Portland

PDX, 726

Back in Portland today. I guess there is a heat wave happening, it got up to 88ºF here today.
We rolled over to Atlas Tattoo to look up my old friends Jerry and Dan. As we walk in the door Jerry is about to leave and asks if we need any help. I barely recognize him and actually had to look at his tattoos to verify that it was him. The funny thing was, I'm pretty sure he did the same thing to me. I haven't seen those guys in about six years I guess.
Portland is about the same as ever. The same interesting people on the streets and the same do it yourself attitudes to go along with it. Later on we went over to the Rose & Raindrop for a beer and oysters. That place has not changed one bit either.

Today it's the fourth of July and most of town is closed it seems. Went back over to see Jerry at the shop and talked to him for quite a while. He now has two kids!! Quite a change. The shop is doing well for them and they actually own their own building which is a restored victorian house, it is really nice and very old school. We're hitting the road back out to the coast to Seaside to fly the kite on the beach one last time. I'm also in search of some more fried oysters.... We have decided to cut the trip short in the way of road miles because we are running out of time. It was just so damn hard to get out of California.... Our goal today is to get up to Olympia, WA to stay with Sarah for a couple of days and to see Seattle as well, after that, Wyoming here we come.


I have a song bird who sings on my shoulder. A place to stay he is in search of. His journey has been far and wide however no solid ground awates his light steps. The song bird sings, and searches for his home once more. Madison

Portland has been a very great, I feel it to be of an energy that I would want to experience more and develope in. PLUS great coffee. I like!

THE GOODS:

Atlas

The Redwoods

The Redwoods, 716


Today we came to the redwoods of northern California and southern Oregon. We got lucky with the weather and had a combination of sunshine and fog at the same time which made for a great atmospheric experience. The whole thing left us somewhat speechless... we hiked around in a grove that looks mostly like primordial rain forest for a while and made several discoveries and experiences like drinking water off the hanging moss on the trees.. This posting is pretty heavy on images and less with the text. We were generally busy hanging out inside of giant trees and finding new things to look at.










We ended up camping at Orick on the beach that night. With an abundance of firewood and soft sand to sleep on it was easily the most luxurious camp we have encountered yet. There were seals bobbing around in the surf




MOVIE CLIPS:

Short drive

Dippin'

Andrew

Stump
THE GOODS:

Redwoods @ Wikipedia

Pilgrimage to Black Butte

After San Fran we drove up the coast on the PCH until we got to Bodega Bay. There is a campground there on a spit of land that shelters the town from the open Pacific. Ranger Ted was kind enough to give us a campsite for free ($18.00 savings), and cheerfully announced that he did not have any other tattooed visitors in his campground. He was a cool guy but seemed a bit too carefree to be a ranger for the Forest Circus. The next morning we cut inland and headed for Weed, CA.

My friend North Bank Fred lives there. Fred is a freight rider that has settled down somewhat but is still in touch with the scene. He has the biggest archive online of anything and everything related to riding freight trains. A journey to Black Butte and Dunsmuir is a must for any rider, it's on par with making the hajj for a muslim. It must be done at least once.
On our way up into the sierras we stopped at Shasta Lake where we hopped in the lake to cool off. After a while of wandering around we found a rope swing hanging over the lake. This kept us occupied for some time. I jumped off it twice, the second time somewhat precarious in execution, I almost landed too close to shore, but got lucky.





Upon arrival in Weed, Fred took us out to the Black Butte siding where the hobo jungle is. The reception commenced with the three of us sitting in the jungle drinking White Port (or White Puke as the kids call it) and swapping stories. We camped there next to the tracks for two nights with a robust fire going and freights rolling by at night. This jungle is historic as it has been here since the 1910's at least. The old water tower at the siding is covered with old hobo monikers and after looking around the oldest one we found was from August 1931, marked by Lonesome Pete.

At night we went out and streaked our own monikers on the boxcars parked on the siding. The second night we got visitors rolling into camp around 10pm. It was Joey Alone and some girl he had picked up in St. Louis. They had just come from Toronto on CN down to Seattle and then on down to Eugene. Stuck in Eugene, they decided to hitchhike down to Dunsmuir, but got a ride to Weed instead. The conversation was cautious at first, but they both warmed up after they learned why we were there and that I also rode.

