NYC Day 36: In Which I Go In Search of Frank Lloyd Wright

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Yesterday I decided it was time I took a long, detailed look at the major Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive, exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Wright was one of the most influential American architects of the last century.

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by the Fallingwater house (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". [Source: Wikipedia...]

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I have had an interest in architecture for many years, and the more I travel the more I like to seek out great examples of the profession. Having said that, I have little interest in the smooth modern glass and steel buildings that are dominating the New York City skyline more and more as this century progresses. My favorite buildings, whether cloud busting skyscrapers or four and five storey walk-ups, tend to be survivors from the past two centuries. They invariably have features and facades that stop you in your tracks, and force you to pause and examine, and marvel at the skills of the masons, engineers, steel workers, and other tradespeople who laboured to construct these beautiful buildings. So it was with much interest that I devoted a couple of hours to Frank Lloyd Wright.

The exhibition presents hundreds of drawings, models, film, letters, documents and other memorabilia from the vast FLW archives that are now in the possession and care of the museum. And when I write vast, I mean vast:

Unpacking the Archive refers to the monumental task of moving across the country 55,000 drawings, 300,000 sheets of correspondence, 125,000 photographs, and 2,700 manuscripts, as well as models, films, and building fragments. It also refers to the work of interpretation and the close examination of projects that in some cases have received little attention. [Source: Info panel at the exhibition]

Above: A longitudinal section in ink and pencil for the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, and below a detailed image for the peaked roof seen in the image above.

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As you might imagine, with so much material to select from, to say the current exhibition barely scratches the surface of Wright's massive archive is to state the bleeding obvious. The curators probably had no choice other than to present some of the better known works from among a collection that may stretch back to the beginning of Wright's architectural career. A period of some 70 years.

I was particularly interested in his initial concept for one of his most famous buildings, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue. Early sketches show a building similar in design to the building as it stands today, but instead of rising to the equivalent of a six storey building, the early drawings show one that might rise as high as nine or ten storeys.

Above and Below: Early design concepts for the Guggenheim Museum.

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Always one to think big, in 1956 Wright presented a concept drawing that was eight feet high! Executed in colored pencils and gold ink on tracing paper, Wright was proposing to build the Illinois, a 'mile-high' skyscraper on the lakefront at Chicago. His initial concept may not have been much more than a clever marketing exercise by Wright for his architectural practice, but it go plenty of attention when he unveiled his drawings and ideas back in 1956/'57.

Above: This image does not do the concept of a mile-high building any justice whatsoever. Try to imagine the picture being eight feet high, 

Above: other design ideas for Wright's mile-high Illinois building.

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I very much appreciated the chance to examine the many drawings and renderings (such as the 'mile-high' building), at the exhibition. Modern architects use state of the art software to design their buildings which also allows them to spit out drawings and renderings with a few clicks of a mouse button. What gets lost in that process are the beautifully hand drawn designs one sees in Unpacking the Archive. While many of these drawings were almost certainly made by Wright's assistants, they stand as beautiful works of art in the own right.

Above and detail below: Marin County Civic Center and Fairgrounds, San Rafael, California (1957). 

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There is much to enjoy at Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive, even if you only have a passing interest in architecture. Children will enjoy looking at the models, while adults will gain a greater appreciation for Frank Lloyd Wright, and hopefully for all architects who design the homes and buildings we almost certainly could not live without in the 21st century.

IF YOU GO
Now through until October 1, 2017
Tickets: Adults $25; Seniors $18; Students $14 (under 16, free)
Exhibition free with museum entry
11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan
Open seven days a week.
MoMA Online... 

More Information
Frank Lloyd Wright at Wikipedia...

Above: Detail of building model for St. Mark's Tower, New York.

Below: unidentified building model. 

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Friday 21, July | Expenses $23.00 ($29.05)

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Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Day 35: In Which I Go In Search of Woody Guthrie

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Utilizing the writings, words, songs and music of America's greatest folk troubadour, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, or 'Woody' as he was universally known, David M. Lutken and his three fellow actor/musicians bring to the stage the joy, pathos, politics, and tragedy of Guthrie's short and dramatic life. More than three dozen songs are included in the production, some in full and some using just a verse or two to place a scene or episode from Woody's life in context.

In a little over two hours we learn about Woody's childhood, his first steps as a budding musician, the confinement of his mother to a mental institution, and to his 'hobo' years jumping freight trains or hitchhiking around the country singing, writing, and painting, scraping by as best he could.

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The show was devised by David M. Lutken who channels the ghost of Woody Guthrie throughout the show. A fine singer, talented musician, and blessed with an easy going manner that suits the character he so ably portrays, Mr. Lutken knows his man and his songs 'inside out, upside down, and round and round', as Woody Guthrie might have said himself. The other cast members are Helen Jean Russell (an original member of the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe shows), David Finch, and Darcie Deaville.

All the actors are talented musicians and multi-instrumentalists in their own right, and between them provide all the instrumentation during the show. Among the array of instruments used were several guitars, mandolins, violins, and harmonicas, I also counted an upright bass, Autoharp, dulcimer, Jews harp, spoons, penny whistle, and a banjo. The word talented barely does these four amazing actors and musicians justice.

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Born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912, Woody Guthrie died in October 1967, following a long battle with Huntington's Disease. But before he died he performed with many of the great folk and blues luminaries of the late 1930s and 1940s including Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Cisco Huston, and the great Huddie Ledbetter, better known as 'Leadbelly'.

