by Darin Lowery
One of the outstanding things about being alive- besides the obvious joys of Costa Rican coffee, steaming hot showers, and anything sung by Amy Winehouse- is that we get to start over every 24 hours. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
There’s something comforting about having a mannequin in the house. In the past I’ve had as many as eight, seated and standing in my dining room in Chicago. During a summer thunderstorm it could sometimes be a little creepy- they seemed to move ever so slightly when lightning goes off like a flashing strobe light. Here in Globe I’m down to one and she stays upstairs, silently stylish in a ‘boarding the train’ ensemble with vintage luggage at her feet. Her name is JoAnne, and she’s classic plaster from the early Sixties. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
Many people remember the ‘Bewitched’ television series from the Sixties, that cute show with the cute blond who wiggled her cute nose until all Hell broke loose. Her TV husband’s name was Darrin- that’s a double ‘r’- which, in the Land of All Things Me is a common and utterly intentional misspelling. The correct spelling of this ancient name (possibly derived from Gaelic, meaning ‘great’ or ‘dark oak’: I’ll stick with the former) is D A R I N. Sorry kids, but it’s my damn column and I’ll call it as I see it. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
Many years ago Andy Warhol was quoted as saying, “Art? It’s a man’s name”. This was noted at the time as a droll comment; something irreverent. Actually, art can be whatever we want it to be, and this was his point. Art can be revolutionary; it can be liberating- art can be a silk screen of soup cans. It can also be provocative and even dangerous. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
Christmas started to get a little hinky for me when I was eight years old. My Mother was serving breakfast one morning in early December- it was barely blue outside, that eerie color right before dawn. I could see right into the yard from where I sat in a beige plastic scoop chair because we had a huge picture window in the kitchen, maybe five by five. It was enormous and when the winds blew- this was suburban Chicago- the glass would heave. You could almost say it was breathing. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
I stopped eating bread about three years ago. Some of this was due to a friend’s problem with gluten, which is found in flour. Gluten is a protein substance that remains when starch is removed from cereal grains- it gives cohesiveness to dough. Perhaps this puts the ‘glue’ in ‘gluten’. It turns out I have sympathy pains, wouldn’t you know it, and the thought of a PB&J on Wonder Bread made me ill. This is but one reason I never had children (little kids are crawling with germs) and in fact I avoid pregnant women on the street. The thought of me going into false labor, right there across from Palace Pharmacy would mean I could never show my face Downtown again. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
We all have a secret thrill, something which causes that tingle down the spine, don’t we? A perfect bottle of white wine- say, a 1978 Montrachet from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, an adorable Gap Kids jumper which would be perfect for Addison, or a stolen glance on a subway platform with a beautiful stranger. In my case, it’s any action movie with lots of ripped tee shirts and exploding helicopters. But vintage spice tins are a close second! … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
Here we are at Holiday time again! Actually, it began in August, for God’s sake, with a bloody racket of overproduced commercials and goofy ‘brand’ jingles. Christmas trees before Labor Day, what a concept- and I was still wearing my tennis whites. … Continue Reading
by Darin Lowery
Last year around this time I had to get a new cell phone- I was receiving voice mails from a rogue nation- Alaska, I think, and it was somewhat unnerving- all this chatter about ‘repeat/reload’ and ‘hundred thousand dollar wardrobes’. Crank calls are so annoying. So are cranks, for that matter.
by Darin Lowery
Recently I met with a guy who looks surprisingly like me- so much so, we could be twins- and we had a lil’ chin wag. His name is Darin Lowery and he lives here in Arizona, that “Bastion of the Six C’s” – Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, Climate and Claypool, though he actually lives in Globe. He took some time out to answer a few questions. … Continue Reading
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