Roamings > Maebaleia (Foxboro) February 12, 2011

TEXT SOON.

To Sternberg, 02 February 8, 2011

TEXT SOON.

Out and… September 29, 2010

Abandoned temple on the west edge of Second Sink or Oolamoo/Drews Sink (take your pick). This has been here quite a while, at least a year I think.

The Drews side of 2nd Sink still has available rentals, just like before, but seems a bit more settled in than previously. However, as I’ve indicated, the really nice and long established Roseheart development in the Oolamoo half of the sink is now no more. Although this sim sized piece of land has been sold in the meantime, Oolamoo remains empty as of this writing.

Then it’s on to Heterocera, where Biking Biker looks back on his Slosser owned objects poking above the landscape a bit (palm trees, Slum apts.).

Moving quickly back to Jeogeot and the Kingdom of Zor, taking up almost all the land of Hillhurst. Zor is a welcome new addition to Jeogeot, and represents an impressive array of towers, ramps, and buildings, combined with great views.

Medieval style bar on the property. I may have more to write about Zor soon.

Oh, and yet another purchase quite near Zor, on the outskirts of Sternberg. Kind of excited about it, although it’s only a 512, with probably no chance for expansion.

Turns out Sternberg has a kind of undeveloped underground level to it, as I’ve found out in entering the metropolis from direction of my new house pictured above (east). Interesting Sternberg wall graffiti below; the underground can be entered just beside it.

*Up*dates: Galleries, Etc. January 26, 2010

Think I’ve basically finished the Sunklands Central project I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around. Here’s the deal: essentially I’ve re-created the Victorian house setting on Big Island in the Comet Archipelago, starting with the portrait hangings of both Lord Chancellor Chesaw (in the most prominent place in the house) and his ne’er-do-well twin brother Chancellor Lord Saw-che (in the least prominent place), the two rivals in the ultra-important, second game of Trivia Ratsuit ever played — and last to date as well — that supposedly jump started the creation of virtual reality in our time.

But let’s start outside with a sign marking the historic site within Sunklands.

This is the new twist: the Victorian house was actually *flown* to this new location from Big Island, perhaps via a massive amount of balloons but perhaps not. But the parallel with the inspirational movie Up is implicit still, if reversed. I’ll just copy the contents of the notecard that accompanies the Sunklands historic sign or marker:

The Disney-Pixar movie Up kind of had it backwards. The archetypal HOME was actually moved from what others might see as a paradisiacal setting to a empty plot surrounded on 3 sides by urban megaprims.

Sunklands Central is a relic from a past time paradise, planted in the heart of Big Sink as a seed. The past is tropical Big Island in Azure Islands’ Comet Archipelago. The present is largely barren but full-of-potential Big Sink in Sunklands on the Jeogeot continent. The future is…

Now I may tweak that notecard some more, but the core idea seems pretty solid. The Victorian house from Up pictured in the sign is in a rather remarkably similar setting just before its ascent into the sky through the aforementioned massive number of balloons (Karl, the surviving family member, use to sell balloons for a living… just go along with it). Like the similar sized Victorian house in Sunklands, it too is surrounded by urban “megaprims”, not even having trees on one side for relief. Here’s a relative, overhead shot of Sunklands Central.

I couldn’t find the exact scene from the Up movie that would best compare with the above shot, but viewers of the already famous 2009 movie probably know the one I’m talking about, and you still get the basic idea from the still I did find online.

Leaving that queer idea alone for a time, let’s move inside the house now. Chesaw’s directly front and center as we walk in the main door. That’s Max the cat-turtle to the right, and a table with one of Chesaw’s famous pies on it to the left, along with some maps of Big Island.

Upstairs are more detailed scenes from Big Island, including Baker Bloch sitting beside what I’m now calling the Pie Hole of Big Island, with a Tron video arcade positioned on top of the ancient passage as a sign of warning — so the story goes. Just for the record, Chancellor Lord Saw-che’s portrait is around the corner of the wall in front of the hobo bed, in a least prominent position in the house as I said, and hung askew as well.

Baker in his viewing chair atop the house. He most definitely feels centered here, perhaps more than ever before, anywhere, in Second Life. I can’t see giving up this particular parcel — certainly could be wrong, though.

