What do you think is the most compelling thing about collecting contemporary art?  No, it’s not the money made selling it.  It’s the journey of learning and discovering new artists that you connect with.   In some ways it is sort of like when I used to listen to music and have that amazing reaction to…

Football haters, stay with me for a minute.  This note is not about football, this is about excellence.   At the age of 37, Peyton Manning is back in the Super Bowl after a season where he also broke numerous records. This is on the heels of neck surgery and a two year window where Peyton…

Not sure if you caught the special on the Beatles last night, but there were so many epic moments, including watching Yoko Ono–who is now eighty years old–flop around in a surreal dance in the front row. That felt like performance art. The highlight for me was Joe Walsh and Gary Clark’s performance of “While My…

It may be obvious that the career path of a professional artist is more difficult than most.  It requires skill, commitment, perseverance, luck, and finding people who believe in you.  One of my purest goals with One River was to provide a professional stepping stone for exceptional emerging artists by showcasing their work and opening…

It’s not so easy starting and building an art school.  Take a look around…how many really cool, super successful art schools exist in the community?  How many don’t rely on grants and external funding…virtually none.I don’t ask this question to toot our horn or to offer some “woe is me” story, I bring it up…

Homeland (don’t worry—I don’t reveal what happened!) I watched the finale of Homeland on Showtime last night and was proud that I actually watched the season finale when it aired.  Remember when watching TV was a real appointment and the best you could do was tape it on your VCR?  Not that long ago–wow how the…

When I was growing up, I used to play this game on Thanksgiving that was my form of the hunger games.  I would eat as little as possible (or virtually nothing) until the Thanksgiving meal was served… then the game was on.  And, like most rigorous games, there were consequences to how I called my…

I was a baby when JFK died — only 1 year old — but growing up as a small child in the 60s, the impact of his death was never lost on me. Yesterday, I watched CBS Sunday Morning’s tribute to JFK and it recalled a time when the world operated in black and white, literally and…

Last week I celebrated Halloween by doing something that used to be an annual routine for me.  I attended a concert in NYC titled: Zappa Plays Zappa.  For those of you who know me well, I am a Frank Zappa freak and I saw him play live 30 times.  To me, Zappa’s music is the highest form…

Isn’t it crazy that we have so many people who are obsessed with their weight and at the same time obsessed with watching TV shows about food?  That’s torture.  Ya know what I am obsessed with?  Neither.  My obsession is eating!  Yes, I am a glutton and I simply can’t help it.  Anybody having dessert?  …