Boardwalk Days part 39

 Early this morning I checked email and found I had one from our director at the Studio building.  It was finally the official request to keep the art up, now through the 15th of December.  Fine for me, so I sent her a reply email saying that.  Come the 15th I'll see if it's extended again, but for now I don't have to deal with it for a few more weeks. 

Another event scheduled for today up at the Jersey Shore Arts Center, the annual Holiday Market.  What it is is a bunch of vendors come in, set up tables, and hawk their wares.  Same thing happens in pubic spaces all over the region each weekend, but what makes this a little different is that we have food (at some of them) and resident artists are invited to open up their studios to the public.  In my case I wasn't sure if I was even going- last year we had no vendors down in the basement, no signs directing visitors to artist residents in the basement, I wasn't sure if I had anything to work on, and only 3 people even  made it to my space last time.  In an email update to Molly, I told her to do what she wanted, but if she couldn't make it she probably wasn't missing much.  But I woke up early, realized that I had something that hadn't been printed yet, and decided to go, if only for a little while.

As it my custom, I got there about an hour before things actually began, which meant plenty of parking in the front lot (though I also saw some cars already in the back) and time to straighten things out a bit in our space, just in case anyone wandered through.  The front door was wide open, so I didn't have to use any codes to get in and some vendors were already starting to set up their tables and things for sale.  The basement back door was wide open (I guess some were loading that way) but I got through to my space without problems.  Cleaned up a little, set up my cutting and printing station.  Realized I had not brought any discs with me today, so I would have to be satisfied with the ones I kept in the Studio.  For today that would be some Neil Young live shows, discs I think I got from John Siblik, and I keep them there as things to listen to if I forget to bring any, and because I know Molly likes them. One is acoustic, one is with Crazy Horse (so electric), though at least one song is found on both, which shows that Young's music is very versatile. I started with the acoustic set, something called Live at Massey Hall from 1971, written about back in September of 2021 if you want to know more. 

For art I was making a few slight adjustments to my block for the latest boardwalk print, made easier by the decision to ink it back in October.  Part of getting there early was to give myself time to sharpen my tools, which I wanted to do before any more cuts to the block.  I knew from last time that there were a few minor things I wanted to fix, and I expected to pull a proof today.  So first I sharpened my tools, then cut a few things on the block.  A few complex spots, and mostly some places that picked up some unintended ink.  I taped up the four big edges, then rolled it all up.  Then I pulled up the long pieces of tape and put down small ones to cover new unintended spots, and then took a proof on okawara paper. which is what I use for the edition in this series.  Then I printed it up.  Results can be seen below:

That was enough for today.  The first disc had ended, so now the electric Neil Young with Crazy Horse, this one a live show at the Fillmore East in 1970.  (although recorded in 1970, it wasn't released until 2006, as part of the same Archive series that gave us the Massey Hall album)  Only six songs, but the results were a standard album length.  He introduced the band, but not everyone who was there for the later Crazy Horse albums.  Of course, one of the songs was about people in his life, including band members, dying from heroin overdoses, so maybe that had something to do with it.  By the time that ended, I had finished my proof, and began cleaning up.  Still no vendors in the basement, and no one came to the Studio. I decided to pack up, grab some lunch on the way home, and go there.  

On my way out, I took a photo of the 1st floor, to provide a sense of what was going on.  A pretty good crowd was there.  A vendor was set up, with a table right in front of my hung prints, so I assume that people were in front of them.  How many looked at them I cannot say.  

At a table by the door they had some programs for the event, listing all the vendors and art studio that would be there today.  Not surprisingly, artist studios and vendors for floors one through three, but nothing was listed for the basement- no vendors, no artists.  Good thing I didn't plan anything special for today.