Then moving to other updates, I think the “Down The Rabbit Hole” exhibit within the Edwardston Station Gallery cube might be essentially finished as well. Each picture now contains accompanying text that you can access by mousing over it. I now have some new ideas about the Rabbit Hole and Jeogeot-Maebaleia relationship concerning The Bill. I’ve also renamed Peter of Sunklands “Peter The Good” (not Great, just Good… just good enough).

And I believe the new, pared down Big E Gallery is sort of finished, or at least I’ve almost run out of prims to work with for now. Baker below sits in front of two of Edna’s photographs from her Ruins in the Woods exhibit, formerly housed in the Gallery at the Temple of TILE. There’s also her Ozland pictures from same inside the Big E Gallery now.

Lastly I opened a small gallery or shop in Pine Tree Village (originally called X-ville in this blog) called “Where Are We On That?” and offering the 4 collages featured in the archived exhibit from last year, along with several other related SL photographs and a link to the just completed web site.

Y-borough, Teasdale, X-ville. November 26, 2009

This night, Baker Bloch daringly, perhaps even foolishly, decides to take a closer look at Y-borough. And in the middle of the night, ta boot! Foolish for certain!!

Scary graffiti and a giant, unformed white tube of some sort. Sometimes the unformed things are the scariest, especially if placed in Y-borough.

Bizarrely, maybe, the building with the broken out windows, or what Baker perceived as such, has been derezzed, apparently. Or maybe they just sent it somewhere to repair the windows. Most likely, whoever owned it just wanted to get the heck out of here.

Then it’s back to X-ville, looking better, better, better!

Baker briefly contemplates renting a 4096 parcel at the main crossroads of X-ville (“could *this* be the true home of the 10×10?”, and so on), but circumstances shift his attention back to Sunklands soon enough. He is leaving open the option of renting in X-ville itself, though.*

Pedalling To Nowtown November 19, 2009

Baker Bloch still on the road to Sternberg and now passing through X-ville, a quirkly little community mentioned several times in this blog already. This would be several sims to the south of the Sternberg complex, in Deitide to be exact. Looks like X-ville takes up the whole sim, as neighboring “twin city” Y-borough does for Crowfoot two sims east. Baker did not pedal to Y-borough this day, for his left turn north onto Route 9 to Sternberg from Route 10 was in X-ville, and he did not desire to waste time by retracing his steps back to this spot.

Nice parkland off Route 9 just below Sternberg, owned by the Institute of Cyberculture Studies and located in the Elvarg sim.

What’s called Sternberg West on official Sternberg maps (I’ll get to one of those just below). This is where Baker Bloch, Little Robert Plant Variant, and Hucka Doobie met for their one and only face-to-face meeting in Second Lyfe, in an underminable location however, perhaps on this street pictured below but perhaps not. Tea, I believe, was drunk by all if I remember correctly, yet no teahouse exists in Sternberg West presently. Maybe it was all a figment of my imagination. 🙂

Sharply winding street in Old Sternberg, which seems to be the same as the Morkeleb sim. Baker is sitting beside a cross on top of a rocky hill bored through by a road tunnel.

The center of New Sternberg (Neu-Sternberg) in the sim of Xenosaur, immediately south of Morkeleb containing Old Sternberg. This seems to be the present commercial center of Sternberg itself as well, shifted, we can theorize, from a past center in the old part of town.

No, Baker’s not gainfully employed by a Sternberg company — he’s just taking a load off his tired feet/legs at a currently vacant office desk.

Map of the Sternberg metropolitan area, showing the relationship of the various city parts. This map has a clear marker for the Blues Fabrik club that Little Robert Plant states he sang at on perhaps a number of occasions, just to the east of Route 9 as it passes through the center of Xenosaur. However, Baker Bloch has no success in finding the famous venue; instead a shop selling motorcycles seems to have taken its place. Perhaps it has merely moved to a different location in Sternberg? I’ll have to check further to verify this.

