“you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” ~ steve jobs
~~~~~
prelude / Recently a close friend asked to see my curriculum vitae. I hadn’t actually had one that attempted to synthesize the dozens of directions that I had seemed to go in since I was 21; but I thought it would be a good idea to have one at hand when I met with Apple University early last year. I asked to see a variety of friends and mentors’ resumes and CVs and created one that I thought made sense of all the complicated pathways that my “career” took since starting at the College of the Holy Cross when I was 17 years old as an economics major, wanting to be an investment banker. If anyone had ever asked me then, or, when I was working in the art world in my 20s, or deciding to go to grad school at SOAS in London then at UC Berkeley, or when I got interested in film and then film festivals, or when I graduated in 2000 and became a clothesmaker, or when I began cooking and then hosting salons, closed my studio, began doing moveable feasts, or when I re-entered the art world as an installation artist, or when I decided to jump onto a feature film to do costumes and produce it ~ to try to figure out how to make sense of it all ~ I wouldn’t have had the clarity then, that time, perspective and distance gives you on the choices and decisions you make…. So this is what I came up with a year ago… and now, looking at it today ~ it finally makes perfect sense. It has defined, in retrospect, how I see myself. But I also can see that my desire to understand all the angles and nuances and complexities of the worlds we inhabit, stem from my early attempts to comprehend my own place in the world ~ as an only child brought up by a single mother. And this reflecting back points me, in the most focused and determined way ever (finally) ~ to be clear on how to enter into the future ~ not just myself, but also in teaching both my son and daughter to look at things from many points of view ~ to truly apprehend the grey areas, the subtleties of gestures and words and actions. Below is not only a summation of past interests distilled into a paragraph but a philosophy on a way of being ~ one that I am grateful to my professors at CAL for instilling in me, without my knowing it ~ especially Dr Nelson Graburn, Dr Paul Rabinow, Dr Michel Laguerre, Dr Stefania Pandolfo, Trinh T. Minh-ha, B. Ruby Rich and my dearest of friends ~ Dr. Laura Nader. But of course it was the diversity of thinkers I was influenced by (in anthropology, sociology, film theory, film production, rhetoric) and that continual balance of theory and practice ~ the repetition, the obsession ~ with the details and their affect on the whole, that is the motivating force to “imagine a world, create it and then live in it” ~ words told to me by the theater director Peter Sellars, right before the premiere of his Desdemona at Zellerbach in 2011…
*****
I approach all my work as an anthropologist ~ looking at various aspects of cultural production and interaction through the lens of understanding what makes humans human. Specifically, I’ve spent 25 years thinking about and creating art out of gathering, collaging and juxtaposing ideas ~ whether through my work in fashion, film, food, art, and writing I have sought to understand the world, communities and culture through applying my personal vision and experience to design and creative/art direction, connecting people and ideas, and creating visual/verbal essays that become realized in a physical space ~ practicing anthropology every day.
****
Below, is (part one of two pieces) of what I consider to be my most illuminating, interactive, experiential “works” that I began after apprenticing at Chez Panisse with Cal Peternell (in 2011), creating a “Chez Panisse” collection later that summer for its 40th anniversary, and was directly inspired by my 40th birthday celebration in the cafe at Chez on Nov 28th of that same year. Ten weeks later I would begin the gatherings…. below are the first 50 salons, in reverse, because for me, that’s how I seem to make sense of the world…I want to also thank the (now) close to 4,000 people who have been part of and helped me in so many ways expand the original vision that has organically grown and morphed into so many different directions. I believe, however, that the original idea and thread still remains, especially as I’ve been in discussions with my hosts in NYC about salon #103 in late February. I think this quote is a beautiful summary by one of my mentors who began her vision in 1971 with the very same premise ~ to bring friends together around the breaking of bread…
“This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive. ~alice waters
~~~~~
#50 / co-hosted with Lisa Parks / September 26th 2014 ~ with guests ted sherman, edward frenkel, erik moore, doug & freya washington, love weinstock & anthony, eddie orton, arild fetveit, johanna Rickne, olle Folke
sarah & andrew rosenbach, cherilyn parsons, joey xanders, anne schukat, tim felkner & cherish mcclure, narda & andy skov
“I live for coincidences.
