REHEARSALIZING

New traveling band members here in the studio for rehearsal this week. We're on our way to North Carolina (Wilmington) for the WE Fest later this week.

Please say hello to Austin Owen:
Notice the flower attached to his headstock. Nice touch, Austin.

The very photogenic Jake Geesling:
We had a fine day woodshedding all the parts. These are kind and talented folks. I'm glad to have them along.

HAPPY NEEDLES

I just got a wonderful package full of these needle books. I'm going to use the needles to make nests for my yarn tree. I didn't realize I was getting these beautiful little old-fashioned folders complete with antique-y threader and bright foil backings.

Here's the front:

I just had this kooky idea that the first person to subscribe to my band-new RSS feed (I'm putting that in today) will be able to receive one in the mail from yours truly. If you are someone who is a non-sewer or a masculine type who won't admit to being a sewer, I'll send you something else that you'll like.

Leave me a message if you've subscribed and I'll send it on over.

I'm going to have a hard time disemboweling these. I love them too much.

HI I'M ANNIE

Hi I’m Annie Quick, and this is my blog, in case you hadn’t guessed.

I started this blog to chronicle the making of a kooky installation about Central Park, which I’m set to take around the country with my band this fall. The installation is really interactive and fun and will hopefully remind you of Dr. Seuss. It is also educational—it teaches where cupcakes come from. I also shot a movie in Central Park last summer, which I’m editing, in a behind-schedule sort of a way. The blog’s about that too.

It’s also a blog about Central Park in general, as I live two blocks north of it and am inside of it almost every day. I love Central Park. I like the idea that nature exists so close to my ghetto home. I’m originally from the Redwood Forest, and never would have considered myself a city girl, but twelve years later, I’m a convert. That being said, my nature girl heart is excited by the giant salad bowl that is CP. I guess it’s time to mention that the idea of parks in general makes me overjoyed. That you can make up nature is just so darn appealing. That raccoons live on 81st street is even more so. In this blog I’m prone to telling you everything I see in CP, what’s blooming, what’s falling, what’s flying, what’s crawling around in there.

When (as is scheduled) I’m gone for prolonged periods, I’ll likely tell you what’s going on in the natural world and in the parks wherever I am.

Here are a few tidbits about me personally, in case you’re interested:

1. I’m a musician by training and sometimes by trade. Right now I have a semi steady gig making Spanish language instructional videos for Yabla.com. I’m a filmmaker and a maker of objects d’art and illustrations sometimes I also do these things for money. When people ask me what I do for a living I pick the thing I’ve been doing that day. At the moment I don’t have a life sucking uncreative day job, like I’ve endured in the past, but at any moment I may. I’ve had a billion jobs including but not limited to:

Ambulance Driver
Gardener
Writer of Articles about New Drugs
Rachael Ray Worker Bee
Someone who Dresses Like Laura Ingalls for TV Land
Deli Meat Specialist
Assistant to Two Men Named Greg
Hair Model (kept me fed one summer—I ain’t proud)
TV Promo Music Writer
Horse Mascot Costume Wearer
Interviewer of Mimes
Security Guard (complete with polyester CHiPs costume!)

2. I got married when I was a kid, and am still married to Jad who likes cats and does Flash Animation for a living. Jad’s shy and kind and funny. He used to play bass in many of my bands, but one day decided to give up the life in favor of growing up. He’s an excellent example of a productive adult and I hope to be like him one day.

2. I like flowers, trees, shrubberies, hills, mountains, lakes, oceans and most animals. I like reading children’s books where animals wear clothes or otherwise engage in human behavior like having tea or ice-skating. I secretly believe that animals can talk, but only wish to do so when there are no humans present. One day I hope to catch an animal red handed.

4. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I thought I wanted to be a musician, but I really like doing all kinds of other stuff, including (at times) nothing. Drawing is my new passion. I’d be happy doing everything.

