Courtney Love Opens Her First Art Exhibition


Courtney Love has opened the first museum exhibition of her artwork at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut.

“Mentoring Courtney Love: David LaChapelle and Courtney Love” showcases Love’s artwork and examines the role artist David LaChapelle has played in mentoring the musician’s experiments in a new medium. Love’s artwork on display are all portraits sketched on paper using a variety of methods such as pastel, watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, acrylic and marker. Some are self-portraits, such as this one shown here courtesy of the museum. It’s titled “Don’t You Know Who I Am, 2012.”

David LaChapelle is an artist and photographer who focuses on realistic portraits. He was a protégé of Andy Warhol.

“Mentoring Courtney Love: David LaChapelle and Courtney Love” runs until August 10. If you can’t make it to the exhibition, a 360-degree view is available on the museum’s website.

[Image courtesy the Lyman Allyn Art Museum]

Ride historic Rocket Ship Car

When amusement parks close it doesn’t mean that all those unusual rides or features go to a scrap heap or a dump. People can buy them. That’s what happened to the Rocket Ship Car that was once part of a ride at Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland. Before the park closed in 1969, ever since the 1930s, the car was suspended from cables with two others just like it. When passengers sat in the cars, they went in a slow circle.

Joe Tomaro remembered the ride from his childhood and decided he had to have one of the cars after he started collecting Euclid Beach Park memorabilia. To convert the ship into a vehicle that could go on a road, Tomaro added an engine and a chassis.

The car that can hold 10 adults or 15 children resides in Florida in the winter and returns to Ohio for May and the rest of the summer. It’s possible to snag a ride in the Rocket Ship Car for an hour or more. According to the schedule, you can find it most often at Crabby’s Beachwalk at Clearwater Beach in Florida. By the beginning of June, it will be in northern Ohio, most often at Strickland’s Frozen Custard in Mentor. Every Wednesday, starting June 3rd through September, you can climb in it for a free ride. [St. Petersburg Times]