The second day at the Black Butte jungle we hiked up to the top of Black Butte itself, an endeavour that took us almost five hours total. It was totally worth it though, what's really crazy is that you can see Mt. Hood some 300 miles to the north in Oregon from the top...


after that we went and laid around in Siskiyou Lake to cool off.
There I encountered a kid with what appeared to be a broken arm. I asked what happened and he said I fell off a rope swing... I called his folks for him and they said they would come pick him up. Next day we took off for the coast again to see the redwoods of northern California.



MOVIE CLIPS:

Rope swing

Rope swing redux

Laying down the streaks

THE GOODS:

North Bank Fred

San Francisco

We rolled into San Fran pretty early in the morning ready to go tour the de Young museum. Weather was foggy and 55ºF, just perfect! (for me anyway). The exterior of the museum is comprised of what appears to be copper panels which have a gaussian application of holes and protruding shapes that make up a seemingly random pattern. The collection is quite varied with an emphasis on modern and contemporary arts. We saw many new acquisitions, as the museum seems to be very intent on displaying newer work. There seems to be less art from the 18th and early 19th century than anywhere else we have been.

The de Young is an awesome place, where it seems every detail has been worked out regarding funcionality. The design is very clean and sparse, but beautiful.
The main entrance is a broad walkway leading into a courtyard with a commissioned piece from Andy Goldsworthy. The piece actually starts out at the curb on the street and ends up at the main entrance doors. The work draws on San Francisco's location on a faultline prone to earthquakes. The crack in the walkway leads you in to the rest of the sculpture, very apropos for the bay area.
Link to artwork and images of the de Young
Later on we made our way to Vesuvio's, Jack Kerouac's old hangout. The bar is in North Beach, an area originally known as Little Italy. The neighborhood is now mainly restaurants and strip clubs. We made a bicycle ride over to Fishermans Wharf to check out the self cleaning toilets. Andrew wanted to stay in there for the duration of the cleaning cycle but it refused to run with him in there....

San Fran, muey bueno! Water, steep hills, great food and self cleaning toilets, what more could you ask for? Eating lunch in Vesuvio's and then a ride around the city. Much fun. The hill climb on Hyde street was a great an challenge. I had to stop a few times but made it. We were then off to ride the Golden Gate Bridge. Not as challenging but very nice to have the sea breeze in your face. I kept thinking about if you were to fall off how long it would take until you would hit the water. I realize that yes you would most likely die but could you say your abc's on the way down? Don't know.


MOVIE CLIPS:

Leaving San Fran

Bike ride

On the Golden Gate

THE GOODS:

de Young

Vesuvio's

Self cleaning restroom

Andy Goldsworthy

Santa Cruz feels like home

Santa Cruz, 6286

At six the next morning we packed up and rolled on up the coast to Santa Cruz. We were just planning to get a cup of coffee, but ended up staying there for the entire day. The town is cool. Being the epicenter of surfing in North America there are lots of interesting people around. People in Santa Cruz are really friendly, and seem down to earth in a way I can relate to. After coffee we went to the local tourist trap, aka The Mystery Spot, where the laws of physics cease to apply and gravity is a dubious companion.
The Doubting Thomases that we are, we figured it was an illusion, but left the place not knowing exactly what to make of it. Later on we went out to the shore north of town and walked around on the beach. There, we found lots of fossils and also an object that may be whale puke (Ambergris), but we have not tested it yet.
Tomorrow we will go to San Francisco to tour de Young, the newly opened art museum in SF. Unfortunately SFMOMA will be closed on the day we are in SF.

THE GOODS:

The Mystery Spot

Whale Puke

Up the PCH

Pacific Palisades, 6266

Yesterday we went up to Pasadena to check out the Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery.
Andrew had previously seen the works of Michael Hussar and Mark Ryden there, so we think it a good place to see contemporary artists. This time the show was drawings by Ed Ruscha and Robert Williams, two southern California artists of renown in their respective realms. The show was quite good, showing the early breadth Ruscha, while allowing the viewer into Williams' conceptual character building process.
I struck up a conversation with the gallery owners about photography and ended up showing my portfolio there, although that was not the intention. They basically promised me a show there if we can come to an agreement on the content and the number of images to be shown. I'll keep this in mind for later in the year, like October perhaps. Done in Pasadena we rolled down the hill to Santa Monica and went looking for Bergamot Station, which we found after awhile. There are very many galleries there dealing mostly in up and coming artists it looks like. Unfortunately they were all closed.