3. I have a band—doesn’t everyone? The only reason I mention this is because I’ve actually spent a good part of my adulthood in a van with said band, so it must be part of any biographical details. And because right now I’m getting ready to get back in the van with the band, my giant, collapsible Central Park Installation, my Movie and a toothbrush. You see how it all comes around? When that happens, the blog will be about the band and where we go and what we see.


I’m sure there are other things to mention here, but at the moment I’m all out of autobiographical steam. You’ll have to read the blog.


XO
AQ

P.S. Please feel free to email me at annie at teamsuperteam dot com. I'd love to hear from you.

WILD CENTRAL PARK

Last night I was walking home and saw this guy. He was trying to leave the yard at the Museum of Natural History and cross the road to get to CP. He almost got hit by a car on Central Park West in one attempt.

He was a cute little guy, and stood up on his hind legs a couple times, obligingly, so I could take his picture:

I love how it looks like he's wearing pants. And his little hands are nice too. All he needs is a backpack to look like he's nonchalantly walking to subway. Maybe he keeps his Metrocard in a hidden pocket in those pants.

Here's one more dark photo of Mr. Raccoon Pants' epic journey:

I hope he made it across the street.

WEEKLY BLOOM: PERFECT SPRING

This is a perfect Spring. By that I mean perfect conditions for growing. Everything is large and full of color. All our city plants look positively corn-fed. I'm not sure what combination of conditions have brought this about, but I'm using my crappy point and shoot to get it all down. One day I'll get an SLR and my selective focus will be better selected, if you know what I mean.

Here's a short list of what's currently blooming:
Forget me nots (above).

Lilacs:
These are in Central Park's Conservatory garden which is ringed by very old lilac bushes of all different colors. It smells good in there.

Tulips:
Tulips are just over their prime. They had a gorgeous season this year.

Whatever this is:
This white flowering shrub is in CP's Conservatory Garden.

Other blooming things:
Asian Dogwood
White Azaleas
Bluebells
Wisteria (just starting)
So many other things, I can't count.

Things past their prime:
apple blossoms
cherry blossoms
regular dogwood
daffodils and other early spring bulbs

Blooming in my house: The yarn tree. Getting bigger but still miles to go:

WEEKLY BLOOM: TULIPS

I wonder if NYC has some sort of an account with Holland. Every year the Conservatory Garden, Broadway and Park Avenue have many hundreds of the same color tulips. It's actually more like thousands or millions of them. This year many are this weird purple-black color, like photograph of red tulips with the blacks turned WAY up.

But, back to Holland. Do you suppose that the people at XYZ Holland grower are like, "Boys, no matter what, we have to keep the NYC account; wear the wooden shoes if you have to." Twelve million bulbs a year have probably paid for all their kids college tuitions and the ground breaking for that bulb museum Grandpa Vandersloot always dreamed about.

I really have no idea. I'm just thinking that whomever sends us the bulbs is doing brisk business.

I also know that I'm going to be picking up a few of these girls when they take them outta the ground at the end of the summer. You can have them for free, I'm told, on a certain mysterious unannounced day, if you happen to be walking by.

INSALLATION INSPIRATION

I went out to Willamsburg last night for a friend-of-a-friends curated show last night. The friend-of-a-friend had a piece in there that I loved. Sort of an upside-down frosted vinyl tent with tubes that went out to fans on the window. Very shiny and smooth and warm-looking. I found myself wanting to lick it, but I've heard that that kind of behavior is frowned on by fancy society.

There were a few snow globes that I was real fond of.

A million tiny fans:

And slip covers for the Birth of Venus. I wish I had thought of this idea.

BRIDGE TO ENGINEERING

Last night I had a 1.5 hour confab with the engineer who's helping me structure, wire, animate, cut, construct and etc. His name is Bob Quick and he also doubles as my dad.

Poor guy is neglecting retirement to be in on this, and I'm really glad. He has an uncanny ability to figure out what something needs and make it so, giving me all sorts of structure and materials advice, while allowing for the design of the place.

Progress Report: Still building the Yarn Tree. Realizing I'm gonna need MANY more yarn cones.