Then it’s on to Nowtown for Baker Bloch, not far north of Sternberg. I suppose one could stretch the definition of Sternberg to include Nowtown as a type of suburb, but it’s a stretch still, since Nowtown is much more rural and bucolic in nature, with no easily defined commercial hub.

One possible candidate for such is the 2 story art gallery pictured below, called the Brain Wash Art Center. The Brainwash group, in fact, seems to own a lot of what could be defined as Nowtown, including parts of the Somerset, Fyre Maven and Black Drake sims. The gallery is divided into a number of rooms with transparent walls, each showing a selection of works from one particular artist.

Another sharply winding road leading from the Art Center up the mountain towering over Nowtown. A castle is perched on top, owned by the same Brainwash group and containing a bit more art. With its peak at 130 meters, the unnamed massif rises about a 100 meters above Nowtown proper to its north and west.

Baker pauses at the top to ponder the meaning of a strange, triple star conjunction he’s never noticed before. Has it always been there? Anyway, nice to be totally away from all the glare of Jeogeot’s more urban areas, he thinks in continuing to stare at the star sprinkled, black sky.

One of the art pieces within the castle, also present in the Art Centre at the bottom of the mountain, and created and owned by none other than Lypvs Writer, the manager of Brain Wash Club and Resort. It’s a virtual replica of a watercolor and ink work somewhat mysteriously called “LVPVS IN FABVLA p26 ‘There I found you, my love'”. Could that be some kind of unconscious depiction of the similarly red Joplin Ball/Sphere above the road here? (since it is red covering black and white again — see post immediately below). Could this be the love he found there? No, I’m sure he had something else in mind…

Loose Thoughts, then Hucka D., etc. November 17, 2009

Hucka D. has indicated that Gypsy, in triplicate form, is or was the last holdout to [him] owning all of Jeogeot and Maebaleia. The solution?: perhaps to separate The Moon sim (and attached Sea of Despair and Gelsomina) from the mainland, as it is now. But what does the triplicate form of Gypsy mean? I know in Karoz’s initial visit to The Moon, he found this tangle of “Gypsies” that took a bit of research to unravel.

I can’t help thinking that the 3 Gipsys in Alabama and Missouri are involved here.

What the heck, let’s just bring in Hucka D., if he’s game. “Hucka D.?”

Hucka D.:

Yes, we had to separate The Moon from Maebaleia. The Blue [galleries] are traces of this… indicate Blue Earth or Earth itself, blue as seen from The Moon, of course. And then the cube of Blue Feather Sea itself, another Earth. Blue Feather… Blue Earth, subtract the “F”. Blue “E” as well…

bb:

Can you tell me more about the Blue Feather Gallery in Crabwoo?

Hucka D.:

Giant “E” in the [northwest] corner. Tells history of my continents. Museum.

bb:

Yes, Plant mentioned the Blue Feather Gallery is a museum as well, but I think he was talking about the one in Sternberg.

Hucka D.:

Yes…

bb:

The “E” in Crabwoo replaced something that was there earlier, didn’t it? I’m thinking that the Blue Feather Cube was there, the “e” before the “E” or that became the “E”.

Hucka D.:

Close enough. The Seed. Direct conduit.

bb:

Between Second Lyfe and Earth.

Hucka D.:

Between Second Lyfe and All Earths.

bb:

Was the cube the same as the Temple of TILE?

Hucka D.:

Ask about the continents spinning around each other.

bb:

Ok, I’m asking.

Hucka D.:

Taijitu. Black and white. 09 and 09. Newton…

bb:

… Jasper. (pause)

*****

bb:

Let’s see, the two continents were formed, the Rabbit Hole, then [connecting the two], and then the Joplin tree was brought from Maebaleia to Jeogeot. At the time these were the only two Second Lyfe continents.

Hucka D. (reinforcing):

Only two. Rabbit Hole connected, yes. Residents were called residents still, but it was understood that the name came from The Residents. In your — our — reality now, this connection has somehow been lost. Not really understanding why myself. Must be a masking from a higher dimension.*

bb:

Did the continents physically *spin* around each other?

