Supermarket Fireworks part 23

With a drop-in class scheduled for 6 pm tonight, I decided to go up to the JSAC in the afternoon, making sure to get a good parking spot and to get some artwork in.  Took two trips to bring everything in (no rain yet, so I had that going for me), and in between trips I stopped in the office to let Nichole know I was there.  At that point she shared with me the list of 80's music she had selected for tonight.  I suspected that a few of them might have been from the 70's, but the music part of the evening was her responsibility, so I let it go and got to work.  Down in my space I got in the mood by playing a few discs of true 80's vintage.  I first heard and appreciated the band Dream Syndicate while I was a student down in Virginia, but I didn't acquire the album Live at Raji's until I ran across it in a discount bin at a mall record store years later. But the concert it came from was in 1988, so it counts.  When that ended, I put on Big World from Joe Jackson, which has a major theme of modern times have eliminated exoticism and excitement from much of the world, but so many of the songs deal with the conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union, that I think of it as a Cold War album. (Jackson, as a resident of England, seems to be a very concerned bystander)  Big World was unusual for other reasons- first it was a 3 sided record (I bought it on vinyl then, now burned to a single CD), two LP's and the second one had a blank side.  Second, the songs were all recorded live in a single take, with an audience that was asked to not applaud the performances until the songs were done.  Many rehearsals which allowed the technicians to adjust microphone locations and levels, so everything would be perfect when they started recording, leading to the producer making the accurate claim that the album was mixed before it was ever recorded.

My main purpose in going to the Studio was to pull a proof of the new block. I had cut more a few days ago, and liked what it seemed to be, but I had other plans for the day and put off the process of printing.  Today I knew I had about 90 minutes to devote to it, more than enough time to pull a single proof of a previously inked block.  For the occasion I had brought in some Lightweight White paper and even opened a new can of ink. Bought a fresh roll of wax paper to create a skin paper for it.

So here is the first official proof of this print, which will be known as Scenes from the Grand Opening #25.  The stray marks in the margins means it won't be part of the edition, but it's good enough to get the idea of the composition.

Cleaned up everything with ink on it, and took the elevator up to the 3rd floor to get ready for the class.  The cafe space was a little more hopping than for my last class, with someone manning the refreshment counter, where there were big pots of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and bags of chips, plates of cookies, etc. On the tables, a supply of art materials that Nichole had gotten for us- large pads, colored pencils, large pastels, etc.  Only thing missing were customers. A few people came in to buy snacks (probably connected to the dance classes), but no artists.  When I did see a woman carrying a large drawing pad, it turned out to be someone taking a meeting with Nichole, a potential teacher for another art class. I was told that several people had expressed an interest online, but no one showed tonight.  No idea if they didn't like the topic, or if there was an issue with the date.  For what is worth, I'm told that a lot more people expressed an interest in next week's activity (high contrast) and the week after that (60's music), so maybe it will work.  With the loud music coming from the dance studios on the 2nd floor, I don't know how well our music themed activity would have worked.  At times the tables and floor were vibrating to the rhythms of the dance music. Meanwhile the plan is to go forward with this, perhaps with better food options available if the permits come through.