Herbert Can Be Ever Ready

Sought-out sights in the world have always included the architecture inspired by spirituality, such as great cathedrals of Europe and ancient temples in China.  In the case of the island city-state of Singapore, you’ll find the oldest and most prominent is the Thian Hock Keng or the Temple of Heavenly Bliss.   Built in 1839, around twenty years after Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore as a simple trading post on the Singapore River and about one hundred and seventy-one years from today, this Hokkien Temple was constructed to honor the Chinese Sea Goddess Mazu or Mat-Su.

The story behind Mazu is a fascinating one, in which a girl is transformed into a goddess.  There is history about this girl contained in immensely old edicts from the government, from court documents, and even shipping logs, as well as Taoist scriptures, that describes Mazu as a young girl and the goddess she became.  Even to this day, she has fifteen hundred operating temples and about a hundred million followers.  Folk tradition for Mazu describes how in times of trouble if you call upon her by name, Mazu, she will come to your aid; however, if you address her in a more formal manner, such as the Empress of Heaven, then your rescue will be postponed as this means she must delay in order to put on more formal attire.  The goddess is based on a woman named Lin Mo Niang to which people attribute miracles during her brief lifetime.  She knew Chinese medicine and came to be known as a healer; some of the miracles, though, were about stopping seastorms, and this established her as a protector of sailors and travelers.

The temple’s history is contained in granite tablets which reside on the wall of the Entrance Hall; there’s an inscribed plaque also inside which Emperor Guang Xu of the Qing Dynasty from 1907 gave to the temple, a sign of how important people considered this site.  The plaque reads, Bo Jing Nan Ming, which means Gentle Waves over the South Seas.  The building is composed in from the traditional form of Southern Chinese architecture.   There were no nails used in its construction, and is considered a masterwork of architecture which uses tiles and wood, stones, statues of dragons and phoenixes, and intricate carvings and sculptures amidst the columns.

This temple is only one of many sights available to a traveler in Singapore.  All one need do is to arrange for a flight and to stay in one the hotels in Singapore, and begin exploring.  If you go to Singapore, be sure not to miss this building, which has been declared a national monument of Singapore for the last  thirty-seven years.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 1:36 pm under Art, Culture, Entertainment, People, Travel
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All though it is fabulous, your hotel room in San Francisco won’t be able to keep you from mysteries that lie out on the Island of the Pelicans. The intense prison, Alcatraz, is to much of a lure to keep you in the perfectly divine spa all day. Your going to have to get out into the ocean sea breeze and cross that bay with all the other curious people to see if you really can hear the walls talking in what was once the toughest prison in the United States. The Island of the Pelicans was a harmless piece of land in the middle of the bay when it was first explored and over a few hundred years it became many things. Not much in the beginning, then turned into a military site and then turned into a crazy prison with the most intense inmates. Now it stands as one of the most visited places in San Francisco. People come from all over the world to see Alcatraz and they get there tickets and reservations months in advance.

The island was once owned by Julian Workman who was given the land in 1846 by the then Mexican governor Pio Pico. He was to build a lighthouse on it for navigating around the bay. Some how a Francis Temple had the island and ended up selling it to the United States government through John C Fremont for 5000.00 in 1846. United States President Millard Fillmore had the island set aside to be used for military purposes in 1850 when the U.S. gained California from Mexico after the Mexican-American War. Fremont was to be reimbursed for the purchase of the island but the government never paid him and a battle went on until the 1890s. The military did end up using the island first as a way to protect the coast from any unwanted intruders

Filed by Herbert Jones at 11:20 am under Culture, People, Travel
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It would be a blessing to anyone to have the chance to get your band together for another tour in the same year that you’re having your 63rd birthday.  This is happening this year to Iggy Pop, and it really couldn’t happen to a more swell guy.  They haven’t released all the places and dates yet, but New York had better be a stop.  This is the place to see all of punk rock’s great godfathers and godfathers, along with all the godmothers, even if he is technically from Detroit.  We could probably even go so far as say that after all this time, he’s really a European star, and that’s closer to the New York sensibility.  But maybe Detroit needs a boost, and they can keep claiming him.

