DC – not so good for visual artists, but pretty good for writers and musicians.
I Can’t Believe I Missed This
The fifth annual No Pants Metro Ride was yesterday and I missed it!
If you know me, that sounds like my thing (it also sounds like my friend Mark in LA, who put together some of the most interesting dinner parties in history, including ‘Absinthe and Fellini,’ ‘No Utensils Restaurant Night,’ and ‘Spin the Bottle’).
Oh well. Anyway, here are pictures.
Vicomte De Bragelonne
The Vicomte de Bragalonne: Ten Years Later is part of the third sequel to The Three Musketeers (the first sequel being Twenty Years After). I say part of the third sequel, because the third sequel is almost always broken up into three parts, culminating in The Man in the Iron Mask (virtually no resemblance to any of the movies).
While I was deep in my Dumas phase, as a young man in Florida, a time which also happened to be pre-internet, I hunted vigorously through used bookstores for these sequels. Among those I found was The Vicomte de Bragalonne, though in my edition, it was a faded red, smallish hardback titled only Ten Years Later.
I wish I remembered more about the convoluted plot of the lifelong progress of d’Artagnan and his three companions, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, but it was terribly convoluted.
During my New Year’s Eve supper with my lady friend at the Federalist, I wandered into a room for private dining, mainly to look at the books on the shelves. They were primarily in what I guessed to be Swedish, but among them was a lovely copy of The Vicomte de Bragelonne and it’s mere appearance struck a very pleasant chord in my memory.
Final Story About The (Now Closed) Georgetown Barnes & Noble
I bought my copy of George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons at that particular location.
About eleven years ago, I moved into a small place in Georgetown – my first apartment in Washington, DC. I used to make the lengthy (90-120 minutes) from the Dupont Circle metro to my place at 34th and Prospect. There were a series of bookstores that I passed on that trek – Olsson’s (now gone), Bridge Street Books, Kramer’s Books, Second Story Books, a now defunct used bookstore near the Childe Harold (which, I think, is also now gone, but I have no more good landmarks for you), and this Barnes & Noble.
It was big and spacious and friendly, with a great collection periodicals. You won’t find a better collection, I daresay, anywhere in DC anymore. Though three floors may have been wasteful in many ways, it also allowed for one to shift about and make one’s browsing feel like it really counted. Plus, back in my Georgetown days, a public restroom was a precious thing and this B&N was generous in that regard.
Now, when women drag me shopping over, I will have lost the best comfy place to relax, sip coffee, and browse while others clothes shop.
Lord, it’s very depressing to read (and, like rubbing one’s tongue on a broken tooth, write) about so many bookstore closing. Ugh.
Gao Xingjian
I completely missed the Noble Prize winner’s birthday yesterday. I bought Soul Mountain in 2001, following a conversation with some new work friends about him. I had just moved to Washington, DC and I think I bought it at the Barnes and Noble in Union Station. Later, I bought One Man’s Bible from the now defunct Atlantic Books.
As a writer, he reminds me of John Fowles, or at least Soul Mountain does. Xingjian breaks the fourth wall, much like Fowles does in The French Lieutenant’s Woman and the autobiographical center of Soul Mountain seems to me to resemble an older version of the young man from The Magus (still a favorite of mine).
Anacostia Neighborhood Library
With a library like this, how long before Anacostia becomes DC’s new ‘it’ neighborhood?
Henri Matisse
Outside of the Andy Warhol exhibit, ‘Shadows,’ was a blue light installation. I was circling the cylindrical Hirschorn Gallery from the other direction and came across a series of four bronze bas-reliefs by Henri Matisse. The curve of the walls hid the light installation but the blue glow still struck the Matisses, which looked as if they were thick blocks of blue stained glass, lit from behind. Even after I determined the truth of the matter, it seemed like a happy coincidence, particularly in light of Matisse’s strong association with the color blue.
Barnes & Noble Closes Georgetown Store
Knew it was going to happen (the landlord jacked the rent up), but it’s still sad. It closed yesterday.
Boston Globe’s Best Poetry Books Of 2011 Lists
You can read their lists here.
I would like to point out the presence of Charles Simic, who was one of my gateways into contemporary poetry, and DC poet, Sandra Beasley, though she is best known as memoirist, rather than a poet.
The Poetry Room
The Library of Congress has some very underrated poetry programs, beyond just inviting whoever is the current Poet Laureate to come read at the beginning and end of his or her tenure. Unfortunately, they also tend to be at times when working men like myself just can’t make it (noon? really?).
But, they do at least have a Poetry Room with some great views (actually, the various Library buildings have a number of great views – the advantage of living in a city with height restrictions is that even buildings that aren’t so very tall by urban standards can provide some lovely vistas).
In case you were curious, those framed photographs in the picture are of former Poet Laureates.
the coffee philosopher 