Hucka D.:

*Yes.* Circle.

bb (ruminating):

Chilbo and Crabwoo… hmmmmm…

Hucka D.:

2 parrots, one red and the other blue-green. Between them Little Robert Plant Variant was born. *Through* the Korean Channel, Baker Bloch on one side and Karoz, now, on the other. Big E and Big Schwa. Had the tube… mentioned that several times now, a number of times.

bb:

LRPV *stabilized* the spinning?

Hucka D.:

Yes again!

*****

Hucka D.:

We are very fortunate to have Little Robert Plant Variant helping our blog generation here, baker b. Marty moreso but Plant is very important as well. Not priceless like Marty, but he comes at a very high price normally.

bb:

So, let’s see, Gene Fade, a toy avatar, perhaps the last of the mossmen, slips through a crack in reality to enter Second Lyfe. He eventually makes his way to The Moon and impregnates Gypsy with Karoz to continue the mossman species. Karoz technically has the ability to safely walk on Granddaddy Mtn in any location, a thing forbidden to Mossmen of Frank and Herman Park next to Granddaddy.

Hucka D.:

Because he is virtual… phantom, at least as walking in RL goes. But as you know now — today — the portal system is broke.

bb:

Yes (pause). Does Gene Fade come to The Moon after it has been broken away from Maebaleia?

Hucka D.:

That is stability. It also separates from a 1:1 relatioship with Mos Ainsley, then. Yes, Gene Fade broke the spinning. Karoz was born.

bb:

You said Plant ceased the spinning, [though].

Hucka D. (not directly answering):

Real taste buds we had in those global days. Salad Days, which are the same as Lemon Days.**

*****

bb:

I think I have part of it. The *Joplin Tree* stabilized the spin and made Jeogeot more separate from Maebaleia. The Joplin tree is both black and white. Taijitu. 2 continents in one, because it was brought from one [Maebaleia] to the other [Jeogeot].

Hucka D.:

And then *planted* in the middle of Big Sink. Except it wasn’t.

bb:

The [Joplin Tree] seed was the same as the tube, wasn’t it? [Plant’s tube.]

Hucka D.:

What is the Chilbo tree, then?

bb:

It’s like a roulette wheel. The ball entered the Chilbo slot, not the Crabwoo slot. Crabwoo was almost forgotten. Chilbo became the peak of Second Lyfe and the 2 continents.

Hucka D.:

Except it wasn’t. Big Sink. Chilbo needs Korean Channel needs Sunklands…

bb:

What is my relationship to Chilbo now?

Hucka D.:

Chilbo is the eyeball to the outside. Sternberg… it’s not much different than Sternberg, really. Sternberg could be another eye. Was for LRPV. Before he became just RPV [without the Little].

bb:

Plant stayed peripherally involved in Sternberg like I did — am doing — with Chilbo?

Hucka D.:

He kept singing there, yes. Off and on. Not a lot. Sunklands kept him fairly busy. Tube and all.

bb:

I’m picking up something about MessiaenSphere, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

Fuchsia diamond. Center. No reflection. S. Jackson. Perfection. Alien. Ball… sphere.

bb:

We better end.

Hucka D.:

Thank you.

*****

* Hucka D. has indicated that the name “residents” for the avatars of Second Lyfe was actually inspired by the group The Residents, also hailing from San Francisco like SL founder Philip Rosedale. But for some reason, this fact has become lost.

** In directly associating “Lemon Days” with “Salad Days” here, Hucka D. seems to be referring the following quote from the liner notes of Cheer-Accident’s Introducing Lemon album: “It wilts the lettuce, but freshens up the salad.”

Sternberg… Plant… November 15, 2009

http://www.myspace.com/bluesfabrik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSlR41uL6Jw

Strangest thing I found about this video is that it’s produced by “Robert69 Little”; a tad too close to Little Robert Plant Variant for psychic comfort. I plan to ask LRPV about this tonight (if he’s game), but first I want to do some more research on my own.

Found Robert69’s Second Life profile. And myspace.

Latest YouTube video.

I think this guy has a little better idea than most about the possibilities of performing, ahem, live music in SL. A hottie avatar strumming a guitar on a regular type stage w/ hottie avatars dancing around and in front? BOR-ING (IMO).

This could be interesting if only because of the Physical Graffiti type wings the hottie dancers are wearing behind Raven here.

