From the Kesey archives, here's an 800k .mov file of Neal Cassidy driving the bus and talking the talk.

dave heres the post review of ducasse--New Ducasse Has No Class NY Post Steve Cuozzo July 26, 2000 ALAIN DUCASSE 160 Central Park South (Essex House) (212) 247-0300 AFTER two meals at Alain Ducasse, sifting the fine points of a good tantrum, you start making a list. Exactly what is it about this $200-a-head, chutzpah-snorting restaurant that makes you boil? Is it that: * It's the most arrogantly launched eatery in the history of the world? * Its $34 pasta appetizer would embarrass the Olive Garden? * Its hilarious service rituals insult true French professionalism? None of the above, I decided. What stinks most about this place is that, like old Vegas high-roller "gourmet" rooms that substituted spectacle for substance, it denies money its meaning. Our money, that is, not theirs: They even tried padding our bill. "ADNY," as it's stamped with Trumpean pomposity on plates and silverware, is less about "the world's greatest French chef" than about franchise sprawl. Globe-girdling Alain Ducasse means to tap Manhattan's cash gusher while it lasts, and ADNY is the mediocre, often comical result. True, Ducasse has dropped his "I am in all my restaurants at once" act and begun showing his face with a vengeance on Central Park South. You might even get to meet him in the kitchen, as we did when we spotted him and conveyed our awe to the staff. But if you want a taste of the real thing, stroll down to the Waldorf's Peacock Alley, whose great chef, Laurent Gras, actually cooked at Ducasse's three-star places in Paris and Monte Carlo. Easily America's most expensive restaurant, ADNY has shocked foodies out of their summer somnelence. They're agog over its $160 prix fixe menu and $2 million re-do of the old Les Celebrites. One of its snotty shticks is to close on Saturday - a practice increasingly rare in Paris - and serve lunch only twice a week. It gloats over an alleged 2,700-name waiting list. All this baloney has had the predictable effect on easily led minds reduced to aspic by the whisper of Ducasse's name. One normally sane Web site proclaims ADNY "America's finest restaurant." Mr. Grimes warns us not to expect a Times review soon as no tables are available until November. He might try picking up the phone: The Post got two reservations last week (one for lunch and one for dinner) just by calling and asking. [See story next page.] ADNY is so full of goofy pageantry, you expect "wine goddesses" to slide down poles and give neck rubs. Take the Presentation of Knives. A waiter displays a case made of rich-smelling leather. It holds a dozen cutting implements of cruel appearance, in many sizes and shapes. The waiter: "It is the knives for the squab. You choose the one for the bones. " We choose our weapons. We nervously await a pigeon of prehistoric dimensions. The squab proves anticlimactically tiny and boneless. Or take the notorious "courtesy" stools for ladies' purses. These serve mainly to bring out one's inner klutz, and I tripped over the damn things twice. The gimmickry spills over, literally, into "baba au rhum," where you choose the rum and see it poured, and the wine list whose seal you must break. Disappointingly, they were out of the first bottle we selected. ADNY lays on the laughs early and often. How can you not cackle over menu language reminiscent of old Chinese restaurants' - pasta "with tasty bouillon," berries "with unctuous cake?" Giving you a choice of fancy pens for check-signing is a side-splitter, when the dough isn't coming out of your own pocket. I drew the line, though, when they tried to charge us $108 for foie gras served as the chef's-compliments course known as the amuse-bouche. The puzzling explanation went: "Usually, it is salmon, but one of you ordered salmon, so we had to do the foie gras, but we took it off." We also watched a table-ful of chefs de cuisine from the Four Seasons send back a bill much too high. The explanation that time? "Wrong table." Whoops. Despite replacing Les Celebrites' bad art with worse, and lightening the colors, ADNY still looks like its predecessor: a high, rectangular rug joint broken up by two ponderous columns, with rosewood walls, circular banquettes and miles of gold trim. It's one of the city's most luxurious spaces and swell to spend three or four hours in. The greeting is warm and no one is haughty. But inside, it's a blizzard of impersonal buzzing, well-meaning but unfocused. ADNY