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Just An Online Minute... Bread And Corsets: A New York Weekend Of Starch And Art

Gathering at the SCRATCHshop, Bed-Stuy
"Dress Up" by Amanda Dolan, Ward Nasse Gallery, New York
August 29, 2010

I have this rule for myself to keep sane, or at least to maintain a consistent level of manageable insanity. And that rule is: the weekends are my own. This probably seems logical to those of you that don't party every night for your jobs, which is what I do. I should have put job in quotes there, since what I do doesn't suck. Sometimes you have to break the rules though because when NYC exposes itself to you, it would be rude not to take a little peek.

In fact, forget rude, it's just downright mean to deprive yourself (or in this case, myself) with the nuggets of culture and food that present themselves on the weekend - and in this case, SUNDAY.

That's right, while some of you were buried in mimosas 10 deep around 2:00p.m on Sunday Funday, I was waiting for the G train at Lorimer to scuttle me and my dude up to the Bedford-Nostrand Avenue stop for "Gathering at The SCRATCHshop" (or "SCRATCHbread, the Gathering" where your sourdough toast trumps olive oil). Now, I don't know if you've ever been to Bed-Stuy, but I haven't. And it reminded me of my old neighborhood in Cleveland with the hot sun beating down on the sidewalk unfettered by cloud cover of any kind. Poking through the sidewalk squares were rebellious weed heads and grass fingers. A lone car would zip by here and there, but nothing like the ruckus of Manhattan. Plodding down the empty blocks I expected a tumbleweed constructed of Home Depot bags to boink on by.

And then there it was, the SCRATCHbread shop on Bedford and Lexington. By 3:00p.m. or so (I can't remember, it was so damn hot my brain slithered out of my belly button and ran away) it was already bustling with bread munchers and afternoon wine drinkers (5 bottles of white were already kicked!). Their shop is beautiful with windows that tug constantly at the sun. 

Around the corner you'll find the pickup window, where I ordered, and then made sweet sweet love to, the savory muffin (filled with corn, some sort of creamy white cheese, and a spicy sprinkle on top), the chai sticky bun (oh sweet lovin'), and the sourtoast with its blop of gushy tomatoes and basil.

The SCRATCHbread team, birthed with luv (that's a "u", people) by the humble Matthew Tilden, also launched a campaign on Kickstarter, a fund raising site with an all or nothing approach, AKA if you don't reach your goal, $0.00 changes hands. I get it, but sheesh, what a bummer if you get so close and then get NOTHING at the end of the campaign.

Sweating, full of savory muffin, with my bag packed with sourdough and a brownie that Tilden warned us about ("You're going to want to [insert naked activity] in public!"), we headed back into Manhattan. We ate the brownie on the way - it was a chocolate masterpiece with buttercream in its belly. Nothing scandalous happened, but Tilden was right with the warning: it was that good.

The brownie gave me just the kick I needed to scoot over to the Ward Nasse Gallery on Prince Street for the "Dress Up" opening reception, thanks to the invitation from Alyson Campbell of AMP3 Public Relations. Artist Amanda Dolan, who is a stylist at the Betsey Johnson showroom, was inspired by the pleasure and pain of fashion. Tight corsets, foot torturing machines (AKA shoes), and all varieties of trussing are represented in her mixed media pieces. Amanda celebrated with a cupcake spread from Sugar Sweet Sunshine and was surrounded by friends and supporters including her parental units, Mike and Jennifer Dolan. Mom had on some pretty hot heels, by the way.

Bond New York's #1 Realtor Roberto Gonzales was also there. Roberto is the founder of what sounds like a pretty exclusive community called Elevator 100, an activity group comprising people you wouldn't mind being stuck on an elevator with. If I started a community like that, I would be alone since being stuck on an elevator would cause me to have a severe panic attack and I'd rather no one be around when I irrigate my pants. 

Also peering at the sparkled and feather dragged canvases was Roz, whose voice has that deep no nonsense, don't F with me, but I'll hug you New York City girl growl to it. Roz is the woman behind http://www.newyorkgossipgal.com/.

This was maybe only my 4th foray into the art world, but strangely enough I recognized someone.  Well, first I noticed a dude wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "Hello, My Name Is Sackboy".  Next to him was the fellow I recognized from my visit to the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition exhibition . Word on the street (from an ear to the ground) is this fellow shows up at tons of openings, RSVPing under a random set of names. Ordinarily I think party crashing is chunder-worthy (I mean, really - are Expo Halls that sexy?), but if you're going to crash anything, you might as well do it for art and get a little wine and culture in the process, right? 

This week is going to be an odd one. I'm sure some of you are already out of town for the Labor Day weekend. Either way, you'll get at least one more Just An Online Minute in your eyeballs before I head to the beach myself. And please, everyone keep your fingers crossed that hurricanes stay the hell away from Carolina Beach, NC!

Send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com!

Photos are fullsize on Flickr!

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