Then things got worse. Entering the mall we made a bee line for Waldenbooks. This is a customary stop for Patricia and myself. Since moving to Florida we have spent more time at the mall than I spent cumulatively my entire life. There are no book stores in Sebastian so we have to head south to Vero or north to Melbourne for a little culture and browsing a bookstore is always a pleasure. Nothing like spending an hour or two in the stacks. But this time something was tragically different. Waldenbooks was closing, all sales final.

In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal,  Waldenbooks, which is part of the Borders Group chain of bookstores, closed around 200 stores nationwide laying off over 1500 workers. The sign in the window said: “See you on the Internet!” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013004574518023648503540.html. I am certain that Barnes & Noble will be shuttering doors around the country very soon.

We are witnessing a seismic shift in the way our consumer society functions. As corporations gain more and more control over our choices and processes, individualism will die. Some think there will be a reaction and a backlash bringing about a new spirit of entrepreneurism and individuality but I see little evidence to support that theory. I see downsizing and a people desperate to do anything to make ends meet.

Bookstores are disappearing and next it will be libraries (not profitable). Literary magazines will die off (not profitable). People and Us magazines will be considered examples of classic literature (profitable and popular in doctors offices).  More people will self publish but there will be fewer and fewer readers to buy their books. Many of these optimistic writers are one book wonders and just love the fact that they have copies to give the relatives at Christmas. As my friend Francine Worth says “The world is upside down. We are progressing in technology but we are losing ground every second in humanity, understanding and love for our fellow man, our arts and our culture.”

Art too, or at least perceptions of what constitutes art, is going through a radical shift. As art becomes more and more affected by digital media it becomes more accessible and more mass-produced. Therefore it becomes an outlet for just about anyone. Everyone is an artist! Talent, the ability to draw, paint, sculpt, becomes less important than the ability to conceive.  Masterpieces of art like the Pietà or the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer become a manufacture-able item created in a digital environment as opposed to a live environment by the artists hand. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? You don’t have to be able to draw the Mona Lisa, just be able to conceive it and a computer will do the rest. I have no doubt that artists of the future will create their art by telling a program what they want to see, feel or hear. The rest will be a digital process. ”Hal, can you make her mouth a little more pouty?” “Yes Dave!”

When you combine that with the news about the Supreme Courts decision of this last week affecting political campaign contributions from corporations I can easily forsee a future where people’s opinions and tastes are completely watered down and dictated by corporate selection. We’ll  get our news from Jon Stewart and our idea of a great novel will be something culled from a movie based on a cable TV show inspired by a video game. Oh, gee, isn’t that the way it is now???

I decided to re-read Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) a book the bought on Amazon.com back in ’05 when it was first published. I thought it would be informative. Instead it’s a bummer. As the world changes faster and faster I want to believe that I have some control over my destiny, over my life. I may be kidding myself. I remembered that when I read his book the first time a had several “ah-ha!” moments of clarity. Perhaps that will happen again but after reading just the first chapter I am afraid my head is getting more muddled.

Perhaps it’s a generational thing but I want to get the technology out of my life and just read books and draw pictures all day and never have to read another blog.

Hot Mona

What really irks me is not that he used the stuff. And not the tired apology – hell haven’t we heard all this before (Giambi, Rodriguez, et al). One more of these clowns steps forward to apologize and I think they should go to jail for bad acting!!!!
But McGwire really gets my dander up. This lying sack of shit, and make no mistake – that’s exactly what he is – has the balls to go on national TV and tear up for the cameras and lie through his teeth. He’s either the stupidest schmuck on the planet or the sleaziest – maybe both. He thinks anyone is buying this bull? And don’t think for one minute he was being sincere. This bum hired none other than former White House Press Secretary and media consultant Ari Fleischer to script his way through the media circus. This is all for show and the timing is so obvious. The guy desperately wants back into baseball and he is going to be the Cardinals hitting coach and so the Cards made sure that he came clean for the media well before Spring Training so that they could minimize the distractions. And let’s not forget that the number of votes he got in the Hall of Fame balloting recently showed clearly that this bogus home run king will never ever make it into the Hall. So poor misunderstood Mark does a 2-day media whirl, cries for the cameras and Bob Costas and thinks that it will all blow over.

And with the help of idiots like Bud Selig, that joke of a Commissioner, press patsies like Tim Kurtchin on ESPN, Ari Fleischer and his consulting firm and the short-term memory of the baseball loving public, he may just be right. McGwire should be in jail.

