Better Know A Citizen - meat
Posted by Andrew on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 9:40 am
We're back with a new installment of Better Know A Citizen. Today's profilee is one of our new Citizens - meat. For those other new guys out there (or you old timers who haven't done this yet) email sbg-bkac[at]hotmail[dot]com or andrew[at]stickandballguy[dot]com to get signed up.
SBG Moniker: meat
Hometown: Saint Peter, MN
Town I Currently Live In: Albuquerque, NM
Profession: Lead Preparator, Albuquerque Museum of Art and History (AKA art janitor)/ Artist with the rest of my 'free' time
Bats: R
Throws: R
Positions: Missionary, I'm here all week. No really, beer league pitcher, 1B, LF
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Softball/T-ball: Hit a walk off HR in the 1st game of the Intramural Championship double header at SUNY-UB, went 6-7 in the second game with 7 RBI, and only allowed 4 runs- that 2nd game was killer I took a come-backer off my shin, left a bruise that I still have a scar from, the next batter doubled up on a come backer that I caught and the quick relay to first.
Hobbies: Woodworking and Furniture building, quilt making for the nieces and nephew, rug braiding, generally I'm into craft based hobbies.
What are you known for around the WGOM? Back up art and culture critic and homebrewmiester
If you could have a nice, polite dinner with any 3 people - dead or alive - who and why? Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (who really count as 1 guest- trust me, they work better together), Roland Barthes and Slavoj Zizek- this would be a trying dinner party, as I'm sure that I'm not intelligent enough to hang with this crowd, but these guys helped form the critical basis of my art practice. The conversation would probably end up in a fight between Zizek and Guattari/Deleuze about the nature of desire and faith in the ability of artists to change culture, while Barthes is left asking "can someone bring me up to speed here! How do we read the text that is this dinner menu?" We all get kicked out of the restaurant, no dinner, no answers.
If you could pick any 3 people - again, dead or alive - to go out and party (or if you're not the party type, go for martini's or whatever it is you do) who and why? Francis Bacon, Dylan Thomas and Shane MacGowan, because those dudes know (or knew) how to party -oh and Richard Prince can come along too.
Sports Allegiances: Twins Baseball, are there other sports in Minnesota? Oh, yeah the Wild, I love those guys too. Outside of MN I hold near and dear to the London-Irish Rugby club, gotta love the exiles.
Favorite Books: How to be Alone, Essays by Jonathan Franzen, Anything by Denis Johnson (Jesus' Son...), Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, The Crying of Lot 49 (I just started Gravity's Rainbow and really like it- Meatwife wrote her master's thesis on this Pynchon novel), Soft Subversions by Guattari, Empire by Hardt and Negri
Favorite Music: I like it all, jazz, country & western, punk rock, garage and gospel. Neil Diamond too.
Favorite Baseball Movie: Bull Durham, I am still in love with Annie Savoy.
Favorite Non-baseball Movie: No Country for Old Men
Favorite Food & Drink: Red Chili Chicken Enchiladas (blue corn tortilla) with spicy black beans and rice & beer, lots and lots of beer- any kind as long as there is a lot of it, preferably hoppy, but really anything will do.
Favorite TV Show(s): The Wire, Freaks and Geeks, Charlie Rose and Frontline
Favorite Twins Player, historically: Kent Hrbek
Favorite Twins Player, currently: Joe "Sweet Baby Jesus" Mauer, is that kid dreamy or what?
Best Twins Memory: My brother and I went to see the Twins late in 2005 and just happened to be at the game where Liriano made his debut, we saw him give up the longest home run I have ever seen- Gary Matthews Jr. crushed a fastball bouncing it off the glass of the luxury boxes in left field. A close second was the 2006 ALDS game 2 with Cuddy / Justin back to back HRs, man the crowd was electric- but we all know what happens next... So I guess that's a best and worst memory all wrapped up with a nice little bow.
Favorite Sport to Play: Softball
Favorite Sport to Watch: Baseball
If I could live anywhere in the world, I'd live in: Stockholm, Sweden. Or Mankato.
