Lexington, Kentucky, USA |
Joe's Studio, Lexington
23rd November, 1997
This is the first working day at the silkscreen printing of The Lizard Lounge. Joe's studio is in downtown Lexington, through a metal gate into a small courtyard. The first stop-out has been put down on the first screen — the word 'lizard' and the edges — all recorded by both Joe's and Ralph's video cameras. The fans are on to dry the stop-out and I've been acting as cinematic director which is simpler than it sounds — a question of directing the remote control towards the cameras at the appropriate moments.
Our journey here (Friday, 21st November) brings to mind the opening line of T.S.Eliot's 'Journey of the Magi': 'A cold coming we had of it…' — though I could substitute 'cold' for 'hard' and 'boring'. It is winter here. We arrived in pouring rain — 8 hours from Gatwick, the frustration increased by the fact that Delta's computers had gone down and everything had to be done manually. We stood for ages at the departure gate waiting for seat allocations which turned out not to be too bad — we had aisle and window seats together.
Monday, 24th November
It's our third day here and I've only written half a page. Maybe I feel too relaxed. Joe's been very hospitable which, I'm sure, has helped the jetlag. We're normally under pressure with various obligations and although the printing of the Lizard Lounge is a definite project we don't have the usual people to meet, places to go, etc. What a load of boring guff I've written so far — so perhaps I'd better simply start at the beginning and work my way through the days.
We had to wait for ages in line waiting to get through passport control — too few customs officials — but eventually we got through and collected our bags and then went through customs control, giving in the white form that proclaims that we were not bringing in fresh produce, guns or drugs of any kind. Then we had to pass all our bags through a scanning machine and were told to put our luggage into a conveyor belt for checking-in. 'We don't want to check in — we want to get out!' we protested but the officials weren't interested in explaining and we lugged all our baggage up escalators, along shiny marble vaulted corridors into an airport train and eventually arrived at the front of the airport where, through glass doors we could see the outside world. A friendly apple-pie lady at the information desk paged Joe. He had been waiting for us and our luggage at the end of the conveyor belt where we should have put our bags down below.
We were soon driving through the rain in Joe's new 'people carrier'. It was early evening when we arrived at Joe's one-storey house in Lexington.
We had a drink and snacked on salami and cheese and Joe proposed going out to get take-away from a local café, called the Waffle House. Ralph went and I stayed. It was a wacky place by all accounts with tired and harassed servers throwing the food at the customers. Travel having killed my appetite, I heated some soup in the microwave that Joe had made.
We slept well but woke at six o'clock which has been the pattern since we arrived — but at least we slept through the night.
The next morning we got up slowly — the rain had stopped but the sky was overcast and the red and brown leaves lay damply on the street verges and on the lawns of the houses. We spent the day shopping for a diary for me (Ryman's in Maidstone only had plain books that were much thinner with thinner paper than previously), paint brushes that Ralph would need for printing and a search for a printer to hook into Ralph's Psion computer. All these emporia were vast and though I should be used to them by now I was amazed by the sheer multiplicity of consumerism — more like warehouses than shops with floor to ceiling goods from Christmas decorations to computers.
Joe cooked us catfish on his outdoor grill and we watched two videos, 'Eraser' and 'Where the Buffalo Roam', Art Linson's tame expression of Hunter's career in Gonzo journalism and weird substances — erratically played by Bill Murray and very dated as a 70s phenomena.
We had lunch, by the way, at deSha's, a bar a block down from Joe's studio. We sat on wooden high-backed stools at the bar and ate such specialities as chicken wings, bell-pepper fritters and fried potato skins.
It might have been a mistake to watch two videos in one night — we didn't get to bed till 1.30 which gave us a short sleep since our body clocks woke us at 6 o'clock again.
Yesterday we did some more shopping — Ralph bought shoes and overalls and I bought a dress — country-style in cotton flannel — very comfortable, like wearing a dressing gown. And then to the studio which brings me to where I began this diary.
