What follows is eight days' worth of photos from home, drives,
trips throughout Pennsylvania's markets and notes on current events.
Shep Fields - Picture Disc Vinyl (1947)
New Addition To The Collection:
Dippy Canoes Corn Chip Canister (1960s).
I made a promise to Nate at Merchants Square Mall
That this vintage beauty would have a very nice home.
Last Saturday I happened upon a wonderful surprise which seemed divinely timed with my birthday week. I’ve been searching for an authentic Nkisi N’kondi figure from the Congo for thirty years and today I had the VERY good fortune to find one in Kaba’s booth. The Nkisi figure contains medicine behind glass panels in the eyes and belly. Nails are driven into it as a divination rite in which the inherent spirit is activated. I am very excited and grateful to have one of these beautiful figures for my home. Thank you, Kaba!
Welcome Home Nkisi N’kondi
Happy 75th Birthday
Dolly Rebecca Parton
Living National Treasure
20 January 2021
Good Morning, Friends. A light snowfall was brightening the landscape as I awoke. I’m ready for a brand new day filled with fresh energy, peace, light and positivity. Let’s gather our best energies, raise the vibration and move forward together with optimism. There is so much good we can create. Happy Inauguration Day. WE DID THIS!
• A • D • I • O • S •
...And Just Like That, The Sun Came Out
Thanks, Lady Gaga. We Needed That.
Sweet Memory Alert: These candies always make me think of my great grandmother (or “Granny”) Mae Costello (née Palmer) who lived from 1899 - 1981. I had the privilege of having Granny as a constant presence in my life until I was 8 years old and while I have many memories of her, few are as vivid as the boxes of multicolored orange wedge shaped gummy candies that she would give me every Easter. Some of my earliest color memories (and part of my life long attraction to anything that is brightly colored) began with Granny gifting me with these candies as well as a succession of boxes of crayons. I also vividly recall getting into a bit of trouble with my crayons under her watch. The story, as told in my family, is that I began reading and writing at age 2 or 3. It was around this time that I started drawing and my drawings were often interlaced with random words. One day, as I was seated in my high chair with Granny on my left, I was scribbling in a notebook. “What are you drawing, Chris?” Granny asked. I quickly covered the page I was scrawling on and asked “If you say a bad word that’s bad, right?” Granny assured me that this was bad so I asked a follow up question: “But if you WRITE it, that’s okay, right?” Giving me a disapproving, narrow eyed and raised brow look, Granny took the book from under my tiny hands and examined my handiwork... a series of multicolor circles with the letters S-H-I-T written across the page in black letters. Exasperated, she asked. “Where did you learn to spell this word?” I hadn’t “met” my imaginary friend / twin brother Timmy yet so, searching for a scapegoat, I quickly blamed it on my Aunt Susan. (Sorry, Sue... OK I’m not sorry.) Anyway, Love you, Granny! Here’s hoping you approve of all of my later work. I hope I’ve made you proud. XOXO
Rest In Peace Larry King (1933 - 2021)
For years, Larry King Live was appointment television for me. I was often amazed at the array of guests from the news and entertainment multiverse that he attracted to his desk in front of that Lite Brite-esque backdrop. His keen journalistic talents included an ability to connect to personalities that were larger than life and a gift for presenting them on a naturalistic scale without diminishing their largesse or dignity. Larry had a way of relating to artists that were often enigmatic, misunderstood or misinterpreted and spoke to them as respected equals. Two of my favorite interviews of his remain the ones he did with
Madonna
and Prince
in 1999. His interview footage smartly contained enough “two shots” to equalize the host and guest and “one shots” to humanize that guest as they spoke their mind and took questions from callers. Thank you, Mr. King, for bringing us closer to all of these cultural icons or (at very least) bringing them into our homes for an hour.