They briefly give to me the illusion or the hope that there’s a pattern to my life,
and if there’s a pattern,
then maybe I’m moving toward some kind of destiny where it’s all explained.”
~ jonathan ames, my less than secret life
“The interaction between math and physics is a two-way process, with each of the two subjects drawing from and inspiring the other. At different times, one of them may take the lead in developing a particular idea, only to yield to the other subject as focus shifts. But altogether, the two interact in a virtuous circle of mutual influence.” ~ edward frenkel, love and math: the heart of hidden reality
~~~~~
#49 / September 13th 2014 ~ with guests eve love, donato cabrera, erik tarloff & laura tyson, melissa & sam davis, greta caruso, hannah johnson, kathy seligman, gretchen kell, eileen hammer, jen pahlka & tim o’reilly, clementine, phillip & emily mehas, corey weinstein
richard hylton & sara o’malley, bruce rinehart & rachel brahinsky, wadie said & jennifer zacharia, amy finn, and royal.
“At last she was going to know the joys of love, the fever of the happiness she had despaired of. She was entering a marvelous realm where all would be passion, ecstasy, rapture: she was in the midst of an endless blue expanse, scaling the glittering heights of passion; everyday life had receded, and lay far below, in the shadows between those peaks.” ~ Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary
~~~~
#48 / August 9th 2014 ~ with guests alison davis + matthew le merle, charlotte eyerman, denise thomas, sophie kitson, jake wall, deanna griffin, debbie chinn, duana fulwiley, mac barnett + taylor norman, ted boerner, tamara strauss + john haymaker, sonya + isaac, maxi lilley + eric faurot, rachel rosen, perry shimon, jamie + larry westdal.
“our candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night,
but ah my foes and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light.” – edna vincent millay
“We know these characters aren’t real, but we have real feelings about them, and we’re able to do that. We know these characters aren’t real and yet we also know that they are.” ~ mac barnett / why a good book is a secret door
~~~~~
#47 / with cocktails by thad vogler / July 19th 2014 ~ with guests niki ford, cathy curtis, gary & cathy meyer, fred womack & patty burn, claire greensfelder, devi jacobs, amy louise murray & walt speak, terrel seltzer, marissa lamagna & john michels, jane white, april quinn & angelino vitaliano sandri, susan griffin, joan muira, sandy blaine, lisa parks & ted scherman, isaac cronin.
“The whole world is drunk and we’re just the cocktail of the moment. Someday soon, the world will wake up, down two aspirin with a glass of tomato juice & wonder what the hell all the fuss was about.”~Dean Martin-The Rat Pack
~~~~~
#46 / co-hosted with royal borja bernberg / June 28th 2014 ~ with guests laura nader, paola gianturco, dayna goldfine and dan geller, catherine wagner and loretta gargan, wendy mcnaughton and caroline paul, laura bathurst and matthew reagan, jessie deeter and rob peterson, naila ahmed and jonathan duffy, jill siefert, kathleen henderson, liam, nancy skinner and lance brady.
“the stars we are given. the constellations we make up.
that is to say, stars exist in the cosmos, but constellations are the imaginary lines we draw between them, the readings we give the sky, the stories we tell.” ~ rebecca solnit, storming the gates of paradise
~~~~~
#45 /co-hosted with eve love and maria ralph (on the eve of jake’s birthday) / June 7th 2014 ~ with guests jeff ralph, jake wall, jonathan kiefer, marc and jeanne allen, kenneth helman and lon murphy, ben and chris ospital, michael gonzales, leah and jerry garchik, claudia goetzelmann and michael roberts, peter nantell, sid and nancy ganis, lloyd and august bernberg, alexandra foote.
“at times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who
have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer
“today you are you! that is truer than true!
there is no one alive who is you-er than you. “ ~ dr. seuss
~~~~~
#44 / wine dinner, co-hosted with emily schindler / May 4th 2014 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, stephan schindler, alice feiring, nathan and jenn roberts, jennifer jones, tegan passalacqua, sam bilbro, hardy wallace and kate graham, alder yarrow, janet fletcher, faith and sean foster, ryan glaab, jonathan waters, keven clancy and gilian handelman, ceri smith, ali smith-story.