Joe's studio consists of two small rooms connected to each other by a stout wooden ladder with a separate wooden staircase from the courtyard to the upper room. A few stairs give access to the lower room. To get into the lower room once you are through the door you have to squeeze yourself past the large printing table. The opposite wall houses the metal stacks where the prints are put to dry. On the right hand side is a long worktop with a sink in one corner and metal shelves of printing inks. Within this confined space Joe runs a tight ship. Everything has its place from tools hanging on shelves on hooks to metal baskets under the printing table for protective gloves, cloths for cleaning and so on. The key to silkscreen printing is in the preparation. Apart from mixing the colours the screen has to be taped so that the ink doesn't leak beyond the paper size and the table has to be taped for the right positioning of the paper. The printing arm has to be positioned, the paper brought down from the upper room in batches — each journey necessitating squeezing through the narrow gap between door and table. By the time the preparations were done we were all hungry and set out for DeSha's Bar.
Along the street stand trees, their trunks housed in shallow square brick borders. We were looking into shop windows, walking happily along, when Ralph tripped on one of these bricks. He fell heavily forward — it all seemed to happen in slow motion. He put his hands up and they took his full weight, along with his knees. We managed to get him up though he was very shaky. His knee was only grazed and the third finger on his right hand was hurting.
We sat down in the bar and had lunch. The waiter brought Ralph an ice-bag for his finger — better than dunking it in a glass of iced water!
After lunch the first printing began. Ralph's idea was to lay down very delicate colours — more to stain the paper than to colour it. Before lunch he had painted the word 'lizard' on the screen, as I have already explained. The first colour to be mixed was a stoney cream colour which Joe printed on the first 25 sheets. It had been decided to do different colours so that the edition would contain about four variations. The second colour (rather against Ralph's better judgement) was a pinky colour, third came a shaker grey and then back to the cream — plus a cream with a hint of green in it. By 8 o'clock 100 sheets had their first colour and the racks were full. Joe had executed the screenprinting with the panache and concentration of an athlete — mesmerising to watch.
We were tired when we got back to the house. I cooked a tomato and coriander sauce and made a salad to go with Joe's pan fried catfish — and very good it was too.
We'd had several visits from Joe's father at the studio — I could see the resemblance between father and son. Joe's father is a painter (more of that later). He has a certain frailty about him and a worried expression on his face — extremely courteous in the old fashioned way. The second time he brought his wife, Pat, who has more that a passing resemblance to Jessica Tandy.
Monday, 24th November
We woke early again. Joe took Ralph to a friend of his who is a radiologist at a local clinic — to have his finger x-rayed. The bone has been chipped and they have strapped two fingers together. I'm so glad it is nothing more serious. Then they went to the studio to lay down another colour and left me to write my diary which has taken me two hours since I have discovered the classic movie channel. So I watched 'Stage Fright' with Greta Garbo. Joe has also left me a video he thinks I'll enjoy, 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' — he says it's a great action movie.
First I phoned Sadie. She was amused that I'd got hooked on to the films and videos — she warned me that there were some nasty bits — forewarned is forearmed and so I was able to avert my eyes during the gory bits.
Ralph and Joe came back not entirely happy with their day's work. They had put a second colour on 50 sheets — a yellow — we now think they need to get beyond the background and start the exciting stuff.
Ralph went down to the basement to colour some Hunter prints, originally intended for the 'sherrif' prints that needed something added while Joe and I went shopping for food and wine. Our first stop was Sam's — a huge hanger-like place, definitely not the way to get excited about food. Everything was packaged in mega-amounts. Enormous packets of buns, bagels, carrots, beef filets, lobster — and also computers, mobile phones, toys, furniture — sky-high metal racks stacked with box upon box upon box. We bought New Zealand lamb chops, steaks, lobster tails, orange juice, water, et al.
Our next stop was Joseph Beth's, the bookshop, where we had discovered that the 'Jones' book (American edition) is being sold alongside remaindered UK copies. Joe had ordered a box of remaindered copies — mainly to keep them off the shelves, though I pointed out that there were probably thousands of them floating about America. Joe hid the ones that were left out. The bookshop itself is a vast emporium on two levels under a glass dome — sectioned off into intimate areas and enclaves of sitting areas with sofas, carpets and pictures on the walls — areas for sitting and reading as if in your own living room — the ultimate reading experience.
