Nancy Brings Karaoke Ice to LA

Nan flew in last night from Austin bearing gifts of Texas BBQ.

She'll be here for over a week with an art project that she Katie & Marina created called Karaoke Ice. They've plotted a route that fully canvasses lesser known/served LA communities and successfully avoids conspicuously hipster hangouts. Their planned route includes Watt's Tower, Belmont Village Assisted Living of Hollywood and the African Market and Cultural Faire.

Karaoke Ice needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, but in essence it's a 1950s ice cream truck that's been converted into a mobile karaoke stage. Remedios - a silent squirrel - is the encouraging Emcee and favorites of the 80s, 90s and today are reconceived as tinkling ice cream truck tunes.

I flew up to San Jose last year to see the project in action
Here's a link to some coverage that does it justice.

http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2006/08/12/karaoke-ice-at-zeroone/

KI is an intense project and Katie, Marina and Nancy are rarely in the same city nowadays - so when they are there's loads to do. But Nan got to town first, so she and Seamus and I got to spend a relaxing evening sitting outside catching up, drinking wine and eating - what else - slow cooker stew and homemade ice cream.

Nancy leaves in less than 2 months to start the next chapter of her life in the Netherlands.
For now it's just a ceramics residency, but I cannot help but fear that those wily Dutch will charm her with their clever and authentic design, their respect for artists and their institutionalized penchant for cycling.

From what I know of the Netherlands - it would be difficult to create a place more suited to Nan. Their tourism brochures may as well start with, "Dear Ms. Nowacek". So I'm struggling with the fact that my best friend in the world might be happiest in a country that's another 5 hours further away.

In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the time we've got and I plan to spend this week following the bus around greater Los Angeles.