In 1993, I sent Thomas Dolby a prank fax. The timing was too tempting. Thomas Dalby, aka Chip, was working at the Guggenheim Soho in NYC and Dolby was some sort of “artist-in-residence” for a few days, occupying a nearby cubicle. So I faxed some over-the-top adoration, delivered by Thomas Dalby to Thomas Dolby. Should have been on “Punked.” Last night I saw … Read on
In a recent article in the wonderful This Land Press, Nathan Brown begins a defense for the need of 21st-century poetry with this Salman Rushdie quote: A poet’s work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep. I love that. I was out of the country when … Read on
Episode 004: I was delighted to learn recently, viaSkift.com, of the existence of a “Bourdain bump.” Apparently whenever Travel Celebrity Anthony Bourdain picks a place to do a show, that destination sees a huge rise in public interest. In the recent case of Sicily, Priceline.com reported an 88.8% jump in searches for Sicily airports over the following 48 hours — that compares with … Read on
RIGHT PANTS 003: Did you know the first recorded pie was found in King Rama II’s tomb from ancient Egypt? Or that Romans made a pie called “The Placenta”? The English, meanly, added songbirds to the recipe. And the first pie-in-the-face gag dates from the 1909 film “Mr Flip,” a four-minute short made in Chicago. (It’s easy to miss the pie shot; it’s … Read on
Episode 002: Have you seen travel journals lately? Most are bulky, frilly, over-the-top books with wide-ruled paper (ie unusable), arty paper with background motifs ON THE PAGES, not to mention covers that beat “travel” over the head with retro maps or illustrations of jet-set couples toting vintage bags. Or maybe it’s just me? I wanted to know, so on behalf of THE RIGHT … Read on
Welcome, after many delays and doubts, to the debut of THE RIGHT PANTS. For Episode 001, I’m discussing how to remember travel (a subject I recently kicked around for a National Geographic Traveler article). Often I feel overwhelmed by the sheer outlets for “documentation” on travels — posting photos/quips by social media, taking photos on a digital camera too, often video on a … Read on
