December 29, 2007
Saturday December 29th offered up a scheduled Morrison family outing to NYC. We reside about forty miles west of the City and almost never get there to enjoy it's wonders as a family. I work in the City Monday through Friday at Forbes.com. Once the weekends hit I rarely ever want to venture back in. That coupled with our kids Sarah and Johnny busy schedules as both are very active high school students and athletes. However, this past Saturday the stars aligned - no hockey or extracurricular activities were scheduled and we had tickets for a concert (Gov't Mule) at the Beacon Theater. I viewed this as the perfect opportunity to finally make our way to MOMA to see the Airstream that has been on display there this year.
We headed into the City late afternoon to visit MOMA as it closes on weekends at 5:30. I've been wanting to get there to see the 1960 Bambi that's been on display there since the Spring of '07. Once at the museum we hit the information booth to narrow our search for the Bambi. We were kindly informed that the trailer was on display at the Architecture and Design area on the third level (of five). If you have not been to the recently renovated MOMA in the past few years you will be astounded by the enormity of the new space. Needless to say, we made our way straight to the third floor.
Once there we were confronted with where the trailer might be parked. Each level at MOMA consists on many rooms containing amazing art. This is going to sound really corny but I just kinda of started randomly walking in a direction and within a minute or two the trailer was sitting in front of us in all of it's shiny aluminum glory. Yup...the affliction for which I suffer is called aluminitis.
The 1960 Bambi on display has been restored to better than new condition. I say 'better than new' because Airstreams were never sold on the lot with this kind of shine. The only hint of age or use was a faint water stain that could been seen on a bulkhead just inside the entryway door. It worth noting that Airstream has donated the trailer to MOMA by Airstream and is now part of the museum's permanent collection. It was arranged by a MOMA director who also happens to be a member of the Watchung NJ Unit. We understand that does not imply that it will be on display forever. There were actually some saying it may go into storage some time this coming February ('08). I hope not.
It was amazing to be confronted with the roped off Bambi. As WBCCI members we are very used to open houses at Rally's and having the ability to jump in and out of various trailers simply by asking to come in. At MOMA this would be a big no-no. Here we were relegated to enjoying the Airstream like we would view works by Van Gogh, Pollock, Warhol, or De Kooning. The Bambi is roped off and positioned very much as a look but do not touch work of art. Which, needless to say, was fine by me. I found viewing the Airstream in MOMA as some kind of weird confirmation of my love and passion for the American modern art object called Airstream.
I neglected to bring my either my still or video camera on this trip to the City. I was therefore reliant on my somewhat less enthusiastic daughter for the Bambi photos presented here. She was a reluctant yet complaint photographer for me this day. Sarah, our seventeen year old daughter, seemed way to busy trying to look cool among all of the masses cool museum goers this Saturday afternoon. My attempts at directing her on shot angles and flash technique were be taken with a big grain of salt. I will head back to MOMA in the near future with cameras in hand to properly document how the Bambi is astutely presented.
Once our visit at MOMA had concluded we walked up Fifth Avenue to Central Park. I have honestly never witnessed the sidewalk crowds that we did this past Saturday. The City was mobbed! Word is the weak dollar has touristas coming in from around the World to shop. Is that what they call making lemonade from lemons? Not sure.
From the Park we took a subway to the Upper West Site for a quick dinner, some shopping, then the concert. To cap off a wonderful family outing, Gov't Mule played all of my favorite Mule tracks. We hung with some good friends in the audience, and other good friends, notably George Porter Jr (the Meters, Porter-Batiste-Stoltz) and Brian Stoltz (Bob Dylan, PBS) sat in with Mule for the last two songs (shameless plug - George and Brian are clients of mine at my side gig - DigitalSoundboard.net). They performed killer versions of Spanish Moon (Little Feat) and Hey Pockey Way (Meters) . This was an wonderful cap to an amazing day - family, friends, and art all colliding in a single trip into the City which stoked a warm glow within my soul that is still burning away days later.