“i haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” ~ susan sontag
“i’m hunting the Leon Trotskys, the Philip Roths, the Chaucers and the Edith Whartons of the wine world. i want them natural and most of all, i want them to speak the truth even if we argue. with this messiah thing going on, i’m trying to swell the ranks of those who crave the differences in each vintage, celebrate nuance and desire wines that make them think, laugh, and feel. welcome.” ~ alice feiring
~~~~~
#43 / co-hosted with melanie abrams / April 19th 2013 ~ with guests vikram chandra
yiyun li & dapeng, julia scheeres, xandra castleton, joyce maynard & jim barringer, meredith brody, noah cowan
paul & marilyn rabinow, tom barbash, ilisa barbash, jonathan marlow & hannah eaves, robin mccrosky, kate sofis
cady sherman, liz hasse & joe orrach.
“what matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember
and how you remember it. “ ~ gabriel garcia marquez
“the vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what I’ve written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval.” ~ joyce maynard
~~~~~
#42 / wine dinner, co-hosted with emily schindler / February 23rd 2014 ~ with guests stephan schindler, cathy corison, connie green, heike liss, tracey & jared brandt, ali smith-story & eric story, luke sykora & kristin, john raytek & phoebe bass
richard & sara hylton, adam mariani & kezia, jonathan waters, collin peter-casey, tess bryant.
“there is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk.” – M.F.K. Fisher
~~~~~
#41 / RED Redux, co-hosted with Deb Durant / February 15th 2014 ~ with guests matthew winkelstein, amy cranch & marc l’italien, patrick hooker & joan ellis, barb & tom pridham, noel castellanos & tim molal, leilia & ben peake, mad dog & anne smith-rainey, angelo garro, stela jelincic, racheal matthews, christine sullivan, beth ann mcfadden, marcy & pete lauer, suzanne drexhage & stan sobolewski, amy murray.
“desire begins in the mind…it’s wanting that keeps us alive.”
~ paola franco, dangerous beauty
“the true feeling of sex is that of a deep intimacy,
but above all of a deep complicity.” ~ james dickey
“nondum amabam, et amare amabam, quaerebam quid amarem,
amans amare.” ~ st augustine
…in memory of david sullivan
~~~~~
#40 / Kaiser Elementary School Auction Dinner, co-hosted with Jennise Mendoza / February 8th 2014 ~ with guests christine kizziah, molly glockler + cliff flamer, lisette bahamondes, sari + tim henry, lisa + charlie cartolano, alysia + pat mcdonough
kate marx, bill + young tatham.
“education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
~ william butler yeats
~~~~~
#39 / for sorrel ahlfeld + francesca esmay / January 31st 2014 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, jen chaiken + sam hamilton, rob epstein + gary lutes, gary kamiya, terrel seltzer, michelle stock + stu maschwitz , sara cahill + john sanborn, leonard pitt, susan griffin, christopher willits + janice pillien, sylvia rubin
“the mind can forget what the body, defined by each breath,
subject to the heart beating, does not.” ~ susan griffin
“find your inner maniac. all the fun goes to the obsessed.” ~ leonard pitt
“i have spent much of my life exploring san francisco.
but perhaps it is better not to see everything.
to let a small mystery stand in for the great one.
to know that somewhere far below, down where the sea crashes endlessly into the land, is a rock that I will never climb.” ~ gary kamiya
~~~~~
#38 / wine dinner, co-hosted with Chad Arnold / January 25th 2014 ~ with guests susanne kauer, lloyd bernberg,
paul and maureen draper, drake mccarthy, matt gerloff, kristen and ted talley, jill and steve matthiasson
david lynch and josie peltz, anthony sueuga, sarah scott, suzanne lettrick, matthew rorick, kim addonizio, jordan mackay.
to begin : chad’s salmon with red onion
david’s ciccioli toasts and uni with cultured butter toasts
cari’s chicken liver a la polpo with alice’s roadsend 2013 olio nuovo
and then : sue’s kale salad w/ mint and cilantro…
chicories with anchovy & lemon a la david tanis
winter citrus salad a la mario batali
pause : chad’s baked potato
lloyd’s pork sugo
anthony’s polenta
finally : jill’s thumbprint cookies
sarah’s elderberry fool with elderberry shrub
sarah’s pistachio and candied orange peel biscotti
“wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That’s all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and sigh.”
