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Last Saturday we went to the Lincoln Center to see La Boheme. This was my first experience with an opera. The Lincoln Center was very cool and I liked the inside of the theater we were in.

There were subtitles on all the seats which was actually pretty cool as I thought that I would just have to make do with the opera being in Italian. As for the actual opera, it was a very impressive performance. All the actors were amazing and I think the way all the set changes were done was very cool. With this being said, I just do not enjoy an opera as a form of telling a story. Maybe this would change if I found the right opera, as this opinion is based off of just La Boheme, but I think I prefer other ways to tell a story to something like an opera. The same goes for the movie Rent. It’s pleasantly surprising and I enjoyed it more than I thought. It was also cool to see parallels between the opera and movie. However the musical aspect of it just doesn’t do it for me. I just prefer other ways to tell a story. I did like however some of the small changes in the story. In the La Boheme Rodolfo is the one driving the interaction between him and Mimi, however in Rent Mimi is the one that is more assertive. It is also interesting how in La Boheme Mimi is the only one suffering and eventually succumbing to consumption. However in Rent, many of the main and supporting characters are effected by aids which gives a different feel to the story and goes insight to the aids epidemic that occurred.

Last Friday, in seminar we had multi-talented artist Rich Stremme join a zoom call with us to talk about the history of tattooing as well as share his personal experience with tattooing from back in the day. Whilst listening to his presentation we were creating our own graffiti art on paper as well which was a nice addition. All in all listening to his presentation was very insightful and I was able to learn a lot about the history of tattoos and shaped my idea on tattooing and the art of it. I always wanted to get. tattoos of my own in the near future and this only made me more interested in getting them. Hearing his passion and his severe interest on the topic on tattooing made it just 100x more interesting. Everything from learning about the pirates and how they would share appreciation for cultures through stick and poke tattoos, to learning about the mechanics of the first tattooing machines and comparing them to modern ones, to learning about his experiences with seeing how tattoos went from being a strict gang practice to being accepted within all of society was really fascinating. Learning about this made me more appreciative of the art of tattoos and hopefully I can get my first one soon.

Last Saturday we went to see the classic Italian opera La Boheme. I, like most of us, had never been to an opera before so I was intrigued to see what it was all about. I was also pleasantly surprised by the little screen with subtitles in front of my chair. I thought I’d have to decipher the Italian to understand.

In terms of the opera experience itself, it was amazing. Watching the live pit alone took my breath away, let alone the sets and the vocals. Hands down the most realistic sets I’ve seen in live theatre. I really felt like I was looking at a miniature scene plucked from reality in 19th century Paris.

When it came to the actual plot, I felt like there wasn’t enough substance. The story was very simply two lovers meeting, falling in love, breaking apart, the girl falling ill and ultimately dying in his arms. There wasn’t enough around for me.

Rent, the musical/movie based on the opera which was based on the book Scenes from a Latin Quarter, has the same premise as La Boheme but there was a lot more going on which I liked. First of all it was set in 1989 NYC but still had the same basic theme of struggling artists living in poverty. In Rent, aids was a huge focal point in the musical and many of the main characters had it. This differs from the opera because in the opera only Mimi got sick not most of the friend group, and also obviously it was tuberculosis not aids. Also in the opera Mimi dies but in the movie she almost dies but comes back to life after Angel told her to live.

I really loved the musical. It was really emotional and had a lot of layers that I thought came together nicely to talk about prevalent issues of the time period. I didn’t feel the emotion during the opera because I felt like we barely knew the characters but in Rent it had time to meet everyone, learn who they are and feel their pain and sadness, or at least a piece of it.

I also prefer the happy ending with Mimi living over the tragedy in La Boheme, but I guess I’m just a softie.

I love tattoos, and though I don’t have any, I will sometime in the near future. I loved learning about the origins of the art-form from Rich, as well as how it shaped his life.

I loved that Rich’s first tattoo was a Where The Wild Things Are tattoo because that book/movie was a core memory of my childhood. The woman who gave him the tattoo, who eventually became his boss, referenced the style in the book by using a single needle tattoo gun. It took much more time and allowed for much more detail than guns with 5+ needles. Before the zoom call with Rich I never even considered the factor of number of needles. I didn’t know that was a way to vary the line heaviness.

His stories were great and getting to learn more about tattoos, an interest of mine, from a tattooer and tattooee was super cool for me. I’m definitely getting a tattoo.

Last class we had a zoom call with punk rocker tattoo artist Rich Stremme. Of the three topics he could’ve talked to us about, the class decided on his experience with tattoos. To be honest I had never cared for tattoos. I think they’re cool but the permanence of them always turned me off. However I think Rich gave some cool insight into the field. I never even considered that tattooing had a history, but Rich made a cool slideshow that showcased it. There are also many different type’s of tattooing and I love the idea that it has different styles depending on where in the world you are. Another interesting aspect was the underground tattoo world. Rich said that this is a good place to start when entering into the tattoo world, which is something I wouldn’t think to ever do. Rich told us that he got his first tattoo young, but didn’t get into actually being a tattoo artist till much later. This is nice to hear, because a lot of people will write something off because they feel as thought they are too old, but Rich still decided to take apprenticeship.

