Then I realized it was Famke Janssen, who looked annoyed. Annoyed, but hot.

November 22, 2008

Hunter picked me up at 9AM and I had a headache. Wonder why? We drove to Atlantic City. Shopped, not too much (new Cole Haan loafers, so Republican), and then I got a massage at Trump Plaza, our hotel, which was major because it seems untouched from the 1980s. We were guests of a delivery company and put up and given Madonna tickets.

The Madonna show was glorious. More on that later. I had so much fun, dancing, care-free. Ended up at a bar with some lesbians from SF and then onto the gay club, which was skeezy, but a blast. I felt like bread being pecked at by pigeons. But I kept dancing (to Madonna) and drinking beer (til 3AM!). You'd think I was 23 years old.

November 21, 2008

The usual gym grind and then to the shop. Walked to Brian Babst's house and had a drink. We ate Italian near his house on 10th Ave where I was sat right next to Edwin Rivera, a friend from college, I had not seen in 12 years. Pretty incredible. He and his boyfriend moved back to NYC from Miami to open a restaurant. So small, this world.

We went to the Cabanas where I ki-kied with Will Wikle. Seen: Conor McGill, Joe Wynn Jr. (blast from the past), and every other gay NYer on my Facebook. Cabbed home after one-too-many Vodkas.

November 20, 2008

Worked. Then went to the gym. Robbie Baitz cancelled on dinner, which was a blessing, as I went home and read.