I Am In Love With Eve

We visited Berlin, Vienna, Prague and London on our recent vacation.  Amazing art in every city, amazing architecture on every block, amazing life-changing experiences in every country.  We saw Gustave Klimt paintings and ceiling decorations in Vienna, we saw huge, wall-sized paintings by Hans Makart who was Klimt’s mentor, we saw incredible architecture by Otto Wagner, beautiful animal sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti (brother of the auto maker), and the epic-sized Slav Epic paintings by Alphons Mucha.  We even saw The Lady of Shalott by J.W.Waterhouse in the Tate Britian and visited Lord Leighton’s home and studio. But of all the mind-blowing art and architecture, the one that absolutely changed my life was a painting called, “Eve” by Solomon Joseph Solomon.  I had never even heard his name before seeing his work.

There it was, a very large painting about 10 feet tall, in a room of other large paintings by great artists, and the one that I just couldn’t leave, was “Eve.”  I could’ve sat there until they turned the lights out, but there were other people involved, and other things to do, sigh….How can someone so amazing, be so little known?  When I told a friend about the painting, he pulled out a book with Solomon Joseph Solomon’s work on the cover, and we had an instant connection.  He was a secret lover of Eve too.  I wonder how many of us there are out there?

My Two Minutes of Fame

Film Clip From WGNO Interview

Now I figure I have another 13 minutes due me on account.  Just wondering when I can collect?  Tyler Wing, the reporter from WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans, was covering Tales of the Cocktail and asked for an interview.  I couldn’t figure out where to look, I was blinded by the light of his camera.  But you’ve got to hand it to the film editor, it didn’t turn out too bad.  Check it out…

//wgno.com/2014/07/16/tales-of-the-cocktail-is-taking-over-new-orleans/

The Hang Over Effect

The Hurricane Cocktail

Tales of the Cocktail is officially over for 2014.  What an amazing event.  Bartenders, distributors, distillers, and food and beverage critics, from Moscow, Melbourne, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland, South Africa, and for some reason, lots of them from South Carolina this year.  Then there are always just “enthusiasts” who have no official connection with the industry…just fans.

So here is the official poster finally.  It sold well, and sales online are just beginning.  So I will be dealing with residual effects of TOC for awhile yet, and that is good news.