That’s a pretty good combination. After a couple of days of writing about sadness, it seemed to me we could end the week on an up note to get us ready for the weekend and for Mardi Growl. Art and Jazz for the Cure was sponsored by Paulk and Company on Williams Street last Saturday night. They make custom sinks and counter tops from “high-performance concrete.”
Here’s a great description of what they are about taken from their web site, “At PaulkandCo, we never stop thinking. We push the limits of traditional building materials. We are specialists in high-performance concrete. We make full use of innovative technologies. We’re probably more expensive than the other guy. We drink a lot of coffee. We overload electrical circuits. Our clothes are dirty and we stink. And our customers almost always become our friends.”
They would definitely be one of those businesses that fly under the radar, but Justin Paulk and partner in crime Virginia Adams can’t seem to keep themselves from throwing the best parties in the city. Last summer I wrote about the Steampunk Carnivalle and that weird/crazy-good fashion show that accompanied it. The Art and Jazz Party raised money for finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Artists exhibiting included Carrie Hamilton,Rhonda Moody, Bill Foster, Nathaniel Tucker, Jessica Gregory, Barry Byrd, Maggie Gardner Tankersley, Chris Cornett, Larry F Crowelll, Katherine Victoria Ryan, & Yana Andreea Kretsu.
I enjoyed talking to many of them, some of whom I knew before I got there and some of whom I got to know that night. Photographers took photographs of each other and everything else – it was a funky beautiful sort of scene. The jazz and bar set the scene. Bill Foster and Larry Crowell, two of my favorite downtown habitues are always good to see. They introduced me to new friends Zoe Dee and Rhonda Moody.
A woman came up and asked me if I remembered her. I sort of went off on her because I hate it when people do that. What an awkward position! Then she said she used to come over to my house and listen to records (yes, “records,” not “music”) when she was five. She’s a bit older than that now and I haven’t seen her in twenty years, so it was cool in the end to get reacquainted with Carrie Hamilton, whose wonderful work was exhibited. Her parents, Dan and Kathy, had put her up to the whole thing. It was good to see Kathy. Dan, not so sure.
Larry got the beautiful women into his beer hats. Who knew beer cartons could be the key to picking up women? Larry knew. The Gatling gun was a favorite place for posing. I’m not sure why it’s there, but it’s always a hit. I ran into Chris Cornett whose art is absolutely fabulous and Nathaniel Tucker who I knew in a very different lifetime and met Yana Andreea Kretsu who showed me some very interesting photography and generally clowned around all night.
In short, it was a colorful, funky, fun and very urban experience. I walked under the interstate to get there and never felt uncomfortable. My friend Dan commented on how unique the event was and he was right – to a degree. It’s the kind of thing that is happening in the city if you are open to exploring the urban terrain just a little bit. It’s the kind of thing I would never have heard of a few years ago and maybe there was less of it then. I’m not sure.
I do know that when these people put on an event it will be interesting and it will stretch me just a little bit out of my usual rut, and sometimes out of my comfort zone. That’s what a city is supposed to do. This is the fun and interesting side of urban living. Get out and experience the great artists, music and fascinating people all around you.