Look, the steroid era in baseball is not over no matter what Selig announces to the media. The drugs will get more sophisticated and as long as there are millions at stake players will find ways to cheat. They’ve done it since the spitball was invented. If baseball and the players were smart, and they aren’t, they’d find a way to come to grips with reality. It may be too late for that. As ESPN’s Brian Kenny suggests, given what’s at stake and the advances in technology, why not come up with a smart approach to medical science. If a player is hurt why shouldn’t he be using HGH under supervision to speed up his recovery? It only makes sense. But because MLB and the pin heads at the Players Union stonewalled and denied for so long it will probably never happen.

But back to MaGwire. This guy is a liar. And he’s abusing the privilege now by continuing to lie and deny. Jose Canseco nailed his butt (in the bathroom stall and in his book) and the guy just can’t come clean. He doesn’t know what he took? Bullshit! He did it to stay healthy, not for performance? Bullshit!

And his manager and excuser Tony LaRussa should be investigated. He knew plenty, he lied and he demeaned others who told the truth and he’s still making excuses. He’s an ass and the fans of St. Louis, great fans that they are, deserve better. Look, you can wipe out the records at this point but I think that they should do something to declare Roger Maris as the all time home run record holder for a season and Aaron for a career. Those guys did the right thing. McGwire’s excuse that he only did it to stay healthy is even a bigger embarrassment. Injury is part of the game. Look at the careers of guys that were short circuited by injury who could have broken so many records. In fact, in 1961 when Maris hit his 61 to break Babe Ruth’s long-standing record, it was widely assumed that Mickey mantle would be the one to do it. Mantle was the Golden Boy and the famous slugger in centerfield. The home run race between the M&M Boys, as Mantle and Maris were known, captivated baseball fans around the country that year, just as did the MaGwire - Sosa race. But Mantle had a hip infection that shortened his season and that left the home run title to Maris alone. If Mickey had taken steroids or HGH who knows, perhaps he too would have passed the Babe. 

Why am I so pissed about this? For one thing I love baseball. I am not a purist. I am OK with the DH. I know that records are made to be broken. But there is more to it than that. We have evolved or devolved into a celebrity driven, media controlled, consumer society that has a very hard time telling truth from lies, remembering what someone said on TV last week that contradicts what they said today and is led by the nose by media personalities, be they political pundits or sports analysts. It’s all out of control and out of whack.

Sarah Palin may not know why we have a North and South Korea but she sure is qualified to be a commentator on Fox News. Meanwhile her running mate John McCain (not the 2012 running mate, the last one) says that he doesn’t really know what the vetting process was to select his Vice Presidential choice. Either he’s lying (and for the life of me I can’t figure out why) or he’s a stupid jerk. I mean it was the Vice President for Christ’s sake!!!!

And the circus just goes on and on. We keep dumbing down. Oprahfied. Tyrasized. Obama hasn’t been President for one year and yet no one seems to remember that the financial crisis that has enveloped us and is destroying our livelihoods started back when a guy named Bush was in office. People actually think that Obama was in office when all this shit happened. Bush? Who’s Bush? Short term memory is what it’s all about. We seem to have lost the ability to remember who lied to us last week. It’s going to get worse.

We need to stop and change course or we’re going to be living an existence beyond anything that Orwell could have imagined. Let’s start with mark MaGwire. That’s as good a place as any. Let’s make sure he gets booed every time he shows his millionaire puss at the ball park. Let’s write letters and blogs demanding that the Cardinals dump him. Let’s make him pay until he tells the truth. I think we’ll know it when we hear it. I haven’t heard it yet.

Down with all the liars.

By the way, I’m coming down on the side of Conan. NBC is the worst network on the dial and their management should be fired. Jeff Zucker is a moron. Jay Leno is a nice guy (I worked with the man once and I know this to be a fact) but his time is up. Not his fault – NBC blew it for him but he should wake up and smell the coffee. Go Conan!

What Cameron shows us is that talent combined with vision, dedication and an unwillingness to compromise can add up to greatness. I know a few people in the biz who just don’t like the guy, say he’s a prick. We’ll, maybe he is and maybe he isn’t but he gets a clear vision of what he wants and then he makes it happen – no matter what the odds. When everyone says he’s crazy and that he’s doomed to fail he just cranks it up a notch , dumps a few million more into it and makes it happen. That’s chutzpah! That’s putting yourself on the line. That’s brilliant!

I’ll probably go back and see it again next week. Now that I’ve enjoyed the film I think it would be great to go back and look at it from purely the technical point of view. This is a work of art and a technical masterpiece and will probably change the look of films in the years ahead.

