UPDATED: amaru homestay

best hosts: the community of amaru. shar had the great opportunity to participate in a homestay in the little town of amaru. we stayed with isaac and anastasia. their daughter berta came and picked us up at the presidents home. she was the best. she is at top to the left in her traditional folk ropa. i wore that hat, but you ill have to wait for the picture. she taught us quechua and we taught her english.




peruvian dance par-tay!

choco, my fav peruvian dog

UPDATED: jesus and sexy woman in one afternoon

best pairing: cristo blanco y saqsayhuaman. andrew got in this morning and so we decided to trek up to jesus and saqsayhuaman, which is pronounced like sexy woman.
isn´t he large?

then, we decide to continue on and visit saqsayhuaman. it´s nice jesus can share space with the sexy one. she´s old. plus the spainards raped her to gather her stones to build churches in cusco.



andrew and i shared one of these waiting for shinae and angela to arrive. also a good reward for trekking hundreds of stairs to see jesus and saqsayhuaman.

cusco, peru > day 1

feat of the day: day one cusco. i have a headache that doesn't seem to go away. not sure if it's lack of sleep. i got about 3 hours in the lima airport. here's just some pics of the day. they aren´t mine because the internet cafe near me doesn´t have a usb port. boo! I'll post mine once i have a usb. wont' be until i get back to el salvador or home.

coricancha

plaza de armas

i went a futbol match at the stadium and it was wild to say the least cusco cienciano versus uruguay liverpool for the south american cup. cusco was victorious and the peruvians went wild!

toms weddings

unconventional, but comfy wedding party footwear: toms. my fav footwear company is marketing their footwear for weddings. you get a discount when you outfit the whole party. now i just got to gets me a husband to make this dream come true.

road trip: ma - me - nh

must road trip: brooklyn to boston to kennebunkport to portland to whitefield. this road trip came about with the idea to see ms. ariela morgenstern perform at the weathervane theatre. soon enough maine got tacked on since we (jac, mollie and i) have not been to the state. last boston was on the itinerary as mollie and i helped tara moved to her new digs in bean town for her new life as a mba student at smarty pants mit. shar endured 6 hours of sitting on the ground of a uhaul.

saturday, the trio hit the road with an electric blue ford focus. p.s. enterprise has impeccable customer service. first up was a quest for fried clams at the clam shack in kennebuckport.


a req my pal marie provided that i am most grateful for. these fried suckers were delicious! mmm.



i follow that with the beer sampler at federal jacks. the shipyard brown ale won out of the nine tasters. we went back to the clam shack for an award winning lobstah roll. mmmmm!


next back in the focus and onto portland for some fries fried in duck fat. where do you get these crazy pomme frites? duck fat restaurant. no joke. mollie braved the poutine, jac got the blueberry duck confit salad and i got frites with truffle ketchup. the spot also has homemade cream soda, a steller root beer float and root beer on tap.


buh bye portland, hello whitefield. we checked into barron brook inn, where innkeeper jason was uber chatty. we had just enough time to freshen up before seeing ms. ariela in curtains. we were fortunate enough to have post-show drinks and dinner with the star of the show.

sunday, up early for breakfast. jac and i caneoed the waters behind the barron brook. we had to hop a beaver dam. it was quite a feat. while mollie was catching up with her bff, jac and i trekked mt. prospect. the trail was mushy and some of the trail was overgorwn, but the highlight of the trail would have to be running into a bare ass. yup, some biker decided to dump one on the side of the trail we were walking on. classic!

x: the multiples exhibition

best grouping: x: the multiples exhibition at glowlab. christina was again lovely and told me some bits about the artists in the show. i was already familiar with david kesting and roberto molla, but emily heneretta was someone new to me. she will be the next artist up to show at glowlab. she currently has silkscreened tees and totes available for sale at glowlab. look out for bigger pieces and a sculpture.

kelly mira las estrellas, roberto molla

once, brian leo

collection of untitleds, heather l. johnson. i really dug these pieces since i cross stitched in my teens. christina told me about how the artist tries to capture fleeting moments or sounds or landscape with a craft that is tedious and a bit time consuming. it makes something that is transient tangible.

hello mom, heather l. johnson

univerisal minds, lucas price

bat for lashes @ webster hall

best use of props: bat for lashes at webster hall. do you like wolves? natasha khan does. from the backdrop to the tapestry hanging over her piano, the set was wolf-tastic and so was bat for lashes. ms. khan jumped into a "glass" and followed up with "sleep alone". the crowd was in for some haunting, lush tones from the very first raise of natasha's faux hair sleeves.

natasha didn't talk to much during the set though she responded to an erratic "you're amazing" with an equally erratic "thank you".
encore included: "good love", "moon and moon", "trophy" and karate kid favorite "daniel". music slut has some pics and setlist here.


band to watch: other lives. this oklahoma outfit composes string heavy tunes that blur the lines between progressive rock and good ol' folk. check out their vid for am theme. it's arty goodness.

swell season: tiny desk concert

must tiny desk concert: the swell season. shar loves the tiny desk concert series that bob boilen throws at his desk from the DC offices of npr. they are intimate and totally remind me of my early, early days working at a commercial radio station listening in on in studio sessions. so i've been an admirer. horse feathers' set was most notable as of late, but i think glen and ma really brought out the closeness of these sessions. affable glen and the remaining friendship of a whirlwind romance with marketa can be indelibly seen in their performances. they couldn't get a keyboard for marketa so the intimacy was raised a level with just glen and ma passing the guitar around. it really shows why once was such a good movie thanks to the chemistry the pair have.

wish sharock luck

best vid-tog: lensjockey. holly was kind enough to offer to shoot my entry for the toms + element show drop sweepstakes. she created a piece that far exceeded anything i could even think of. thank you, thank you holly. sealies forever!

also feel free to write them to tell them how worthy i am for this shoe drop.

rockaways

best day trip getaway: rockaways. kristen was home for a little on a stint from teaching in rome. i haven't seen her in months so it was a treat to hang out at the rockaways with her. we've been surfing buds for years - from linda mar, pacifica to costa rica. new pals heather and diego rent a summer house at the rockaways so it was home base before we hit the surf. unfortunately the swells were flat as a lake, so it was only a bunch of white water surfing. i was amazed i even got after a 3 year hiatus.

after a lot of lounging on the beach, we hit the boardwalk for heather's muay thai exhibition for crom.

don't mess with white chocolate. nuff said.

wunderlust in pakistan: taken by trees

best get out of town to be inspire trip: taken by trees (aka victoria bergsman) recording latest album east of eden in pakistan. new single "watch the waves" sounds dreamily earthy. stereogum did a good write up here. she did a video with national geographic about her time in pakistan. it's a hazy take on escapism to find inspiration.

os gemeos on houston street

must outdoor fltgc: os gemeos on houston. the folks at deitch curated the project of "the twins". like much of os gemeos previous works the mural bursts with sunshiny colors - perfect for summer lovin'. so jac and i met up with jenni at houston and bowery to view the latest and greatest for this brazilian duo.

it twas a loverily low humidity afternoon. perfect weather for viewing. there are a ton of little intricacies to os gemeos' works. people coming out of fishes is a testament to the dualities of layers. the detail of the patterns that infuse fabrics. the play of the bricks on the uneven wall. it's all very textured. i kept seeing little things i hadn't notice on first view. shar could prolly go back a couple more times and find something new. but nuff of the commentary and more colorful pics.

dedication to dash snow

closest shar will get to owning a piece of os gemeos

the ny times did a nice slideshow too.