Since his death, dozens of contemporary musicians continue to cite Guthrie as an influence and inspiration in their own writing and careers. One of the earliest and most famous of Guthrie's acolytes was Bob Dylan, whose Song To Woody, appeared on his first album. Other contemporary performers who have paid or continue to pay tribute to Guthrie include Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, and of course Billy Bragg who, with the group Wilco, has recorded two albums of previously unrecorded Woody Guthrie songs on the albums Mermaid Avenue (1998), and Mermaid Avenue II (2000). In 2012 Bragg released the Mermaid Avenue Complete Sessions, a box set which included the above two albums plus a third album of previously unreleased material, and the documentary Man In The Sand, which follows major steps in Woody Guthrie's life.

Mermaid Avenue, where Woody Guthrie had a home while living in New York City, is located in Coney Island. Unfortunately the home no longer exists, but I'd like to think that Woody's spirit still likes to stroll along the famous boardwalk, and warm his toes in the sand.

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Woody Sez was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007, and has since been presented hundreds of times in more than 60 countries. The production at the Irish Repertory Theatre has now been extended twice from its original end date -- first to August 20 and again recently to September 10 -- which is surely a clear recognition that even after ten years, Woody Guthrie's story, words, and songs have much to offer us fifty years after his untimely death.

Running concurrently with the production of Woody Sez at the Irish Repertory Theatre, is a display consisting of a dozen or so large panels outlining key periods in Woody Guthrie's life. Images of some of these panels are used to illustrate this post.

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IF YOU GO
Now through September 10, 2017
Irish Repertory Theatre
132, West 22nd Street, Manhattan.
Tickets: $50 - $70 (Shows run Wednesday - Sunday with some matinee performances.)

More Information
Woody Guthrie...
The Guthrie Center...
Arlo Guthrie...
Billy Bragg...
Huntington's Disease...

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Thursday 20, July | Expenses $86.50 ($114.95)

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Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Days 33 & 34: In Which I Get The Lowdown on Common. Ok? Go!

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LOWDOWN HUDSON MUSIC FEST 2017
If it is July and the location is Brookfield Place, it must be time for the Lowdown Hudson Music Fest.

Somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30pm, on a hot Tuesday afternoon, I stepped outside of the air-conditioned comfort of Brookfield Place to see what the weather was up to and immediately regretted my decision. In a word, the weather was Brutal. I returned in a rush to the soothing comfort of the Winter Garden, and did not leave it until around seven when the outside temperature had dropped to a more bearable level, aided by a breeze rolling in off the Hudson River to help it along.

By this time someone calling herself Lion Babe - yes, indeedy - was turning up the heat on stage with what I can only assume was the latest style in black rhythm and soul, or whatever it was she was modulating her way through. Lion Babe appears to be the latest in a long and illustrious line of gymnastic warblers who may or may not have something important to say, but I find forgettable once the song is over. In deed, minutes after she left the stage I could not recall one catchy melody or hook that might have made me want to hear more.

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However, the audience was lapping it up, and they were soon right into the hip hop beats of the main act, the man calling himself Common. I guess with a name like that there is nothing else you can do but work hard to show you are anything but common. Even my limited knowledge of this genre recalls that Common (born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr in 1972), has been around since the early 1990s, and is one of the early practitioners of hip-hop music in New York City.

I'm sorry, but maybe I'm turning into the grumpy old man I swore I'd never be. Having come of age in the 1960s, I guess I was spoilt by so many great songwriters and singers who not only had something to say, but who also knew how to say it with a great melody line, a catchy hook, and lyrics that didn't make you blush in front of your mother (let alone your grandmother!) Maybe too, I needed to have been born in a ghetto in 1970s New York to really understand and appreciate hip hop music, and rap.

Both Lion Babe and Common, and their crews of very talented musicians drank gallons of water and poured it all out again in copious amounts of sweat, while they commanded the stage as only hard working musicians know how to do. I am not doubting their talent in the least. It's just that the genres these performers have chosen to work in consistently fails to move me. I am well aware that the fault lying at the heart of my lack of appreciation is entirely my own, and not that of the performers on stage on Tuesday night.

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OK GO
I first became aware of OK GO, like millions of other fans, via the band's first viral video for the song, Here It Goes Again, which quickly became known as 'the treadmill song'. If you've never seen it, head over to YouTube right now and take a look. You'll be happy you did. The group has gone on to make even more complicated one-take music videos that seemingly defy the imagination, and each video is more complex in terms of its planning and choreography than the previous one.

Needless to say, I was not going to pass up an opportunity to see the group performing in New York during my stay, especially since the show was free. As soon as the show started I realized that despite viewing their videos dozens of times on YouTube, I was totally unfamiliar with their music.

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How can this be?, I hear you ask.

After giving the matter some thought I know why. In watching the videos, I have been so engrossed in the complex visuals that I have not been focusing on the actual songs themselves. For me, the music was just the accompaniment to the visuals, and to the complicated choreography. Stripped of the visual element, I initially feared the songs might turn out to be dull and uninteresting, but I was delighted to find the songs stand up perfectly well on their own.

Of course, several of the songs were well known to me, but others, shorn of their visual elements, were truly being heard for the first time. With OK GO I was in my musical element. I was on familiar ground. Here is a genre of music I understand. Here is a group that also knows how to write great hooks with strong melodies that audience members can pick up quickly, and are able to join in on with little teaching or encouragement.

Like Lion Baby, Common, and Flint Eastwood (the opening act for the night), the four members of OK GO were pouring sweat on stage almost as fast as they could down the cold water they were consuming in an effort to remain hydrated. Like the professional musicians who preceded them, they gave their all, and the 90-minute performance has been one of the musical highlights of my trip to date.

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Tuesday 18, July | Expenses $85.53 ($111.05)

Wednesday 19, July | Expenses $16.85 ($21.15)

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Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.