Sausage over Werewolves

I stretched my First Friday activities (gallery walking, a sandwich at Lift, music in the courtyard and running into all the usual suspects there) into first Saturday with brunch and a day-late art opening at Sprout this afternoon.

When we arrived, the two outside tables were taken, but inside it was just us.

I was amazed because lately the place has been packed every time I've been in, whether for music or a meal.

And, note to self, now that I know they do happy hour, I can think of any number of friends who'd be inclined to join me there for a glass and some chatting after a hard day at the factory.

Friend and I were both in a sausage mood (but then, when am I not?), made all the better for being local, so she got the sausage scramble and I got the sausage and egg breakfast sandwich.

Farm fresh eggs really are such a lovely difference from your supermarket specimens.

The new art show was by Mike Moses, a local Renaissance man who labels himself a tattooer/artist/researcher.

He also gardens, builds things (like the beautiful suspension frames around his paintings) and makes music.

I'm sure he does even more than that, but that's all he's admitted to me.

The show, "Hair of the Dog," is a series based on accounts from ancient times through the 18th century involving what we now call werewolves.

Being Mike Moses, he even crafted the paintbrushes (of human hair) that he used in this series.

Next time I see him, I'm thinking I'll ask whose hair was involved. Inquiring minds want to know.

As you can probably tell, I'm a long-time fan of the guy (owning one of his 2008 prints), but the new works have a completely different feel than what I have.

There's a dreamy, mythical quality to the new stuff and the frames are standouts for their unique look.

The pumpkin cheesecake recently added to the menu was also tempting, as were the oatmeal wedding cookies sitting on the counter when we'd walked in, but sausage and eggs had killed those dreams and we waddled out into the sunshine.

First Saturdays are so much brighter than First Fridays.

Or do my First Friday activities just make it seem that way?

821 Cafe and a Tattoo Tidbit

Despite having had chili for lunch, I was craving 821's black bean nachos; maybe it's the weather. Just as my food arrived, the stools around me filled up with Mike Moses and his fellow tattoo artists. I met Mike about a year and a half ago and was impressed by his abilities outside of being a tattoo artist: musician, gardener, painter and raconteur. I have one of his prints,"Sister Sleep," so I was interested to hear that he just hung a show at Empire which will open December 4th.

I haven't seen it yet, but two things are always guaranteed at Mike's shows: it'll be interesting work and the cost to own one will be minimal. I'd be the first to acknowledge that economic times are tough, but I'd also be the first to say that artists have to eat, too. I'm crazy about having local art all over my walls; I enjoy it on an additional level when I know the artist. It's a reminder of a talented person I know.

But I digress. My nachos arrived, I ate a good three quarters of them and eavesdropped on a conversation about cleaning out the ink wells at a tattoo place. At stake was the issue of whether to use paper stick Q-Tips or plastic stick Q-Tips to clean out the traces of ink. This discussion required a level of expertise I didn't possess, so I stayed out of it, paid the check and was about to walk away when one of the guys finally weighed in.

"Plastic stick's better. Paper sticks get soaked and bent." Now I know.