Moon River

Moon River is one of those songs that grows on you over the decades. Written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, it's a wistful, romantic ballad about longing, dreams, and the pursuit of freedom. In the film it's sung by Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, but it's had many covers that were equally transcendant. The lyrics evoke a journey of self-discovery and hope, with the "river" perhaps symbolizing life's unpredictable path shrouded by a light misty haze. 

The song reflects Holly's yearning for a better, more authentic life beyond her transient, glamorous facade, capturing themes of wanderlust, companionship ("my huckleberry friend"), and the search for belonging. Its gentle melody and poetic lyrics convey universal emotions of aspiration and vulnerability. 

The film itself (Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961), is based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name. Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly is a glamorous but enigmatic young woman in New York City who lives a carefree, socialite lifestyle while hiding her past as a runaway. She befriends Paul Varjak, a struggling writer and her new neighbor, who becomes captivated by her charm and mystery. As their relationship deepens, Holly’s guarded nature and pursuit of wealth clash with her desire for genuine connection. The story explores themes of identity, freedom, and love, culminating in Holly’s emotional journey toward self-acceptance, set against the backdrop of 1960s Manhattan. 

Reading and writing about this song makes me want to revisit the film, to see it with fresh eyes. May it one day come to pass.

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Meanwhile, here are three versions of the song--one by Audrey Hepburn from the film, a nice rendition by Elton John and a Frank Sinatra version after the lyrics.

Audrey Hepburn

Elton John

Moon river, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style someday  

Oh dream maker, you heartbreaker  

Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way 

Two drifters off to see the world

There's such a lot of world to see

We're after the same rainbow's end

Waitin' round the bend

My huckleberry friend

Moon river and me

Sinatra

Moon photo by Rui Marinho on Unsplash

Duluth Art Beat: AJ Atwater's One Day Fine Art Estate Sale Is April 12

Abstraction 30 -- 36"x 48"

IN TEN DAYS Duluth artist AJ Atwater will debut 130 New York City and Lake Superior original abstract acrylic paintings at the AJ Atwater Fine Art Estate Sale Saturday, April 12 from 11AM-4PM. AJ Atwater Art will be on display in six galleries at 4701 Cooke Street, Duluth. Atwater calls it "the cream of the cream" of her painting collection.

Here are a few of the pieces that will be on display. You can check out my interview with the artist here at the Duluth Reader website: AJ Atwater’s big canvas blowout: Duluth Meets Manhattan.

Fog -- 16"x 20"

Still Life with Oval -- 16"x 20"

Yellow Series 2 -- 24"x 30"

Red Series 6 -- 10"x 10"

Palisade Head -- 24"x 30"

The Artist: AJ Atwater

The more you engage, the more you see.

Sunshine and large windows make colors brght.

 

 “Lake Superior is my Manhattan” ~ AJ Atwater

Related Links

AJ Atwater and PROJECT 30/30 

Virtual Reality Meets Virtual Gallery: AJ Atwater's 400 Paintings

Sneak Preview: Kuth and Atwater's Affordable Fine Art Show

Theater Marquees of New York: A Wordless Wednesday Walk Through the Heart of Manhattan

A walk with a view: the sidewalks of New York 

Manhattan photos courtesy Gary Firstenberg

Related Links
A Few Shots from Gary Firstenberg's Midwest Travels
A Leisurely Visit with Gary Firstenberg Here in Duluth

Gary Firstenberg Gallery Page 

Miscellaneous Tweets : Mourning In America

A drawing I did in high school. Have the times changed?

QUOTES SKIMMED FROM  TWITTER TODAY

If a protest that includes mass arson, looting, assault, and murder, can be considered "mostly peaceful," what exactly would a non-peaceful protest look like? I mean what does a protest have to do to earn the label of non-peaceful? Do they have to literally nuke the whole city?

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There’s a black out in truth. It interferes with the narrative.

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That whole Press is the enemy of the people thing just seemed like hyperbole, now I'm not so sure. Watching how they cover and present the riots (I'm in DC, I'm in the middle of it) is WAY different than reality.

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"It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."

Hard to describe how rampant the looting was tonight in Midtown Manhattan and how lawless it was. Complete anarchy. Literally hundreds of stores up and down Broadway, Fifth Ave, Sixth Ave. Kids ruling the streets like it was a party.

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My nephew, a NYPD détective in Brooklyn, just texted us that he heard Manhattan is almost lost. NONE OF THE LOCAL LONG ISLAND STATIONS ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS. My husbands former precinct on LI, the 7th, is almost overrun. They are looting Macy’s Herald square now.

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On the ground reporter for CNN says he’d be surprised if there was any further looting in Manhattan tonight. His exact words “There’s nothing left to loot”. Holy shit.

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How many people have to die in "peaceful demonstrations" before the media admit that those who promote mob disruptions have to know what is likely to happen when you put mobs in the streets at night?

