I was born and spent the first 10 years of my life in the Bacliff/Galveston Bay area of Texas and if I was to make an album of my childhood this would be it.

[audio:http://ihudgens.com/images/photo/bacliff.mp3]

#	Title	Artist
1	Blue Bayou	Linda Ronstadt
2	Maggie May	Rod Stewart
3	Forever Young	Rod Stewart
4	Cracklin’ Rosie	Neil Diamond
5	Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)	The Hollies
6	Crazy Love	Poco
7	I Love a Rainy Night	Eddie Rabbitt
8	Lookin’ for Love	Johnny Lee
9	Drivin’ My Life Away	Eddie Rabbitt
10	Lost in Love	Air Supply
11	Bang a Gong (Get It On)	T. Rex
12	Smoky Mountain Rain	Ronnie Milsap
13	Open Arms	Journey
14	Luchenback, Texas	Johnny Russell
15	You and I	Crystal Gayle & Eddie Rabbitt
16	Let Your Love Flow	Bellamy Brothers
17	Jet Airliner	Steve Miller Band
18	Just Remember I Love You	Firefall
19	Kiss on My List	Daryl Hall & John Oates
20	You’re in My Heart	Rod Stewart
21	Lay Down Sally	Eric Clapton
22	Bette Davis Eyes	Kim Carnes
23	You Might Think	The Cars
24	Carry On Wayward Son	Kansas
Bonus Track      Fallen Angles           by Bacliff Punx

After a year of wanting to finish a small video of last years Madhatter’s Ball in Chicago and many starts & stops I figured just to cut it where I left off and just post it. I didnt have alot of useable photos anyway so in celebration of last years Ball and this years coming one (which I cant make) here is the 2005 Madhatters Ball Revue. Just click the image to the left to start the show.

Here’s hoping everyone has a good time this year even without the art…..

Ending a tradition, the Art Institute of Chicago aims to require visitors to start paying a fixed admission fee beginning June 3, though it wants to slash prices for younger kids and expand some summer evening hours.

After countless years (I would like to know exactly how many) of offering the wonderful option of paying what you can instead of the full 12$ admission fee the Institute givith and the Institute taketh away by trying to make the 12$ a mandatory voluntary fee, in return they are planing on not just having bankers hours now.

Most of these changes in my opinion are great, not only great but a earthquake to the arts in Chicago and LONG LONG overdue. Having the doors open at a realistic time for working people to view the art is a simple decision. Who can sprint from work grab a friend or family member, see some art before the doors close at 4:30pm (or get harassed by guards at 4:10-4:15) and actually be relaxed enough to enjoy the process?

Apparently the bulk of the visitors were “found to be disproportionately white, educated and affluent.” How can that be a surprise when the hours of operation are so tight and the details of the voluntary fee are in the smallest type possible and if you dare to offer less you are met with attitude and snide looks of disdain. What non affluent, educated, white would be able to or care to jump though those hoops. You want to open the doors to people who don’t come to the Institute? Simple.

Continue reading »

Now you can share what you have learned here with others when you return home to the trailer park.

~Frist Art Center Docent after giving a lecture on two african ceremonial headpeices

I wouldn’t use quotes if there was a symbol at my disposal that expressed the idea of not exactly quoting word for word but really close, minus a pronoun or slightly shifted. When you hear something you didn’t expect everything just kind of grinds to a stop like a wrench in the teeth of gears. So with humility and 20/25 vision I relate what to many could be a serious issue in a social institution but to me is another day in the arts.

The quick and the dirty of the story is that I and a friend went to the Frist Gallery (I thought of changing the names to protect the innocent but honestly that’s annoying) on a Sunday afternoon since we were in the Nashville area due to a old friends wedding. Having a free day we decided to see the many attractions there (Built-to-Scale Parthenon, Old Family Cemetery, Vanderbilt Art Gallery & Jack-in-the-Box since there are none in Chicago).

Continue reading »