L'art, Musique et Cinema-Art, Music, Film

When I tell the story of how Pascal and I met in Paris, I often make reference to the Moulin Rouge, the legendary Parisian cabaret located at the tip of Paris' red-light district, Pigalle (just a short walk from Montmartre where Pascal and I used to live). In the early days, this famous cabaret was a hotspot for "happening" painters, poets and bourgeois locals; today it is frequented mostly by tourists and corporate executives. But the venue, the dancers, and the show continue to maintain the Moulin Rouge tradition of opulent glitter and glamour. It is an extravaganza of music, dancing, feathers, rhinestones, sequins and champagne.

Like most things in Paris, the Moulin Rouge has a rich history. Here are just a few fun facts about the greatest cabaret on earth:
- The first Can Can dancers at the Moulin Rouge were not professionals, rather working class girls-by-day (linen maids, laundresses and seamstresses), rowdy, boisterous party girls-by-night. Most of the dancers became famous due to their peculiar and suggestive "stage" names such as la Goulue (the glutton), Nini Pattes-en-l'Air (a leg-over, muse of artist Toulouse-Lautrec), Grille d'Egout (drain cover) and la Mome Fromage (kid cheese). 


- The first show was called Frou Frou. It was such a great success that the owner, a superstitious man, chose to title each revue with the names that begin with "F." To date, the shows have been: Frou Frou, Frisson, Fascination, Fantastic, Festival, Follement, Frénesie, 'Femmes, Femmes, Femmes', Formidable and Féerie.
 
- Speaking of "F"-words, the Moulin Rouge goes through a lot of feathers. They have their own preferred feather maker.

- The dancers' shoes must be able to withstand the girls dropping to the floor, doing the splits, and performing acrobatic tricks - all to the fast-paced, frenetic rhythm of the French Cancan. A traditional Parisian shoemaker, M. Clairvoy's makes special shoes just for the Moulin Rouge.   

- Celebrities like Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Ginger Rogers, The Village People, Liza Minnelli, Michael Baryshnikov, The Gipsy Kings, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Juliette Binoche have all performed at the Moulin Rouge.
 
- Jackie Clerico, the same superstitious owner who insisted on "F" titles for the revues, staged the first topless dancers in 1962 and installed a giant aquarium that elevates from below stage for a nautical ballet. The aquarium (and the topless dancers) are still part of the revue today.

- The Moulin Rouge is the biggest champagne buyer in the world - around 350,000 bottles a year - more or less 1000 bottles per day!

- There are more than 100 artists on stage and almost as many waiters and bus boys to keep up with the champagne-drinking crowd.

- These days, the show costs anywhere from 92 to 180 euros (with dinner), but this extravagant, show-stopping cabaret is well worth it! Just like riding the gondolas in Venice, it's one of those touristy attractions you really shouldn't miss.

The Easter Bunny has hippity-hopped through town, and now you're left with several dozen hard-boiled eggs and empty egg cartons.  (If you had a really great Easter, you even have a few empty South 'n France Bon Bon egg cartons sitting next to your fainting couch).  What do you do with all of those leftovers?  Hard-boiled eggs are great for egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, and salade niçoise, but egg cartons aren't so tasty. Still, they can be useful. For example, if you're feeling creative you can make your own egg carton toy camera. Isn't this little photographer just too cute? The lens of his camera is the top of a sports drink bottle.


Speaking of creativity, egg cartons make wonderful disposable paint palettes for your kids: use the compartments to hold various colors of poster paint, and the lid as a place to lay down the paintbrush. For easy clean-up afterwards, just close the lid and toss the whole egg carton into the trash. Or, de-clutter your office desk drawer by removing the lid from the egg carton and using the bottom tray to sort paper clips, rubber bands, thumb tacks, staples and other tiny office accessories. Want more fun ideas for your egg carton recyclabes? Get inspired by these nifty ideas on how to re-use egg cartons from CultCase.com, a culture and online art magazine.  They've thought of everything, from goggles to flowers to lamps.

Devorah Sperber's art hangs by several thousand. Two Sundays ago, my brother Chad suggested that we take advantage of "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town Day". New Hanover County museums were open to the public free of charge, encouraging residents to take advantage of the cultural opportunities available to us. After picking up the "art" Chad and I had made in a glass blowing class the day before (marbles this time), Pascal, Chad, Cara, Baby Carter and I set out for the Cameron Art Museum. This was 3-month-old Carter's first dose of the cultural arts, and he didn't seem too impressed; he slept through the entire visit. But one art installation really impressed the rest of us: After the Mona Lisa 2 by visual artist Devorah Sperber. Ms. Sperber uses everyday items like beads, pipe cleaners and marker caps to represent pixels of well-known images (The Last Supper, The Mona Lisa, Andy Warhol's Tomato Soup Can, Dr. Spock from Star Trek, etc.). Her favorite medium is thread. The installation of an inverted Mona Lisa that we saw is comprised of 5,184 spools of thread hanging from metal chains. Because Sperber's work is meant to explore the links between art, science, and technology in the digital age, a viewing sphere in front of the installation allows you to see the image as the eye would normally see it (as a smaller, right-side-up, un-pixelated version). This article gives a great overview of Devorah Sperber as an artist (you can see a picture of her too).  

