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Men with Mustaches (...or, Zappa in
Philly; Dali in Hartford...) It's been a surreal couple of days... I got my Zappa fix on Thursday night, and got my Dali fix last night (Friday). Project Object Orchestra is a septet who perform the music of Frank Zappa with energy and humour. I saw them once in New York over a year ago and noticed that they were due to perform here in Philadelphia Thursday night, so naturally, I attended. They started at 9pm and were still going strong at midnight when I decided to bail, out of deference to my client's expectations of me being awake the following day! All the numbers they played were faithful to the original, but one stood out: "Inca Roads" was a showcase for Andre, the lead guitarist, who showed that wah-wah, fuzz and phaser usage is not a lost art! His guitar solo in the middle of that piece was reminiscent of Zappa himself when I saw him perform at Apollo Stadium in South Australia nearly 30 years ago. The group rocked their way through "Montana", "Peaches en Regalia", "Pyjama People", "Call Any Vegetable" and many others I can't remember. Lead singer Ike Willis used to be Frank Zappa's lead vocalist for 15 years and has lost none of laryngial gymnastics I came to love on those albums. The audience of nearly 200 was crammed into a low-ceilinged, smoky room at the Khyber Club, and it was standing room only. Interestingly, there were many others in the audience who were in my age group, but most probably weren't even born when I saw FZ in the early 70s. During a band break, a drunken fan in his mid-40s was regaling his compatriots with a Zappa trivia quiz, but stumped them when he mentioned "Aynsley Dunbar". When I piped in with phrases like "John Mayall" and "Billy the Mountain", he decided I was his New Best Friend and proceeded to buy me a beer! It was a very enjoyable evening, hearing old favorites, and some I didn't know, performed with old-fashioned 60s-style electric rock. As I left, the strains of "Joe's Garage" followed me down the street, leaving a pleasant memory as I drove back to my motel room (one of the 200 I have stayed in!) In September, 1999, the Wadsworth Athaneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut began hosting an exhibition entitled "Salvador Dali's Optical Illusions" that traced his interest in modes of perception and aspects of illusionism. (The exhibition closes this Sunday, February 6th, 2000, and all tickets are sold out.) I have been a fan of Dali since my teen years, and have a large collection of books devoted to the study of his art. I used to have many Dali posters, and it was great to see two of my favorites, "Impressions of Africa" and "Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach" in real life for the first time. Others I had seen before, like "Apparition of a Bust of Voltaire in a Marketplace" and "One Second before Awakening from a Dream Provoked by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate". And, no, "Persistence of Memory" was not on display! I had not known this exhibition was on until Vicky Jo mentioned it during a phone call on Wednesday night. "While in you're in the vicinity, why not stay an extra night, see it on Saturday, and fly home Saturday night." she said. Great idea! Thursday morning I began the logistical manipulations needed to effect this course of action. I have seen many Dali paintings in the past, beginning with a traveling surrealism exhibition that visited South Australia in the early 70s. One thing that always strikes me is the size of his paintings -- they range from postcard-sized pieces, marvelous for the fine detail therein, to giant 6 foot by 4 foot canvasses awash with vibrant colours and intriguing images. Ah, but US Airways had threatened to close down at midnight Friday if their union negotiations failed. Therefore I would probably have to change airlines if I returned on Saturday. But could I get into the museum on Saturday anyway? A quick phone call revealed that I could not -- all timed tickets for the weekend were sold. But the museum was staying open until midnight Friday to cope with the demand. "Friday midnight" -- where had I heard that before? And the colours! Did I mention the colours? Some of Dali's paintings have portions with such luminosity it almost seems that they glow with an inner light. Are those points of light in reality LEDs? Is that glowing seascape backlit? Closer examination reveals simple overlaying of extra paint, but cunningly contrasted to exaggerate the brightness. The advantage of seeing such paintings in real life is that the nuances of colour can be truly appreciated, in contrast to books and posters, which are limited by the technicalities