– william butler yeats
“without obsession, life is nothing.” ~ john waters
~~~~~
#37 / co-hosted with Alexandra Silverman / January 11th 2014 ~ with guests jamie alexander, tina barseghian, lloyd bernberg,
renee bott, jason deantonis, alicia dougherty-wold, ike feldman, rhea fontaine, flora grubb, april higashi, lara jealous, jamie kidson,
terri loewenthal, david moore, rachel Neumann, sherri olsen, pam paulson, erin scott, alexandra silverman, thomas wold.
“eventually everything connects ~ people, ideas, objects…
the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”
– charles and ray eames
~~~~~
#36 / for lana bernberg + basil boris / December 28th 2013 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, scott constable + ene osteraas-constable, daphne miller + ross levy, mari heller + jorma taccone, liam, kathleen henderson + cal peternell, heike liss + fred frith,
charles ferguson, maria zizka, mark schapiro + zoe carter, ant sibthorpe + simone vitucci, john randolf, heather capiello.
“don’t bend, water it down, or make it logical; don’t edit your soul.
follow intense obsessions mercilessly.” ~ kafka
“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.” ~ herman melville
~~~~~
#35 / co-hosted with Raj Parr / December 22nd 2013 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, jessica glaeser
alice waters, alexander payne, evan goldstein, mark danner and michelle sipe, michael pollan and judith belzer
soyoung and james scanlan, eve love and david evans, dorka keehn, josiah cain.
to start ~
crab, curry leaves on papadum
and then ~
grandma’s spicy potatoes and andante butter
baby cauliflower and indian five spice
marin sun farms lamb, nettles and garam masala
black cardamom scented basmati rice
tamarind yogurt
finally ~
judith and michael’s roasted pear with ricotta and balsamico
water buffalo gelato
soyoung’s andante cheese
“Well, that’s what life is — this collection of extraordinarily
ordinary moments…We just need to pay attention to them all.
Wake up and pay attention to how beautiful it all is.” ~ alexander payne
“the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
~ mahatma gandhi
~~~~~
#34 / co-hosted with Jennifer Jones / December 6th 2013 ~ with guests june taylor and perry small, racheal matthews
tina dang and daniel dent, alexandra silverman, michelle stock, diana stock, guthrie dolin, jeff hull
noah guy, diva pyari and tobin lee, marcus lehmann, brad miller and monica miller.
finally ~
sarah scott’s “wild table” mushroom risotto w/mascarpone
w/ chanterelle tartare
to close ~
*june’s fruit cheeses ~ santa rosa plum and damson plum
w/ andante cheese
*june’s candied citrus peel
*racheal’s pear and goat cheese tart
…jaden riesling ice wine…
*brad’s milk and cookies
“there’s nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ~ nelson mandela
“stop, think, there must be a harder way.” ~ judy rodgers, mantra
~~~~~
#33 / co-hosted with Alex Black / November 22nd 2013 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, genessa kealoha
michelle stock and stu maschwitz, alexandra silverman, robert hillman and olivia crawford, dale djerassi, rosie anderson
micha peled, jason sanders and jessie warner, katerina angelopoulou and thomas winkelmann
tomoko kanamitsu and ross thomas, chaz reetz-laiolo.
“it had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. they went out and happened to things.”
~ leonardo da vinci
“we are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of Time. And there are but two means of escaping and forgetting this nightmare: pleasure and work. Pleasure consumes us. work strengthens us. let us choose.” ~ charles baudelaire
~~~~~
#32 / w/collaborator eve love / October 25th 2013 ~ and guests lloyd bernberg, richard hylton and sara o’malley, joe bilman
angelo garro, joey xanders , laura guido-clark, jenny rankin and sandro rossi, chad arnold and susanne kauer
wellington dong, hope bryson and paco prieto, renato sardo and anya fernauld, mani niall, royal, nora, august.
