By some kind of odd transatlantic telepathic communication, my truly great friend Keith Boadwee started his own blog site on almost exactly the same day as me. How odd is that? Keith lives in the San Francisco area which is way too far away for a truly great friend to live but somehow we cope. His site has been added to the links at the side and I recommend it without reservation. Keith's site style rather mirrors his love of things charming and upbeat much in the way that this one mirrors my love of things more dark and traumatic. (We're talking music here principally, rather than life in general.)
Actually, I've just come back from visiting Keith and his adorable boyfriend Kenny. I went to the East Bay to do some filming at an art centre called Creative Growth, which is one of the world's largest day centres that allows people with disabilities to express themselves through art. In the past I would have had a rather ambivalent response to such things, me being such a kranky old cynic, but the art made at Creative Growth is often quite extraordinary and the place buzzes with an odd kind of energy. And I like the fact that a lot of the work looks sophisticated in a contemporary art fashion and yet is so far removed from that world's insane analysis and theorising. You can see more work by the artists on their website by following the link. And the picture is of Danny Miller doing one of his obsessively dense word drawings - posted here partly as a test to see if I can master the picture adding process, and partly to brighten up the general gloom of the page so far.