Overall it was a fun call and I learned a lot.

Rich Stremme’s presentation on tattooing was extremely insightful, as history is something which interests me, and seeing the link between the inception of tattooing, and how it evolved into modern tattooing was incredibly informative. I liked learning interesting facts, such as how many of the wives of the first tattoo artists used their bodies as advertisements for their partners abilities. His presentation was also easily digestible, and included photos which didn’t crowd anything and were quite informative. I enjoyed his personal stories, some of them were entertaining, but the one about his friend who was killed was extremely tragic, and very eye opening to the fact that many are quick to judge people based off appearance. 

Last Friday, while I was working on my graffiti poster, I ended up having the opportunity to listen to Rich Stremme speak about his experience in the field of tattooing. I deeply enjoyed such a mini lecture, as I was able to learn more about a field that I rarely had contact with before.

There were a few things I enjoyed in particular. For example, his discussion about the history of tattooing and its evolution from a hidden niche arising from trans-Atlantic piracy (and other areas) to a burgeoning new field that has seen radical transformation, especially in New York, since its legalization in the 80s-90s. I also enjoyed his several personal anecdotes, especially how committed he seemed to be to the art of tattooing (based on his mentoring in Upstate NY by Pat, for which he had to drive several hours no doubt. It’s equally as interesting that he started much later in life, at the age of 35, as it’s not often for people to pick up new hobbies around that age.) He also hinted towards a clear divide in tattooing based on distinct styles (such as his preference for older/more traditional forms, from what I remembers) and ways in which specific groups conduct themselves based on tattoos, such as Hells Angels. I wasn’t aware that tattooing formed such a fundamental part of their identity.

Overall, I probably won’t end up getting a tattoo, but I do appreciate Rich’s expertise in the field, and it’s clear he had a deep life-long passion for it.

On Friday, November 7, our Macaulay Seminar class was able to have a zoom call with Rich Stremme. I found this zoom call to be interesting, as Mr. Stremme was speaking about the history of tattooing and his experience with tattooing. The art of tattooing is not something that I have really thought to learn about, so hearing this type of experience was really insightful to me. I really appreciate the way Mr. Stremme story tells and how he is able to truly show his passions in his speech, which definitely helped in learning about the history of tattooing. I found it interesting how the methods of tattooing were like when the art style began to develop, and it was also cool to see how far back the history of tattooing goes. Additionally, Mr. Stremme had lots of cool and interesting stories about his experiences with tattooing, especially the ones of him working with Pat. I found the story he told about the group of sorority girls who wanted identical dolphin tattoos to be funny, but also found why Pat would not want to do the same tattoo and would rather have originality and expression in the tattoos. I also really appreciated how insightful Mr. Stremme was when he was answering questions, as he took his time to actually think about the answers and bring in different life experiences associated with these questions. I really enjoyed the zoom call as it such an eye opening presentation and a fun way to learn the history of an art style!

La Boheme is an opera that follows a group of artists struggling to get by in 19th-century Paris. The main plot was the love story of Rodolfo and Mimi. This opera was then used as a reference for a movie called Rent. The movie is set in 20th-century New York. In the opera, Mimi is struggling to survive as she is battling tuberculosis. However, in the movie Mimi Marquez has been diagnosed with HIV and is addicted to drugs. Tuberculosis and HIV were both stigmatized diseases for their respective time periods. The creators of the movie Rent, very cleverly chose La Boheme to emulate, as it is an account of life. Even though the opera ends in Mimi’s death, the movie ends in Mimi’s survival. This change in the plot provides a more hopeful message that I appreciated. That even in the face of disease, addiction, and poverty the human spirit can find means to continue.

The play itself stands the test of time. So much so that we went to see it be preformed at the Lincoln Center. I really enjoyed seeing the opera. All the actors were so talented, and the fact that they don’t use microphones blows my mind. The sets were absolutely insane, I’m still curious how they fit horses and donkeys backstage. Even though I like the ending of the movie better, I think I preferred the opera as it was a new experience that I really enjoyed!

The zoom call with Rich was really interesting. It was cool to see someone so passionate about what they do. All the stories he had about people who they refused or his favorite tattoos were super fun to listen to. Also knowing that he is a poet was really inspiring. Knowing that he wasn’t confined to one specific career or role was nice to see. Rich seemed like a really kind person and his story about how they refused that group of girls the same exact tattoo was actually really interesting. I think it definitely solidified the idea that tattooing is truly an art. It isn’t something that can be copy and pasted around like photos rather the craftsmanship is what makes it alive and different. Each tattoo tells its own story in that sense. Overall it was really cool to meet rich and get to know more of the CUNY faculty.