Happy Halloween!

Today is Halloween, one of the most popular days in Denver.  It seems like everybody here likes to dress up in costumes and party.  I am pretty sure most of the partying took place last weekend, but nevertheless, in the spirit of the thing (no pun intended), I am featuring a photograph of my mother Mary and her cousin Junior on Halloween, probably taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s, back on the south side of Chicago. My mother and her family lived around 57th and Prairie Avenue, not far from Chicago's Washington Park, and I am guessing that is where this photograph was taken. Of course, it goes without saying that the costumes are homemade.  Nobody in our family had any money back then, especially during the depression.  It was my mother, in fact, who instilled in me my thriftiness (that sounds a lot better than cheapness), learning from her to save as much as possible, in case the next depression is just around the corner.  And who knows?  And with that said, Happy Halloween Everybody!

City Of The Dead

Tomorrow is Halloween, and for weeks now people in Denver have been anticipating this day.  The young hipsters here love an excuse to party, and love even more the chance to dress up in costume, which makes Halloween one of the most popular days of the year.  And throughout the metropolitan area, "haunted houses" have been set up to entertain and scare the masses.  I myself have never been to one of these places. For one thing, they charge money - a lot of money - and for another, I think that reality is far scarier than anything these guys can dream up.  And by the way, City of the Dead, seen in the photograph above, does NOT refer to Denver, but to one of these haunted houses.  I have been tempted to take a guided ghost tour of the Stanley, the model for the hotel in Stephen King's The Shining, but it is located in Estes Park, an hour and a half's drive from Denver.  It would be on a school night, too, so I usually just say forget it.  However, I just saw on the local television news that somebody went on this tour recently and took a photograph on their iphone.  When they looked at it, it showed the ghost of a little girl, and the photograph, according to the experts (per the news story), is not doctored.  I MUST go on that tour.  Perhaps next year.

Further Thoughts On Final Friday

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I attended the Denver Art Museum's Final Friday event and was kind of disappointed that not only was there nothing new on display (unless you paid $12 extra for the Women Artists in the Age of Impressionism exhibit, which I intend to see, but not now), but two full floors of the museum were closed either for the installation of new exhibits or for renovation.  However, Common Ground, an exhibit of photographs by Fazal Sheikh, is still going on, and I really enjoyed seeing these photographs again.  Sheikh, who was born in New York City, but whose family comes form Nairobi, Kenya and before that India, has dedicated his life to taking photographs of refugees and the dispossessed, and his style reminds me a lot of Sebastiao Salgado.  I was especially fascinated by his photographs from India.  I have mentioned in a previous blog of seeing his photographs of the women of Vrindavan, a community of widows who have been thrown out of their homes after their husbands die, left to fend for themselves.  This past Friday I focused on his photographs of the children of India,  whom he encountered on the streets of it's cities.  In the photographs above, clockwise from the top left, are a girl selling flowers, a child living in a squatter's settlement, a child bride, and a street performer.  I really want to visit India - it is a fascinating country and a photographer's dream.  But when you look at their society, you have to wonder why the government and the wealthy aren't overwhelmed with shame about what goes on in their country, and do something to change things.  Be sure to check out Sheikh's web site at https://www.fazalsheikh.org/.  And just a hint - to get to his photographs, you have to click on the three horizontal lines on the right.  It took me about half an hour to figure that out. I really must be getting old.

The Final Friday Of October

I attended the Final Friday event at the Denver Art Museum (The DAM) last night.  Since I didn't feel like shelling out $12 to see Women Artists in the Age of Impressionism just yet, there wasn't anything new to see. The entire 4th floor of the Hamilton Building was closed for an art installation, and the 7th floor of the North Building has been closed for months. Plus, the fact that the North Building is closing for renovation, eliminating the free buffet table, takes a little luster away from the evening, too.  One museum patron was standing where the buffet table used to be, waving his arms up and down, clearly distraught.  I feel your pain, guy.  There were still the various talks and tours during the evening, however.  Two drag queens were giving a tour of the Animals in Art exhibition (I'm not sure why the DAM considers drag queens experts in art, but whatever), the artist in residence was a rap singer who painted a bit, and then sang rap tunes, and finally there was a group painting ballerinas, who were striking poses for them (as seen in the photograph above). At least that event seemed to have a more solid connection to the art world, but just how long can you stand and watch that?  It was therefore a short visit.  Maybe next month will be more interesting.

Another Great Colorado Sunset

I came out of the bookstore where I work last Sunday night and was so impressed with the sunset that I spent about half an hour trying to capture it on film (or pixels, or whatever).  I crossed the street onto the grounds of Denver's East High School and snapped the photograph on the left.   It was a very weird cloud, almost round in shape, perhaps one more sign of the apocalypse, after last year's Chicago Cubs World Series victory and the election of Donald Trump.  Now I know that sunset photos are supposed to be a cliche, but so what? Especially if they are both pretty AND a sign of the apocalypse.

After I took the photographs on the East High side, I turned around and snapped a photo of sunset over the complex in which the bookstore where I work is located.  The store is located in what was once the Bonfils Memorial Theatre (and later called the Lowenstein Theatre).  Various elements of the old theater have been preserved, including the stage, the orchestra pit, and the grand lobby. The most interesting part of the building to me is that there is an underground river (the Farmers Canal) that runs right underneath the place.   Sometimes when they need to open up panels on the floor you can see the water.  Stick a fishing pole down there and you could catch a fish as well as shop for a book.  How weird is that?

The Shadow District

I recently finished reading a review copy of the soon to be released The Shadow District, a mystery novel by Icelandic writer arnaldur Indridason.  The story takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland, and features retired police detective Konrad, who is asked to help investigate the murder of an elderly man by the head of the short-staffed Criminal Investigative Division.  The motive for the murder goes back to the Second World War, and the story alternates between the original investigation back in 1944 and Konrad's investigation in the present. It is a very good story, and I am looking forward to the next installment in this new series.  I have also, by the way, picked up a new advanced reading copy of a mystery by a Danish writer.  Is it just me, or are there an awfully lot of mysteries that take place in Scandinavia these days?  I myself blame that girl with the dragon tattoo for it all.  In any case, The Shadow District will be released November 7th.  I recommend that you pick up a copy at your local bookstore or library.  Get on the waiting list NOW!

The Zoo In The Fall - Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo this past Saturday afternoon, where the annual trick or treating event, Boo at the Zoo, was taking place.  It was a cool day (53 degrees) with a strong wind, so a lot of the animals, especially the monkeys, were not outside.  However, all the big cats were out, sunning themselves under the blue skies, and almost all of them were willing to look me in the eye and pose for the camera.  The one exception was that damn cloud leopard, seen in the bottom right of the above collage, who was pacing the cage and never looked up once.  No doubt hiding something.