Marty! (probably not, mind you)

Wait, I guess that would have to be George’s variant according to the Sgt. Pepper uniform color. Looks to me more like Paul, though? Whadda*ya* think?

Hmmmm…

“I’m sure he’s a nice guy.”

Plant:

You might need him! I did.

bb:

So you know Little?

Plant:

Yeah. Page especially. He’s working on an image for him. But it’s a variant Robert69 Little as well. That’s the vessel.

bb:

Arab?

Plant:

Maybe.

bb:

I’m not quite understanding this. I uncover a video by Robert69 Little created at the Blues Fabrik (English: Blues Factory) in Sternberg, where you claimed to have yourself performed…

Plant:

Yes.

bb:

And your name is Little Robert Plant Variant.

Plant:

Right. Bleedthrough.

bb:

I’m going…

Plant:

Remember that I perform the blues.

*****

bb:

I don’t think that’s what I see musical performance in SL as being for me. I don’t see me sitting at a virtual piano or organ. I see a light show sans hottie avatar and playing an ordinary looking instrument. I see… The Residents.

Plant:

I’m with you on this [now]. The Residents should perform in SL. But what’s the point?

bb:
Symbolism. Built in mythology. Gonna switch to a new post Plant. Hold on…

Thoughts… November 13, 2009

I’m going to talk a little by myself before bringing in others tonight. Much more exploring to do in SL, I feel… not done at all yet (!) Go back to the old Cabron/CUBUS area where Hucka D. claimed he grew up in, and where his father Kelley lived, which may be the same as Hucka D. (?) The cube is the bank. Am also reminded there is large banking area on west side of Big Sink… explore that more as well? But I think CUBUS is still a focus, especially since the Bill picture is still present beside the old Cabron lego-like site.

Want Baker Bloch to keep cycling as well, exploring X-ville and Y-borough below Sternberg, as well as Sternberg itself, perhaps the largest city on Jeogeot. Natural, I suppose, that Robert Plant Variant would have been attracted to going there, since it’s not at all far from his Nowtown where he grew up. Also explore more the Fyre Maven religion that he was a part of as a child. What about *his* parents?

And also explore more all the avenues possible through the Hammer of the Gods properties in Brouwer, the same area where he supposedly lived while in Big Sink during maturity. This is another trace of past through present, then (Hammer of the Gods being perhaps the best known biography about Led Zep, as well as a famous tribute band).

“It’s apparently not a very flattering book for Led Zeppelin, Mr. Plant.”

Plant:

No. Page really said it best in that article.

bb:

I wonder if it could be used for divination purposes. I know what you’re going to say…

Plant:

Use a better book.

bb:

Does the property represent a degeneration of the look and feel of the land during your days in Big Sink?

Plant:

Nothing against the Hammer of the Gods people in Big Sink, but: yes. They’re trying their best with more limited resources. The guy on the hill — Gas N’ Glass I believe — has brought back the truest picture from the past. In fact, he or she has made a direct conduit to this distant but better past through his efforts. There was/is a Brouwer water tower in both past and present now.

bb:

Going along with the idea that the past can be effected by the present as well as the more normal visa versa.

Plant:

Yes, explore that avenue further. Look at the jewelry.

bb:

Thank you. That it?

Plant:

You started.

bb:

How long did you stay in Sternberg before moving to Big Sink, Mr. Plant?

Plant:

I lived in X-ville. Not much money. Couldn’t afford Sternberg, especially after Page bailed on me. Book.

bb:

Where is the location of that Sternberg gallery you had me call once? It was the Blue Feather Gallery again.

Plant:

Well, duh, Sternberg (a reproving glance here).

bb:

Was it a gallery then?

Plant:

Museum. Ours.

bb:

Big Sink? The Initiative there?

Plant:

Think of those numbers. 1234567890.

bb:

Do you want me to call them tonight?

Plant:

Nah.

bb:

You said before you liked Y-borough less than X-ville.

Plant:

Well… X-ville was slummy but at least it had some character. Y-borough is worse than Crabwoo — current version. The old version was quite nice. Has Hucka D. told you about it?

bb:

Not sure.

