Surreal: legwarmers, Dali gifts, and Y-100 protestival
Published by Becky S March 6th, 2005 in arts, philadelphiaSalvador Dali wasn’t the only surreal thing happening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art yesterday. Legwarmers, a surreal fashion trend, made an appearance in the gallery full of ants and decomposing donkeys. Compare and contrast to MoMA’s patrons, who wear their underwear on the outside.
Surrealism was in full swing at the museum’s Dali giftshop: Dali fingerpuppets, chocolate-covered insects, wind-up elephants on stilts, and lots and lots of items featuring Mae West’s lips, including pink, fuzzy hats and replicas of the famous sofa. I liked the rose trenchcoat, but it cost more than my gas bill.
Meanwhile, outside the museum, there was a surreal protestival about the recent demise of Y-100, Philadelphia’s only modern rock radio station. Radio in Philadelphia was terrible with Y-100 on the air, and it’s terrible with Y-100 off the air, so why all the fuss?
UPDATE 3/7/05: To better illustrate the surrealityness of the Dali gift shop, Mr. Blankbaby–known in some circles as Philadelphia’s most influential blogger–models the aforementioned fuzzy pink hat. Thanks, Scott, for giving this humble weblog permission to use your image!
re: legwarmers. One of the … interesting? odd? terrible? amusing? … things about getting old is that all the fashion trends that you lived through once before, and that you thought were safely buried in your embarrassing past, somehow manage to make it back as retro fashions. That is, on people a generation or two behind you, who have not yet had the experience of squirming uncomfortably when viewing photos of years past.
Uh oh. I think your banner needs to be fumigated.
I don’t mean to be paranoid, or critical, but those ants are freaky.
Scott, send me the picture of you in the fuzzy pink Dali hat, and I will post it as my fourth surreal item.
Dave, the ants represent my surreal blogging phase. Also, I think you left behind some Wawa pretzel crumbs the last time you were here.
Mike, the legwarmers are amusing in this case because they were worn by a young girl (i.e., “one who has not yet had the experience of squirming uncomfortably when viewing photos of years past”). However, legwarmers are simply terrible when worn by those who wore them the last time around.
I know. And yet, what I blogged about the other day was a recent article that said ‘Philly is about to become THE music city.’
LOL
why were they on the steps of an art museum?
Marjo, does Philly really need a station like Y-100 to become THE music city? Is that a reference to the soul music thing? I haven’t been following; perhaps I should edjumacate myself.
Maybe the protest on the art museum steps was symbolic? Y-100 gone = loss to the arts? David overcomes Goliath, a la Rocky?
I don’t think your blog is that surreal yet. You need more dead donkey.
Thanks for the suggestion, Scott. True, there’s much work to be done before Good Grief! becomes surreal. However, I can’t find the time to stare at cracks in the wall until reaching a state of paranoia.
Maybe chemicals are the answer.
you should feel blessed to have 88.5 xpn in your market.
I dunno. 88.5 has gone downhill since I moved to Philly, and many people will say it hasn’t been the same since it was a true college radio station.
I used to be a big fan of XPN and even volunteered during fund drives. But the station has become more playlist-oriented and more strict in following the guidelines of the “adult alternative” format–all the while maintaining that they are “hand-crafted radio.”
Don’t get me wrong–XPN is still a good resource and probably better than what’s available in a lot of places. But the Internet is becoming my go to place to find new music.
I listen to an alternative station online (www.x96.com) that is out of Utah. I used to live there and I haven’t found a better station since I left 11 years ago.
Utah rules.
I make that hat look good.