It’s an interesting year for music ahead, but this one is reason enough to book a hotel at this site and get ready for a major show.  His new album, Preliminaires is a pretty fantastic work, and like all the work that diverges from the typical Pop, which is to say, everything that he’s recorded, it’s a new direction.  There aren’t the usual grinding melodies that speak of an adolescent angst, this one is much more adult.  It’s very broody and moody, and at times gives a sense of Nick Cave doing show tunes at a dance hall for the dead.

This is a very French work for Pop, if such a thing can even be said.  There is a lot of style here, and because it’s him, there’s also plenty of substance.  He can still hold his own in any mosh pit, and still has the famous six-pack that makes Hollywood hunks hang their heads in shame, but something’s happened here.  He’s found a pathway to express a very deep and profound sadness and loneliness that could never be reached through the pounding anger.  There is no trace of false aggression here, nor is there much self-pity, but a mature artist using all the tools at his disposal to paint the inner life that resonates with all of us.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 12:16 pm under Travel
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The legacies of famous artists who have done important works in New York City are strong enough to cause a large metaphysical weight to fall upon those who come to make new work.  The projects that have the most connections to the world are the ones who often suffer from the weight the most, and they are also up for the most scrutiny from the international critical art community.  It’s a deeply moving thing, then, when an artist can make something that causes others to take notice, because it takes extreme amounts of compassion as well as a large amount of arrogance.  It’s a rather tough combination, and not everyone is up for the task.

Young artists looking for an idea, or looking for ways they might make their idea manifest, often come to New York with the intention of exploring possibilities.  There is no real authority on the best way to do it, except to find a nice hotel and follow up on all of your connections.  It’s still a business based on networking, and it always has been.  It’s fascinating, then, to try to discover what kinds of networks the most bold artists of the 20th century had at their disposal.  Joseph Beuys was by no means an exemplary salesman of ideas, although his work was in many regards concrete examples of his complex philosophical arguments.

New generations of conceptual artists can do worse than trying to muster up the same weight of intention and example that Bueys did with his work, I Like America and America Likes Me.  In this performance, he was flown to New York, put it an ambulance wrapped in felt, and carried into a gallery where he would live with a coyote for four days.  In the process of the performance, there were many iconic actions that left gorgeous impressions on the visual archive of the century.  His work was in many ways a reflection of his views on the war, this was 1974 after all, and also his ideas of a humane world, where Native wisdom gets its sacred and elevated place back.  The only question in all of this is: how did the coyote feel about having to be locked up with a large man for four days?  That’s a statement that only the coyotes would understand.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 10:35 am under Travel
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The truth is that there are few cities like Atlanta, Georgia in the world.  It’s a place of unique sights and engaging people; here, you’ll find Atlanta filled with luxury and comfort and hotels that anyone would be happy to make their home (however temporary), while viewing the sights, including the Georgia Aquarium.

The Georgia Aquarium is the world’s largest with over eight million gallons of water.  Right now, this marine life museum is presenting an exhibit called, Planet Shark: Predator or Prey.  Scarily enough, this is billed as an interactive experience.  The Aquarium already exhibits fourteen species of sharks in its present collection, but this special exhibit goes way beyond what you might find in any other place.

Planet Shark will allow you to see models at full-scale of sharks.  You’ll see one such model of a Great White Shark; this creature was eighteen feet long, giving the shark in Jaws a run for its money.   Speaking of which, you’ll be able to see items and shark cages from the movie, Jaws, as well as numerous artifacts of shark jaws and teeth.  You’ll see fossils that can be dated as far back as three hundred and fifty million years ago.

