PHXations, January 13, 2010
In 1992 much of the art world was surprised to learn of one of the major art bequests of the time, from a couple most people had never heard of. A New York couple—she a librarian, he a postal clerk—had spent decades assembling what turns out to be an important collection of modern art, all in a tiny apartment they shared with a menagerie of animals.
The couple’s odd life is told in the film Herb & Dorothy, which is showing at the Phoenix Art Museum under the auspices of Contemporary Forum today at 4 p.m. It’s free. Details on the showing here. NYT story on the pair here. Trailer for the film here.
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Scott Andrews, at Hearsight, has a conversation with Jen Urso about her work “White Space,” which she has chronicled on her web site here.
Parts of it will be up at the A.E. England Gallery (that’s the building on Civic Space Park, next to the jellyfish sculpture on Central) for the next month. The opening is Friday, part of Third Friday.
The project is centered around a walk Urso took through central Pennsylvania, tracking a journey her family made when she was growing up. From the interview:
I noticed that the Schuylkill River [pronounced skoo-kull] was almost a direct route from the town I lived in as a kid—Reading and Sinking Spring—to the town where I spent my adolescence, Lansdale.
I imagined that I could have floated down river from Reading and ended up in Lansdale. It seemed like such a basic journey, but it was actually very complex. You start out as this innocent, hopeful kid and then things happen that damage and change you—affecting the rest of your life. I went back because I wanted to see things new again. I thought the best way to do it was to travel that distance in a way that I could notice the most detail—walking. It’s slow and almost tedious, but eventually you get there
10:52 PM
John and Cindy's very continental relationship
Little noticed in all of the Hillary Clinton-Sarah Palin-Harry Reid hullabaloo surrounding the publication of the book Game Change are some tidbits about John McCain’s home life.
The book is the story of the 2008 presidential campaign, done via a raft of off-the-record interviews by reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. (It lacks notes, too, reviewers say.)
Here’s a passage from the review of the book in today’s NYT that probably has the McCains’ neighbors at 24th and Camelback talking:
Mr. Halperin and Mr. Heilemann write, for instance, that the strategist John Weaver suspected the rumor Cindy McCain had a “long-term boyfriend” in Arizona “was rooted in truth,” and that the McCains “fought in front of others, during small meetings and before large events, to the amazement and discomfort of the staff.” The authors say that Mrs. McCain accused the senator of ruining her life, that she never wanted him to run again for president, and that “when it came time to film campaign videos of the couple, the camera crews had to roll for hours to capture a few minutes of warmth.”
10:57 PM
John Shadegg retiring
Dan Nowicki reports in the AZ Republic:
“While representing the people of Arizona in the House was one of my goals in life, it is not the only one,” Shadegg said in a written statement. “After 16 years it is time for me to take my life in a new direction and to pursue my commitment to fight for freedom in a different venue.”
Shadegg and national Republicans immediately signaled that they believe they can continue to hold Shadegg’s 3rd Congressional District, which leans toward the GOP. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., carried the Phoenix-based district over President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
McCain did carry it, by about 56.5 percent, about two and a half points better than Shadegg. The spread would seem to represent McCain’s Favorite Son vote. Shadegg’s opponent, Bob Lord, had some national Democratic money support, particularly late in the race, but he was palpably inexperienced and something less than a known quantity.
Assuming the Democrats can find a serious candidate, that and the ineluctable bluing of the state would seem to put at least another five percentage points into play, making the seat at the very least competitive. Arguing against it is the national mood, which bears some signs of trending against the Democrats, particularly since the last jobs figures weren’t an improvement.
Nowicki:
So far one Democrat, Jon Hulburd, had announced his intention to challenge Shadegg. A Democratic source tells AZ/DC that Hulburd raised $315,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009. News that Shadegg is not running no doubt will launch a feeding frenzy among possible Republican candidates.
Shadegg’s father, the late Stephen Shadegg, was a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and a longtime confidant and campaign strategist of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz.
Hulburd’s web site is here. Not much about him. The Swing State Project calls him a “lawyer, businessman, would-be-novelist, and former Gary Hart staffer.”
7:00 AM