Well, Ellen and I had last weekend off after three straight shows. So we made the most of it. We got tickets to visit the brand new Salvador Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg on Saturday, I got to play golf and win more skins money on Sunday, and then we settled down to some of Ellen's famous homemade chili on Sunday night.
Well, I was sleeping beautifully, getting into every art show in my dreams, when my stomach decided to come "unsettled" around 1:30 AM. Gee do you think it might have been the combo of an extra bowl of chili, than butter nut pecan ice cream and a shot of Cardenal Mendoza Spanish brandy that did it? That's why God made Alka Selzter. As I sat on the couch letting the healing salts do their work it dawned on me about our recent visit to the Dali Museum and Ellen's comment as we left. She noticed the Fountain of Youth and it spurred a warm flash in the past, but at the time I couldn't quite get a handle on it.
By the way, the Fountain of Youth was a great tourist attraction figured out by the city fathers back in the 30s. It was just plain sulphur water, the odor of rotten eggs flowing from a pipe. According to the legend, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto discovered this on one of his gambling jaunts in this neck of the woods. De Soto was not that great of an explorer, but he made it big time when he later opened up his famous night club in Southbeach Miami--Hernando's Hideaway,Ole!
Hey folks, I gotta take my shots where I can get them.
Anyways, the Fountain finally became apparent to me, and it took me back to the 1950s in St. Petersburg.
I grew up as a kid in a golden time in America,post-World War II. It was an age of innocence and exploration. In 1952, I contracted polio from a neighbor, who eventually succumbed to it. This was the age of the "Iron Lung." No Salk Vaccine yet. I was confined to a wheelchair for almost three years. Went through extensive hydrotherapy and stretching exercises and came out unscathed at age 10. No withered limb, no braces, no nothing. I was truly blessed. When the doctor told me it was time to ride my bike again, I was more than ready. I had three lost years to make up. Which brought me to baseball and my first home run.
Back then both the Yankees and the Cardinals played their spring training games at Al Lang Field on Bayshore in downtown St. Pete. Next to the stadium were two baseball diamonds where they also practiced at. Also Little Leugers played there too. I played for McGhan Plumbing along with my best friend to this day Richard Lane. It was my first game after polio and I was wired.
The Rebels pitcher, Dave Pontius, threw a terrifying fast ball. We usually just started swinging at it the moment we saw his arm whip over his head. We prayed he would never hit us, or we would certainly be dead, or maimed for life, probably consigned to being one of those "Artists of the Street." It was the last inning, score tied, and I hadn't been able to touch a pitch of his yet. He fired one high and inside, I hung in there and swung as hard as I could. Lordy Mis' Clawdy if that ball didn't sail over the right field fence out of the park. My first homer. There would be many others but none like my first one. OK here is where the Fountain comes in. The original Fountain of Youth was located on the corner of Bayshore and Third Avenue south, right behind the fence and home plate. Well I remember Richard and I both going over to the Fountain and having a drink. Phew! That water stunk but we drank it anyway. Richard told me if we kept coming here and drinking that stuff we grow up to be old men like the rest of them and probably get to hang out on the green benches by the old Doc Webbs Store. Well, Doc Webbs is long gone but Rich and I are still here, but neither of us feel like old men--yet.
OK. Now back to present day and our visit to the Dali Museum. Ironically, the Dali Museum is located where all those old baseball fields were. In fact I parked our van in garage that was almost on the exact spot where I hit that home run 56 years ago. How's that for deja vu!
This new museum replaces the original that was down the road the last 25 years or so. It is an architectural masterpiece, crowned with this great spiral staircase that takes you from the ground up to the fourth floor, where the greatest single collection of Dali Masterpieces reside. There are six out of Dali's 18 masterworks in this one museum, the rest are scattered around the world in collections. A couple from Cleveland, the Morses, bequethed this body of work to the city if they would build a museum worthy of it. So St. Petersburg did back in the 70s. Then through a vast private fund-raising program, they managed to build this new hurricane-proof edifice that just opened on January 11.
Dali has always been one of my alltime art heros. I even put him up there above Edward Weston, Cezanne and Matisse. He was a eccentric but also a brilliant business man. A master at self promotion. We all could take a page from this guy. He was a visionary. He also was very facile and great at painting or any other medium he decided to throw himself into. Who else would paint on a bronze like he did of the bust of Geronimo?
The docents told us that to be considered a "masterwork" the work must have taken more than one year to complete, be at least five feet wide and a gazillion meters high. Two of my alltime Dali favorites are here--the Hallouscigenic Toreador and the Lincoln in Dail-vision which is really called "Gala Contemplating the View from a Window." (hereafter the Toreador will be referred to as the "HT." Mea culpa Salvador.)
Well here 's a neat little trick I learned about viewing these pieces.Before going to the fourth floor, hit the bar-restaurant on the lobby floor. Have a pitcher or two of sangria, maybe even a shot of Patron, then go view the Lincoln piece. Normally you have to stand back about 60 meters to see the piece evolve from Gala into Lincoln's face. But thru the magic of sangria it becomes readily apparent at 25 meters. Neat trick, don't ya think?
Then we moved on to the HT. This is my alltime favorite. It is at leat 10-feet wide by 15-feet high. They will let you stand two feet away from it if you wish. You can look closely and watch as these apparent armless busts of marble torsos atop pedestels change into the face and hat of a toreador and also some change into a fallen bull with many bandillollers stuck into him. It is an awesome piece.
But then I had a curious revelation. If Dali had,say, tried to jury into the Cedar Key art Show via Zapp they would have probably juried him out. Heck, they would need more than a few seconds to figure out what this guy is doing. And how is going to be able to fit that masterpiece into a 10x10 canopy? So I suddenly felt a lot better. I got juried out of Cedar Key and so did Dali. I was keeping fast company. This was as good as the Elvis thing at Nickos Diner (see my December 2010 blog about Elvis and the Diner and the meaning of life). I can't wait to see what other famous guys I going to pair up with this year. I am defintely on a roll.
Well, we left the museum and Ellen noticed the Fountain. I guess we have come full circle. As Bob Segar said, "Isn't it funny how the night moves?"
Well, this weekend I head to Smyrner-burner-land for Images. Going to do my first "Tequila Report of 2011" from there at Clancy's Cantina. I have $350 barter tab with them, so Webbie and I are going into serious training so we can overthrow that notorious tequila-swizzler, Connie Mettler, from her lofty throne up in Iceberg-land, Michigan.
Watch out Connie--we are gonna get ya
Well, I hope I helped you off to a fun week. I gotta go play golf. The mats can wait, they are always there. Aloha, Nels
PS: As was thoughtfully pointed out to me, it is "Salvador", not Salvatore. What was I thinking? Too much sangria. Thanks Lu.
