Dennis Hollingsworth

Weekend Report

Gerry and Paul invited me to critique their urbanism/travel abroad studio -now in Barcelona then Berlin then Paris.

In all three cities the students intutively select different aspects of the city and try to understand the historical conditions that generated them... and then they apply this new found understanding to another site which appears to be in need of improvement within the city, in this case, the Forum.

That night, we went into the Barcelona night to eat dinner at Los Caracoles and watch the eve of San Juan for the fireworks rauxa mania madness at the beaches of the Barceloneta. In short: beh. Last year in Tossa was much better (it was like a beach invasion, so intense).. in contrast, this one was weak with the fireworks, crowded and most definitely an intensification of the grime that Barcelona is already known for.

Skanky.

Think the dregs of Woodstock and you are simply not high enough yet.

(Beat, one, two, three...)

Gerry's family was in town and I invited them and Paul to go to Tossa for a proper vacation weekend by the sea. Here are a few shots of the weekend:

This is Gerry and Claudia's daughter, Natalie. I instructed her in the fine points of posing for portraits via the Tony Cu?ha method. ?Que bien, chica!

She and I hit it off so well that I declared myself her uncle. That weekend, I gave her basic training in snorkeling. She got to see a few marvels underwater here in this part of the Med.

Fast forward past the kayaking through the grottos and cliffs north of here, past the super fantastic dinner that was expensive but still a third of what you would pay for in LA, past the shopping (my first time in the tourist stores really), past the roving-yet-deep art/architecture conversations that lasted until three am... there are no fotos to document that. Wait for the future nanobot retinally implanted -thought controlled -ubiquitous computing -blog every living-moment -en vivo for that kind of detailed blogpost.

Paul went back and later, Gerry's family returned to Barcelona. I sent them back exhausted from a forced march of fun and diversion, sunburnt, heavy lidded eyes, big smiles and effusing with the slight trace of slurred speech: "You're crazy for leaving Tossa!"

No, we aren't leaving Tossa, we are living (attempting to live) both&between Tossa and LA. Plus, there are nice aspects of LA thankyouverymuch. ( A kindly reminder.) But I was pleased to hear that response nonetheless.

Besides, why do the Bodhisattvas choose to go back?

JUST KIDDING!

So there I was, having just packed my friends off on the bus to Barcelona. I get to resume my studio agenda. I got to the house and I started to put things back together again, to clean up and take a shower and wash the salt off. I set up the fan, jumped into bed and flipped open the laptop to check email... and "ding dong!", the doorbell.

It was Juan Carlos, the police chief who has taken to hanging out from time to time and hablabbing about art and life and things. That, my friends, is a blogpost to come one day. (I know I've promised alot soon to come posts, but the cup runneth over, seriously.). I described the crazy days I've had recently and Juan Carlos is cool enough to take a raincheck. He promised to come to the opening this Tuesday in BCN.

Muy bien, se?or.

I got back into bed, body radiating the heat of the sunburnt day... I flipped open the laptop... "ding dong!" It was Grada. My yankee friends are going back to the states and they wanted to introduce me to Santi, a mysterious neighbor man who plays the guitar in front of his door on the street from time to time... so fantastic. I had to go, I like Meade and Grada alot, and I wanted to meet this mysterious guy, Santi.

Well, I can't go into it... I don't have the time right now for a three hour treatment of that night with Santi, a monkish fellow who eschews all forms of technology and wants to build a cave in the woods and play music (he sang three tunes in Portugese, amazing sensibilities) in a perfect space and read and meditate in silence and astral project and all that.

Yes, astral projection.

That blogpost is gong to be goooooooooooood.

Anyways, that evening ended at three am.

The next day, I call up Kiko for lunch. Kiko got a new boat.

So did Xerlo.

We cruise out along the coast, very bouncy. A quiet engine, fast.
Onboard music system, big speakers. On deck: Bob Marley.

If you can rent a kayak for three hours, you can paddle out to a beachside restaurant that is only accessible by sea. Then you can paddle through the coves and grottos on the way back.

We zoomed up and around in no time flat.

Today, it was too crowded to moor our boat to get in, so we jet south.

We head past Codolar, for the bay that has a nudist beach. Not that we cared to see anything, mind you. Just cruising, hanging out. Kiko and Xerlo, El Capit?n. Maite, Xerlo's wife sat with me in the back seat.

I was going to jump in for a snorkel. Let the water, still cold ("frescita") cool off the solar radiation (now, making Vitamin D is good for us -somewhat like what plants do with chlorophyl), I was looking forward to a refreshing dip.

Then we noticed the jelly fish. Medusas. A horde, tons of them in the water:

So Beautiful. Look, see how the water glows. Ambient light, a saline lens.
Snorkeling is like plunging into a gemstone.

(Back to the studio.)