Day 30

Two "Rock" bands. The first was forgettable, the second was "Endevor" with a 4 stuck in the middle of the word somehow. To describe these concerts I will transcribe my notes :

Three guitars and what are they doing for the music? They contribute nothing!

So much Noise! I don't think this "music is worth the loss of inner ear hair folicles. I should save them for music that is musical, like the Po'Boys! I think they all must be tone deaf because they don't know how to tune their instruments. I think he's flat too.

Day 28

A little Rochester skyline, in miniature.

Day 27

Had friends over. Sat in the tower and looked at the shoes on the floor instead of the sky and the sunset.

Day 25

Longest Day of the year, watched the sunrise from a cot above the tango studio in Ithaca. Had a breakfast lunch at an offbeat place where they put sprouts on every sandwich.

Day 21 continued

Wow, jazz fest. Here I am, Eastman place, waiting to hear the Sicillian Jazz Project. Learned a few things like: when you get four Sicillians together that makes a Quarum.

Day 21

Nana and I spent some quality time talking about family. She told me about one of the Uncle Louis:
"He played the hand organ. His son Joe was a shyster. I told Papa, 'Don't you ever buy anything from him.' Joe could sell anything and make you think it was a good deal, even real junk. Well what do you know one day Papa bought a car from him. Joe said, 'Now I'll give you a special deal cause you're family, real cheep.' So Papa bought the car and within a week they had to get rid of it, it was no good.
"His wife liked beer better than he did. She came to our house and said 'Got any beer?' So we give her a bottle and he gets real mad.
"Joe, the organ grinder's son, and his wife owned a little monkey. Everyplace they went they brought the monkey. They went to Florida and left the monkey in the car for half an hour. All the windows were up and it was real hot. When they came back the monkey was dead. It was a cute little monkey."

Day 20

Jazz fest. Bonerama. Wow! They were incredible! There was so much energy and movement. In their hands, trombone became a living breathing creature with a voice of its own. The best song was the last, an incredible cover of "When the Levy Breaks"

Day 19

I love the room. I love the sights from the roof. Here are some of the distant and frequently overlooked aspects of the skyline. The Xerox tower is the focus of Rochester's skyline, everything else is back round scenery, poor buildings, they don't even know that they are insignificant.



The Rochester International Jazz Fest started today. I attended a few minutes of a free concert, but it was boring. Butchering my friend's portrait was more fun.

Day 18

I visit Nana.

day 15

I visit the grandparents. They all eat lunch together.



Spot coffee, an amazing warehouse, a Rochester institution, more shapes and angles and color, its all too big to fit on a page, or in a sentence.

day 13

its really 2:30 AM day 14 when I draw this. I slept in the tower, like a princess, and watched the light shapes move across the ceiling of the city lights, and listened the cars outside. Each car and truck had its own rumbling voice. The skyscrapers were there, just in the corner of the window. I drew in moonlight.

I wanted to watch the sunrise, but when I woke up, the sun was covered by a white haze of clouds.

day 10

Kisa likes me more all the time. She modeled for awhile today.

The roof slopes down and the walls and the light and everything together make beautiful shapes and angels that I want to capture on my paper, but its impossible for me with an ebony pencil as my tool.

day 8

The Po'Boys Brass Band play a short set at Hochstein's Thursday lunch hour series. It was short but very very sweet.

day 7

I paint the sunrise.

woke up at 4:45 and watched the orange and yellow burn across the cobalt sky, setting fire to the clouds, illuminating the trees and houses and

the sun rose too fast for me to catch all of the glorious details.

day 6

I explored the DVD collection downstairs and picked out a couple of Russian titles that had attractive box covers for viewing. The only equipment that could play region 4 was my computer. As the sun set, I sat in my tower watching an incomprehensible foreign film. Very quickly I became more interested in the lengthening shadows on the wall and the sunset to the south of the city, than the struggle between the lecherous priest and the freaky woman.

The movie was Vedma. And it was probably a better movie for my not understanding the dialogue.

day 5

My friends came over for dinner. Neither of them realized that for me to finish an attractive representation of their faces, they would have to hold still.

Kisa didn't want to hold still either.