We Love You, Cleveland!

Greyhound bus at sunset.

Seriously. We got off at Port Authority in NYC the first day and walked around for two hours, stopping for greasy spoon breakfast with our suitcases and cooler! I also had a huge suitcase. I am sure people hated us and we looked like complete hicks! This photo is Stagg lined up to get home to Chicago again, in the Port Authority...little did he know when I took this pic we would have a 30 hour delay and take a detour. Basically we landed up havng a great extra holiday in our holiday! (check out Stagg's "Guggie" T-shirt)


We had awesome pizza one night and were beat so just ate and watched tv. I had eggplant and garlic on my pizza Stagg had brocoli on his pizza primavera. Very good pizza!

The Future Is Unwritten. Oh I love Joe Strummer! In the movie called The Future Is Unwritten Strummer stands right here too. A must see movie.

The Guggie was being renovated.

I love hotel rooms. I would love to live in a hotel. We had awesome luck with hotels during our trip. In New York we even had a special deal with product placement because I was doing interviews for my doc. I would wake up early before Stagg to get coffee and wander around our neighbourhood, and then go back to our room to watch Regis and Kelly. We had a fairly rollercoaster kind of days because sometimes we were super busy running around to interview someone. And then sometimes laid back we just poked through the lower east side or galleries. A really awesome time. I kind of felt like we lived in NY. As you can see we just kind of flopped when we got back to the room. I just permanently leave a "Do Not Disturb" sign when I stay at a hotel because I like to just crash. Then I do a major clean up and bus all the sheets and towels because I feel bad for how hard housekeeping works in hotels. Both Stagg and I feel like we really got refreshed and inspired in NYC.



Can you imagine how inviting this lobby and sitting area in our Cleveland hotel was after a tough bus ride? We stayed at the Renaissance and they totally babied us. Our bus was hours late and when we finally got on the bus to leave Cleveland and connect to other routes, the driver turned around because something weas wrong with our bus. That is when Stagg said forge it it. We got a hotel and slept for a few hours. I was joking that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should have hours like, 12 noon to midnight. As it turned out, on Wednesdays the museum is open till 9p.m. Perfect! We slept then went and toured the place and had coffee on their deck which overlooks Lake Erie and a skae park. Wonderful. We were having breakfast at Rock and Roll mecca at 6p.m.. How rock and roll is that?!

Me outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. See, it's a pyramid, like P{ink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. What a col museum. We especially loved the costumes from Bootsy Collins, David Bowie's Scary Monsters, Jimi Hendrix's clothing, U2 suits and the hand made and painted shirts from Mick Jones and Joe Strummer of the Clash and several of Madonna's clothes from concerts. Jimi Hendrix's father had also kept many of his sons drawings from grade school and they were very cool to see. Touching. He drew football players and many other subjects. We got choked up.

ART IS BACK! What a sign! Stagg in Cleveland...we went to a couple of galleries in Cleveland. One was the Institute of Art. It was filled with objects that rich peple make. I can only handl so many gold perfume and chotcke holders. But I did like the Frederick Church painting, a Turner, Caravagio, and Albert Pinkham Ryder...(death riding a horse with a sythe...cool!)

We went to The Contemporary Museum of Art too. I found an artist who I really fell in love with...

Jean Luc Mylayne...as soon as we walked into the rooms with these photos...I was curious. They looked like birding photos only huge and in weird locations. I also thought...I think he has set up the camera and waited for the birds to enter the shot rather than seeking after the birds like birdwatcher photos tend to be. It was true. The artist Mylayne sets up and spends sometimes weeks at a special location or "set" and waits for the birds to "join the game" the artist feels the birds are "complicit in the game". The artist is commited to a life outside the fast paced contemporary speed we live in and that his work is about philosophy and being outside. They were extremely thoughtful, charming and poetic huge photos. He also insists that his ar is shown "outside cultural centers" they must not be cultural centers where people expect to see art quickly. Very interesting.