October 30, 2009

It’s a bit cloudy and a bit sunny but definitely warm here in Cleveland today, where I had lunch with Peter Cherneff’s childhood friend Jane Glaubinger, curator of prints at the Cleveland Art Museum. She’s a lovely lady who’s leaving for NYC tomorrow, partly for a 45-year high school reunion (which Peter isn’t attending) and partly for work-related matters. Jane did her graduate work in art history at Case Western Reserve, started working at the Cleveland Art Museum and has never left. She’s smart, welcoming, and we had a fun lunch. Thanks, Peter.

Jane walked me over to the museum, where she went back to work and I toured the 19th and 20th century galleries. The museum has been undergoing extensive renovations for the last few years, and will continue to do so for another three or four years. The original building is one of those massive early 20th century Beaux Arts structures, with a 1960’s Marcel Breuer addition. This renovation involves two modern links connecting the two older buildings.

Jane pointed out a Frank Gehry building across the street from Glidden House, where I’m staying, on the Case Western Reserve campus. It’s interesting but seems way too large for its setting.

This afternoon I had high hopes of visiting Tremont, a newly regentrified neighborhood that gets a lot of press. But the dreaded Garmin interfered by not working, sending me into paroxysms of frustration. I spent a long time on hold with the Garmin people, and don’t think they began to answer my questions. I’m upset enough about getting hopelessly lost without good direction that I thought about coming home early, but then decided not to be a wuss about it. Stay tuned.

The concierge here at the Glidden House is an actor with the Wake Up and Lives theatre company. I know this because when I asked him if there was a DVD player in house, he wondered why I needed one. So I showed him the DVD of “Rock the Boat” that Bobby Houston gave me. James McGilbray, the actor-concierge, was very interested in the story of the DVD, and told me to tell Bobby that he’d be happy to interview him on his radio show if Bobby comes to Cleveland. Imagine that.

The DVD doesn’t work in my computer, or maybe it does but I don’t know how to do it. Like the damned Garmin. I think I’m a threat to anything electronic. And the stock market had a hissy fit today.