MIKE & A GUEST
–Mike with John from LA, July 2009
PALACE IN THE WEEDS
PALACE IN THE WEEDS
-Wonder what fabulous splendor was affixed to these chunks of broken Boukoleon Palace? Adz marks on the surface, polished next to the border. A doorway? The ziggurat cut is something I’ve never seen in recreations of Byzantine architecture- but then again most re-creators haven’t stared into the railway bed in Istanbul…
… A tiny ziggurat echo in porphyry sits on my computer- perhaps from the bedchamber where Emperor Nicephorus Phocas was murdered in 969- or from the porphyry birth-chamber, which gave rise to the expression “born to the purple”—–As far as I know these pieces are still in the railroad bed. There’s another drawing with railway workers sitting on them, The Inheritors, in Book 22.
IRRATIONALLY HAPPY
-Irrationally happy – Ships at dusk – With my cats and almost a quiet mind – Is the rent all in?—–With Pinkie on the balcony. During these days I lived from rent to rent with no steady income. But the view at this small overpriced Sultahanahmet apartment was so enthralling that it was worth all my struggles. I was eventually kicked out to make an Airbnb. This happened so much that it destroyed the neighborhood, jacking up rents and forcing out little homely businesses in favor of generic stores and cafes. I’m grateful that I got to live there as long as I did.
ANIMAL DANCE
-All God’s Critters Got A Right To Dance—–Pinkie had fallen & broken his hip. I couldn’t afford to pay the vets, so I made this poster for them. It took a month. It’s worth many times the hip cost. There’s Pinkie in the middle!
FAST TAKE FISHING BOATS
When the huge schools of fish show up, the fishing boats go crazy. All the homeless up and down the walls eat well for a few days, and so do the gulls.
GUYS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
-Adem -Bulent -Mehmet -&Little Emre, all grown up – The Guys from my old neighborhood at Küçük Ayasofya. – Kadirga – September 2008—–Neighbors from my first two years in Istanbul, spent in this industrial neighborhood next to Küçük Ayasofya. The place I was living when I drew this was just a couple of blocks away. After a year spent elsewhere, Little Emre’s face seemed too far from the ground when I saw him.
POINT COUNTERPOINT
–In the Grand Bazaar at Momo’s shop- such contrast – Momo – Point – Counterpoint
ELECTION NIGHT 2008
-High over the Golden Horn – Old City palaces and temples glowing below – A new world coming WE HOPE – It took WWIII to get a woman on the Republican ticket & a black man in the White House – HISTORIC NIGHT – Really miserable with allergy & heartburn but won’t tear myself away—–Democrats Abroad rented a hall off Istiklal with a spectacular view, all glass, with a projection of the TV screens at one end & at the other all the Old City palaces and temples lit up below.
BY A LANDSLIDE
-5AM Iowa -Rhode Island -Wisconsin – New York – Michigan – Minnesota – 4AM Pennsylvania -Florida -Ohio – 4:34AM OHIO! -4:48 New Mexico – CNN sez Done Deal -CHANGE – LIVE CNN Vermont – WINNER BARACK OBAMA – IT’S DAWN. BARACK OBAMA IS PRESIDENT
RUNNING IN THE BAZAAR
-Virginia flogging hats at a tony international school bazaar – 2008—–A madhouse. People buying knitted stuff.
SOPHIA AT NINE
The only thing I wanted to draw in that bazaar was that running child with the cloud of pale hair and eyes the color of black coffee. Here she is when she held still.
Sophia’s father had just opened a nightclub in Taksim. He hired me to create these cool monthly schedules- a different animal for each month…and hosted our Inauguration party for Democrats Abroad.
The American President affects the whole world. Of course I vote.
UP IN THE BOOTH
–Up in the booth at Ghetto Music Lounge—–Better here than packed in down on the floor.