I was moved by the story, awed by the visuals, impressed by the technology and delighted by the 3D. But I was really struck by the story of the guy who created the whole thing – who “saw” us and what we wanted to see. If you haven’t seen it yet I say get out to a theater and make sure you do the whole 3D thing. You will not be disappointed. When your there take a moment to think about Cameron’s incredible accomplishment, what it must have took to get this made and be inspired to go make your own masterpiece. I know that it has inspired me.

Frank was a jolly old soul and he loved Christmas. Every year we’d put on a benefit for underprivileged kids in Harlem and Frank would dress up as Santa. He was Santa for many. Frank had an amazing life and career. He started out as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. He built Jimi’s studio in Woodstock and when the legend passed on he turned it into Bearsville Studios and churned out hits. He produced a Gold Record for Looking Glass with Brandy (you’re a fine girl, what a good wife she would be…) ran backstage security at Woodstock and all the Woodstock revivals, and somehow became an insurance salesman. 

Frank and I met in the early 90′s and we immediately hit it off. He went through a lot together. I was his confidant and he was my most trusted advisor. We went through girlfriends, bought houses, drank fine wine and laughed a lot. A whole lot.  With Frank handling my finances I made a ton of money. I was never good with money but Frank watched out for me and my portfolio and my cash reserves grew. I wouldn’t say I was a rich man but I was comfortable. I earned that money but Frank made it grow.

When Frank died it was a tremendous shock. Personally I lost one of my best friends. Financially I lost my most trusted mentor. I’ve never really recovered. Frank’s body was discovered at home (he lived in the apartment above me on 53rd Street) he was sitting in his favorite chair watching tube. His heart had given out. He was terribly over weight and had a heart condition. His God-daughter, Abby, had come over to fix him dinner and thought he was asleep. It took a while before she figured something was wrong. I spent the entire night in the apartment with the body and a cop while Abby and Patricia cried down at my place. As I looked at his lifeless figure laid out on the floor and waited for the coroner’s truck to come I felt sorry over the loss of such a great friend. I didn’t realize then that over time the effect of Frank’s passing on my life would be so profound.

I’m still a lousy businessman, I don’t get finance. I’m a right-brained art-boy and numbers make me dizzy. Since Frank’s passing my business tanked, I’ve lost a fortune in stupid investments and I’ve pissed away a couple of million. This never would have happened if Frank were around. He always looked out for his friends.

So this Christmas I am going to think of Frank. I’m not going to dwell on the things that have happened since he left us but try to concentrate on the great things that happened when he was here and I’m going to try as hard as I might to recreate many of those things that Frank showed me. I’m going to make 2010 a banner year and I’m dedicating it to Frank. Tonight when I raise a glass of wine the first toast is to my old bud. Thanks, man for all you did for me. I’ll try to do better.

Where do pelicans sleep at night? At 2 AM the beach is incredibly quiet. Hardly a sound except for the crash of the waves and a wisp of the wind. It occurred to me that there were no birds anywhere. During the day there are thousands of them: terns, gulls, sandpipers, plovers and pelicans. Where do they sleep at night? Is there some kind of pelican hotel? The encyclopedia says that pelicans often sleep under docks and piers but I cannot see anything under the only pier in the area. Where do they go?

Speaking of wild animals, why does Tiger Woods have to tell the world the reason he had a car accident? No one else was hurt, it wasn’t a crime scene and the police determined that alcohol was not a factor. So why is every media outlet screaming that he must step forward to save his reputation? Could it be because they want a juicy story to feast upon? Really, who cares? I don’t hear people on the street too concerned about what really happened. It seems that the media, which has created and feeds the cult of celebrity just has to have its expose of the week, leveling Woods to the level of Danny Bonaducci. They never really liked him anyway: too, “uppity”, too arrogant, too independent. I don’t think the guy has to answer to anyone except his wife and kids and the corporate sponsors that pay him zillions, and he can do that in private. Someone yesterday told me that Tiger  HAD to fess up and speculated that he caught his wife in a lesbian affair. Now that’s something I would like to know. Are their forbidden Polaroids somewhere? Still, if I were Woods, with his money, his prestige, his golf swing – I would just say it’s nobody elses business and leave it at that.