CP Progress Report: The fruit trees are done blossoming. Tulip season is nearly over. Hydrangeas and Lilacs on the move. I'll include a Lilac picture very soon. When, oh when will scratch and sniff technology extend to photographs?

WONDERFUL THINGS

I've found some beautiful things in the process of making this project. Some are weird, some are wonderful, some are bizarrely specialized, and some are all three.

Here are just three that please me the more than the rest:

1. A site that makes customized guitar pics cheaper than any you can buy at crappy-ass Guitar Center. I'm ordering green ones with a leaf pattern to put in the pockets of my sweater tree.

2. A blog that's about cupcakes and cupcakes only.

3. A site that locates free/cheap/surplus materials for you wherever you may be.

There are many more--too many. I'll keep posting them as they strike my fancy.

A FUN NATURE LINK AND AN UPDATE

I just read about this woman who lives in a houseboat in the 79th Street Basin on the Hudson River. She is a doctor of Science Education, or some such thing. Anyway, she wrote a book called "Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City". I'm ordering it before I leave this chair. I've been waiting my whole life for a book like this.

Here's a link to an article in the NY Times nature blog where she asks readers questions about NYC nature. It has three parts and starts here. Did you know there are hawks living in Central Park?

Here's an update on progress with the Yarn Tree. I got a ladder and have begun to affix the chicken wire and yarn cones to it. Here's me sewing the top part on:

And here's the foot of progress I made on it over the course of the day:

PROGRESS

Progress report on the Yarn Tree Pinacea Filimentus Domesticus


Here is the tippy-top of the tree. It'll sit right on the top of a ladder. Tomorrow the ladder will arrive and I'll start work on the rest of it. Still not sure if my hundreds of yarn cones are enough, and I'm a bit pins-and-needles about it.

NOTE: They're not only my yarn cones. My mom and my niece made some too, which is helpful because one can only knit so many hours per week before one's hands start to bleed. My mom's hands are probably bleeding too. Sorry mom.

WEEKLY BLOOM: PINK SPRING SNOW

This is Betty, the tree that lives in front of my house. I'm not sure what type she is--not a cherry or apple, but something with blossoms kinda like one of those trees. Anyway, she bears no fruit, ornamental or otherwise, so she's just pretty for the fun of it, which I appreciate.

This spring all the trees/flowers/etc seem like they're on steriods, and Betty is no exception. Here she's dropping her petals all over the place and I feel like I'm in some sort of cartoon wedding when I descend my stairs. Who knew that walking to the subway could make you feel like a Disney princess? Too bad I don't have one of those pouffy dresses.


I was sad that I didn't take a picture of Daffodil Season because it was mindbogglingly amazing. It was almost too much. I wanted to tell them all to turn down the volume, we get it!

I don't really mean that; if you're a daffodil you can shout as loud as you want. It's the prerogative of the truly yellow.

Anyway, to make up for the lack of daffodil pix I took about 87 of old Betty here. We moved to the neighborhood on the same weekend. Didn't she grow up nice? Here's a pic of her petals on the sidewalk.

A WEE DOC ABOUT THE PROJECT

Special thanks to John Kenower for the concert footage in this doc.

THE WHOLE THING

CLICK ON PICK TO ENLARGE

Here's a sketch of the entire experience. Central Park in a gallery. Fun for the whole family, if your family happens to enjoy rocks made of Rice Krispies, interactive forests, crows that fly as fast as you pedal, and indoor lawns.

OUR GIANT PASTEL COUNTRY

This is the giant pastel USA that's on my wall. I've been consulting it regularly, along with Margo (from our label Organic) to see what our routing is for the Fall tour. One shining fact has emerged from our study of the pleasingly pale Midwest: distances are long.

But I already knew that. In 2005 I was driving from Lincoln, NE to Jefferson City, MO and I happened to leave my wallet at a truck stop just outside of Lincoln. I don't have to tell you that we were hours down the road before I realized it. But some nice lady from the Sheetz or Flying J or whatever it was mailed me my wallet so that I could fly on home from Chicago when the tour was over. That was real nice. I was going to remember her name, but I suck.