“One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters…
But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue,
as you choose. But get drunk.”
~ charles baudelaire
~~~~~
#31 / wine dinner / september 21st 2013 ~ with guests cari and lloyd, stefan schindler, stephen goldman and amy huang
gilian handelman, keven clancy, wolfgang weber, meika rouda and chris brown, amy louis murray
deb durant and matt winkelstein, mani niall, maria and robert rohe, greg lutes and kristen shouse.
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between their work and their play; their labor and their leisure; their mind and their body; their education and their recreation. They hardly know which is which. They simply pursue their vision of excellence through whatever they are doing, and leave others to determine whether they are working or playing. To themselves, they always appear to be doing both.”
~ Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand
“…am i no longer young, and still not half-perfect?
let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” ~ mary oliver
~~~~~
#30 / wine dinner, co-hosted with Andrew Browne / August 23rd 2013 ~ with guests lloyd bernberg, michelle van dyk, andy tikofsky, emily schindler, joe bilman, anthony suegua, eve love, joel quigley and cailyn mccauley, geoff garner and alexandra wilson
ashley tudor, stephanie moriarty, ana carreno, suzanne drexhage and stan sobolewski.
“imagination is the beginning of creation. you imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will…” ~ george bernard shaw
~~~~~
#29 / co-hosted with Jessie Williams / August 10th 2013 ~ with guests otto williams, lauren mcintosh + stephen walrod, shoshana berger + tony sax, kristen + gerald lewis, steve smith + cleo papanikolas, steve golden, racheal matthews, monika reskala + chris weiss, brian + patty dougherty.
“you have to imagine a world, create it, and then live in it.” ~ peter sellars
“others have seen what is and asked why. i have seen what could be
and asked why not.” ~ pablo picasso
~~~~~
#28 / July 21st 2013 ~ w/ guests ashleigh and simon allen, julie jaros and george hull, sue gearan, michelle van dyk, ray deleon, caterina bernardi and guido muzzarelli, juliette hannedouche, paul mica and maria bowen, christopher willits.
“i haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” ~ susan sontag
“one’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.”
~ henry miller
~~~~~
#27 / wine dinner, co-hosted with Andrew Browne / July 13th 2013 ~ with guests , lloyd bernberg, cathy corison, hardy wallace, andrew mariani, megan and carlo mondavi, carissa mondavi, matt gerloff, george nixon, dileep rao, alexandra foote, eddie blyden, azadeh fakouri.
“Pinot Noir is a minx of a vine. Indubitably feminine alas, if not exactly female,
this is an exasperating variety for growers, winemakers and wine drinkers alike.
It leads us a terrible dance, tantalizing with an occasional glimpse
of the riches in store for those who persevere,
yet obstinately refusing to be tamed.” ~ jancis Robinson
~~~~~
#26 / co-hosted with charlotte eyerman, on the occasion of jake’s birthday ~ June 9th 2013 ~ with guests julian cox, laura pacchini, tiffany shlain, christine suppes, bette moll, evan shively and madeleine fitzpatrick, jake wall, kelly puleio, ruzwana bashir, colin stanfield, eve love, josh berry.
“you know the greatest thing is passion, without it what have you got? I mean if you love someone you can love them as much as you can love them but if it isn’t a passion,
it isn’t burning, it isn’t on fire, you haven’t lived.” ~diana vreeland
~~~~~
#25 / wine dinner / May 25th 2013 ~ co-hosted with Andrew Browne ~ with guests Kristen Talley, Steve Edmunds, Lloyd Bernberg, Laura Peisl, Chad Arnold, Ted Talley, Susanne Kauer, Jane Mayer, Bill Mayer, Paul Costigan, Tony Keppelman, Ellie Tappe.
“we are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. when the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” ~ buddha
~~~~~
#24 / a venetian invocation ~ April 27th 2013 ~ Left ~ Joyce Carol Oates, Charlie Gross, Simon Overduin.
