Pennsylvania Day 1 - Mosaics, Masters, and Monday Night Comedy
I started my first full day in Philadelphia by getting coffee at the Lucky Goat Cafe. They had a great name, good coffee, and a very relaxed atmosphere.
After that I went to the Barnes Foundation. Albert Barnes was a wealthy writer, inventor, and art collector who purchased hundreds of works by Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist artists. He had stipulated in his will that his art would be left in his house and students could visit and be up close to it. The state of Philadelphia objected to these great works of art not being available to the public and after years of legal battles the works were moved into a new building that was designed to capture the spirit of engagement with the art and also the picture settings as Barnes would have had them. While it's a bummer that it's no longer possible to see the collection as it once was, the new building is really beautifully designed with big open spaces and gardens. And the best part is that on weekdays it's free with a student ID. Nobody tell any of these museums I've graduated.
The collection itself is just insane. To think that one guy owned all these works. I think Renoir must have been a favorite of his, because he is probably represented the most. There were also a number of works by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Seurat, Manet, Monet, Rousseau, and Matisse. There was also some more modernist works by Miro, Paul Klee, and a guy I had not heard of before but really enjoyed named Charles Demuth, and there were also some early Rennaissance paintings by El Greco and even one Bosch. Another painter who I had not heard of before but had some very good works there was a guy name William James Glackens (he might be well-known, and I'm just uncultured but he was pretty cool either way). I honestly did not know much about art before this trip, but after going to so many museums it's cool that I'm starting to be able to recognize signature styles of different big names. I still usually have to read a little bit about historical and artistic significance, but getting the recognition down is a fun feeling. Unfortunatley though, photography was not allowed once inside but I wrote a list of my favorite paintings and have tried to google capture decent images. There's still so much more to see there though!
After the museum, I decided to visit Philadelphia's Magic Garden which is a massive sprawling work of mosaic art by Folk artist, Isaish Zagar, who is still alive and working today at the age of 78. The intricacies of the tile work, drawings, and found objects interwoven together to create an entire house and garden sized work of art is truly awe-inspiring. The love, work, and creativity that went into this creation is maybe even more beautiful than the work itself. It's also so delightfully weird and funny and meant to be engaged with by visitors. The "museum" aspect of visiting what is essentially one monumental work is that they also host exhibits of different self-taught outsider artists which was a nice extra treat.
After the magic garden, it was time to head to the mic. It was at a bar called Ortlieb's and hosted by a comedy collective called Laughs on Philly, which runs several different showcases around the city. It was a very nice bar with good happy hour deals and shockingly good tacos. Before the show, most of the comics were just hanging out at the bar, catching up, and joking with each other. It gave things a really supportive atmosphere, and the Philly comics were really quick to start talking to me and really nice about it. I felt very welcome even before the mic started.
The actual mic was quite good as well. Comics got three minutes and there were a lot of us, so it was a decently long night of comedy. I think usually long shows like this there is a noticeable difference in energy between the first and second halves. The audience was very receptive in the first half, but naturally on a Monday people had to start dwindling out as things got later.
Overall I'd say the comics in both halves were very good with the exception of one guy who you could tell was very new but also kind of misogynist. Maybe he'll get better and he was just going for shock value which a lot of new comics do. Everyone else either got big laughs or you could tell they were pretty good comics trying new stuff. Three minute sets can be tough for comics, because it's a weird amount of time where you can maybe do one long joke or bit, or strip a couple premises to their bare essentials just to see if you've got anything there.
My personal favorites of the night were a guy named Joe Murdock who did dark and absurd one-liners, a guy named Nick Cupsi, who did a good bit about Howard the Duck, and a woman name Maddie McClennan, who did a spot on impression of hosting one of the paint night events. Overall between all the comedians, there was a bit of a dark self-deprecating lean to the material, and I think this was the place I heard the most jokes about suicide. Most of them weren't that bad either for the darkness of them. I think it's funny that between Philly and Providence, some of the darkest material I've heard has come out of some of the most positive supportive scenes.
My own set was solidly middle of the road. I was in the second half and I accidentally only did two minutes because I misread the light cue, but I ended on a big laugh which was good, and honestly I had been kinda mopey the whole day so performing at all had been intimidating for me but I was glad I did it.
Favorite Joke of the Night: Joe Murdock- "Did you guys know that Oprah was the first african american woman to be on the cover of O Magazine?"
Favorite Random Sightings: Guy walking on the street wearing a woman's t-shirt that said, "Stay up all night"; a bumper sticker that said "got anthony bourdain" in the got milk font. who made that and why?; A license Plate that said "Dady Roy"
Regional Observations: Highway signs in Philadelphia have unsimplified fractions as the miles until next exit marker (Next Exit 2/10 miles) and I have no idea why this is. I just assumed halves, and quarters were standardized.
Albums Listened To: Fest Comp 15 by various punk and ska bands; Fest Download Card 2012 by various punk and ska bands ( i think they must have been handing out cards for free downloads of both of these at a concert I went to in high school, but there's some good stuff on both)
People's Favorite Jokes:
I didn't get anything today so here's a joke of the day from the internet:
Q: What's Forrest Gump’s password?
A: 1forrest1
Song of the Day:
Bonus Song of the Day Because It's About Philadelphia but the album has already passed. Plus The Music video is about trying to steal the Liberty Bell which Trip Advisor Calls a Must Do in the City: