The Weekly Docket

This is a short work week, thanks to the Fourth of July. One of the things that makes the country great is its many different immigrant communities and the citizens they have produced. Polish-American Andy Warhol was the impresario of the Pop Art movement, and this fall the museum will host the museum-curated special exhibition "Andy Warhol: 15 Weeks of Fame." The fun part of my work week will be a little advance reading, starting with Andy Warhol: Giant Size.

In terms of the postures of popular culture, few are more entrenched than converse sneakers in arts professions. Plus I've discovered they are surprisingly comfortable on the concrete slab floors underneath the parquet I track when working in galleries. My old pair are on the verge of decomposing. Now, with the economy puffing fumes, self-interest and patriotic action intersect. Why not spend a little money for the Fourth? So Rock City Kicks it is, Little Rock's first sneaker boutique.

On a much broader scale, pop culture gets a summarization in Entertainment Weekly's "New Classics" issue. I love lists, top tens, top 100s, personal best etc. and these lists are fun, full of cheesy asides like Viggo Mortensen's top ten pieces of advice heard on a movie set or trying to sum up the other 26000 years not deemed "new" with a ten item time line. Sounds like docent training.

For op-eds with a little more historical significance, there is Library of America's Debate on the Constitution. Lots of the entries are small enough to treat like a daily primer, say before bedtime.

Not bedtime reading but on the list, Russell Shorto's "Childless Europe" in The New York Times Magazine. Today, for the first time in forever, I actually bought an ink 'n paper NYT. The cover art for the NYT Mag is nice too.

Last up, for the Fourth itself, pop and genteel unite. The Arkansas Symphony shows its patriotism with Pops on the River. It's free and P has tickets for the Junction Bridge, the best spot in town for fireworks.