Center ~ August, Jennifer Zaccharia, Tarek Milleron, Charles Ferguson, Ramona Naddaff, Barry Jenkins, Cady Sherman, Lloyd Bernberg, Robin Savinar, Wadie Said, Laura Nader, Simon Overduin, Katie Milton, Alexandre Dorriz, Right ~ Simon’s Tiramisu.
“loneliness is like starvation: you don’t realize how hungry you are
until you begin to eat” ~ joyce carol oates
“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” ~ ray bradbury
~~~~
#23 / for axel / April 14th 2013 ~ Amanda Eicher, Deborah Slater, Alex Conde, Camille Leblanc, Axel Morgenthaler,
Heike Liss, Joey Xanders, Michael Berger, Valerie Imus, Laura Folger.
“ring the bells that still can ring
forget your perfect offering
there is a crack, a crack in everything
that’s how the light gets in…” ~ leonard cohen
~~~~~
#22 / co-hosted with scott constable / March 30th 2013, Co-hosted with Scott Constable ~ with Ene Osteraas-Constable, Kitty Margolis + Alfonso Montuori, Karl Kronin, Clio Tilton, Josh Jakus, Julia Curtis, Sandra Kelch, Jennifer Jones, Lloyd Bernberg, William Rihel, Suzanne Tan, Amy Van Every, David Baker, Yosh Asato.
“artistic temperament sometimes seems a battleground, a dark angel of destruction and a bright angel of creativity wrestling.” ~ madeleine l’engle
~~~~~
#21 / Lloyd’s Birthday & Wine Dinner ~ February 2nd 2013 ~ Lloyd, Mark Danner + Michelle Sipe, Richard Hylton + Sara O’Malley, Laura Nader, Paul Costigan, Joe, Emily + Stephan Schindler, Ivo Daniele + Jen Torbohn, Bill Mayer, Chad Arnold, Alexandra Foote.
“i need a companion. i need the closeness of a kindred person. I long for some affirmation of the inner world whose existence i postulate. to persistently
cling to it by my own faith alone, heave it despite everything with the strength
of its resistance ~ it is the labor and torment of Atlas. Sometimes it seems to me
that with this strained gesture of lifting I hold nothing on my shoulders.
i would like the power for a moment to set this weight down upon someone’s arms, straighten up my neck and look at what i have been carrying…
i need a partner for undertakings of discovery. what for one person is a risk,
an impossibility, a caprice stood on its head ~ when reflected in two pairs of eyes becomes a reality. the world waits as it were for this partnership:
until now closed, confined, without further plans ~ to begin to mature with the colors
of a dahlia, burst and open up inside. Painted panoramas deepen and open into actual perspectives, the wall lets us into a dimension formerly unattainable,
frescoes painted on the horizon come to life like a pantomime. ~ bruno schultz
~~~~~
#20/ January 4th 2013 ~ Lloyd Bernberg, Chad Arnold, Kelsie Kerr, Raj Parr, Eleanor Bertino, Keven Klancy, Jasmine Hirsch, Gilian Handelman,myself, Cameron Sellers, Joshua Greene, Susanne Kauer, Anthony Sueuga, Sarah Scott.
“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will
assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against
the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace,
the slaves of the ordinary.” ~Cecil Beaton
~~~~~
#19 / my mom’s 67th ~ December 23rd 2012 ~ Joy Brace, Bruce Bernberg, Kathy Graburn, Carole Borja, Janet Bernberg, Racheal Matthews, Lloyd Bernberg, Eric McKinley, Royal, Laura Nader, Nelson Graburn, Katherine Summer O’Neal, Ashley McKinley and Tali.
“i thank you god for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky: and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)”
~ e e cummings
~~~~~
#18 / Royal’s x-mas party ~ December 8th 2012 ~ Sabrina, Cadence, Royal, Octavia, Damaria, Nora, Anjolie.
“the truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. you just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” ~ bob marley
~~~~~
#17 / co-hosted with julie huntsinger ~ November 19th 2012 ~ Barry Jenkins, Monique Montgomery, Tom Luddy, Josh Jelly Shapiro, Julie Huntsinger, Sheerly Avni, Michael Ondaatje, Davia Nelson, David Sullivan, Mirissa Neff.
