IT'S ARTICA!

It’s time for The Lou’s anything goes visual and performing arts festival, Artica. It takes place in a large empty field and adjoining streets amidst the post-industrial ruins near the Mississippi. My friend Paul Vandivort sets the political tone for the weekend. Not a MAGA hat in sight.                       

$100

Only a few non-Americans would recognize this face and mayby not many of us. It is the engraved portrait of Benjamin Franklin that appears on the US $100 bill. Maybe you've seen a movie showing a briefcase packed full of Bens. I like the artistic embellishments. They remind me of the style of one of my favorite painters, James Rosenquist.              

LA RAÍZ DE TODO MAL

Wall painting on a Mexican general store on Cherokee Street. There is a cash machine in the wall just to the right. STL doesn't have the Hispanic population most US cities do but what there we got is centered in this area. You will find Latino restaurants, clothing stores, groceries (there is even an all-Latino candy store, or dulceria), bakeries and places to wire money to Mexico and Central America.

Now, my question is how many passers-by think this painting is really cool and how many are horrified by it. I'm in the second camp, looking at the scream of short-lived materialistic joy, that mouth and that dress. Now at least she can afford more fabric. There is a Buddhist temple just down the street. Too bad they weren't consulted. 

Oh, and by the way, today is Mrs. C's and my 45th anniversary. We still like each other and I consider myself very, very fortunate. I think we should do something about the occasion.      

Show Me The Money

Got home late last night from Chicago in desperate need of something to post today. This is back at the St. Louis Cinco de Mayo festival. A popular taqueria was selling its wares out front on the sidewalk. The manager was happy to show off his successful sales to me. I didn't stop for a taco. I was too busy hunting images.

TOMORROW: Bluegrass

Liberty or License

Perhaps this picture is a counterpoint to my posts of Tuesday and Wednesday from the Pridefest parade. This self-explanatory billboard is being towed around downtown before a baseball game.

"What's that, daddy?" What the hell are you supposed to say to your kid? It's the outdoor equivalent of Viagra ads on TV during, oh, say, a baseball game. We don't need this. It's quite legal in the US but it raises a very old question: you are permitted to do it, but should you do it? Or, to put it another way, what price money? Perhaps I am being naive. If something is allowed, someone will sell it.

Note that the sign invites fans to head east after the game. To us, that means crossing the Mississippi. We don't allow such things in Missouri, In Illinois, anything goes. Look at Chicago politics. The caricature of Illinois politicians is that they are crafty grifters. The broad image of Missouri politicians is that they are backward buttheads. Both of these generalizations may sometimes be true.

How much of this stuff goes on in your society?

Tomorrow: What on earth is a sailor doing here?