Detroit Ho!: Do you know the Mushroom Man?

We have welcomed a new member to the First Annual Seminole Street Artist's Colony! We found her at the airport, reading a magazine about politics in French:

Radhika brings know-how about marionettes, translates art captions into Russian, and wants to preserve things once she gets ahold of some jars. She also got us into the habit of biking, jogging and stretching in the mornings. In fact, we are currently taking advantage of the "first week free" policy at the fancy Grosse Pointe yoga studio up Jefferson... somehow I doubt that we will come back for those $17 classes after our week is up, though.

Radhika's arrival marks the end of our back-breaking period of WORK, and the beginning of what for some reason got named the "Era of Engagement," which will include lots of art, good food, cheap wine and soaking in the pleasures of people (lots of friends are arriving for the social forum next week!). Here are some projects we completed while we were doing nothing but sanding, painting and cleaning. (Note the stencils inherited from my housepainter-grandfather). This is in the third floor space that will eventually become "The Colony":

The Era of Engagement has had some awesome moments, including homemade, handpicked-cherry pie with our new neighborfriend, Rosie. But it was clear that this period had officially begun when we went to the Detroit Institute of Art last night, dragging along my cousin Travis for the fun. We thought we were getting off to a late start, but accidentally came on the most happening night of the century. There was modern dance next door to the cafeteria....