Plant:

Then the good folks at Lill Burn Valley took me in. Already the value of the tube was being touted in Big Sink. They knew it could only be used for good or evil. (smiles)

bb:

But eventually you settled in at the basic area where Hammer of the Gods is now.

Plant:

Yeah. Not leaving yet.

bb:

And, um, you took care of the Joplin Tree there?

Plant:

Sort of. We took care of the sinks.

bb:

Was the Joplin tree there or… I know you’re going to answer it was both there and not there at once.

Plant:

Well… no. I’ll tell you.

bb:

It is in Chilbo still, a degenerative form.

Plant:

Yeah. True [enough].

bb:

I do know that Joplin is the thing missing from the front of the Rubi Temple of TILE now. Joplin ball, perhaps Joplin seed.

Plant:

Hucka D. says Newton 09 and Jasper 09 together show the way.

bb:

Should we look at those tonight?

Plant:

You look at them. Hucka D. may help later on. That’s more his ball o’ wax.

bb:

What of Winesap… Cashmere, Washington?

Plant:

*Very* interested in that. It counters the whole Hammer of the Gods fiasco. The book. Good book, [you see].

bb:

Is there anything buried underneath the Kashmir parcel in Crabwoo?

Plant:

No.

bb:

How about the center of the Chilbo sim?

Plant:

Well there’s the [Oracle] tree there.

bb:

Yes, that’s fairly close. (pause)

Plant:

I worked on Winesap while in Big Sink. Did Hucka D. not tell you that either?

bb:

No, I don’t recall.

Plant:

Page opened it to page 156 but he didn’t throw it in the river to make its way to the bottom of the ocean. It tells the story of how Big Sink is made. Center… Pudding Hole.

bb (baiting):

Where the Joplin tree was.

[Plant does not answer.]

Hucka D.:

Howdy.

bb:

Hi Hucka D. Plant’s gone for the night?

Hucka D.:

He had egg boiling duties. So you want to know more about the seed. Joplin. 156. Treemonisha. Newton and Jasper. 09 and 09. Number 9…

bb:

9th hole?

Hucka D.:

Front nine and back nine. Newton and Jasper. Yeah.

bb:

I’m not sure I’m ever going to know what was in the center of Big Sink, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

*You*.

bb:

I was in the center.

Hucka D.:

*In* the center. Now.

bb:

Is it 2:22 or 2/2?

[Hucka D. doesn’t answer.]

“Hucka D.?” (pause) “Plant?” (pause) Looks like me again. Maybe this is a repeating universe thing, like in the Groundhog Day movie. “Is Anybody In There”. But I think a whole town is in there. Petemond? Could be. Uniko… Unicode. “A town was sent” — what does that mean? What of the Bill or Bills? I need help breaking the cycle of karmic repeating. A town was sent.

(to be continued?)

Plant Another One… August 6, 2009

Plant:

I’m glad you decided to go back to Nowtown, baker Beach. Now you will see the truth. I lived there. In a Psycho House. Same as in Ashville… surrounded by ring of ash, but now destroyed. The Fyre Maven, well…

bb:

Is it the same as the one who created Rubisea? Is the Fyre Maven stream the same as Unnasty Branch in Bluedrake? After all, there is a Black Drake sim just above it.

Plant:

Black Dog?

Hucka D.:

I’m here. We must continue with The Plant. Century?

Plant:

Call the Blue Feather Gallery again, baker Beach. 123-456-7890.

bb:

I’m not sure…

Hucka D.:

Do call. You’ll…

bb:

Alright.

(baker b. calls the number; the same woman, or apparently the same woman as before, answers the phone).

“Blue Feather Gallery, how may I help you?”

bb:

Hello. It’s me again. The person who called from Ashville, North Carolina and ordered the Sternberg print.

Woman:

Sternberg is one of our more popular items. You chose the Zeppelin tube print, correct? I remember.

bb:

I think so. Are you… well, remind me of your address.

Woman:

That print was shipped out yesterday so it should arrive sometime next week, hopefully.

bb:

Yeah, great. Can’t wait… good price.