I’d like to know why State Troopers think they are so bad. I was pulled over for speeding last week and the guy was a complete dick. Here’s the kicker – I wasn’t speeding (I know that everyone says that but I have no reason to lie here – I had the car on cruise control so I know exactly how fast I was going) and the cop was coming from the other direction. If he had clocked someone speeding it could have been anyone of the several cars that had passed me in the left lane and he was crossing the median to pull up behind me. I think that once he saw out-of-state plates he just figured he’d have an easy day and nail my ass. I was so surprised when he pulled up behind me with his blue flashers going off like Grucci fireworks that I almost slammed on the brakes. I thought he was kidding when he said I was speeding but when he said he clocked me doing 85 I knew it was bullshit and that I was just a notch on his quota belt. I will go to court on this one but I wonder if it’s worth the effort or the stress. I don’t think I deserve a $235 ticket for something I didn’t do but I have to question the sanity for taking a day off to have my day in court. In America you are innocent until proven guilty – except in traffic court. And this cop was such a dickhead I question my sanity in wanting to confront him, even in a court of law – afterall, this jerk carries a gun.

I want to know when Obama is going to close Guantanamo and when we will have a truly decent health care bill in Congress or when the rich, smarmy, self-aggrandized, butt-lickers in Congress will ever do the right thing by the working man. Is that too much to ask?

I hate reality TV – except the news which is really reality TV and I wonder what Vince Manze is doing these days. He was majorly responsible for much of the way we view TV today from his days as a VP at NBC, back when NBC was a network that people actually watched. Grant Tinker must really hate watching NBC and wonder what the hell ever happened. I know I do. Vince, my old buddy, are you kicking back on a tropical island laughing at the world you left behind or are you sitting in a desk in Hollywood creating evil reality shows that rot peoples minds? Just curious.

Oyster Catcher - crayon on paper

So where do the oystercatchers go at night? Do you think they ever worry about how to pay the rent?

Pastel of Sunset on AMI

I sent some examples of my work to a couple of galleries in Sarasota this week and got back a couple of rejections. Sometimes I wonder why I do this. What do I see that others do not?  Rejection is always a bitter pill but the artist has to be thick-skinned. I guess I could just go out and take photographs and sell a ton of prints but that is not what I am about.

Well, my mother loves my work. I guess that’s something!

The White Pelican

 The magnificent White Pelicans on the Indian River.

By the way, we discovered some beautiful music at the Holmes Beach Art Fair on Sunday and we’ve been wearing out the CDs. Patchouli is the folk duo of Julie Patchouli and guitarist Bruce Hecksel. check them out at www.patchouli.net. You think that’s her real name?

What freaked me out was that when my score was calculated they informed me that I was in a group that included only 2% of the public. 2%!!!!!!! What the hell is that all about. The largest group, at 24% got only 3 or 4 answers correct. Only 10% of the population got it half right.

Have we really become a nation of stupid people? Are we so damn ignorant that we cannot answer a few simple questions about the most pressing issues of the day? Or is it that way too many of us are getting our news and information from people like the aforementioned Mr. Beck, who I suspect is either an evil genius or just a loud mouthed horses ass with the IQ of a toad? No that’s really demeaning to toads. I apologize to toads everywhere.

This is really pathetic. It makes me sad and embarrassed. We live in a country where so much is possible and yet it seems that we as a people get dimmer all the time. Can our schools be this awful? Can so many of us just not care?

Take the quiz yourself at http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/. If you don’t get at least 10 out of 12 then you should be ashamed and immediately get a subscription to the New York Times. And stop watching Fox News!

Plover

Here on Anna Maria Island the Plovers, Terns, Gulls, Sandpipers and Herons walk along the beach with the tourists and the sunbathers. This is a peaceful place – good for reflection and regeneration. I did this drawing after watching this guy chase the waves on the beach for about a half hour. It was amazing just to watch him tear up and down the shoreline.

More and more people I know are suffering with health issues, economic issues, personal issues and career issues and there is really not much left to say. Whether you are flush or not, you are still affected by someone who doesn’t have it as well as you. We all need to go inside and start taking care of our inner selves so that we can be stronger and more focused in the ‘real’ world.

It’s good to pull back a bit, reflect and regroup. A little solitude can go a long way.

My friend Lori Drummond, R.D., L.D. is a registered dietician affiliated with Holmes Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida. Dedicated to her patients and seriously concerned about the food we eat as it relates to disease and dysfunction, she has started a blog that addresses issues of diet and nutrition, treating disease and better food solutions.

Check out http://goodhealthconsulting.com/ and follow her god advice. Her articles provide great information, some that you may be unaware of like the fact that the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 3 cups of dried beans per week to reduce your risk of heart disease by up to 16 percent.

16% is significant. Perhaps if we all ate more beans we’d be healthier. We should all start taking more Beano as well, just as a social precaution!