desperately needs a ringmaster like Le Cirque's Sirio Maccioni or Le Perigord's Georges Briquet to lay on the dazzle. ADNY's floor crew could do with a master of any kind. No one seemed in charge of the table. One fellow insisted, with Regis' "final answer" gravity, that I choose dessert at the exact moment a second man was pouring me wine to taste. At dinner, we had to ask three times for bread; the tough mini-baguettes and salty brioches were a letdown after a 40-minute wait. They're quick to whisk away your napkin when you leave the table, but need reminding to replace it on your return. Asked to explain the gynecologically suggestive (and useless) implement supplied with certain dishes, the best the crew could offer was "asparagus tongs" - although there was no asparagus on the table. "Is the Arizona beef a house specialty?" we wondered. "No." Our man did not elaborate. What the hell is Arizona beef, which Ducasse calls "astonishing?" In fact, his comments on what he's up to in New York sound patronizing. "What I discover on each of my visits to the United States gives rise to much more than simple curiosity," he has said. "In San Francisco, I tasted the best preserved apricots of my life." Thanks, dude. ADNY's chef of record is Didier Elena, Ducasse's "accomplice" of 12 years. (Boy, do these guys need a translator.) The place has been open a month, but they don't seem to have the hang of the fiber optically smart kitchen, anchored by a 3,000-pound Molteni stove and bristling with gizmos like built-in woks that can boil water in 7 seconds. Lunch (the $160 tasting menu), enjoyable enough, fell shy of brilliant. Dinner (a la carte) was bad enough to disappoint had it cost $300 for three, much less $600 - and some dishes were outright debacles. The menu is middle-of-the-road classic, with a nod to "Mediterranean" influences and lip service to the Great American Bounty. Don't expect a cavalcade of the "luxury" ingredients foie gras, truffles and caviar. In high summer, most everything had a wintery aspect; even "tomatoes: a cocktail of tastes" looked dour on the plate. Some sauces were acidically harsh, others lacked their alleged themes and oversalting was rampant. Two "signature" dishes, lifted from Ducasse's places in Paris and Monte Carlo, were remarkably dull. Indifferent breading was no help to spongy, $74 veal sweetbreads in their own juice. Worse, spaghettini "al dente" ($34) with olive oil and sauteed vegetables - a sticky lump in a small bowl - was as congealed as bad Chinese takeout, drenched in a puddle of "crushed black truffles" oddly without taste. Far better was "delicate velouté of sweet peas, their pods and radish greens," poured at the table, with two breaded crab fingers. But $28 for pea soup? Santa Barbara spotted prawns "in a chaud-froid, citrus fondue" ($42) were plump, sweet and nicely aspic-glazed - but near-inedible citric ooze stole over the dish like a plague. So did shrill "peppered vinegars reduction" encircling "wild" salmon ($62) that was both mealy and bland. The best a la carte dish was seaweed-steamed halibut filet ($68), a firm slab atop lovely green herb sauce and accessorized with "sea urchin cappuccino" and Asian-scented greens. The tasting menu at lunch, when there were empty tables, showed signs of life. That tomato "cocktail" came with marvelous tomato sorbet that reminds you it is, after all, a fruit. Promiscuous laying-on of butter bailed out a blurry swirl of farfalle with ham and vegetables. Filet of sole, in the shape of a tube, might have been a tube of butter, so drenched was the fish - but it afforded pleasure with cranberry beans and delectable crawfish. Best was the squab - a pristine sliver that was simplicity itself. It was topped with "thighs in pastilla," an earthy game-and-spice mix in a cigarette-shaped phyllo crust of Moroccan inspiration, and black truffle-foie gras red wine reduction that, for once, delivered the goods. Camembert was chilled enough to have been refrigerated. Pastry director Frederic Robert's desserts ($22), like a warm glazed feuillantine served with almond ice cream atop apricot compote, were winners. A trolley laid on fun goodies like lollipops and cookies that took forever to be served. Once during lunch, I remarked to my colleague on how late it was getting. "You can't rush mediocrity," he observed. Maybe not, but they sure could discount it 40 percent. Thanks to ADNY, everyone else can raise their entree prices $10 and boast, "See how much cheaper we are than Ducasse?"