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GREEN LIGHT FOR LOOTERS: NYPD Manhattan Chief just announced that officers are NOT to engage in vehicle pursuits that have committed looting (burglary). "Too dangerous and we don't want officers injured". This follows at least 3 pursuits tonight that he terminated as well.

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If all you care about is the looting, just stop posting. People trying so hard to discredit the movement instead of trying to understand why we’re protesting.

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EdNote: There's this query that psychologists use to help us verbalize what we're feeling. All the above statements were gleaned from Twitter today. The question goes like this: Are you Sad, Mad, Glad or Afraid? I really want to know.

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Antifa List of Demands in Seattle

Reddit Discussion

Socialist Seattle Councilmember Tammy Morales said, "What I don’t want to hear is for our constituents to be told to be civil, not to be reactionary, to be told looting doesn’t solve anything.”
Full story here: https://mynorthwest.com/1908812/rantz-seattle-council-endorse-looting-riot/



Related Links
He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People
Police Brutality Protests Will Change Law Enforcement and the November Election

How Will COVID-19 Impact Big Cities?

The Big Apple, from Rockefeller Tower. Photo by Jonathan Riley on Unsplash

The New York Times ran a story this week about the potential disruption that might be caused if large Manhattan firms decide that working in offices is not that important anymore. The link to the full article, titled Manhattan Faces a Reckoning if Working From Home Becomes the Norm, is at the bottom of this page.

When the pandemic full force in March, the first two observable changes were the cancelling of events and the closing of restaurants, bars churches and other places where people congregate. The third change, less visible but widespread, was the emptying of office spaces, getting people set up to work at home. It was amazing how quickly this latter was implemented, and at first it seemed like a temporary adjustment companies were making.

Now that we are two months down the road, Twitter announced that this may be permanent. Facebook, Google and other behemoths have adopted the new work-from-home response as well, the the Times speculates that the impact on Manhattan could become a major problem if after the crisis eases, companies let workers stay home. That would affect an entire ecosystem, from transit to restaurants to shops. Not to mention the tax base.

Only the beginning?

Before the coronavirus crisis, three of New York City’s largest commercial tenants — Barclays, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — had tens of thousands of workers in towers across Manhattan. Now, as the city wrestles with when and how to reopen, executives at all three firms have decided that it is highly unlikely that all their workers will ever return to those buildings.

The research firm Nielsen has arrived at a similar conclusion. Even after the crisis has passed, its 3,000 workers in the city will no longer need to be in the office full-time and can instead work from home most of the week.

But now, as the pandemic eases its grip, companies are considering not just how to safely bring back employees, but whether all of them need to come back at all. They were forced by the crisis to figure out how to function productively with workers operating from home — and realized unexpectedly that it was not all bad.

If that’s the case, they are now wondering whether it’s worth continuing to spend as much money on Manhattan’s exorbitant commercial rents.

The the article states that "the number of workers who actually prefer to be in an office because of the opportunity for social interaction is an unknown factor."

The story notes that "Barclays, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are part of a banking industry that has long been a pillar of the city’s economy, with more than 20,000 employees. Collectively, they lease more than 10 million square feet in New York," which is roughly equivalent to all the office space in downtown Nashville.

How much money does New York City collect in real estate taxes? What happens if real estate values decline as companies abandon this skyscraper way of life?

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Duluth is hardly a big city, but there are repercussions here as well. Yesterday I was walking on Superior Street downtown and couldn't help but notice the number of signs seeking to sell or lease office space and storefronts "down on Main Street." (Yes, the song entered my head, triggered by what I was seeing.)

Real estate has always seemed like a safe bet for people with money because historically it increases in value. But what if the shift to cocooning hits our own downtown office spaces? What are our current occupancy rates for office space in Duluth? What will they be two years from now?

The bigger variable in Duluth is the reliance on tourism revenue. If you are in a tourist town and tourism comes to a halt due to a global pandemic, then what? Duluth relies on a tourism tax to generate revenue to keep the city operational. That's a 12 million dollar influx of cash from outsiders. That's only the taxes. Think of the millions of dollars lost by businesses dependent on that influx of tourists?

Shelter-in-place means Canal Park hotels and motels have empty parking lots and empty rooms. I believe the Radisson was celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. What happens when you throw a party but no one can come?

In a lighter vein... is there anyone with Photoshop skills who can

place PPE masks on all the faces in this photo for me? I'd love to share it 

next week during our Virtual Dylan Fest. I will, of course, give you credit.

Related Links
Manhattan Faces a Reckoning if Working From Home Becomes the Norm
Duluth Dylan Fest 2020: Schedule of Virtual Events

AJ Atwater Talks About Her Upcoming Event: 400 Paintings

Discovering AJ Atwater initially felt like re-discovering an aspect of myself. Atwater is an abstract painter who has derived inspiration from the New York School. Perhaps it's a little like musical tastes in which one can still appreciate Motown or folk while being swept away by Dave Brubeck, or Beethoven.

