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(Venice, Italy) Angela Cook is a self-made woman with a jewel at the center of her heart. Her decades of hard work sparkle before your eyes the moment you enter her shop. Ganesha, the revered Indian god known as the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles, is the subtle influence for the name of the shop, filled with inspirational jewelry.

From precious rubies, emeralds and pearls, to chunks of amber and onyx, each piece is a singular creation, either designed by Angela herself, or specially chosen from her shopping expeditions throughout Europe, India and the Orient. She has gemstones at Ganesha that I've never seen before!

Ganesha radiates the flavor of the East spiced with a British touch, a unique combination. I love to wander in there and play with the jewelry. Angela has big, clunky silver wrist bands from Asia that make me feel like a female gladiator. Or rings and bracelets of fossilized ivory, intricately carved into roses. The ivory comes from the tusks of the wooly mammoth who roamed the Siberian tundra thousands of years ago. Imagine all the great women of the world wearning ancient mammoth ivory Rose Rings...

(Venice, Italy) Another little miracle – I am writing to you from inside the press room at Arsenale from the next section of La Biennale: Architecture. This morning, Paolo Baratta, the President of La Biennale, spoke at the press conference, together with a dynamic American, Aaron Betsky, who is the Director of the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture. Entitled, OUT THERE: Architecture Beyond Building, the festival opens on September 14th, and runs through November 23, 2008. I have just viewed the portion inside the Arsenale, and report that if you are in Venice during this time, YOU HAVE GOT TO COME! Do you see that image up there? That is the first thing you see when you walk into Arsenale. You can make all the points of light connect and change and move if you dance around and flash your energy up at the screen through your fingertips, just like a god. Any architecture exhibit that opens with something like that has got to be a window into the big brain, n'est pas?

Paolo Baratta said he was pleased that attendance is growing rapidly for the Architecture Biennale, both with the architects, and the journalists. Aaron Betsky confirmed that when it comes to cutting edge architecture that Venice is the place to be -- for the vehement criticisms. For the uncanny ability to debate. Betsky said, “You have to come to Venice.” The reknown architect Frank Gehry will be honored with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and he has an installation here.

Aaron Betsky, who was born in Missoula, Montana in 1958 is feisty and outspoken, and, again, I am so happy to see Americans arriving here with this kind of energy. He began by thanking the staff at La Biennale for making his job easier, and said he was flabbergasted by the ability of the team here in Venice who worked to make these architectural concepts a reality. He said these were not final products, but catalysts.

He made a provocative statement: “The road to Utopia leads to the gas chamber.” He elaborated by saying that a totalitarian regime which uses technology and industrialization to control the environment can only hope to create a perfect static state. He said his idea of a beautiful city is one that is continually changing, both growing and shrinking. There was a lot of talk about pixels and molecules, which is right up my alley.

For example, I chatted with a young architect from Guallart Architects, "MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms," from Catalunya. I said, "So, tell me what this is." He said, "Tell me what you think it is." I said, "I think we are finally physically manifesting the unseen connections in the universe." He said, "On the planet." I said, "Okay, the planet, but, to me, the planet is part of the universe."

He said, "We want to show how that chair can also be the same as a table, and the same as a theater. That it is made up of the same corners, the same molecules." I said, "Very good, but I like that pineapple thingy you've got over there. I can't wait until architects incorporate even more fractal geometry. Mandelbrot discovered the formula for a tree, for the coastline. I'd like to see more of that -- not just in the movies."

Another one of my favorites was Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who are based in NYC. Their project was a two-screen film from the point of view of a passenger inside a gondola, with swiveling stools so you could look forward and back. The scene was the original Grand Canal (with a nice view of my apartment:), and the same scene from copies of Venice in Las Vegas, Macau, Doha, Nagoya and Tokyo -- I did not know we had so many Venices these days. In every city, there was a voice-over. Now, what, you might ask, does that have to do with architecture? Everything. When you see it, you will understand. Betsky said, "We are not proposing solutions. These are not final products." He used the word "catalyst" many times.

In any event, as I keep saying, I am totally in love with La Biennale, the organization. Perhaps it can only exist inside Venice, inside our "as it was, where it was" mentality. Perhaps the ancient, dusty energy of the past is a balance for the dynamic, creative energy of the future.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
HOME: http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/

(VENICE, ITALY) Sir Elton John's performance in Piazza San Marco on Wednesday night, July 9th, makes you understand why he was knighted. He played with a quiet nobility that radiated enormous power. He was not flamboyant. He let his music do the talking, and when he spoke, his words were simple and dignified.