Thread company Coats & Clark provides partial funding for Sperber's thread spool works. We couldn't help but wonder if my Mom (a seamstress by trade with an extensive collection of threads, fabrics, and sewing supplies) has enough thread to make her own art installation. What iconic image could we make with her thread? Like all good art, this installation got my creative juices flowing and has inspired me to look at things differently. I can't wait to find a way to introduce a Sperber-esque idea into my own life. Meanwhile, in researching this blog post, I found a great decorating suggestion for Chad's bathroom, a VW Bus made of flower decals on a shower curtain. Now that's what I call 'groovy'.

Some of my fondest memories of growing up were the times I spent at my great Aunt Lorena's house. Aunt Lorena always let me stay up late to watch The Johnny Carson Show with her while we ate a late-night snack together. I ate my first nachos (the kind that come in the Old El Paso kit) with her during one of my stays, and she even let me drink soda right before bed! Aunt Lorena always kept a glass of Pepsi sitting on her nightstand to enjoy as she read romance novels into the wee hours.  

While Aunt Lorena immersed herself in romance stories in her downstairs bedroom, I was in the one of the guest bedrooms upstairs reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries that used to belong to my older cousins. After reading into the night, I would eventually fall asleep. I didn't sleep in too late, though. It was too much fun to drink the ready-mixed chocolate milk Aunt Lorena kept in the fridge with my breakfast. Later, I would go upstairs to brush my teeth with Aquafresh toothpaste. That striped toothpaste was infinitely cooler than the plain white paste we used at home. While in the upstairs bathroom, I'd sit at the vanity with its electric magnifying mirror and pretend that I was the glamorous Nancy Drew.

The thrill of those mysteries still infects me on occasion. A couple of years ago, I read a book by author Ellen Elizabeth Hunter. She loves the charming historic areas of downtown Wilmington and has set several of her murder mysteries in our town: Murder at the Azalea Festival, Murder on the Ghost Walk, Murder at Wrightsville Beach and more. Now, every time I go to The Pilot House restaurant on the Cape Fear River, I think of the heroine in Murder on the Ghost Walk whose physical description is uncannily close to that of Nancy Drew.

While walking downtown recently, I stopped in at the new headquarters for Una Luna World Gallery on 226 South Front Street. Una Luna has been around for years, but they just recently set up shop in a building with lots of local history (old-timers will know it as the old Taste of Country breakfast buffet). This import company was started by two teachers looking to supplement their meager income.  The business eventually grew to a full-time venture, specializing in importing handcrafted products from Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. I met the owner, Marcus (pictured here), who really knows his stuff! As I admired baskets, artwork, purses, and home décor items, Marcus told me great stories about the people that make them, the materials they use, their techniques and their inspiration.

When he learned about my business, Marcus immediately went to find The Bon Bon Basket. The Bon Bon Basket is made from savannah grass and raffia by the women of the Chani region of Zimbabwe. "Why is it called The Bon Bon Basket", I asked. Although lovely, it certainly didn't look the ideal way to store bon bons to me! I had finally stumped Marcus; he didn't know. Back home, I sleuthed on the internet, but my research proved futile. So far, here are my hypotheses based on the clues I have found:
1) It has a round hole in the middle that looks like a mini bon bon. 
2) It is made with grasses that are tinted pink and brown which we all know are ideal bon bon colors. 
3) "Bon" means good and "bon bon" means doubly good. The craftsmanship on this basket is so very well done, perhaps its maker just declared it "bon bon".

Looks like I'll be on this case for a while...

In addition to keeping regular store hours, Una Luna World Gallery supports local artists and features an artist each month with "Full Moon Fridays" (always on the Friday closest to the full moon). The event includes live music and a wine tasting. If you're in the area, go check them out, and see if you can find more clues to solve the mystery of The Bon Bon Basket.

I've been having pleasant dreams lately. Daydreams, that is. Of spending a night in this hotel room with a spectacular view of my favorite city.  If you're going to be in Paris in the next couple of months, this dream view could become your reality. This is the Everland Hotel, a one-room hotel/art installation designed and built by the artist duo L/B (Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann). For the past several months, this incredible room has been parked on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo, right in front of the Eiffel Tower. It will be there until the end of May. Check out the cool photos and video tours on the Everland website.  