If I was commissioner for a day, I'd: Create a league wide payroll cap system, effective immediately for parity's sake because if meat says there will be parity, then godd@mn it there will be parity. And I'd drink from the Stanley Cup.
If I had Bill Smith's job I'd: Look into who suggested that the Twins sign Mike Lamb, and then I would fire that person. If that person was Bill Smith I'd probably have him escorted out of the building by security to ensure that he doesn't steal office supplies.
Favorite Ballpark: Coors Field and AT&T are great ballparks, but the best time I've had at a ballpark was the Oakland Coliseum - awful park, but you can bring whatever you want into the game (at least at the time you could)and a great crowd (Q: what's the matter with Jeter? A: He's a bum.) I am also partial to the 'topes field here in ABQ, "The Lab"- certainly a better place to see a ball game than the metrobubble.
Favorite blogs: SBG nation for sure and definitely JoePos (which was introduced to me via the WGOM- thanks)
Did you ever play rugby? You bet'cha. I played for the Duluth Rugby Club, for UMD for 2 years as a prop and lock, then I realized that my liver couldn't keep pace with the art crowd and the rugby club, I chose art, I may have made a mistake.
Have you ever been to Los Alamos or the Trinity Test Site? I have been to both. This year Meatwife and I took the trip to see Trinity, not really a spectacular place but is beautiful in its austerity, I may or may not have taken a piece of trinitite home with me, a federal crime if I recall. Los Alamos is the home of a friend of ours, we snowshoe there during the winter (in the valles caldera). Just to the south of Los Alamos is bandelier National Monument my favorite place in NM, an excellent hiking area with kiva ruins and cave dwellings- one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
How did you come to go all the way from Minneapolis to New York to New Mexico? I was born in St. Peter, the first to be put in the city's first incubator, moved to Duluth for undergraduate, moved to Buffalo for my Masters, then on to ABQ for my wife's PhD. (I tell everyone that misfortune brought me to New Mexico, Meatwife loves that). Thats it in a nutshell.
What kind of furniture do you like to make? I've made several pieces for the house, a number of tables a few chairs, shelves and bookshelves, the best piece I ever made was a really delicate but very strong end table from sugar pine and padouk- the wife loves it, so do I.
And here's a blast from the past: the map!
Click on map for a full sized image.
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meatwife??? I think you should go with "pork chop".
Oh, thats good. with apple sause.
Freaks & Geeks AND The Wire - Sweet!
I just finished Freaks & Geeks a couple months ago. I'm in Season 3 of the Wire. I love them both!
I finished Season 4 of "The Wire" a few weeks ago. It's one of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen. I don't really have much to say with regards to its "authenticity" or anything like that since I'm a middle class white boy from the Midwest, but it does have some of the greatest characters (Omar is my favorite) and storytelling I've ever seen on TV and that to me is what makes it great.
I think that comment was #3000. I'd been planning on some great comment all day and then I saw "The Wire" being discussed and had to get imy 2 cents in and completely lost track.
Midway through Season 4 of The Wire right now and it pisses me off whenever i have to stop watching or go to bed. I've never been so hooked.
Is this a good time to make a joke about Cheese?
I'm trying to get my wife into Season 3 although I watched Seasons 1 & 2 solo. I just needed someone to talk to that was at the same point in the series as I was.
I think that is one of the worst things about watching later on DVD. You really lose that water cooler-type (thanks, Bert) discussion. That was the reason I finally broke down and got HBO over the last 2 seasons of the Sopranos.
I got hooked to both those shows via Netflix, apparently I score high on this site.
Your "party" party sounds a hell of a lot more fun than your dinner party.
I want to see NBB do his take on that group.
yeah, dinner with those guys may have been a mistake.
Do you have a link to your work anywhere on the interwebs. meat?
Not really, Some day I hope to actually make one of those websites, I know that it isn't that hard but I'm lazy.
I don't have my own site, either, I just piggyback at mn.artists.org. Free and easy to use. Hell, you're a Minnesota artist--St. Peter dude, UMD grad--use it until you get something else.