From there we made our way to Pacific Palisades to stay with Andrew's family, Bob and Sally Breech. After frolicking in the jacuzzi and pool we were fed well and had great dinner conversation. With a belly full of steak and ice cream The thing really works!
Right now we are about to eat breakfast with Sally. The house here is really big and there are lots of original Frederic Remington sculptures about the house. In its own right it's a place to peruse some art. This is where we will begin our trek up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, California 1). After seeing Bob off to his physical checkup (at 87 he still drives his Crown Vic and is quite cheerful about it) we said goodbye to Sally and turned North.


Big Sur, 6276

The scenery out here on the coast is amazing as usual. So are the gas prices, they are well above the projected price in our fuel budget, but we're not complaining. We made a short stop at Oceano Dunes and flew the kite for a while and then went for a cruise on the bikes down on the waterline. Further up the coast, once you get past San Simeon (kingdom of William Randolph Hearst) the terrain rises abruptly out of the sea and the coast fog literally comes creeping up the cliffs, hillsides and roadway in tendrils as cinematic as they come. No special effects needed here.
Later on we tried to find camping, but only had so-so luck with that. There was an incredible place to camp on top of a cliff with tall trees around forming a pretty dense canopy that made you feel as though you were in a cathedral looking out over the Pacific. This site was occupied, and so we moved on.

The next one was full too, but the third one was ours after a brief but annoying mix-up about claiming the actual campsite. It was more like musical campfires. We ended up sharing the camp with a couple, but we never really saw them.



MOVIE CLIPS:

Flying the kite

Wish you were here

Oceano Dunes

THE GOODS:

Mendenhall Sobieski

LBC

Well, we got out to the CBS studios out in Hollywood this morning only to find out that the Price is Right is cancelled today. What a bummer. Apparently Bob's endurance is waning..
We have four tickets so there would have been plenty of opportunity for fun.... Instead we hung out in the jewish part of Hollywood and ate well. In fact so well that I had to go to the restroom twice to make accommodations. Commencing the further exploration of an americanized culture, we dove into a thrift store where Andrew bought three pairs of fancy pants
(this is for you Crump) and I found a pair of Tony Lama's that fit like tick on a hound-dog. This is right in the same neighborhood as Miracle Mile where LACMA and the La Brea tar pits are located.
The tar pits are cool, Andrew drew an unauthorized sample for taste characteristics and found the results unfavorable. So far we have taste tested three naturally occurring substances and minerals and found the experience enlightening in its exploration.


LACMA is rad. Far better than the Getty as far as content, however, the Getty is the penultimate Los Angeles art viewing experience..... The featured exibition at the Getty was of John Heartfields work from Weimar and Hitler Germany. He was the first person to appropriate images from popular media and use them to tell a different, not so objective story. I really like this work. LACMA is featuring David Hockney (I liked his camera lucida drawings the best) and a glass show, which took me quite by surprise, there was some amazing work in that show.

Link to images

Saturday we met up with Brenda,Nick,Zachary and Lauren and went to the LA MOCA which is currently showing select Rauschenberg combines and an exhibition of Lorna Simpsons work. Rauschenberg was very cool, iconic in its direct use of objects, images and text.

Tim came home from work and we went to The Pike, a Long Beach bar owned by a former member of Social Distortion. There was a bluegrass outfit playing for about ten people, including us. They were quite good though and played some awesome renditions of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Mystery Train" upon my request.
I don't know what it is, but The Pike feels like home and I fall in love for a few instants with the barkeep every time I'm there. She's always a brunette rockabilly girl with a quick smile and a graceful way. Whoever hires the barkeepers has high standards of a certain asthetic.




Our stay in the LBC turned out to be a nice rest stop and place to meet up with and find ourselves with friends of whom we havent seen in a while. Much thanks to you Tim for all of your hospitality. Brenda! It was great seeing and being able to talk with you for a while. I enjoyed giving you my rendition of what I thought each of the painting were composed of. I find that my view on most of fine art seems to always be abstract even when the painting is not. Anyway it was great to have spent time with everyone. We are back on the road now and yesterdays drive was full of great visual experiences. Those will be shown soon.
I will have you some images of drawings from the trip soon. The trip has thus far been very fulfilling. Hans and I will be in touch soon and hope all is well. Madison



We also got up at the asscrack of dawn to go fishing while in Long Beach, it was a lot of fun! We caught Sand Bass, which I cooked up for dinner for us all once Tim got home from work. Andrew also caught a small mackerel that was too small to keep. Some of the other folks on the boat caught Barracuda and Halibut.