REST IN PEACE, DOODIE 1996-2008

Pardon the off-topic nature of this post. I'm too sad to think about anything else right now. Doodie was my cat for twelve years and now he's gone. His kidneys failed, and we had to make that awful decision to put him down. Of course we could have paid $2000 to keep him alive a while longer and then give him shots every day, but geesch--we're just not the kind of people who can make that happen, though I wish we were.

I went in while they administered the fatal barbiturate. It was awful. He died with his eyes open. I wish I could have just dropped him off, but then I would have been tortured about it. I didn't want him to have to wait around at the vet before he got axed. He would have been lonely, and in an unfamiliar environment. He already had motion sickness because of the cab ride to the vet. Poor little guy.

Doodie was a very good pet. He was extremely cuddly, playful, moderately stupid in a pleasant way, had good hygiene, smelled great and was very, very soft. One thing I really admired about Doodie was that he was never afraid of new situations. All the vets loved him because of this--he was very chill for examinations. But he would bite you if you touched his belly; he had boundaries.

Jad was his best friend and they played and cuddled every day. I almost can't imagine Jad at home without Doodie. The man and his cat were a pair. I'm sure Jad's gonna miss him a lot more than I will.

DIORAMAS

Here are the four dioramas I made to put into our chests in the promo photo. They are supposed to be like the shoebox dioramas you make in grade school when say, you have a report about a state--perhaps you put the Virginia state bird and the state slogan and the state flag all in your box--layers of A+ meaning!

I think I actually did do a report about the state of Virginia in 5th grade. I think I also made a diorama. I don't think I got an A+, though, which figures, because I don't remember the state bird or the state motto.

Here' s the little birdhouse in your soul:

And here's a garden of flowers made of teabag envelopes:


Here is a stately yarn tree for your solarplexus:


And this one is full of label leaves, but I'm going to have to redo it because it doesn't photograph well. In person it's my favorite one. You'll just have to trust me on that one.
We're sinking them into our chests (see last posts). I hope it works. Fingers crossed.

DIORAMA REAL PIC

Here's the real pic we're going to use for the publicity for the installation/record. I'm making dioramas this weekend that will magically be sunk into our bellies by Photoshop.

Corey Hayes took this photo. He's a mensch, as well as a great photographer. He had a lot of good ideas, including building me a campfire:
I have to say that that morning, while it doesn't look it, was COLD. I can't remember ever being so cold. I couldn't feel my feet for two hours after we finally came inside. If only our Central Park photo permit allowed us open fires, we would have lit that thing, i'm telling you.

Which brings me to rope jumping, a warm reindeer game that i am apparently sad to be left out of:

Dioramas posted tomorrow!

DIORAMA PICS

I went out on Thursday with Corey Hayes who is going to take our pics for the record/tour/promo/etc. We had a lovely walk around Central Park, scouting locations, chatting, and watching a hawk attack a squirrel. The squirrel didn't get eaten, but it was real close.

We came up with this location--103 and 8th Ave...I think this is the winner. Of course, only I'm in the test shot. I the real thing they'll be four of us. We'll take the pic as is and then I'll sink cardboard dioramas into our bellys. The diaramas will have very bright colors.

The idea is that the color comes from the sky and the grass (which I will colorize), we'll wear grayish colors and the dioramas in our bellies will also be bright. I'm going to try to suggest the shape of CP with the box too--as though we're all maps of Manhattan and the park is inside us--get it?

YARN CONES EVERYWHERE

Because of a newly imposed deadline for at least one of the bigger pieces (we need something to take pictures of, no?) I've stepped up my production of yarn cones. They now cover nearly every surface of my home, and I have a couple hundred more to go!

I've sent my mom some yarn to help. I hope she can do a handful too. If anyone wants to help I have easy instructions and will ship yarn.