an email i received today from my friend bowman:

from the desk of Bowman H, wordsmith, rapper, ideationist, on-line movie review reviewer, ghostwriter, dog artist assistant, navy seal trainer, cheese lover, PERFORMANCE ARTIST:

Just wanted to let you know that I will be participating in a large scale art event this week, Thursday­Sunday at Judson House in New York City. It is a celebration of the history and legacy of Judson House, which is scheduled to be demolished in August. I will be part of a performance installation coordinated by Diane Dwyer.

Details about the event appear in the official press release, pasted below. For more information, see the website www.members.tripod/peculiarworks Hope to see you there.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Karen Greco (212) 695-7400

PECULIAR WORKS PROJECT

Presents

THE JUDSON HOUSE PROJECT

A Celebration of the History and Legacy of Judson House Before the Wrecking Ball Strikes! Four Days Only! Thursday, July 27 - Sunday, July 30! New York, New York  June 26, 2000 - Peculiar Works Project presents THEJUDSON HOUSE PROJECT, a celebration of the history and legacy of Judson House, for one weekend only, Thursday, July 27 - Sunday, July 30. Judson House is located at 237 Thompson Street (at the corner of West 3rd Street). Tours begin every half-hour, from 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM (for a total of 7 tours per evening). Tours run approximately 90 minutes each. Tickets are $15. Reservations are required for the tour and can be made by calling (212) 529-3626 ext. 4. Throughout its history, Judson Church has been a breeding ground for social and cultural action. Since the turn of the 19th Century, they have sponsored a number of health and social service organizations, all of which have been based in Judson House. In the late 1950s, Judson House expanded its community services to include providing a home for experimental artists of all disciplines. The first site of the New York City "Happenings" of the 1960s, its ground-breaking Judson Gallery, Dance Theatre and Poet's Theatre were an integral part of the early Off Off Broadway contemporary dance and performance art movements. Avant-garde legends such as Claes Oldenberg, Yoko Ono, Carolee Schneemann, Yvonne Ranier, Trisha Brown, Robert Rauschenberg, and Maria Irene Fornes worked or lived at Judson House. In 1999, Judson Memorial Church made the difficult decision to sell this historic house to New York University. The building is scheduled for demolition in August.

Peculiar Works Project, the brainchild behind Big Art in Small Spaces, is honoring this legendary mecca for avant- artists with THE JUDSON HOUSE PROJECT, a multi-disciplinary art and performance event. Consisting of nine performance and installation works in different spaces throughout Judson House, the audience is taken on a tour throughout the installations, with linking vignettes between each piece. Commissioning new artists from the fields of theater, dance, performance and installation art, THE JUDSON HOUSE PROJECT creates contemporary responses to the heritage of Judson and the groundbreaking work that took place there. The themes encompass references to Judson artists and their work as well as reflections on the social and political history of Judson House. The Sunday evening performance will be followed by a blowout party, appropriately called "The Wrecking Ball." The artists who will be participating in this one-time-only event are: Chris Burney; Laurel Jay Carpenter; Yanira Castro; Nancy S. Chu; S.M. Dale; Steven Dean; Diane Dwyer; Funkopolis (Tim Brown, Shannon Maddox and Gabriel Shanks); and Renee Philippi.

Peculiar Works Project, now in its seventh season, generates original performance that is accessible and fun for a diverse audience. Challenging the conventions of medium, structure and process in an alternative theatre context, Peculiar Works Project encourages collaboration, experimentation and a rebel spirit in emerging artists by providing them with the tools and opportunities necessary to grow throughout the creative process. Performing in non-traditional spaces, they have taken their work directly into NYC communities by presenting site-specific productions in landmark buildings, gutted storefronts and other peculiar sites in the Village, Soho, TriBeCa, the Lower East Side and, most recently, cyber-space. They have presented projects in conjunction with the Lincoln Center Theater Directors' Lab, Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre, HERE, Dixon Place, Judson Church, Nada, Downtown Arts Festival, CHARAS/El Bohio Cultural and Community Center, Greenwich House Music School and The Culture Project, among others.

