LIC Staff Meeting

Melvin flew into New York for a conference and we spent over nine hours on Sunday in Long Island City.  Prior to his arrival we made plans to discuss Baseball Byways and where it might go next.

First, however, we made a bee-line from LaGuardia to Gantry Plaza State Park, where Hugue Dufour and his wife Sarah Obraitis, of the recently shuttered M. Wells, were dishing out sautéed veal brains from All Clad's 40th anniversary food truck.

I had brought a large bottle of Innis & Gunn's Rum Cask Finish Oak Aged Beer, which we drank with our snack.  From there we headed to PS1 to see the September 11 exhibit.  "Eschewing images of the event itself, as well as art made directly in response, the exhibition provides a subjective framework within which to reflect upon the attacks in New York and their aftermath...."

We saw work where the underlying politics, artistic concept or execution was thin but that is often the case at PS1, and even part of the curatorial voice of the kunsthalle.  We also saw some evocative work, which is also to be expected from the institution.  I was in particular taken with the selection of photographs from John Pilson's Interregna series.

Melvin checked into his hotel, then we walked through the redesigned Queens Plaza to Dutch Kills.  Part of Sasha Petraske’s empire, the cocktail bar is named for part of Long Island City and the nearby waterway of the same name.  More geography: We each started with a Toronto, with long strips of orange peel.  I followed that with a Manhattan, while Melvin had a Greenpoint.

Four ounces of whiskey was all we could manage on just a small plate of brains so we headed to Sunswick 35/35 for supper, great beer and the final Yankees-Red Sox game of the season. I remember our having the Southern Tier Pumking, Blue Point Rastafar Rye Ale, the Big A IPA and Short Batch #10 from Smuttynose, and the Dieu du Ciel Dernière Volonté.  There were more, which is why I cannot list them all.  We called it a night after 13 innings, with the score tied 4-4.

We did talk about the blog but didn't make any big decisions.  Maybe during the off-season.