Napoleon is often credited with calling Piazza San Marco "the drawing room of Europe," but Wikipedia informs us that perhaps it should be attributed to Alfred de Musset (and you know how nitpicky those Wikipedia people can be:). In any event, whoever said it, the atmosphere was exactly like that: as if we were in a grand drawing room, and Sir Elton John was entertaining his guests.

The show was sold out, and to be honest, I didn't make any effort to go, but a friend called and offered a pass at the last moment. So, of course, I went! The pass allowed me to wander everywhere, and I found myself fortunate enough to land in about the tenth row, with an unobstructed view, sitting next to Carl Pagan, from the Casino di Venezia -- which happens to be the oldest casino in the world, and accounts for about 40% of Venice's income. So, of course, during the show, in the pauses between songs, I harangued Carlo about various problems around town. Poor Carlo! Just when he thinks he can relax during an Elton John concert, he finds himself sitting next to Cat Bauer!

To his credit, he hung in there and listened. So, who knows what the future many bring:)

Elton sang hit after hit after hit. It seems impossible for one human being to have so many hits, but he has them. We have grown up with Elton; Elton is always there. We have suffered with him. We have rejoiced with him. We have tried to kill him, but he did not die. The Queen has knighted him for his grand endurance and now we embrace him and ask him to do charity shows.

Elton performed this concert on behalf of SMS, which is a clever acronym for "San Marco Square" and "Short Message System." Elton raised money to fix up San Marco Square. Now, we can be sure that Elton does not have to do this. So, why would he? Well, he lives here. And I will judge by the few words he used to introduce the last song, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," that he cares.

He said, "This is dedicated to everyone who likes to live in Venice," or something to that effect. But it was weary, serious, profound. We are all very tired these days over here in the Magic Kingdom, as are most people with souls throughout the world. And then he sang, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." If you have ever had the Sun go down on you, and most of us have, you will understand. I think Bernie Taupin is one of our greatest lyricists. Elton would not be Elton without Bernie's words:

I can't light no more of your darkness
All my pictures seem to fade to black and white
I'm growing tired and time stands still before me
Frozen here on the ladder of my life

Too late to save myself from falling
I took a chance and changed your way of life
But you misread my meaning when I met you
Closed the door and left me blinded by the light

Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see
I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
But losing everything is like the sun going down on me

I can't find, oh the right romantic line
But see me once and see the way I feel
Don't discard me just because you think I mean you harm
But these cuts I have they need love to help them heal

I wish I had some photos, but I always have to depend upon photographers, and they do not always come through, and there are, surprisingly, slim pickings on the net (none of the photos I am using are from the actual show). The last camera I had was destroyed during Carnevale two years ago by Red Wine within a week after purchase. The shop where I bought it in Venice sent it back to the dealer in Milano, without a reason, and the Milano shop wrote back: WE HAVE EXAMINED THIS CAMERA, AND IT WAS DESTROYED BY RED WINE. THEREFORE, WE DO NOT UPHOLD OUR WARRANTY. And, they were right! It WAS destroyed by Red Wine, but not by drunkenness -- it was because I dropped my shopping bag, and the camera was in the bag with the red wine -- there are witnesses! The Venice shop told the Milan shop, "Well, after all, it IS Carnevale."

If you can understand that story, you will understand part of the reason why Venice is sad -- so many people from Milano (and other places) have bought apartments here for profit, caring only about the money, and nothing about the Soul of Venice. If someone from Milano sent a camera back to Venice destroyed by Red Wine, the Venetians would laugh and say, "Well, THAT'S a good reason! It's Carnevale, after all. Give them another!"

Here is a video of Elton singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" -- from long ago, not from the other night, but you get the picture (YouTube wouldn't let me take anything else). His voice is battle-worn now, and his hair is grey, but his scars become him. He looks better than ever. How amazing one song can be! It united us all! There were lighters lit, and we All Became One. When the people chanted his name, it sounded like this: "Eel-ton! Eel-ton!"

Thank you, Elton, for adding your great voice to the song of Venice.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat