I Went To Hungary Last Night
I know, I know -- this is not a picture of Hungary. It's actually the facade of Bass Hall in Ft. Worth. It was so beautiful, I had to take a picture, although my photo doesn't do it justice.
Only Thursday night, after I saw a book at a friend's house, did I learn that an Irvine, California-based Hungarian artist, Márton Váro, had created it. He's known for his work in marble, especially figures with draped fabric like this one.
But, let's backtrack a little. This evening actually started a few months ago, at the LA Art Show. Gregg and I had left the apartment we rented in Paris in really nice condition (as always!) and the woman we'd rented it from thanked us by mailing us tickets to the art show's opening night.
There, I was looking at some really beautiful paintings when the art dealer struck up a conversation about them, handing me his card at some point. But, he wasn't the art dealer. His card said "Balázs Bokor," and his job description was "Consul General of Hungary" (ambassador from Hungary to the Western states of the USA). I asked him if he was moonlighting selling paintings. No -- just promoting Hungary, as always.
He's very interesting, and lots of fun, and we've become friendly. I even had him give diplomatic advice one week in the short question in my column (scroll down to the second question).
Thursday night, he invited me to a Hungarian cultural program -- "Living traditions and bagpipes in the Carpathian basin" -- and I took my friend Sergeant Heather...one of those absolutely unsnobby class acts you can take absolutely anywhere, and more important, somebody who wouldn't ask me "Are you HIGH?!" upon being invited to hear a program of bagpipe and native flute music (basically the sounds of randy Hungarian shepherds).
Sure enough, she had a great time, and so did I, and she even bought the bagpiper's CD. Afterward, a bunch of us went to Balazs' house and had drinks and sushi and talked about Europe and the U.S. and how we're nationalizing banks here, and how amazing that is to Eastern Europeans. At some point, he broke out a book of Váro's work and I finally learned who created that amazing building in Ft. Worth.
Oh, by the way, the evening's bagpiper, Ferenc Tobak, is also a photographer. See some of his photographs of Romanian musicians here. See his photos of the gypsies of the eastern Carpathians here.
Who says there's no culture in Los Angeles? You just have to be friendly and leave a Paris rental apartment like it's your grandma's place.
Amy,
are you high?
(That question from someone who is not snobby, but not a class act either).
Norman L. at March 27, 2009 1:30 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2009/03/i-went-to-hunga.html#comment-1640456">comment from Norman L.Amy, are you high?
Gregg sometimes wonders that himself.
And I think the answer is probably "yes, always," and that no funny little weeds are/were plucked or smoked in the process.
Amy Alkon
at March 27, 2009 1:34 AM
My Dad was born in Hungary, so I envy your night of Magyar music. Eastern Europe is featured in Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat", which I recomend reading, even if I don't agree with all his opinions.
Ruth at March 27, 2009 5:21 AM
The seven year old would have had the big fun with you. He has recently become obsessed with bagpipe music and especially with actually seeing the bagpipers. I made the plans for taking him to a festival in Chicago that will have pipers about three weeks ago - the festival isn't until July - he will be talking about it daily, multiple times a day until we go.
I absolutely love that facade though...
DuWayne at March 27, 2009 5:41 AM
Offtopic - - - -
Hey Amy, can we get an RSS feed for comments? Google reader is looking more & more appealing. I promise hit the tip jar twice a year.
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at March 27, 2009 7:45 AM
There is so much culture in LA...if you know where to find it. And I wish that I had known where to have found these events.
My daughter is studying history at a local university and her goal is to get a phd in Hungarian History. She would have loved this.
belle de ville at March 27, 2009 7:51 AM
Will ask Gregg about the RSS Feed for comments, Crid.
And as for further culture in LA, saw a terrific production of Shaw's Misalliance last weekend at the Odyssey Theatre by Abigail Rose Solomon's company. It was the opening, so it should be on for a while.
Tickets are $25, but you can get them for $12.50 through my good friend Jim McCarthy's discount tickets business, Goldstar Events (free to sign up) and link to discount tickets is here:
http://www.goldstar.com/events/los-angeles-ca/misalliance-1.html
Amy Alkon at March 27, 2009 8:08 AM
Dang Amy! You have the best "I met" stories going. There's another book for you: Best "I met" stories. Call it "Meet Cute."
Heck, that's a Hollywood term. Maybe a screenplay.
BlogDog at March 27, 2009 8:39 AM
I thought you were about to point out that there's a lot of culture in Fort Worth. (If you go back, the Kimbell is a lovely art museum, as is the MOMA. Oh, and just skip Dallas.)
ahw at March 27, 2009 8:48 AM
Wow, interesting story. Carpathian Basin meets Los Angeles Basin. I guess southern California is one or two things that are alright. Maybe three, I don't know.
Jason S. at March 27, 2009 9:09 AM
Southern California *has*. Oh boy.
Jason S. at March 27, 2009 9:11 AM
We had a fabulous time in Forth Worth -- except for the fact that I had to be there attending the features editors conference. There's a lot to see there ordinarily, and the weekend we were there, there was a vintage/exotic car show that I blogged.
Amy Alkon at March 27, 2009 9:29 AM
Must go visit Eastern Europe sometime. My brother's been to Budapest and he really enjoyed it.
Cousin Dave at March 27, 2009 10:54 AM
This is might to be a stupid question, but I thought Europe was a country. They speak French there, don't they?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s4VccmUa1U
Eric at March 27, 2009 3:14 PM
It's a great looking building alright. Good to see not everything being built these days is some modern monstrosity made of peach colored concrete.
Porky at March 27, 2009 3:44 PM
[i]There is so much culture in LA...if you know where to find it.[/i]
Is there a travel book or something that shows where it is? The only thing I've seen is LACMA (unless Mel's counts).
I was also curious about the long section of Mulholland Drive that seems to be closed, with I think part of that section only closed at night. I'm not talking about the neighborhood that is sometimes gated, but rather between Encino Hills (Canyon?) road, where there is a dirt area and a sign which I believe says "open in day only"; and on the other end is a fence with a grassy area and no access - it's where there are two parts of Mulholland Drive running parallel, then it just ends in a U-turn at the fence.
It seems like 5 or 10 years ago, you could pretty much drive straight through from Mulholland Highway intersection on the west end, all the way to Hollywood. (Then you have to turn on Cahuenga, and you can get back on again by turning left but that section peters out at a residential area on Canoga Ave if I remember correctly.)
The impression I get is the one part of it's closed cause they didn't want to maintain it.
Norman L. at March 27, 2009 8:36 PM
[em]let's try this[/em]
Norman L. at March 27, 2009 8:38 PM
Less than, greater than
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at March 27, 2009 9:31 PM
thanks
Norman L. at March 27, 2009 9:47 PM
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