I first saw her work at Duluth's Washington Galleries. Later in 2013 she conceived what she called Project 30/30 in which she publicly produced 30 paintings in 30 days at Perry Framing on the 200 block of Superior Street. The following year she produced a show called New York Paintings.And last year she collaborated with Elizabeth Kuth in a show called Affordable Fine Art, another fine show. Her latest endeavor is called 400 Paintings.

Atwater lives in two worlds that could not be more different, Manhattan and Duluth. The Big Apple is continuously abuzz with its big city energy. In contrast, Duluth is something akin to a seaside resort with beautiful vistas and plenty of open spaces to indulge the senses in a different way.

Though ambitious, 400 Paintings is the kind of thing I've come to expect from this energized, almost frenetic artist.

When I asked, "What's new with AJ Atwater?" She enthusiastically replied, "Life is incredible, amazing. I just got back from Manhattan again where I painted at the Art Students League of New York with Pat Lipske, a successful geometric hard-edged artist. It's always inspirational being in Manhattan, and influential... Manhattan is my Lake Superior."

As Atwater moves between these two worlds – Lake Superior and Manhattan – she's influenced by both.

"I'm now moving into large scale pieces," she explained. Her current project for 2016 is five panels that will end up 7 x 28 feet. "Working in scale, small and large, is pretty fascinating."

My own largest project in my college fine arts painting class was 8' x 12' and I found it exhilarating. When I shared my experience, he replied, "You're almost in it because it's bigger than you."

But every piece, no matter what scale, involves a push and pull, whether four by six inches or massive, she's observed. "It's interesting to move between sizes, just like different locations."

"There's really no difference," she explained. "There isn't a shift in mind. You have more real estate, but your thought process, composition, shapes, aesthetics... draw upon the same elements. Both call upon the same things whether big or small."

Atwater's upcoming show has an unusual twist to it. There will be a week of viewing where the work will be displayed online beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, August 12. And then the show goes live for purchasing, again online, beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, August 19, closing at midnight on Sunday evening, August 21.

"The largest pieces in 400 Paintings are three foot by four foot," she said. "A good size for a painting on a wall. I think about my clients/customers." The price includes free shipping to the lower 48 states in the U.S.

Atwater noted that the title of the show is literal and not figurative. There are 400 paintings in this show. "The idea came from a place where all good ideas come from. Having an online show where people could see a huge range of my work from 2009 to 2016, select pieces.... Range gives people a lot of opportunity to find different sizes that work for them.

She shared how some of the work involved "conversation between colors, the interaction between the colors... letting them have conversation on the canvas." That was an interesting concept.

The reason for this online show was due to the quantity. "I wanted to show a body of work by an artist in one spot... in their living room late at night while sipping wine... to browse at your leisure."

It makes sense that an artist would visualize the people enjoying her art. It also opens the exhibition up to a wider audience, not limited by geographic proximity.

Breakwater Two, 36x48. Painted in MN, 2015

I myself am occasionally concerned about the proper representation of the colors when I put my work online. Atwater stated that this is not a concern of hers. "I work really hard on that to make sure that the colors are close. Also, the lighting in everyone's home is different, because of lighting or the color of walls. But I work very hard to get the colors right."

On another topic, I commented, "I've heard it said that the New York School has been played out. Why are you still enjoying the possibilities of this kind of abstraction?"

"I completely disagree," she replied. "If you go to Art In America for example, you will see right up front (paintings by) Willem DeKooning, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell... Those names still dominate the gallery shows and the auctions. I love that. I'm so happy to see that's still the case. They're the foundation of abstract art. It's still as strong and sought after as any art movement."

Because I've been doing a lot of reading about the future, I wanted to know her thoughts on the future of art.

"I think the future of art is going to continue as it is, and I don't think the appeal of the New York School is going to go away. But one thing I like is conceptual art and I think conceptual art is going to expand.... Why not have the big yellow duck floating down the river. I think art can and should become all kinds of things we don't really think about. I think the same for online, bringing things out into the world that people don't see.

The Two Of Us Nestled; 10x10 wood panel. Painted in MN, 2016

"I still think the sturdy foundation that comes from Picasso to Pop is still so influential. The future will build upon the past."

Morning Sky; 12x16 140 lb cold press. Painted at Art Students League, 2012

One thing that's apparent is the influence of technology on the art scene. "This show takes advantage of technology," she said. "Being able to sit in our living room at midnight and browse a show of this caliber online... People can look and ask themselves, 'What do I want? What kind of colors do I want to bring into my life?' The technology brings exposure to lots of people. Because it is online it isn't just for local audiences but for anyone who finds my website."

Awning Shell; 6"x8" canvas panel. Painted in MN, 2016. 

Here's where you can learn more: www.ajatwater.com

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Pricing on some of the paintings shown above:
Breakwater Two -- $1400
The Two of Us Nestled -- $400
Morning Sky -- $150
Awning Shell -- $50

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it.