Airborne

Flying back today and should be back in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County later tonite.

The Thursday Reviews

Dawson returns to two of her favorite galleries and reviews Numark Gallery and Irvine Contemporary in today's WaPo:

There's one question that leaps to mind upon seeing "The Motley Tails," Sharon Louden's quirky extravagance of an installation at Numark: Exactly how many My Little Ponies died for this?

That is funny and I for one applaud humor in "Galleries" once in a while.

In the WCP, Jeffry Cudlin reviews Billy Colbert at Pyramid Atlantic while Louis Jacobson reviews Robert Olsen and Jitka Hanzlova at G Fine Art.

And at grammar.police, Kriston reviews Kelly Towles at Adamson.

And my ArtsMedia News TV review of the Arlington Arts Center reopening aired tonight at 8:30PM on MHZ Networks.

SPACE Opening this Saturday

The concept store Space in Georgetown in one of the alternative art venues in our area, and this coming Saturday, they will host an opening by three artists curated by Rody Douzoglou. The show, titled Chill, will feature recent works by Amalia Caputo, Marc Roman and one of the most talented young DC area painters that I know: Rachel Waldron.

Space is located at 1625 Wisconsin Ave, NW in Georgetown, and the opening is Saturday, February 5, 2005 at 7 PM and runs until March 6, 2005. For more information, call 301.980.9574 or visit this website.

And don't forget the First Friday openings!

Tuesday Gallery Walkthrough

Starting last week, DCist commenced a Tuesday Arts Agenda, which consists of a regular Tuesday posting of galleries and museums events. See the most recent one here.

A ship, a radio and a sigh...

Today was a brilliant day in San Diego. Bright, almost pure white sunshine like only seems to exist in Southern California and Andalusia.

I caught the spectacular sight of USS Carl Vinson (from the great vantage point of Point Loma) as that huge carrier got underway, with the Air Wing already embarked, which is unusual, since they usually fly onto the carrier after it is a few miles out to sea. Hundreds of small sail boats crowded the bay, saying farewell to the ship (and making the job of the Officer of the Deck twice as hard as he or she has to steer a floating airport gingerly and avoid the hundreds of well-wishers).

But what really struck me today, was that as I was driving around, the local NPR radio station had a gallery and museum walk-though! And this is in a town where at best there are half a dozen good art galleries and a couple of good museums!

I don't know if this is a regular feature or not here, since it is apparently "museum month" in San Diego, but I thought to myself: wouldn't it be nice if some of our local NPR outlets (there are several that cover the DC area) had regular gallery walk-thoughs on the air, just to let their listeners know that art galleries do exist in Washington?

Just to let people know that we have well over 100 fine art galleries, museums, non profits and other art venues around our area.

Wishful thinking...

Mexican Food

The last time that I was in San Diego I found a small mom & pop place to eat Mexican food that was incredible. But I wanted to give it a second visit before I revealed my newly discovered secret, and thus tonight, after I arrived in San Diego, I had dinner there.

It is a very small space inside Midway Plaza, right on Midway and about a block from Pacers. A small kitchen where a husband and wife cook, while the daughter tends the food and the drinks, and in between customers helps her little sister with her homework.

And the food is spectacular! And obviously San Diegans are discovering this little spot, as while I was there, a constant flood of people filed through the place.

Why? For one thing, they make three or four different kinds of mole, including a poblano mole that takes 30 ingredients to make! On the menu tonight were two kinds of soup: Menudo (I pass) and a spicy Mexican Steak Soup with vegetables that was divine. The previous time that I was here, they had Albondigas Soup, which was terrific.

But the mole is what makes this place special.

I then had lamb cooked in a mole BBQ sauce, plus a real tender Carnitas pork in a green mole sauce, chicken in a blackened chocolate mole sauce, plus all the fixings for less than $10, and a pint of draft beer is a buck and a half.

The name of the place: Ortega's located at 3445 Midway Drive #D, San Diego, CA 92110, Tel: 619-224-4394

Airborne

Flying to the Left Coast today. On the way there I'll be reading Gerardo Arenado's Cada Quien Con Su Destino.