It's nice to have a link.
I don't know if anyone else here will appreciate this question, but what's your favorite rugby song?
I put my hand apon her toe, AKA I met a whore in the park. Classic lines:
Get in, Get out, quit fu*kin' about
ya ho, ya ho, ya ho.
I put my hand upon her toe
ya ho, ya ho
I put my hand upon her toe
ya ho, ya ho
I put my hand upon her toe,
she said hey rugger you're way to low.
I don't know about meat, but I'm partial to Eskimo Nell and Barnacle Bill the Sailor. And I've never even played rugby.
I like "Jesus Can't Play Rugby" myself. There's something so awesomely sacreligious about it.
Breakfast of Champions. I knew there was a reason I liked you, meat. I found that book in the library when I was about 15, the first Vonnegut book I ever read. I remember quite clearly the expression of distaste that crossed the prim and elderly librarian's face when I checked it out, not knowing at the time what might have been prompting her reaction. When I returned it, I checked out every other Vonnegut book they had on the shelves. I'm sure the librarian realized then and there that I was a hopelessly lost cause. And so on.
And so it goes.
I bought a copy of Slaughter House Five when in Sweden because it was one of the only novels available in English. The next week I got on a train bound for Prague and rode through Dresden. It was a bit of a surreal experience, here is this idyllic little German town mashed together with Vonnegut's horrific description of the fire bombing.
Here's an interesting Slaughter House Five story. I met the son, Jerry, at the Drake Alumni viewing of the NCAA tournament here in the Twin Cities.
Jerry Allan the Architect from MCAD? If so this is indeed a small world.
Cruised through Dresden in '92. Lots still in ruins. Have read about tons of DMarks/Euros poured into recon and would like to see the makeover.
BofC: famed for its illustrations and accompanying text, e.g., the wet, split b.... (family site, after all). I didn't really know what to make of that book when I read it as a teenager.
I really like Vonnegut, but I didn't really like BoC. I liked Slaughterhouse-5 a lot more. I also enjoyed Jailbird. I don't know why, but BoC just didn't do it for me as much as the other two. I keep meaning to read Cat's Cradle as well. After I'm done with my current book I'll get to that one.
I think I only picked up BofC because I confused Slaughter House Five with Catch-22. So, I found him to be a bit strange.
That Gary Matthews Jr. blast was on Liriano's very first pitch, wasn't it? He destroyed that baseball on a molecular level.
+1 for taste in literature
I though he struck out someone before GMJ, but I can't recall. Boy,did that ball leave the park in a hurry though.
According to this it was actually his fifth pitch. But yeah, it was pretty ridiculous.
I could try to find my scorecard, but I'm guess the internet could answer that question for us much sooner.
(You make quilts? Traditional or art quilts?)
a little of both, mostly quilts to use i.e. get baby vomit on... I just finished a tree of life for the newest niece
Meat - you into stargazing at all? NM is astronomers' heaven; wish I could spend a bit of time there someday. I remember driving through a huge basin there on an all-nighter, and the skyscape was breathtaking.
Freaks & Geeks...every tried Big Bang Theory at all? Should be back on again before long after hiatus. Most belly laughs I've had from a sitcom in years.
I love Big Bang Theory. I am also a huge nerd. I suspect there is some causation in that relationship, not mere correlation.
Hopefully this doesn't get me in trouble but since I haven't actually seen Ubelmann, my mental image of him has always been Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Thin, smart, physics guy.
I'd like to apologize to Ubelmann in advance. It's just an image I can't get out of my head. He should have stuck around the Convention longer!
You know, now that you mention it, that's not too far off, though ubes has infintely more people skills.
No offense taken. I wish I'd been able to stick around the convention longer. I am thin, though, there's no getting around that.
I couldn't get into that show too much. Parts of it are pretty darned accurate, and other parts are so far off as to be nearly offensive (given that I am, after all, a physics grad student), though I know it's just a sitcom, so don't take it seriously, etc., etc. I have a couple of friends (outside of physics, but still huge nerds) who like the show, though.