“cooking is like love. it should be entered into with abandon or not at all” ~h. van horne
“I’ve worked at this film festival in Telluride called the Telluride Film Festival. Been there since 2002. I used to make popcorn. I was an usher. Cleaned toilets, everything. Grew up there as a kid.” ~ barry jenkins
~~~~~
#16 / Wine Dinner ~ November 17th 2012 ~ Lloyd Bernberg, Emily Schindler, Raj Parr, Matt Duffy, Zhanara Nauruzbayeva, Syler Silva, Susanne Kauer, Anthony Sueuga, Daniel Gallegos, Royal, Emilie Kramer, Andrew Browne, Chad Arnold, Sara Duffy, Josh Phelps.
“Life is so brief that we should not glance either too far backwards or forwards…therefore study how to fix our happiness in our glass and in our plate.”
– grimod de la reyniere
~~~~~
#15 / November 10th 2012 ~ Nancy, Owen Buenaventura, Monica Reskala, Paco Prieto, Laura Nader, Peter Sahlins, Melanie Abrams, Ross Levy, Hope Bryson, Josh Jakus, Daphne Miller, Vikran Chandra, Ramona Naddaff, Denny Abrams, Chris Weiss, Ellie Tappe, Guillaume Lafarge.
“hamara seat janmon ka saath hai” devesh said. “it means ‘our togetherness will be for seven lives.’ it means their karma is linked, even when they die.” … she knew about hinduism, how one life affected the next, but with the textbook gone and the concept played out in fifteen-foot form above her, the idea of life after death suddenly seemed as possible as the pressure of his hand and the flutter in her chest. she closed her eyes, but her heart seemed to beat it. there’s more, it beat, there’s more,
there’s more, there’s more.” ~ melanie abrams, “playing”
~~~~~
#14 / Wine Dinner ~ October 28th 2012 ~ Jon Bonne, Emily Schindler, Carlo Mondavi, Jen Torbohn, Mark Thompson, Bill Mayer, Lloyd Bernberg, myself, Ivo Daniele, Alexandra Foote, Josh Marston, Megan Mondavi, Ted Hope. Right ~ Josh Marston.
“for the first time i know what it is to eat. i have gained four pounds. i get frantically hungry, and the food i eat gives me a lingering pleasure. i never ate before in this deep carnal way…i want to bite into life and to be torn by it.” ~ anais nin
~~~~~
#13 /a dinner with daniel ellsberg ~ September 29th 2012 ~ Rob Epstein, Charles Ferguson, Judith Ehrlich, Laurel Braitman,
Jennifer Casquiero, Jennifer Zaccharia, Laura Nader, myself, Joey Xanders, Gary Lutes.
“meeting franklin roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.” ~ winston churchill
~~~~~
#12 / September 23rd 2012 ~ Jennifer Jones, Stan Sobolewski, Chad Arnold, Tracy Tingle, Jerome Waag, Lloyd Bernberg, Ian Burrowes, Paul Costigan, Susanne Kauer, Anthony Sueuga, Suzanne Drexhage.
“my music had roots which i’d dug up from my own childhood,
musical roots buried in the darkest soil.” ~ ray charles
~~~~~
#11 / August 4th 2012 ~ Bill Mayer, Andrew Browne Susanne Kauer, Raj Parr, Alice Waters, Bill Haney, myself, Josh Jensen, Emily Schindler, Jamie Kutch, Lloyd Bernberg, Stephan Schindler, Kristen Green, Mark Danner Michelle Sipe, Chad Arnold, Roshni Shukla.
“he wrote me: i will have spent my life trying to understand the function of remembering, which is not the opposite of forgetting, but rather its lining. We do not remember, we rewrite memory much as history is rewritten. How can one remember thirst.” ~ chris marker’s SANS SOLEIL
~~~~~
#10 / July 28th 2012 ~ Anthony Sueuga, Lloyd Bernberg, Daniella Sueuga, Charles Ferguson, Joey Xanders, Ariel, myself, John Walker, Pam Walker, Phil Tippett, Jules Tippett, Dan Wool, Daphne Miller.
