Campbell's Pepper Pot

[illusionofjoy]

Last night, I called oneirophrenia, telling him that I might make it out to Electro-Retro, depending on how I felt that evening. In the late afternoon, when I had called him, I had just eaten dinner and it didn't seem to be settling in as well as I thought it ought to. I was also tired from yet another work week passed, like so much water over a cataract. I took all of these sensations and went into joi_division's bedroom for a catnap. When I next returned to the world of conscious thought, it was far too late to go out and my head was telling me that I would do well to simply go back to sleep, while my mouth was implying that if I didn't like the taste it was assaulting my tongue with at that very moment, I'd better do something about it before morning arrived. Acquiescing to the foulness of my oral orifice, I brushed my teeth before returning to bed.

Earlier in the week, Joi and I had been emailing each other back and forth from our respective workplaces, discussing what we should do for the coming weekend. It seemed that the two of us hadn't been out to do much in quite awhile. We'd become - gasp - boring! So, sitting in our respective corporate boxes, the two of us were contemplating what we could do with our weekend together.

After a volley of emails back and forth, Joi wrote me a message saying, "why don't we go to the Warhol? I haven't been there in years." This was immediately followed by another message: "we're going to the Warhol this weekend." I had no reason to argue.

The Andy Warhol Museum is located in Pittsburgh's North Side at 117 Sandusky Street - a quick drive from downtown over the 7^th Street Bridge. For those willing to pay $6.00, there is a parking lot specifically for museum patrons located on the opposite side of the street from The Warhol. If such a fee makes you wish to eschew your car, Port Authority busses 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1F, 6A, 6D, 11C, 11D, 11E, 11F, 12A, 13A, 13D, 13F, 16A, 16B, 16D, 16F, 17B, 500 and 501 all pass by the museum (although, some only pass by on the outbound or inbound portion of their routes). Admission to the museum proper is $10.00 and there is a coat room with lockers that require a 25 cent deposit, should leaving your valuables dangling from a hanger make you nervous.

The first thing I noticed about the museum was the building which housed it. One would think that a museum dedicated to the art of Andy Warhol would be in a building akin the Parisian Centre Pompidou - a building that stands out from the rest of the surrounding architecture and which is painted in eye-popping colours. Instead, the building is constructed of plain stone in the style of the Chicago School of architecture, which was popular at the end of the 19^th century and the first few decades of the 20^th. Buildings of this style are not typically known for being the structures of a pop culture icon, instead being associated with sturdiness and practicality - two attributes sought after in the construction of what were the very first skyscrapers in the United States (though, by the standards of today, a "skyscraper" of a mere seven stories is laughable). The building housing the Warhol was actually renovated from an older structure, to the protest of some who believed that a museum dedicated to Andy Warhol should be located in his chosen home of New York City, seeing as how he was known to have hated Pittsburgh.

Inside of the museum are seven floors containing permanent exhibitions of Warhol's work, along with a rotating showcase of "guest" exhibits and special features. It takes about an hour and a half to walk through the museum and browse the exhibits. However, were one to attempt to take a critical examination of all of the work inside of the building, including all of the nooks where art has been "hidden," one would find a full afternoon quickly consumed. Furthermore, Andy Warhol left behind hundreds of "time capsules," numbered boxes containing whatever he felt like throwing into them at the time. These boxes contain all sorts of tidbits, odds and ends including materials and drafts of work that would later be put into wide circulation. Many of these boxes have yet to be opened. Thus far, the most unusual item which has been found in a time capsule: a cake.

Joi and I ended up leaving the museum a little past 1:30 in the afternoon. I dropped her off at her apartment and went back to my place to do a little music work. I managed to do a bit of additional recording for an existing track - adding those little audio goodies that fans of pop music seem to love so much and tweaking the mix. However, when I turned my attention towards trying to record an entirely new song, I was met with nothing but frustration.

In general, one starts a new recording by laying down percussion tracks before any other instruments are recorded. I was attempting to program a drum beat in Fruity Loops, however, try as I might, I could not find a set of samples which met with my approval. I have a very specific set of sounds in mind for this particular song and I'll be quite put out if I don't get what I want out of the recording. A compromise would cheapen the song, in my opinion. By the early evening, I'd had enough of fighting with sequencers and I returned to Joi's.

Tomorrow night Joi and I will be going with her older brother to see The Finn Brothers at Mr. Small's. Those you only scratching the surface of 80's pop music might remember these two from their work with Split Enz or, more likely, Crowded House. In any case, the Finns have a new album out entitled Everyone Is Here and Bic Runga will be opening. Good stuff.