The idea of this exhibit is to give the aquarium’s guests facts which can foster a more complete understanding of the shark.  There’s a number of myths that build up around these amazing animals, and the aquarium is ready to dispel these myths.  You’ll hear stories, too, about actual encounters people have had with sharks, told not only by the experts, but by the survivors of these incidents.  You’ll learn, too, about how sharks behave and about what relationships they form.  There’s also a display that features an actual Bluefin tuna (700 pounds of it!) and an actual Mako shark, its predator.  Both creatures are frozen, giving an opportunity to see what an encounter between this predator and prey might be like.  The Georgia Aquarium is an absolute must on any trip to Atlanta.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 11:51 am under Entertainment, Travel
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New York is well known for many different reasons. It’s an internationally famous metropolis and is commonly referred to as the theatre capital of the nation. Broadway and city wide experimental productions are not the only thing New York is known for though it is certainly one of the most attractive features for many of its tourists. This brings up one of the interesting aspects of New York. It is so famous and full of great cultural and historic landmarks and attractions that almost every street has a major landmark or icon on it. If this isn’t exactly accurate than it is certainly true that every neighborhood in the five boroughs is distinct and known for a particular establishment or cultural orientation.

There is a reason this overcrowded, noisy, traffic congested city is the number one vacation destination for people across the world. In fact there is more than one. And going back to the subject to neighborhoods and their cultural aspects and relevance, Little Italy in Manhattan is certainly one to explore and enjoy.

Of course its true that some of the best Italian food in New York can be found in Little Italy but there is also a great number of additional cultural features and attractions that entice and entertain tourists and New York residents all year. As with most neighborhoods in Manhattan, shopping is possible and great deals as well as unique gifts and souvenirs can be found in Little Italy. Places like Il Coccio are incredibly enticing to shoppers looking to decorate their homes in some great Italian ceramic art pieces. Sandy’s and the Little Italy Gift shop are great stops for the more general trendy and immediate needs items. Whatever you’re looking for don’t forget to leave time and enough appetite to enjoy a delicious pastry or other dessert at La Bella Ferrara Pasticceria. And most importantly, have fun, relax and enjoy your trip.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 1:44 pm under Travel
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I had no intentions for Spain, and no expectations, and the only thing I wanted to do there was to forget you.  This isn’t hard, it shouldn’t be hard, because there are lots of ways of getting something out of your mind.  People should be as easy to forget as furniture, especially when they don’t last as long as they should.  But you know me better than that, and you know that if I leave a place, with a heart full of fresh cracks, that I will only make it so far before I get tired of my own melancholy, and start looking for other ways of thinking about the things that get lost of left behind.  I didn’t even know Spain when I left, and figured I would get lost.

Unfortunately, I got distracted from my grief, and instead found some of the nicest moments in this short life.  When I decided to head for the coast in the south, I found this site here, and had a place to stay.  It was lovely.  Not quite the dream I had, where I would be sleeping on the beach as a vagabond, tracing memories of you in the sand before the sea decided to take me, out of sympathy for my mangled and battered heart.  This was more like heaven with a tv.  But there was a moment when I was shocked out of my fake misery when I heard Wilco playing from someone’s car.

This was our favorite music, and I don’t remember our favorite song, but if I do remember, I will send you a copy.  And I can’t think of anything that would be more fitting for the end of the love affair of the century, than for you to come here and see them play in May.  However.  The one in the car told me about the concert, and suggested we go together, and the end of this story is where I am only writing to tell you that I’ve decided to stay, and to please send me all my cds back.  New address forthcoming.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 12:01 pm under Travel
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The best time I ever had in Washington was the last one.  That’s the one where I finally got to see why everyone I went to school with loved Seattle so much.  I never made it to the city, not because I wasn’t interested, but because I like so much of Washington that I never felt I needed to.  Spokane, Moses Lake, Bremerton, and anything that had a forest connected to it, these all appealed to me, and it doesn’t hurt that I have a lot of family there.  But I never set foot in Seattle before.  Maybe I was afraid that I’d secretly like it so much that I would have to consider moving there.  All this was very well-founded, because I found this excellent hotel site here and decided to go for a few days, just to check it out myself.

I didn’t tell any of my friends that I was going, just so they wouldn’t try to be tour guides and show me all the cool places.  Every city has cool places, and if that’s all you see, you’re likely to move just about anywhere.  I wanted to run into the boring things, the every day things, and see if there was any magic in that.  Of course, there’s magic everywhere, and it turns out this city has a much greater share of it than any other I’d been to.  I went to the Market, and avoided the guys throwing fish, because that seemed too obvious, and instead found Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.  It seemed funky and unassuming in a lot of ways, and I was caught up in the joke items, because there was a very smart sense of humor behind them.

