American Writers Museum

Museums – 2017

Posted on by admin

In 2017 I visited exhibits at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Art Institute, American Writers Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), and Musical Instrument Museum.

The Musical Instrument Museum is supposedly in Phoenix, but I didn’t see anything but desert for miles around it, which reminds me, I also visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, where I learned that javelinas look similar to, but are not pigs. Okay, good to know. The special exhibit at the instrument museum was Dragons and Vines: Inlaid Guitar Masterpieces. The guitars were much more attractive than the javelinas.

The Breakup exhibit at the MCA was mostly related to a serious topic, but what caught my attention was that it also had some cool memorabilia related to theories on the timeline of the breakup of The Beatles. Spoiler alert – they’re not getting back together.

The Saturday Night Live: The Experience exhibit at the Museum of Broadcast Communications offers you the possibility of paying more money on top of your admission fee to have your picture taken behind the Weekend Update news desk. I passed on that part of the experience, went home, and sat behind my own desk for free.

I went to the Rodin exhibit at the Art Institute expecting to see paintings of a giant flying monster from a 1956 Japanese horror film (oops, that was Rodan), but instead saw a bunch of sculptures, including one of some naked guy thinking. I wonder whether he was thinking about giant flying monsters.

I’ve been to Jack Kerouac’s grave in Lowell Massachusetts (wasn’t my idea), and seen Jack Kerouac Alley across the street from City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, but I’ve never read On the Road Again, even though it was the anthem of my generation, or so I’m told. I loved Canned Heat’s hit On the Road Again, way before Willie Nelson recorded it. I’m not sure what to make of all that, but it was still interesting to see the 120-foot-long roll of paper upon which Kerouac typed the On the Road manuscript, which was on display at the American Writers Museum last October. By the way, in case you’re wondering, it’s not toilet paper, though that would have made an even better story.

American Writers Museum – Gillian Flynn and A.J. Finn – January 16, 2018

Posted on by admin

I haven’t read any of Gillian Flynn’s books (though I enjoyed the movie Gone Girl) and I haven’t read A.J. Finn’s first effort, the highly acclaimed The Woman in the Window, but now that I have seen Finn speak in person, I will remedy that omission. He’s a hoot – candid, funny, animated, articulate, and well-schooled. The program was a give-and-take between the authors that was never dull.

Because it started 15 minutes late, as too many things I go to seem to do, I had to leave when they started taking questions from the audience. I regretted having to leave early on this occasion, although often I can’t get out fast enough at that point in a program to avoid the questioners who don’t know the difference between a question and a statement, or just want to hear themselves talk, or want everyone else in the room to hear their opinion or resume. If that’s your thing, start a blog, like I did, where people can read your thoughts, if so inclined, at their leisure and without it cutting into the time of the invited speakers.

There were only a few empty seats when we got there, but apparently the museum is still new enough (it just opened in March 2017) that there aren’t a lot of members yet (I happen to be one). So, after being adorned with member wrist bands, we were lovingly directed to a couch along the wall. We couldn’t see the speakers, but had no complaint about that.  Even so, a staff person came by and suggested that I could push the couch forward along the wall to a spot that would allow an unimpeded view. I hesitated doing so, but the staff person took it upon herself to do it for us. My $40 membership had already paid dividends.