Plant:

Ask her about the star.

bb (ignoring Plant):

So can you send me a brochure or something? I have some other artists in the area that might be interested in , especially, Sternberg.

Plant:

That’s just Page again…

Woman:

We don’t have a brochure prepared. Sorry. We’re a little in the backwater here in Iowa.

bb:

Iowa?

Woman:

Yes, Audubon County.

bb:

Gray something, by chance?

Woman:

Yes sir. Gray itself.

bb:

Hmmmm…

Woman:

As I said, you should get that print next week sometime. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Plant:

Ask her where Sternberg lives.

bb:

Alright, alright. Ma’am?

Woman:

Yes?

bb:

Can you tell me the location of the artist Sternberg? I don’t remember the first name.

Woman:

Charles Aspinger Sternberg.

Plant (impatiently):

Did you get it?

bb:

Hold your horses, Plant.

Woman:

Yes, here it is. He’s in, um, Wall Lake, Iowa. He works exclusively with us right now, but I believe he wants to open his own gallery soon. I’m not sure if it will be in Wall Lake or not.

bb:

Thank you for your time. Nice talking with you and thank you once again for the Sternberg print.

Woman:

Our pleasure. Let us know how else we can assist you in your art collecting. Have a nice day.

bb:

You too. (baker hangs up).

Plant:

Well???

bb:

He’s in Wall Lake, Iowa.

Plant:

Well I’ll be.

Hucka D.:

Which one?

bb:

I don’t know. Let’s check wikipedia. (checks wikipedia). Hmmm… birthplace of Andy Williams, the singer.

Plant:

Bah. No talent.

bb:

Really. I kind of liked what I heard. Moon River… isn’t that the most famous piece he sang?

(Plant here does a very bad imitation of Andy Williams singing Moon River.)

bb:

That was horrible!

Plant:

See? What kind of river is wider than the sea?

bb:

Let me check the rest of the lyrics (looks up lyrics).

Plant:

We’re not dealing with Sternberg. Where’d The Bee go?

bb:

Hold on… and it’s “wider than a mile” Mr. Plant.

Plant (indifferently):

Sea, mile…

bb:

A Moonwall visited the Horisme gallery complex not too long ago. Thought of the two most famous Pink Floyd albums Dark Side of the Moon…

Plant (interrupting):

Bah once more. (waves hand in disgust).

bb:

You not a Pink Floyd fan either?

Plant:

You have to eat mushrooms to understand them. The early stuff… later stuff is not too bad. Brain Damage. Banging your head against some bugger’s mad wall.

bb:

I though it was head too for a long time. But it’s “heart”… banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall.

Plant:

Again…

bb:

Yeah, I know… “what-ever”. Do you like The Beatles, Mr. Plant?

(Plant here gives a very icy stare to bb; doesn’t answer).

bb:

OK, I’ll take that — you can stop staring at me now — I’ll take that for a no.

(Plant still stares at bb; finally breaks off.)

Plant:

Look up Sternberg please. No more stalling.

bb:

(checking) Nothing with Sternberg + “Wall City”. Surprising there. Charles Sternberg, did she say?

Plant:

I didn’t hear. You were talking to her.

bb:

Pretty sure it was Charles. Let’s see… (checking) I don’t think this is the fellow... long dead, you see, and not seemingly an artist.

Plant:

I can’t see what you’re seeing.

bb:

Well come over here and look over my shoulder. (Plant comes over; sees same article bb is looking at on his laptop). It seems to be just these 2 Sternbergs in wikipedia, father and son both named Charles. Interesting reference, perhaps to Bone Wars. Meat vs. Bone.

Plant:

What?

bb:

Never mind. I guess I should hit the sack again.

Plant:

We’ve failed tonight.

Hucka D.:

There are 2 Wall Lakes. You’re looking at the wrong one. The second is an inland sea. It’s been shrinking for a long time. In the early 1900s it was still the largest lake in Iowa. Today it’s not even close. Look it up… quickly. Here, let me look it up.

(Hucka D. goes over to bb and takes his computer, types something in, and hands it back).

bb (looking at screen):

OK. But what does this mean?

Hucka D.:

It means you have another east-west exactitude on your hands.

Plant:

Huh?