Jun 14 2009
The road continues with a stop at the museum….
I sat and wrote for a few hours Thursday before donning my flip flops and heading out for a walk. It was nice to sit at a table and write with a cup of coffee without having to kayak to shore and walk there first. I walked around their complex before venturing out farther, I found myself at Chipotle for lunch. Burrito Bol and Diet Coke.
After the Almighty Webmaster made it home from work we had dinner. Dinner Thursday night was brought to you by Anna’s Pizza. Absolutely the best pizza I’ve had outside of Chicago. Hand tossed crust, sauce wasn’t too acidic, tons of fresh cheese, well cooked sliced meatballs, sweet onions, and to top it all off the freshest pepperoni I’ve had. After dinner the Master Chemist went to bed and the Webmaster worked on several different PC’s he was returning to people in the Carolinas Friday.
Now, most of you know I am computer illiterate, I have enough trouble installing software, but I learned a few things that night. I sat and watched the webmaster take apart the case of one and go to work on it. Replacing RAM, switching Ethernet cards and swapping hard drives. I watched, learned, and laughed as he cussed at the PC’s more than a few times. One thing I learned was the importance of cleaning your computer every once and awhile, dust builds up inside the fan and covers the boards and hard drive with a layer of the nastiest looking crap you can imagine, “I don’t mind working on these things for free for people when something happens, but when something happens because the computer fries because its filthy Damn, it is just F*n ridiculous”. That’s right, he works ten hours a day, has a two and a half hour commute, plays with his son as soon as he gets home, is a loving husband to his wife, and still finds time to do things for people never asking anything in return. Are you starting to see why I call him The Almighty Webmaster?
He worked on four different computers that night, making mental notes to himself on what he needs to get to fix each one. We went out and smoked the last cigarette of the night at 0245. They were planning on getting on the road by 0800. We smoked and talked, running the timeline of everything he had to do Friday. “If we get out of here by 0900 or 0930 we should be okay time wise.”
Everyone was up and ready by 0800, except the webmaster. He headed for the shower and as I went back and forth getting the Master Chemists car loaded, I hear Axel Rose singing a cappella from the bathroom. We hit the road at 0945. For the next 300 miles we talked, laughed and heard about Candarian Demons and Bit- Part Demons. The Young Gunslinger slept for a lot of the ride and when he was awake he laughed and talked to his reflection, my friends have a happy baby.
We arrived at The Webmaster’s folks house around 1430, stretched our legs, had a beer and unloaded the car. The Eloquent Artist, the Godfather, of The Young Gunslinger arrived from his mountain home he and The Almighty Webmaster are going to see NIN tonight. I have heard much about The Eloquent Artist, having read many things this talented man had wrote I was happy to finally meet this writer and painter. After a visit with his mother we headed to the Schiele Museum to see the mural his father, The Artist Jim Hackney, just finished and visit with him. The mural my friends was awesome! Standing at the beginning looking down the wall before you start walking through the exhibit, the waves breaking on the beach gives you the impression you are actually standing next to the sand castle.
Starting at the sand castle and working its way along a beach with waves crashing on it as you walk through the Ocean Exhibit, sea shells that look three dimensional laying on grains of sand, on down the huge wall of beach until you get to the last three panels. As impressive as it all is, these last three panels are an explosion of underwater life. An anchor buried in the sea bed with a stingray swimming by it, a giant shark in the foreground with five sharks in the distance, framing the bottom are life like butterfly fish (my favorite), starfish, lobster, sea urchins, coral, clown fish and other species. The colors he used made the fish and sponges pop off the wall like you were under the water looking at it as you swam.
Along the other wall were displays of fish tanks with a wide variety of aquatic life from Lion fish to Sea Horses. These displays were set in a wall made to look like an old beach bait shop. At the end of this display, Mr. Hackney painted the wall to look like the rest of the bait shop standing on the beach. The detail in the murals were unbelievable, the window had the reflections of the pier, water and clouds like you were looking at glass, the stilts of the building looked just as real.
The attention to detail this man put in this museum mural was amazing. As I looked at the mural, I thought about the detail in Nighthawks, you know the one, the phillies diner by Edward Hopper. The detail that Hopper put in that one (the shop window across from the diner, the salt and pepper shakers on the counter, the shading of the walls). The detail Mr. Hackney puts in his work is the same. He took us around the museum and showed us some more of his work as well as that of the other artists working there. Hopefully if you live in the Carolinas you can find the time to stop and see it, it is well worth the price of admission.
After walking through the Ocean exhibit again, The Webmaster says “Wanna go smoke?”. On the way to the front my phone rang…..
The Decorous Infernos Campana had arrived………
For more information on The Schiele Museum of Natural History , The Ocean Exhibit , and the mural Mr. Hackney painted please visit: www.schielemuseum.org or if you are close by take a trip to it at 1500 East Garrison Blvd.
Gastonia, NC 28054 P 704-866-6900
A website displaying the other works by Mr. Hackney is planned and I will be posting that information as soon as its made available.
