STL DPB In Los Angeles: Disneyland

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The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a creation of architect Frank Gehry. The big poster on the left pictures the 30 year old Venezuelan music director, Gustavo Dudamel. We attended the performance Sunday afternoon. Both the outside and inside of the hall are wonders. Dudamel led the orchestra with great economy through most of the concert but became airborne in the grand moments of the Bruckner 7th.

There's an Arch photo today on Downtown St. Louis 365 today. I mean, why not?

STL DPB In Los Angeles: Kids And Jackson Pollock

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At the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. A class of school children Were studying Rothkos and this Jackson Pollock. Some were into it, some were bored. One little boy was trying to copy a Rothko with colored pencils, moving intense attention from painting and paper. When a teacher told him it was time to go he barked "I am not finished."

Contemporary art museums in this country all seem to have similar acronyms, like MOCA (LA Museum of Contemporary Art), MCA (Museum of Contemporart Art, Chicago) and MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York. If I had the money to start an art museum, I might establish the Center Of Modern Art, or COMA.

Actual work to do today in Los Angeles. I'll try to get Downtown St. Louis 365 posted later today.

Downtown St. Louis 365 is on the run today.

STL DPB In Los Angeles: At The Getty

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A couple of shots from our too-brief run through the Getty Center on Saturday. One of the things I like about LA is its cultural and ethnic variety. Sure, New York has plenty of that but the flavors are different here. Just from an eyeball survey there are a lot more East Asian people and fewer South Asian people. NY has a big Hispanic population but LA's is far larger. You hear Spanish at every turn. In the picture above, a young woman reads a Chinese newspaper on a terrace at the Getty. Below, the passageway to the area where she was sitting. The place is bursting with architectural oh wows.

I got some good pictures from the air flying out here and edited a half dozen yesterday. They are in the set for this trip I started on Flickr. Click here.

You can be cursed by a black swan, if you like, on Downtown St. Louis 365 today.

STL DPB In Los Angeles: A Night At The Opera

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It's really late body time as I write this - almost 2:30 AM at home. I have some business in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs. C. and I flew out yesterday morning. We took a quick trip up to the Getty Center, then to downtown for an early dinner followed by a hilarious and touching performance of Rossini's The Turk In Italy.

Gotta turn out the lights. Downtown St. Louis 365 will go up late morning U.S. Pacific time.

Albert Pujols tries to bat a bowling ball today on Downtown St. Louis 365.

A Bit Naughtier

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There had to be something naughti-ish to call it Naughti Gras. There was all sorts of entertainment that was not, um, family oriented, other than in the sense of suggesting activity that creates families. Well, you couldn't get in if you were not twenty one (there was alcohol for sale!) and, at that point, you were old enough to know what you were getting into. The organizers were carding almost everyone at the door but waived us through on an obvious elderly exemption. Which would have been more embarrassing?

Today is a travel day for me and Mrs. C. I have some business out of town in a few days and we're sticking in some R&R beforehand. I must apologize in advance for a lack of comments on my friends' blogs. There won't be much free time until I get home Wednesday night. Images from the destination soon, after we hang out with the angels for a bit.

(I think Olivier will like this one.)

Tests of athletic skill today on Downtown St. Louis 365!

Naughti Gras

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In countries that celebrate the combination of Christianity and liquor, March 8 is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras. The following day is Ash Wednesday, when the penitence of Lent must begin. Or at least that's the theory.

St. Louis got a head start last weekend with the somewhat risque Naughti Gras at the cavernous Koken Art Factory on the South Side. Some people were in costume. What was so naughti about it? Check back tomorrow.

Evidence of idolatry at the Idiotarod is on display today at Downtown St. Louis 365.

Thursday Arch Series

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A last image from Sunday's Arab pro-democracy rally. An Egyptian man, now living in America, holds his native land's flag on the entrance to the Old Courthouse, with the Arch as a backdrop. Part of the Arch's symbolism is the freedom to move in radical new directions. I wish the same for Egypt.

Unfathomable costumes from the Idiotarod on Downtown St. Louis 365 today.