Blue Springs, Missouri: David Cook, American Idol’s hometown

by Jamie Rhein on

While watching American Idol’s tours of the top contestants’ hometowns, I noticed that each town has a way of looking like there’s nothing to see but a shopping mall, a stadium and either an elementary school or a high school. After Cook won American Idol last night, I thought, I bet some folks are going to drive through Blue Springs to see what it’s like to be where a million dollar winner grew up. What’s there exactly?

Blue Springs does have a history that predates Kansas City which is close enough for Blue Springs folks to claim the Kansas City Royals as something to be proud of. Settlers on their journey elsewhere –probably Kansas City–although, the real adventurous types kept heading west, stopped to get water from the spring fed by the Little Blue River. Some did stay in Blue Springs to put up a grist mill and a railroad station to help with trade to the area.

Trade means a small town. At least that’s the case with Blue Springs which, I would bet, struggles to be seen as more than suburban community of Kansas City. Look around the United States, and you’ll find many examples of what I’m talking about. Around Columbus, Ohio, I’d put Worthington and Upper Arlington in that category. From the description on Blue Spring’s Chamber of Commerce Web site, I’d say their demographics are similar as well. Sure, they are their own towns, but if you drive from where I live in Columbus to either of them, there’s non-stop residential areas and commercial property connecting us.

Still, Blue Springs does have its own identity. If I were going, I’d head to the Dillingham-Lewis Museum of the Blue Springs Historical Society. Even though it serves mostly as an archival library, it is a significant house in Blue Springs and gives a glimpse of life well before David Cook had confetti rain down on him.

Blue Springs also has a large number of parks. Head to Burrus Old Mill Park, one of the oldest and where the town was originally located before it moved closer to the railroad station. It’s a basic park with lots of trees and picnic areas with barbecue pits. There is also a free skate park.

Close by in Lee’s Summit, is Missouri Town, a living history village museum of buildings that replicate the period of the 1820s to 1860s.

What else is there to do in Blue Springs? You can golf.

Also, if you go, don’t smoke in these places. The smoking ordinance went into effect May 1, 2008.

Bolshoi in Russia: Is this the world’s ugliest statue or what?

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Moscow is an incredibly vibrant city. New buildings are popping up everywhere (and one can only hope they will soon cover a lot of the other buildings I’ve seen). Russian architecture is a mixed bag. There are some real gems, but a lot of it is just supposed to illustrate the greatness of Russia, and is simply horrific. (As most pieces illustrating the greatness of any nation typically are.)

Take this statue, for example. I honestly could not believe my eyes the first time I saw it. Smack in the middle of the river Moscow in downtown Moscow, there is Peter the Great, dressed in a Roman toga, clutching a golden scroll, while standing in a comparatively kid-sized boat, setting direction away from Moscow. Zurab Konstantines dze Tsereteli, a controversial Russian-Georgian artist completed it in 1986.

The worst part of it is, you can’t get away from it. It’s 94,5 meters (300 feet), twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. It’s the sixth tallest statue in the world. It’s pitch black and so monstrously outsized, it looks surreal.

From a lot of angles it even dwarfs the church behind it, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which is the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world. It has got an interesting history, too. First built in 1883, it was demolished in 1931, by order of Stalin‘s minister Kaganovich. Nikita Khrushchev later was transformed the site into a huge public swimming pool, the largest the world had ever seen. Only in 1994 did they start rebuilding the church. Although it looks old, it was completed in 2000 and, interestingly enough, it was built by the same architect who built the Peter the Great statue. I am telling you, you can’t get away from this guy in Moscow.

Which brings me to my question: What is the ugliest statue you have ever seen?

From Russia, with love.

Black velvet painting museum

by Jamie Rhein on

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, it’s not uncommon to see people selling velvet paintings from a parking lot stand. Whenever I passed by these makeshift displays, I always wondered who might buy such paintings. I have an answer. There is one couple in Portland, Oregon who has bought more than 1,000 over the past ten years.

Collecting velvet paintings is an endeavor they take seriously and have a museum to prove it. At the Velveteria Museum, they showcase 300 pieces from their collection that run the scope of velvet painting “art,” Subjects and style vary. From jungle cats to women who smoke, they have it all.

Now that I’ve found out about this place, I do have a heightened curiosity about velvet painting traditions and what are the most popular. I read a review in Portland Picks,( #6 on the list), and Velveteria gets a plug for a fun place to brush up on kitsch. According to the description, paintings have been purchased from as far away as Peru.

It’s amazing to me the various items people collect. If there’s the space to display the goods, there you have it–a museum. Consider the Captain Beany, the guy in Wales who has a museum to honor baked beans. See what I mean?

Bolshoi in Russia: Moscow museum night is free (hence popular with hipsters)

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Moscow held their 11th annual Night of Museums (or Long Night of Museums) on Saturday, May 17. I haven’t seen as many people in one place since visiting China. I shouldn’t be surprised. It was, after all, a free event. The majority of life in Moscow is far from free.

Long Night of Museums, began in Berlin in 1997 as an attempt to bring more people into museums and art galleries, focusing on younger people who may not be regular museum-goers. Moscow, like 120 cities across Europe, now participates in Museum Night, holding free late-night museum and gallery open houses on the same day.

Saturday night was an interesting dichotomy for me. First, I went to the one of the galleries–Winzavod (ex-wine distillery turned into really hip industrial space, turned into gallery) and saw thousands of young hipsters roam around the galleries. You would never know whether you were in Moscow, New York or Paris. It dawned on me that hipsters are the most globalized group of people out there. Hipsters–through their attempt to differentiate themselves from the majority–look the same anywhere in the world.

After the Museum Night, I went to Opera, one of the most popular Russian clubs. It was like being in a completely different city. Moscow is like that. The “art people” never interact with the “club people”, who never interact with the Russian Orthodox “traditional” folks. It’s a different city depending on what clique you belong to. More so than in any other place I have seen.

From Russia, with love.

Photo of the Day (05/19/08)

by Iva Skoch on

Since I am in Russia this week, I am using a photo I took yesterday on the secret ground of Kolomenskoe, in outer Moscow. Rumors that Peter the Great was born here led to its nickname “the Russian Bethlehem.”

The Church of the Ascension overlooking the river Moscow is quite stunning and the park is great. What I loved the best, however, was the view. From here, Moscow looks like a peaceful oasis set in nature. (Don’t let it fool you. It is the opposite of that.) Here is the weird thing: I found the view of the endless field of communist-era city blocks strangely soothing in their uniformity. From far away, they don’t look as scary as they do close up.

From Russia, with love.

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr Pool and post it. Make sure it is not copyrighted, otherwise we can’t post it here.***