What really took me in, however, were the shrunken heads.  It’s really fairly alarming to find yourself in Seattle on a Saturday morning, expecting to be surrounded by comfortable people selling comfortable things to make you more comfortable, along with hundreds of umbrellas.  But heads are not what I thought I would see.  This shop has been here for over a hundred years, and the original owner was this anthropologist guy.  It’s unusual enough to make me consider a move, and if the terminal hipness gets to me, I can always go back to Tenzing Momo and talk to my apothecary.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 1:48 pm under Travel
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It was a beautiful time of day in New York City; the sky is turning pink and the sun was almost ready to set. We were heading back to our hotel to to freshen up and put on a few extra layers of clothes to keep the cold at bay. It was 7pm by the time we made it to Rockefeller Center and the lines we saw earlier today to purchase tickets to ride the elevator up the Rock, was virtually nil! Once, we were inside the elevator, the lights went dark, but the ceiling of the elevator was clear, so we looked up and this gave us the illusion that we were in a rocket ship. Flashing neon lights and video projections on the elevators ceiling helped with the illusion. It only took a few minutes to arrive at the top, but that was by far the best elevator ride we’ve experienced.

Stepping out on the ‘Top of the Rock’ gave us a panoramic views of NY was breath-taking; from the large floor to the ceiling windows, we were greeted with terrific sights. We walked around and found stairs that took us up another flight! This was the lower outdoor observation deck. We were 850 feet up from the street, very high up, it was really very cold up here and windy. But, that didn’t stop us from looking out at a beautiful cityscape. From the north side of the building, we were able to see the entire length and width of Central Park, the buildings only 20 blocks away. When we were on the top of the Empire State Building, we couldn’t see the park. So being able to see it now was well worth the ticket price. There’s a gift shop up there, so we spent some time there. We came out just as the sun fully set and all of a sudden, NYC came to life, all lit up as though it just woke up. It’s was really thrilling to see the transition. Taking the elevator to the top of the Rock is a must, if you plan to visit NY. 

We headed back down and our ears popped all the way down. Once we were on the ground, we headed to the Magnolia Bakery to buy cupcakes. I just had to do something like the girls did in ‘Sex and the City’, before going back to one of the best hotels NY has to offer all its visitors.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 2:13 pm under Travel
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When you are traveling in the city of Austin, Texas and you are traveling with children, have no fears as Austin is a very kid-friendly city.  One of the greatest aspects of the city is a love for arts, culture and music.  The Austin Museum of Art holds special events and activities for the entire family, many of which are drop in, no appointment necessary, so when you leave your room of your perfect Austin hotel, and are walking down the street wondering where the day will take you, make sure you find your way to the museum, as educational and artistic fun awaits you there.  If you happen to stop by on a second Saturday of the month, you will find any number of fun filled activities to take part in.

The second Saturday of February is the 13th, they will be offering a class in Printmaking.  This is provided by a group of print-makers who travel around with their press, Drive By Press. The theme of this day will be the inspirations of music and art posters, and participants will have the opportunity for hands on printmaking using wooden blocks and the printing press.  Be sure to bring along a plain tee-shirt as you will have the chance to make your own rock and roll memories you can wear home with you.  This is a very inexpensive way to spend a Saturday afternoon, as the cost is just $7 for the entire family!  Also offered at this time, every second Saturday, is yoga provided by the instructors of Bea Love Yoga.  This takes place from 1pm to 2pm, and is a great way to stretch off the days of traveling and the stress of the day.

If you live in Austin or are going be there on an extended day, one of the museum’s ongoing programs is called Familylab.  This is a space that is set up, with all of the tools you will need to create works of art, for people of all ages.  This gives them a chance to make connections to the world through the medium of artistic expression and to experience that with the ones who you love.  This section has the same operating hours as the Museum, and once you have paid your general admission, the Familylab is free.  The Austin Museum of Art, is one of the many ways in which the city connects to all those calling Austin their homes, and to everyone who passes through.

Filed by Herbert Jones at 10:31 am under Travel
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