Maximum Go in the Resulting Hogshead

Friday, August 26, 2005

Email from the Arizona Commision on the Arts (I may be all California now, but I know a few of you are still Arizonans)

Dear Artist,

We want to encourage you to have a look at some of the grant opportunities that are currently listing on our website at www.ArizonaArts.org.

ARTISTS PROJECTS GRANTS - Artists in the performing arts, visual arts, and literature, may be awarded up to $5,000 toward beginning or completing work. Please visit our Artists Projects Grants page and download your application at www.ArizonaArts.org/artists/aguide/artist_projects.htm. If you are considering writing an Artists Project grant for the first time, we highly recommend that you call and discuss your project idea with the respective program director - artists who have done this in the past have experienced greater success. Artists also are welcome to stop by our office (at 417 W. Roosevelt, on the southeast corner of 5th Avenue & Roosevelt) to look over past winning applications. We will photocopy, free of charge, any applications you care to take home to study further. Appointments are not required. The deadline for submission is SEPTEMBER 15, 2005.

FOLK ARTS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM - This program is a new pilot program in Arizona that supports folk master artists and apprentices working and studying together. Details about this new program can be found on the ACA Folk Arts page at www.ArizonaArts.org/folkarts. Up to four awards will be made this year. This year's theme is Mexican Folk Art. Funding will be given for: Up to $500 for supplies and materials necessary to the completion of the apprenticeship; $1,500 Honorarium for the Master Artist; $500 Honorarium for the Apprentice. The deadline for submissions to the Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program is SEPTEMBER 15, 2005.

RESIDENCY ROSTER - The Commission is now accepting new applications for the Arizona Arts Roster for artists in the following disciplines: Architecture/Design; Folk Arts; Visual, Music Performance/Composition; Theatre Performance/Playwriting/Directing; and Visual Arts/Curating/Media Arts. The deadline date for online applications is SEPTEMBER 15, 2005. Interested artists must apply online on the Commission website at www.ArizonaArts.org/artists/aguide/residency_roster.htm.

For Artists interested in advancing their careers, please visit our new ARTIST CAREER ADVANCEMENT GRANTS webpage at http://www.arizonaarts.org/artists/career_advancement.htm. Subject to approval, Artist Career Advancement grants are awarded up to $750. When possible, requests will be funded at the full amount. The intent of these grants is to support producing, presenting or educational opportunities for which artists can make a compelling case as to how the identified opportunity will substantially impact their career. Applications are now being accepted, 2005. Proposed activities must conclude no later that June 30, 2006. Applications are accepted until grant funds are expended ($5,000 for 2005-2006). As this is a new program and still in development, it is recommended that you submit your application early - even if your project will take place later in the year.

We hope that you will take advantage of our grants programs. Should you have any questions regarding these opportunities, contact the Program Director in your field.

Gregory Sales
Visual Arts Director
602.229.8230

Claire West
Performing Arts Director
602.229.8231

Mitch Menchaca
Locals & Extension Arts Director
602.229.8229

Chris Burawa
Literature Director
602.229.8226

Mandy Tripoli-Buscas
Arts Learning Program Director
602.229.8225

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Who knew?

Apparently September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

It's also the last day to file for California residency to be considered a resident for tuition purposes in the Fall quarter. Just a little note to myself there.

Yarrr.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

It's in the air

The New York Times' Summer Cook made a peach dish similar to the one I described a few posts back in her toaster oven. Of course, she didn't have the cinnamon and cayenne pepper ice cream, which now seems key to this dessert. Check out what a friend and former philosophy professor of mine who happens to be something of a gourmet chef and a dessert aficionado had to say about Peaches En Regalia (I'm sticking with that name, hopefully the Zappa family will see it as the tribute it is):

It sounds to be an interesting variant on the classic peche cardinale: Poached peach halves with brilliant red raspberry sauce. Whipped cream or ice cream is often included, as is a liquer. Your version with blackberries and port would look darker and more mysterious, but the interesting innovation is the cinnamon and (especially) the cayenne. It is also good that it is in the ice cream as the cream smoothes out the sharpness of the pepper. Play around with the spice/pepper as there is much unexplored territory there. Also, much will depend on obtaining wonderful peaches. They are virtually unknown in Arizona.