“a story has no beginning or end:
arbitrarily one chooses the moment of experience
from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”
~ graham greene, the end of the affair
~~~~~
#9 / June 30th 2012 ~ myself, Stephan Schindler, Britt Dionne, Lloyd Bernberg, Emily Schindler,
Ian Burrowes, Carla Swanson, Hector Corral, Julia Curtis, Cameron Jones, Nik, Ivo Daniele, Bojana Jamborcic, Flip Baber.
“my life has been the poem i would have writ…
but i could not both live and utter it.”
~ henry david thoreau
~~~~
#8 / thank you dinner ~ June 3rd 2012 ~ Janet Bernberg, John, myself, Royal, Ruth Eckland, Bruce Bernberg, Joy Brace.
“when lilacs last
in the door-yard bloom’d,
and the great star early droop’d
in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn
with ever-returning spring.
O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;
Lilac blooming perennial,
and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love…”
~ walt whitman
~~~~~
#7 / a sense of purpose ~ May 18th 2012 ~ Lloyd Bernberg, Robin Savinar, Stephen Yafa, Laura Nader, Susanne Kauer,
Glenn Sherman, myself, Tarek Milleron, Suzanne Lettrick, Chad Arnold, Bonnie Dahan.
“Photography is a way of feeling,
of touching, of loving.
What you have caught on film is captured forever…
it remembers little things,
long after you have forgotten everything.”
~ Aaron Siskind
~~~~
#6 / April 21st 2012 ~ Beth Kaplan, Oona, Esme, Monique Montgomery, Gillian Masland,
Lloyd Bernberg, Pam Esterson, Beverly Berning, Nicholas O’Neill.
“one cannot think well,
love well, sleep well,
if one has not dined well.”
~ virginia woolf
~~~~~
#5 / April 14th 2012 ~ Cal Peternell, Kathleen Henderson, Laura Nader, Ross Levy, Michelle Stock
Lloyd Bernberg, Daphne Miller, August, Royal, Liam.
“wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know
for truth Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and sigh.”
– william butler yeats
~~~~~
#4 / Wine Dinner ~ April 7th 2012 ~ Susanne Kauer, Lia Ices, Andrew Mariani, Suzanne Lettrick, Andrew Brown, myself,
Lloyd Bernberg, Chad Arnold, Mark Danner, Ramona Naddaff.
“oh, that i had wings like a dove! for then would i fly away, and be at rest.” ~ henry james
~~~~~
#3 / “GREEN” ~ March 17th 2012 ~ Paul Costigan, Sara O’Malley, Sandro Rossi, Richard Hylton,
Joey Xanders, Joe, Jenny Rankin, Lloyd Bernberg.
“never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.” ~ludwig wittgenstein
~~~~
#2 / “BLUE” ~ March 10th 2012 ~ Alex Black, Lloyd Bernberg, Ethan Rundell, Eric McKinley, Genessa Kealoha, Ashley McKinley, Royal, Larry Dickinson, August.
“…and when he sings to you, though you’re deep in blue, you will see a ray of light creep through, and so remember this. life is no abyss. somewhere there’s a bluebird of happiness. life is sweet, tender and complete. when you find the bluebird of happiness…” ~ edward herman & harry parr
~~~~~
# 1 / “RED” ~ Feb 18th 2012 ~ Deb Durant, Heike Liss, Beth Ann McFadden, myself, Christopher Willits, Cecelia Fernandez, David Sullivan.
The Problem of Describing Color, by Robert Hass
If I said – remembering in summer,
The cardinal’s sudden smudge of red
In the bare gray winter woods –
If I said, red ribbon on the cocked straw hat
Of the girl with pooched-out lips
Dangling a wiry lapdog
In the painting by Renoir –
If I said fire, if I said blood welling from a cut –
Or flecks of poppy in the tar-grass scented summer air
On a wind-struck hillside outside Fano –
If I said, her one red earring tugging at her silky lobe,
If she tells fortunes with a deck of falling leaves
Until it comes out right –
Rouged nipple, mouth –
(How could you not love a woman
Who cheats at Tarot?)
Red, I said. Sudden, red.