Some of the most beautiful night sky I've ever seen was 4AM driving between Albuquerque and Flagstaff on I-40. I'd own such a bitchin' telescope if I lived down there.
Yeah, the night sky here is pretty nice. Come to think of it the sky is pretty awesome all the time here- especially in the lightning field.
Meat, is the Meatwife on faculty at UNM? One of my former grad students is an ass't prof in the political science dept.
You aren't really telling us that your family consists of a Mother F'ing Award winner and a Ph.D. in literature are you? Why didn't you two just join Mother Teresa's Order and get it done with?
lol, no, really.
You aren't really telling us that your family consists of a Mother F'ing Award winner and a Ph.D. in literature
I always wanted to marry a Doctor. Imagine my surprise when she told me her specialty was 18th century British. I thought they stopped using leaches a long time ago. D'oh.
Who are some of your favorite visual artists, meat? (Would Bacon and Prince be on that list, or are they just drinking buddies?)
Bacon, Phillip Guston, Johns, and Rauschenberg all had a pretty profound impact on my when I was younger- as would be evidenced by the
styleblatant rip-offs that were my early works- Prince I found a little later and have since liked most of his work- the new art car thing is a little in your face and flip, oh well to have an unlimited budget...My current favorite is Gerhard Richter, that guy has the chops- I've always liked Janine Antoni and Nan Golding- man there are too many to list like my musical taste, I like a little of everything form visual art.
Oh and recently I was re-introduced to Carroll Dunham who’s work I really like, but isn't even close to safe for posting anywhere near here. His new work deals with desire / gratification in very funny and interesting ways in that never overused trope of primitive art-
Yeah, trying to list favorites is next to impossible. Mine seem to ebb and flow, but Rothko, Diebenkorn and Joan Mitchell will always be in the mix.
Richter is fantastic. His representational stuff, anyway. Chops is right. Enjoy RR and JJ quite a lot, as well. Guston is someone I should like (one of my studio mate's faves), but I've always had trouble getting past his palette. (Does that make me shallow?) Saw Prince's Spiritual America show at the Walker last spring. Lots of interesting stuff, but it could have been pared down a bit. Some of it was surprising beautiful. Oh, and what I wouldn't do for an unlimited budget. I've never heard of Dunham--I'll check him out.
There was a Francis Bacon exhibit at the MIA a few years back. Seeing that all in one place is chilling. Plus, I had recently purchased the Ryuichi Sakamoto soundtrack to the biopic "Love is the Devil."
Albuquerque... huh... are you the guy who sent a certain wascally wabbit in the improper direction?
Seriously though, nice to have you on board, and nice to see the reincarnation of BKAC!
Nice work both of you!
Meat: your opinion of my favorite painting of all time, Bad Day on the High Sea by Brandon Bird
I'm not an artist, but to me it speaks to the intrinsic struggle of good and evil that resides in the hearts of all men.
Either that or they are having one freaky orgy.
I love it. The only question I have is: How did the artist get them all to stay still during the sitting? No really, how do you train a T-Rex to stand still?
His website is pretty cool, I like his Law and Order series.
Meat:
When were you at UMD? Any serious time at the Cove?
Stockholm: Cleanest restrooms in Euro.
I went to UMD from 97-02, and by serious time at the cove I suppose you mean did I puke on the bar. Check, and Check. I preferred the Capri and Anchor, and towards the end of my time I drank / ate in the Brewhouse- still a favorite microbrew for me.
UMD 79-83 here. Minny was 19, Sconnie was 18, so we would all pile into a buddy's VW van and fly over the bridge to Sconnie to Eagles Club, Cove, Brass Rail, Yellow Sub. A blur, but somehow we survived.
Good to know another Bulldog! What department were you in? I started a biologist and ended up a painter, so the story goes.
Math/CSci. Learned a lot that have not used since.
It took me too long to get to this, but this was a good read. Nice to have you (officially) aboard, meat.