So sorry, Arizonans. Looks like you will have trouble with this one. And probably so will I once I have returned to the West Coast. But for now, here in the Midatlantic, and I imagine in the South as well, the peaches -- especially the white peaches -- are sweet, soft, wet and delicious.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Rethinking the Piano Man

You know, maybe it's just me, some short circuit somewhere in my brain, but I find this story more interesting now that I know it's a hoax -- or at least not what it was built into for the last couple months. It's much more interesting than Shine now that the wolf has blown the house down.

It reminds me of a movie -- I don't remember the title -- in which a man shows up at a seafront town wanting to commit suicide and gets the royal treatment from the town's citizens. When the man decides to go on living instead, the townspeople are disappointed that he's not living up to his end of the deal.

This piano man story is a sad reflection of our own obsession with cuteness and sentimentality. Why do we love these Forest Gump characters? What is it with us? And am I alone in thinking that it has no value whatsoever? The more interesting story is not of the it, but of why we want the it to exist in the first place.

Eh. Whatever. I guess it would just make me smile if I later learned that this lanky bastard was actually a performance artist or a grad student studying mass media.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Peaches En Regalia

That's right, it's not just an incredible Frank Zappa song anymore!

Last night, contrary to Reb's prediction, we did not in fact invent the Shindell (which was to be like a dirty martini but made with pickles and pickle juice). We're probably all better off for not having done that. And, anyway, I did something much much better.

I improvised last night and produced, I think, the best dessert I've ever made. I thought I'd let you know the specifics and if any of you recognize it -- if it sounds like anything you know of -- let me know. Maybe I could improve it with a few hints from a recipe.

I bought these delicious white peaches and a little blue box of blackberries yesterday morning at the farmers' market in Takoma Park, MD. They were really not intended to be dessert, but they wound up being my two primary ingredients. Here's what I did to them:

1. I halved the peaches and sprinkled a tiny bit of salt and raw sugar on the cut side.
2. I left the cut side up and put them under a broiler (set on low heat) for about five or six minutes.
3. Meanwhile, on the stove I melted a little more than a half-stick of butter (maybe 3/4 of a stick, who can remember).
4. Into the melted butter I mixed in about 3 teaspoons of sugar (maybe more).
5. I then put in about a dozen large blackberries and let them simmer in the butter and sugar.
6. When the sauce had turned a deep red, I pressed the blackberries with a spoon, squashed them, broke them up, and stirred them into the sauce.
7. I then added 3 or 4 tablespoons of port to the sauce.
8. When the peaches came out from under the broiler, I scooped the solid parts of the blackberries (what was left of them) into the centers of the peaches, then I drizzled the liquid sauce over the cut side of the peaches.

By a weird coincidence, and not with any plan to use it that night, we happened to have a box of this odd ice cream that was flavored with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. I put a scoop of that on the plate next to each peach, not knowing if the two would go together well. Surprisingly, they seemed to compliment each other nicely. The sweetness of the warm peach and its sauce beside the spicy flavor of the cold ice cream seemed right.

Try this recipe at your own risk. If you do, let me know what you think.

Dr Moog dies

Dr. Moog is dead.

Long live the Moog.

: Name: Matthew Shindell; Location: San Diego, California, United States

Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.

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The Poetry Postcard Project:

Stay tuned to this blog for updates on the status of the Poetry Postcard Project.

Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.

Where are my poems?

Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.

American Letters and Commentary Issue 17 - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"

American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"

Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"

FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"

Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"

Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"

Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."

The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Birdâ€™s Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"

No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.

Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"

Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"

Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."

Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"

Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"