The Waldorf Diaries--Opera/Punk Rock/Ratting Hotel Windows

I’m a city boy and I’ve come to accept that fact. I like traffic, sirens, and car alarms. I move in the flow of human traffic like water on sidewalks. I’m comforted by the juxtaposition of crumbling asphalt and blooming cherry trees.. I appreciate the expressions of mankind’s grandiosity. I value the dirt, decay, and the glaring signs of human frailty. I like a myriad of options.

I’ve had a little time off and I’m doing my best to get out and do things in this city. Explore the options available. Last night I got dressed up and went to see Aida with a friend. I don’t often have the opportunity to get see an Egyptian warrior entombed with his Ethiopian princess lover so it was very exciting. Exciting and so very tragic. After the opera, still dressed in our opera attire, we went across town to see a friend’s band play in a small club on the east side When I got back to the hotel I navigated my way inside through the crowd of young club kids gathered on the sidewalk outside. I had my friend who was working coat check help undo my collar button for me so I could take off my tie. Then I hung up my suit, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. I like the possibility of solitude within this kinetic collage. My windows rattled rhythmically with dubstep remixes from the club downstairs and the loud sidewalk conversations blurred into a soothing static. As peaceful as Tibetan singing bowls.

Money

For the past couple days I’ve been going through piles of receipts and invoices. Making stacks of paper and then shoving those stacks into labeled envelopes for my accountant. I don’t usually leave this until the end of April. Most years I have this financial imperative finished sometime in early March. I’m not entirely sure what happened this year. I’m not worried…it’s going to get done.

It’s interesting looking at this physical representation of my job. Where the money came from. What the money was for. How the money was spent. Last year was a particularly good year. That’s not in reference to my net income (I’ve made more money at other times in my life) but rather to the jobs I was able to do. They were interesting, challenging, and above all rewarding in a creative sense. I feel good about the work I was allowed and the pieces I produced.

Money is necessary if I want to live in this overinflated city and I appreciate a paycheck as much as the next guy but there are much more important things.

More shelving for the Waldorf Studio

Catch Up In Stereo

Over the past couple of months building the tables, booths, and banquets for the restaurant has been all consuming and has forced other projects aside. Over the past few days I've had space to do some catching up. One project that has been on my mind is a stereo cabinet I was contracted to build for the Barbarella Hair Salon location at the Waldorf Hotel (elsewhere referred to as my "home"). Today finished the laminating (there's a bit more detail filing left to do) and touched up the varnish so this sleek piece of eye candy can be installed tomorrow! It's nice to cross something off my lengthy list.

Doing Bacchus Proud

Leading a bacchanalian lifestyle?
Wine cellar overflowing?
Need somewhere to put the cases of Montrachet, 1978 you bought at  Sotheby's?
Maybe you just have a lot of drunken friends in your living room who refuse to leave.
Here is a wine wine rack that is a statement.
It's a lifestyle.
It says, "I go through a lot of wine!"

Cushioned

As the space takes form before the restaurant opens next week apprehension over last details begins to set in. The final variable in the booths and banquets were the cushions and my concerns over the sizes I specified for the upholsterer was beginning to grow. Going to the restaurant this afternoon and seeing all the cushions in place fitting nicely allowed me room to breath and created space for me to obsess about other projects that now require attention. I can move on.

Beautifully design by Scott Cohen and Funhouse built