Road Win

The Red Sox came to town last night and lost ugly: they argued calls, ran into outs, wasted a great effort by Lackey (6-4-1-1-3, 93), and managed only four hits vs Oakland's Brett Anderson who was on his game (8-4-0-1-8, 109). The Red Sox had not won a road game all year, and I did not expect to go see them, but for an e-mail form donna. Somehow she scored free tickets by posing for a picture with Stomper, the As elephant mascot.

So I took a day off and invited my neighbor David (an As fan) to join me. We got a matchup of two young guns: Gio Gonzalez and Clay Buchholz. Gio made quick work of the Sox int he top of the first (striking out JD Drew and Adrian Gonzalez). Buchholz's first pitch to Coco Crisp went over the wall at the 367 mark in right. It looked like it would be a long day.

But the 4-5-6-7 batters for the Sox put together a couple of great innings. Youk (4), Scutaro (6), and Crawford (7) all singled in the second, and the game was tied. Then Youk hit a solo shot over the left field wall in the fourth, and the Sox were up 2-1. In the sixth, after A-Gon singled, Youk struck out, and the skies opened up. Jed Lowrie (5) hit a long home run into the rain. He now leads the Sox with 11 RBIs; he's been amazing.

In the bottom of the sixth, Buchholz started to run out of steam. Ryan Sweeney doubled, then Landon Powell and Conor Jackson both walked. Bases loaded with one out. Bard came in and shut the door: he struck out Pennington, and got Coco to pop out to short.

In the seventh, JD Drew added a homer of his own, just over the glove of DeJesus in right. Bobby Jenks came in to pitch for the Sox in the eighth, and did not look sharp. He gave up a run on a walk and three singles before Papelbon closed the frame by striking out DeJesus.

The As added another in the ninth off Bot, but that was it. The As left 15 on base. A frustrating day for my friend David, but also an anxious day for me as I had to endure all those base-runners. Plus, Ellsbury struck out. Three times. All looking. How does that happen? Anyway, the Red Sox got their first road win and split the two-game set.

On How Technology Encourages Wandering and Helped Me Find "Smitten"

I was watching "The Civil War" on PBS last night cause - well, cause it's really great TV (and it's a sesquicentennial). As is my habit, I researched some relevant war factoids on my iPad as I watched, and found myself clicking into the PBS app to get a preview of the next episode. My eye caught a glimpse of a sculpture by Viola Frey in a thumbnail for another show. Posing in from of the sculpture was Rene di Rosa; the preview was for a documentary about art collecting called "Smitten".

During the episode break, I checked out the preview. What a character! The preview follows an older fellow in a green trucker cap and a spectacularly loud dinner jacket wending through a gallery opening crowd - completely out of place among the dark suits, the hors d'oeuvres, and the high heeled set. But when he starts talking about art, and his drive to collect new art, you know this guy very serious and very real.

Of course, the Museum has a large Viola Frey, a seated, female nude, at our entrance - she watches you as you buy your tickets. The other piece that I glimpsed, while watching another clip that I tracked down on YouTube, from KQED's "Quest", was the cuckoo clocks by Paul Kos, which we also have here in the Museum (look for the hammer and sickles at about the 9:17 mark). diRosa's vision, like our own vision here at the Museum, is to give voice to those artist who are really pushing the definition of art, and investigating how those "pushes" give narrative to our Californian community.

It's very easy for the staff at the Museum to take the Frey nude for granted, we walk by this material everyday as we work, but it is an amazing assemblage of contrasts - simultaneously garish and serene. Once you start thinking on it, it's kind of hard to stop. Similarly, the new Michael McMillen show, "Train of Thought", elevates the seemingly low experience of sitting in a tin shack on a rainy night, and makes you wonder at our way of making the world. You got to try it to know what I mean. The staff is particularly curious about the eponymous piece which involves several hundred pounds of dry, alphabet pasta. The McMillen show open in two weeks, but most of it is visible and working now.

The moral of the story is that like good TV, stimulating art takes work to search out and find. You got to keep wandering.

According to KQED's web site, Smitten will air Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 7:30pm, and repeat on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 1:30am. Here are a couple of choice quotes to whet your appetite:

"It occurred to me that all of the art should be shown, and it should be shown to more than just weekend party people. It should be shown to a larger population."

"Artists are wildflowers. They enhance our landscapes and sometimes free us of them."

"To hell with wall labels."

Here's a little clip from the show.
Here are some more background vids.