Upper Midwest - Day Twenty-One (Seguin, TX - Houston, TX - Orange, TX - Shreveport, LA - Texarkana, AR)

Another day of pushing it: 580 miles, and I'm trying to do 3 museums:


It is a beautiful day

in the Great State of Texas


170 miles to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Maybe I have become more used to the "Archer City"s of the USA, but driving into Houston was an eye-opener: there were high-rises WAY WEST of the "Downtown". I thought that I had to get Google Earth with its 3-D buildings to show them, but they have not been put into their database (this is looking west, and, in reality, it is anything but flat):


It was easy getting to the museum, and they have free parking. Excellent world-class holdings, including JMW Turner's "Sheerness as seen from the Nore (The Loyd Seapiece)", 1808

Albert Bierstadt's "Indians Spear Fishing", 1862

Frederic Edwin Church's "Cotopaxi", 1855


Louis Comfort Tiffany (the Tiffany Studios) - "A Wooded Landscape in Three Panels", c. 1905

some details!



I had to leave - I had a schedule to keep ... but they have a Special Exhibition: Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River:

Since Monet is, well, Monet, I had to stay and see the 51 beautiful works of art in the Exhibition; works from the Louvre, RSDI, MFA Boston, etc. etc. etc. It cost me a big chunk of time, but that is the reason that I am doing what I am doing: seeing beauty! (and, of course, no photographs of an exhibition)

113 miles east is the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas:

(isn't that a FUN sign!!)
They have a GREAT collection! Many Remington bronzes (and paintings), plus early (1878) George Inness, 6 by Alfred Jacob Miller, 4 by Albert Bierstadt, and 3 by Thomas Moran. My favorites are:
Thomas Moran - "The Mirage", 1879

Thomas Moran - "Mojave Wall", 1915

Albert Bierstadt - "Storm on Laramie Peak", c. 1883


It was just too far to get up to the R. W. Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana - it was open until 5, which is exactly when I got there:

I will have to get back there someday - they have works by Bierstadt, Church, Cole, Cropsey, Durand, Hill, Homer, Huntington, Moran, and Richards!

and then I headed up the road to Super 8 Texarkana. I will be staying with Ellie in St. Louis tomorrow night!!

Music today:

I decided to listen to more "alphabetical music" [going through all the music on my iPod song-by-song, alphabetically]. Today I heard 105 songs, starting with:
"Forever" by Missi Hale; album 51 Must Have Modern Worship Hits
and ending with:
"The French Inhaler [Live]" by Warren Zevon; album I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Anthology) (2 cds)

Highlights include:

4 different versions of "Fortunate Son":
by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; album Like A Rock
by John Fogerty; album The Long Road Home
by U2; ep Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
(live) by John Fogerty; album The Long Road Home

5 different versions of "Four":
by Miles Davis; album The Complete Concert 1964: My Funny Valentine + Four & More [Disc 2]
by Miles Davis; album Complete Live At The Plugged Nickel 1965 [Disc 2]
by The Miles Davis Quintet; album Workin'
by Keith Jarrett Trio; album My Foolish Heart (2 cds)
"Four By Five" by McCoy Tyner; album The Real McCoy

4 different versions of "Fragile":
by Andy Bey; album Tuesdays In Chinatown
by Sting; album America: A Tribute To Heroes
by Sting; album Nothing Like The Sun
"Fragilidad" by Sting; album For The Lady: Dedicated To Freeing Aung San Suu Kyi And The Courageous People Of Burma

"Freeway Of Love" by Aretha Franklin; album Aretha's Best

Clarence Clemons did the sax solos in "Freeway of Love". As Bruce has said, "Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die." Thanks for the memories!

and I have no reason to quote this other than the fact that I went to a lovely church service in Barstow, California last Sunday. This is the opening paragraph of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive..." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are those goddamn animals?" Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about?" he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wrap-around Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.