THE JUDSON HOUSE PROJECT is funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the arts, and with private funds from The Peg Santvoord Foundation; The Nancy Quinn Fund for Emerging Theatres; and The Katherine Dalglish Foundation.

eat the purple people eaters!!

kosher dating tapas

thought i would create a page to focus on art and art related issues. all posts and comments are encouraged.

poo-poo clatter

Our friend Guido Hardt has an art opening tomorrow (Thursday, 7/27, 6-8) at 456 Broadway, near Grand. Two person show. Don't ask me why a German named Guido is showing at the Chinese-American Gallery, it's multiculturalism, ok? He does interesting work out of architectural motifs and aerial views. Worth checking out, even if you can't make the opening.

foodie dialogue

frogs -- cheese -- choice cuts

we need a page of these

jim are you and dave and alex in this??----- net.people: The Personalities and Passions Behind the Web Sites by Thomas E. Bleier, Eric C. Steinert Paperback - 320 pages (May 2000) CyberAge Books; ISBN: 0910965374 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x 9.95 x 7.97 Amazon.com Sales Rank: 43,317----or do i have to wait for net.people 2

a pattern language v. astounding websites

anybody thirsty?

I was walking home yesterday down Essex street and I passed a very disturbed and rather large young man wearing a white t-shirt adorned with huge black letters, apparently written in marker, presumably by him (I'm equating his rather deranged aura with the impossibly bad penmanship.) True or not, the shirt was definitely a one-off home made piece. It said, rather to the point, "Kill all homosexuals. Die faggots die." We had a moment of eye contact in which I expressed my disapproval. Nothing too serious (I'm a bit ashamed to admit) but enough that I was a little scared he was going to start something with me (that sort of eye contact being a pretty aggressive act in some sub-cultures.) He decided to keep walking. Anyway, it sort of freaked me out, because I don't usually see stuff like that in NYC. Then today I found this story, which didn't particularly make me feel better or worse, but it made some sort of impression. There are a lot of fscked-up people out there, and a even more "normal" ones (peaceful ones?) rather scared of the first group. (Really nice design on that site too, as is usually the case with Derek Powazek's stuff.)

i cant eat shrimp anymore each bite taste like turtle--remember that band ministry had a album "the mind is a terrible thing to taste"--i was thinking of heading back to my vegan ways when but this makes me want to get some folks together....

a review of a book called "the invention of the restaurant: paris and modern gastronomic culture".

7/22 the green market is singing--peas three ways: snap, normale, and greens...first of the organic corn....multi-cherry jubilee....organic fava....organic fresh garlic (picked yesterday!!), same in onion and shallot, squash, tomatoe...bought all i could carry now i,m going back for more!!!

Yes, we were down for a little bit this morning. Nothing too serious. I guess it's the case that the database (Mysql) needs to be rebooted every so often. Since it does seem to keep its data intact I can live with this. As always, I'm very impressed by Hurricane Electric as a web host.

cooking with the times.

amsterdam (KLM) has a new airline that hubs out of london called ...Buzz Airline, my bosses bag was so heavy it had to be taged with a big label "Heavy Buzz" i saved it for a souvenier...the motto is "Fly With Buzz"??...and its a la carte you pay for air only, drinks food etc are all pay for on plane...

google now offers 12 language choises including "custom"??!!

might have to check this out!!-- Seven Hills Berlin 14 May -29 October-----"Move over Millennium Dome. Berlin trumps it all with their biggest futuristic exhibition ever at the Martin Gropius building. Fun for all, this is a high brow Disney World complete with a virtual voyage through an ancient library, dolphins and robots to play with and the chance to mix genes on a monitor.

It has cost a fortune - 28 million DM to be precise - so check out the extravaganza.

There are seven zones: Jungle, Outer Space, Dream, Civilisation, Knowledge, Credo and the Centre. Each has interactive exhibits, glorious special effects and the very latest in science and technology. The idea is to compete with the technological wonders on show at the Hanover World Expo. Decide for yourself on the winner!"

For the 12th of July, two sides of the deeply spiritual Irish coin. Maybe Clinton should have the IRA negotiate with the PLO, and Israel with the Orange. Might make more progress that way.
But why did I find the Spam Haiku site looking for this stuff?

Yet another journalist stumbles onto the cutting-edge. The Blogging Revolution. Pretty standard fare, but it's fun to watch people get all excited over something you found a long time ago <self-satisfied-grin/>. We'll see if he's still updating in six months (hint: if it hinges on his getting payed to blog ideas, he won't be.)