The idea behind this project is to offer visitors an opportunity to experience a piece of art from within. This one-room hotel is one-of-a-kind; it can't be modified and there are no plans to build more. After all, from an economic standpoint, a traveling one-room hotel doesn’t make a lot of sense. Guests can only book a one-night stay and are considered an integral part of the project. To keep the system as democratic as possible, one night is released for booking every day, always at a different time, working on the principle of chance. The room rate was set at 333 Euros for a week night and 444 Euros for a weekend night's stay, but from what I can tell, the booking system requires not only lots of luck, but also lots of money. EBay bids for one of the few remaining one-night-stays were up to $1200 when I last checked.  

The Everland (which has been on tour in a few different European cities) has lots of fabulous features. At each location, the exhibit partners with an established hotel that provides reception, cleaning, and other amenities. The public can visit the hotel during the day (like an art museum), but it is reserved for guests from 6 pm until checkout at noon the following day. In exchange for an unforgettable private view, guests have to forget about total privacy, as the big round window at the end of the room has no curtain or shade. Other great features of this capsule-shaped room includes a mini bar where everything is free, breakfast delivered to the room, and towels with gold embroidery naming the city (Leipzig, Paris, etc.) that guests are allowed to take with them as a souvenir. How cool is that? The room has a mod seventies-disco-style décor (a trademark of the artists) and even boasts a record player and record collection (I noticed Prince's Purple Rain album in the photos - not bad!). 

Time is running out, so I probably won't get to enjoy a night of sweet dreams as an Everland hotel guest. But as an art installation, the piece did exactly what it intended to do. I checked myself in to a temporary dream world where my imagination had a most pleasant stay...

Last week, I told you about the fun I had at The Balcony's Bridal Event Open House. But I didn't tell you the entire story... When the Open House was over and all of the future brides and groom and their families had left, photographer Millie Holloman and her staff turn their cameras on to the vendors. Millie's team is always coming up with fantastic, cutting-edge ideas and they introduced their newest product (a concept I just love!) at the Open House. It's called The Truth Booth.  

The Truth Booth is a special photography booth set up at a wedding reception or party. All of the guests are invited to step into The Truth Booth and model for the camera. The idea is that "the truth will set you free". Who wants to pose for stiff formal photographs or smile with one hand around the shoulders of your date and a cocktail in the other? With the help of a few fun props and the photographers in The Truth Booth, you can let down hair down, loosen your tie, and reveal your true personality. 

I grabbed the apothecary jar of Pistachio bon bons, a vintage fur wrap and a pistachio-green hat from The Truth Booth trunk of props; then I started hamming it up for the camera. Amanda Holloman got this shot. Be sure to check out The Truth Booth website - it's tons of fun. One of my favorite photos is of a guy who wrapped himself in an entire roll of tin foil!

Our Valentines' Dinner and a Movie Series starts today. We're serving up a five-course meal with our favorite French-themed romantic comedies.  (The series has been sold out for weeks, but you can still join us for our next group of French movies in March.) Tonight we'll show French Kiss; tomorrow night, Amelie; and our final movie will be Sabrina.  

For weeks now, there has been a raging debate (between Pascal and me) about whether we should show the classic Sabrina film with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart or the updated re-make of the film with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. I watched both movies back to back and weighed the pros and cons of each. Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford won out. Why? Primarily because the newer film actually takes the viewer to Paris where we get to see cafes, the Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou Centre and other landmarks; the classic was filmed on a Hollywood stage set and shows only a window with a very fake Eiffel tower in the background. But, I personally prefer the Sabrina re-make because of my love for books.

I saw the 1995 version long before I saw the Hepburn version, and much to my dismay there was another important scene missing from the original. In the new version, one night Sabrina comes home to her father's living quarters. He lives over the garage of a billionaire's estate where he works as a chauffeur. Sabrina's father is reading a book when she walks in, and the camera pans around the carriage house to overflowing bookshelves and stacked books in every nook and cranny. Sabrina says:  "I love many things about you, Dad. But do you know what I love best of all? You decided to become a chauffeur because you wanted to have time to read." As an avid reader who treasures my books, this struck me as a most romantic idea. Imagine choosing your profession so that it allows you to indulge in your favorite past-time! I absolutely loved that moment, and over the years I have re-played the scene in my mind dozens of times.

It's true that I love books so much - the way they feel, the way new books smell, the emotions they illicit - that my respect tends to border on compulsion. I will not write in books (unless it's to inscribe one as a gift); I will not highlight text in books; I only dog ear pages under the rarest of circumstances; and I read books from cover to cover without ever cracking the spine. Even my most well-used books often look new. That's why I found this blog entry depicting ways to use books (other than for reading) simultaneously fascinating and horrifying. I actually could appreciate most of the pieces featured, but I especially enjoyed this chair which gives new meaning to the idea of arm-chair reading. 

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