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A postcard after sunrise

By Kris Vera-Phillips

Hot Air

Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 - 2 comments

I'm still cold and I've started wearing my cozy slippers from the Wynn in Vegas.

It may be fall, but I finally found sunflowers in Kansas. Neato!



We stopped by Lawrence this weekend to warm-up with herbal smoke and local art. I found these cheery blossoms on Vermont Ave. I love how the yellow colors pop out against the dreary skies.

Next-up, we checked out the Lebanese Hookah Bar on Mass. Earlier, Fally pointed me to the bar with an ljworld article.



It was a mellow experience, puffing away at fruity smoke and listening to Arab pop music. I especially enjoyed an Arabic version of "Autumn Leaves." The tall, ornately decorated pipe is the shisha. The tobacco sits ontop of the shisha and it's heated up with coals. Then the smoke is filtered and cooled by the water held at the bottom of the shisha . The tobacco is mixed with with fruit molasses and honey. Fans of hookah smoking have told me they like how the tobacco is free of other additives like nicotine and tar. I had my first taste of hookah smoking in Paris. On our last night in the city of lights, I organized a little outing to my favorite Eqypitan hookah bar with fellow grad students. I remember mastering the French inhale and struggling to do smoke rings. It was blissful, chilling with my friends before they took off for assignments in other parts of the world and conversations jumping around from politics, business, pop culture and the bizarre.



This hookah bar was tough to find. It's like a hole in the wall next to a bbq joint. On Saturday, my honey had a bittersweet cup of Turkish coffee and I settled in with a cup of honey milk tea. Drinks are free with the hookah order. I've learned that alcohol is a bad idea with this type of smoking - it dries you out. For our visit, we chilled out with the double apple flavored tobacco. Other people enjoyed studying by the window - like at an ordinarycafe . This hookah bar was such a relaxing escape from the bustle of shoppers and football fans, who milled around on Mass St. like ants.

Later, we headed to the Olive Gallery for this year's Red Balloon To Do.



It's a grassroots art hop through downtown Lawrence. After donating a buck at the Olive Gallery, volunteers awarded us red balloons that served as an all-access-pass to the different venues showing off Lawrence art work. The Red Balloon To Do covered a wide range of mediums - from traditional paint on a canvas to a performance piece made-up of a warped video game and set toglitchy electronica music.



Local businesses like the Mirth Cafe and Wildman Vintage opened up their doors to artists and fans. Each venue had a local DJ mixing up indie, pop and lounge music. A few Lawrence residents transformed their apartments into exhibit spaces. Some folks took advantage of the free cups of wine from box...other people diligently copied down artist names and contact info from each work. KU students and community members contributed art and volunteered for the art walk. One volunteer explained the cool white buttons dotting his uniform red sash. Apparently volunteers get a specific button for every type of work they cover...like stringing up lights and taking donations. In other words, he wasn't giving up his buttons, not even for a trade....wearing them like merit badges for a boy scout troop.

For some reason, Nena's "99 Luftballons" played on repeat in my head. It seemed appropriate with all the red balloons that kept gently bopping me on the head. So, enjoy this cute Sonic the Hedgehog video set to Nena's one-hit-wonder.

Finally...it was nice to meet Jana's cat last Friday.



The poor kitty was a bit freaked out by all the strangers in her house...enjoying burgers and hot dogs from the grill and chatting up withco-workers and their families. Good party...but um...sorry cat for freaking you out.