Our last stop was a wine shop where I picked out some nice wines that weren't the ubiquitous Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Joe had stocked up before our arrival with a rather acid Beajolais. We opened a Mount Veeder ( for old times sake) and Joe really liked it — velvety, spicy and fruity. Our dinner was delicious — grilled lamb, baked potatoes with a filling I had concocted with chopped onion, garlic and coriander — accompanied by sweet corn and marinated grilled mushrooms. We had a reasonably early night and slept all night, waking at 7.30. Adios to the jetlag.
Tuesday, 25th November
The weather is now crisp and bright, setting off the browns and ochres of Autumn to perfection. We set off for Joe's studio at about 10.30 — and here we are. I think the yellow looks great with the image and Ralph seems much happier with it.
Joe's Dad arrived to look at what's going on — he's obviously very proud and intrigued by Joe's projects. Joe printed the last 25 in soft orange, so the second printing is as follows: 50 — acid yellow, 25 chrome yellow, 25 — orange.
1.15: The screen has just been cleaned and Ralph is now painting his next layer with block-out varnish for the next printing which is going to be cerulean blue.
We walked down to deSha's for lunch — a beautiful day, a warmish wind and bright sunlight. Between us we ate crab cakes, salad and chile with cinnamon muffin and cornbread.
Joe has just taken all the dried paper out of the stacks and is now ready to mix the next colour which Ralph now prefers to be more towards ultra-marine because of its purple tinge. It's a wondrous colour — blue with a hint of purple — just going down.
It looked good when we put the overlay on — and while Joe was finishing the edition Ralph and I strolled down West Main Street to ask the man in the shop to show us how to use the radio he had bought the day before. On the way we went into a shop called Talbots with huge SALE signs in the windows. I bought a beautiful long coat for the amazing price of 83 dollars. We went into a small designer shoe shop run by a courteous humourous elderly man nattily dressed in crisply creased trousers, a white shirt and soft leather shoes highly polished. None of his shoes fitted Ralph but he said he'd have more sizes next week. We chattted for a while. It was like being in his sitting room with easy chairs and fitted carpet. He said he always wanted to get to England but had never managed it. The man in the radio shop was very helpful and now we know how it works.
By now it was late afternoon and the lowering sun cast a golden glow on the buildings, the stone Town Hall, the old brick warehouses with their carved rooftops reflected in the tall glass office blocks. So I took some photos. It is a shame that the downtown area is so deserted and the shops empty. The car has become the instrument of this situation, driving (in more sense than one) people to shop at the out of town shopping malls and superstores.
Back at Joe's we relaxed with a drink (for me, Tangqueray Gin and Tonic) and I watched a video, Executive Decision with Kurt Russell — a high action thriller (aren't they all) about saving the world from an Arabian plot to annihilate the people of America with nerve gas. David Suchet played the villain. He seemed to enjoy his part and when he finally got sprayed with bullets he died with relish!
Wednesday, 26th November
Slept until 8 o'clock and have laid the jetlag to rest. On the way to the studio we went to the post, put photos in to be developed and looked at flying jackets (request from Sadie).
At the studio Joe mixed a turquoise with Ralph's direction. It looks good but Ralph wants to change it after 30 takes to a canaletto blue for the rest, paler and fresher.
We also stopped at a drive-in bank to cash a cheque. We talked to a disembodied voice, put the cheques into a box which got blown up to the cashier somewhere inside and then down again with the cash inside.
The new blue looked lovely — translucent, doing interesting things to the other colours.
Joe and Ralph decided that the first screen has had its day and after lunch at DeSha's we drove home and I decided to stay while the men went to get the acetates transferred onto the screens (a very mysterious photographic process which I must ask Joe to explain to me). I watched 'The Right Stuff on video in the company of Joe's three dogs: Bicker (the quiet one), Sadie (the middling quiet one) and Carl (the impossible one). So Carl had to go into his box — mustn't forget the green parrot, Bub, who is decorum itself.
We ate pork chops, purple potatoes and broccoli for supper with a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo from Navarra.
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