of the printing process. Also, the opportunity to peer closely at the canvas reveals details that explain how the painter achieved certain effects. The only flight available from Philadelphia to Hartford would have me arriving at Bradley International Airport at 9:08pm. 20 minutes to get baggage; 1 hour to get a cab into Hartford; 90 minutes to see the exhibit. Hmm -- it could be done. But how reliable are the airlines? Seems to be cutting it fine. And the cost -- do I want to spend $150 plus cabfare for 90 minutes of viewing pleasure? I had forgotten that Dali collaborated with Alice Cooper on a number of bizarre ventures, one of which was an exploration of holograms, a science then in its infancy. An example on display consisted of a slowly rotating translucent cylinder lit from below, depicting Alice Cooper seated in a chair (with his brain exposed) holding a doll whose head he was about to bite off. Another depicted Dali painting his wife Gala who was seated holding a copy of the canvas he was in the process of painting. The technology was inferior compared to modern holography, but represented a dazzling departure from traditional art at the time. Having decided to drive from Philly to Hartford, I booked a ticket at the museum, and accelerated the class to finish at 3pm on Friday. Budget Car Rentals would not allow me to drop off my current car at Hartford, so I had to call in to the airport and swap it, which turned out to be a good thing for two reasons. They gave me a bigger, more comfortable car that needed to be returned to Hartford (for no extra charge). But more importantly, the deviation meant a change of route, which meant that I avoided a truck accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (my intended route) that had traffic backed up for 10 miles and several hours, according to the radio reports I listened to as I sailed unimpeded up the New Jersey Turnpike! Dali's collaboration with Hitchcock in designing the dream sequences in "Spellbound" led to the development of some interesting studies that Dali prepared for Hitchcock's approval. Several of these were on display for the first time ever. Giant oozing eyes with a sense of foreboding, painted in uncharacteristic grey tones, since the movie was to be shot in black and white. Dali had previously ventured into movies, collaborating with Luis Buñuel to produce the disturbing "Un Chien Andalou" and "L'Age D'Or". I arrived in Hartford at 9pm, plenty of time to watch a 1 hour movie about Dali before spending nearly 2 hours gazing lovingly at the paintings and other artifacts on display. Several glass cases had books from Dali's library -- an eclectic collection covering such diverse topics as geometry, ornithology, philosophy and abstract mathematics. Of course, he had a huge collection of art books, mainly covering the Italian Renaissance era. His foray into stereoscopy was remarkable in that he painted both the scenes needed for such a display to work, whereas stereoscopic images are usually produced by a special camera with two lenses. I marvel at the ability of an artist who can visualise how to shift elements of two paintings in such a way as to produce the three-dimensional effects needed when the images are viewed together. Some of these works were large -- 4 x 3 feet -- and needed to be mounted at 90 degrees to each other in the corner of a room, with a pair of mirrors forming a 45 degree "V" in front of them. The viewer's nose would be placed against the apex of the "V", such that the reflected images could be seen simultaneously by looking straight ahead. It worked! An example of this is "Leda Atomica". Oh, and by switching my return flight to Northwest Airlines today and accepting a transfer in Detroit, I qualified for a "Connect First" free upgrade to first class, so I'm enjoying a spacious, relaxing flight back to LA! This morning I went for a refreshing walk through the little village adjoining the airport hotel where I spent the night and capped off my surreal couple of days by visiting a nearby tenpin bowling alley where a world championship competition was under way. The bowling fraternity is whole different subculture about which I know little, but I was struck by the number of men sporting "thatch-cut" hair -- an unruly mop on top, clean-shaven from the tops of the ears on down! The one piece of sculpture in the Dali exhibition was his famous "Venus de Milo with Drawers", which symbolises the way that we have hidden feelings and ideas that are kept in unconscious 'drawers' in our psyche -- drawers that can only be opened by psychoanalysis, according to Dali. What does it say about my own psyche, that I admire Zappa and Dali so much?
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