MOVIE CLIPS:

Getting wet

Wish you were here

Rollin on dubs in the LBC

Motion picture

THE GOODS:

The Getty

LA County Museum of Art

MOCA Los Angeles

Paul Kopeikin Gallery

Desert Hot Springs, it's bath time!

Before and after.

Bath time was good, the water is just the right temperature and guess what?? It's free.
We hosed away almost four days of dirt and desert grime....

MOVIE CLIP:

In the spring

Salvation Mountain

Well, this is probably my fourth time visiting Leonard Knight out here in the desert. He is as hospitable as ever and eager to show us around. The old man is still pretty spry, but I do detect a slower pace about him that was not there before. His mind is still as imaginative as ever and he now has a website and DVD's to promote the existence of the mountain. He hands us a whole bunch of them to give out to people we meet.
Leonard was asleep when we got there so we decided to bust out the kite and fly it for a while... It was awesome!


MOVIE CLIPS:

Leonard talks about his process

The learning experience

Adobe

Kite flying

Ha Ha

Andrew tours the mountain

INFO ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN:

Leonards own site

PBS feature

Folkart.org

Many photos @ PBase

Slab City and the Great Ride

We have entered into an new realm. Arriving in the evening with wary light, we traverse a landscape of campers, and dogs in this rugged landscape. Slab city was a comfort to me after being near the Salton Sea. We set up camp and proceeded to eat some of our consumables while a nice campfire was set to burn for a while. Slab city you should know is an abandoned military base of which the only thing left is the concrete slabs after the buildings were taken down. Off in the distance you can hear the sound of a training scenario takng place in the now occupied military base just over the mountains. Its an interesting experience to know that the place you are about to sleep in, is now abandoned and not governed by any formal institution. We are truly free here. In the morning we find ourselves riding through the local camps to get to a canal where we were to go swimming. However this was empty and we quickly sought after the thrills of speeding up and down the steep walls. What fun!


Grape poachders that we are, we get up somewhat hungover and tired from staying up late at night riding our bikes around Slab City in the buff. Night time bike ride
The road system at the Slabs is labyrinthian and of course we got lost for a while and got chased by dogs. Just a little bit scarier than normal when you have no clothes on....

Slab City seems to be a place where people come to get away from whatever is troubling them and there are many stories about people gone missing from the slabs. Probably the most notable tale being that of Chris McCandless in Into the wild by Jon Krakauer
The only thing dividing the Slabs from the active bombing range to the west is the Coachella Canal, a main water supply way for Southern California. It's surreal camping there at night and hearing the distant thump of heavy artillery and other tools of warfare being put to test.


MOVIE CLIPS:

In the canal

Night time folly

INFO ABOUT THE SEA:

Slab City

Slab City story

Slab City @ Wikipedia

The Salton Sea

Dropping out of the high desert we went through Palm Springs and down through Indio and Coachella. Taking Highway 111 down the east side of the sea you start to encounter orchards along the road. Many kinds of fruit are grown, but mainly dates and various citrus. Before long we found some eating grapes and actually made two raids on the vines... red seedless. Our first stop was at North Shore, a town gone to seed after the yacht club closed down. This place was designed by a fairly well known architect of the sixties and was a jet setter resort with visitors like Frank Sinatra and Mickey Mantle.

We encountered a french fellow who inquired about swimming in the sea to test the bouyancy of this salty water.... well I wouldn't recommend it at this point in time. The shores are lined with dead fish and birds creating a rather toxic stew of botulism and other bacteria. Currently the sea is 30% saltier than the ocean and will be a dead sea in 15-20 years if nothing is done.

MOVIE CLIPS:

Andrew's reaction to the sea

Red Water

INFO ABOUT THE SEA:

Kim Stringfellow

Wikipedia

Photographs by Jeff Alu, scroll down to find photos

Journey to Giant Rock

Andrew on the calved segment.

Giant Rock is supposedly the largest freestanding boulder in the WORLD! We had a hard time finding the way and encountered our second digging session of the day.

Fuckin' Giant

Giant Rock

Giant Rock before the split

Hey Vega, I know I told you some shit about my apartment already but if you shower there could you please shut the bathroom door to keep the steam and what not from entering my computer, and works of art. Don't take it like a command, just do it bitch. Stay safe and try not to leave any surprisejizz on my bed. Talk to you soon. Madison
To anyone who reads this that may be affended by vulgar language/imagery please be aware that we intend no initial harm or foul. PS. My phone is down and is not charged because I forgot the car charger. I will charge it soon and call. Hope all is well and good. Madison