Jazz brunch at ARTSPACE

All the tables in the mainspace and cafe were filled and refilled Sunday at noon, with people enjoying the Dantzic jazz photographs environment, Michael's good food and a live band playing jazz and the blues. A group photograph of those connected to the exhibit, Bill and his Moonbot bunch, SRAC and ARTSPACE personnel, me and the Dantzics, was taken, and then we all said our good-byes to Grayson and Cynthia Dantzic...hope they return soon.

At two pm, those attending the ARTBREAK winners exhibit in Coolspace started arriving: mayoral candidate, Roy Burrell, supt. Dr. Dawkins, Art supervisor, Henry Price, lots of proud parents and children. Do tell your school board rep to restore the full arts budgeting.

A DANTZIC SATURDAY

Grayson Dantzic, via a fabulously constructed slide show, took his ARTSPACE audience through his dad's photographic career. He included some amazing contact sheets, some of which included the images now on the gallery walls, photos of his dad's files, studio, and newspaper sources that he'd researched so well. The original TIMEX Jazz show video was also shown, a glimpse of a glorious past jazz era. Trudeau's local documentary of jazz artists was an eye opener re Shreveport's local jazz scene and our own wonderful musicians.

The Atchisons hosted a dinner party Saturday evening for those who'd helped with the "Club Dantzic" and the great exhibit of Jerry Dantzic's work. As usual the food and company were outstanding. I enjoyed meeting for the first time, Ginger Clarke, Steve and Janice Aiken, Brandon Oldenberg, Artspace's L.J. And I hadn't enjoyed the company of Sarah Herrington, Mark Hermosillo for too long a time. And my dear friend, Cynthia, Jerry's partner and wife enjoyed it all. Applause for whomever thought to record the music of the musicians featured in the show, and put them on a gift CD...the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Jerry Dantzic Exhibit

The neon lit CLUB DANTZIC sign announced the Jerry Dantzic show at ARTSPACE . The jazz band was marvelous and set the mood. Black interior walls are the perfect background for the amazing photographs.

For me, viewing the faces of Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Ella Fitzgerald et al is like seeing my old friends. And added to the great, insightful jazz works, I enjoyed the "life" photos of a couple's New Year's Eve kiss in Times Square, a birds eye view of men in fedoras conversing, my friend, Cynthia, so young and carefree on a Coney Island carousel. The shots taken at the Newark Minsky's burlesque are great and the shrouding curtain really is just an isolating element. I was at that burlesque house in its declining days, the ones shown in Jerry's photos, and saw the fabulous Georgia Southern perform. The chorus line lacked Rockette precision; in fact their costumes were worn, tawdry, torn, their shoes unmatched. Jerry's photos add magic to the legendary place.

Grayson Dantzic delivered a heartfelt moment as he spoke about his dad, and then played and sang two of his own compositions. His mom was teary as she accepted a bouquet of flowers from him, and I joined those tears as I was so beautifully recognized.

Maggie Martinwise, I'll tell you about the delightful attendees: Jodie Glorioso, Carolyn Nelson, Robert and Talbot Trudeau, Cookie Garner, Nadine Charity, Marcy Everett, the Thorne-Thomsens, Shirley and Ron Silverman, the Leonard Washingtons, Neil Johnson, Jerry Wray, etc., a sterling audience for Jerry.

Cynthia and me

Cynthia and I today tried to duplicate that photo booth image of us as 12 year olds I recently found...this is the best we could come up with. What fun to use the Photo Booth program on my new Mac...this is the sepia effect.

We're looking forward to the show opening tonight at ARTSPACE.

DantzicConnection

Apologies..just couldn't rotate this photo, but it is the DANTZIC connection.

Jerry Dantzic's fabulous jazz photographs will be exhibited at ARTSPACE, opening this Friday Aug. 13. His wife, Cynthia and son, Grayson will attend, as will Ira and me.

Cynthia and I became friends during our first year of middle school, Montauk Jr. HS in Brooklyn. This photo was taken at a coin operated photo booth...I think we were 12 yrs. old. We have kept in touch through these many, many years, though it had been 30 years since we'd seen one another, when we hugged at the Ogden museum in New

Orleans, April 2009.

Do enter "Cynthia Maris Dantzic" into your favorite bookseller's site and you'll find a long list of art-related titles. And she's still teaching at LIU. Please come to Friday night's opening and meet her, enjoy archivist, Grayson's talk and Jerry's insightful photos.