Weekend Report and Other Stuff

The RoqLaRue opening was a good show. They've usually got the same guy DJing each month, and normally it's pretty unobtrusive, but apparently October is 80s month. Yumiko Kayukawa's paintings didn't do very much for me. Individually they were quite nice. She's definitely refined a particular style and color pallete that works for her. Here's an example.


You never need to see another one of her paintings. It's always the same girl. Throw in some flowers, kanji, an animal duo and some pop culture references and you're done. I think that when an artist stops trying and starts recycling it stops being art and becomes craft.

The other artist, Ojimbo, was good. I could see picking up one of the carvings (if they weren't all already sold) or a drawing (if I end up with free cash flow at the end of the month). I recommend going to see the show or stopping by the web site to see his stuff.

For dinner I took a lady to the Icon Grill. The highlight here was the fried macaroni and cheese. I'd never heard of such a thing, but it was delicious. My Stuffed Chicken Provencal and my companion's Grilled Pear Salad were both good, although the pears in the salad were underripe. In all it was a passable meal. It was a bit expensive and the decor looked like it was trying to do an upscale copy of the Seattle Convention Center's Cheesecake Factory so I can't say that I'd recommend it if someone were asking where they should go. The main problem here I think is that Icon Grill is across the street from the WestInn and a block away from the Warwick. The crowd was packed with out of town businesspeople. So in effect they're a hotel restaurant that's not exactly attached to a hotel. Which is to say they're where you go when you're staying in a hotel and want something "classy" but don't want to go very far away from where you're sleeping.