Scene Gazing on Gay Street in West Chester

I was standing outside Taylor's Music in West Chester on Saturday while my son was inside learning the nuances of the solo in Stairway to Heaven, I enjoyed a cold iced tea from Nick's Cafe and watched the world stroll by in the summer heat. There were pockets of twentysomethings on a pub crawl complete with t-shirts heading toward Jitters.

This girl -- not on the pub crawl -- was walking along alone at a hurried pace.  The look in her eyes said she had either seen too much of something or had seen something for the very first time and was deep in thought -- sorting it out, trying to make sense of it.

Her thousand-yard-stare grabbed my attention enough to make me snap this cellphone shot real quick. She made no indication whether she heard the electronic shutter sound the phone makes -- didn't change her pace, didn't flinch; no reaction to the flash going off full in her face. She walked on by.

I turned my head to see her continue West on Gay Street then take a left at the end of the block on Darlington.

A shadow distracted me. I looked down to see the iced tea-to-ice ratio in my cup was way out of proportion. Memo to myself: next time ask them to ease up on the ice at Nick's.

I looked up and returned to my street gazing, East on Gay.

Program Note: mcglinch drawings included in Victory Brewing Company Collaborative Showcase

The fine folks at Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown have asked me (after I got up the nerve and suggested it) to show some of my works in their local artists showcase on Sunday July 20 from 2-4PM.

The five pieces I'm showing have appeared here on the mcglinch.com/blog in the past year or so (including the original of this 1987 classic from my days at Philadelphia Electric Company where I changed the light bulbs on the top of the building to make words before they bought a computer to do the job) -- that is, provided my wife gets them matted & framed for me tonight!

But if you're in the area and in need of some air conditioning, tasty afternoon beers and a dose of culture -- real live musicians and singers will be performing and some other artists displaying their work -- swing by.


Details here.

And when that's over you can head down to the Turk's Head Music Festival in West Chester to round out your day. Take a Victory growler of fresh brew with you (I'm not saying you're allowed to do that, it's just what I would want to do.)

Drawings from my 1984ish Temple University Notebook

Found this photocopy of a page from one of my notebooks from my early days at Temple University. My recollection is that I drew this on the very first day of the first class I took at Temple...Journalism 101 perhaps? I could have doodled anywhere. I chose Temple.

I'm fond of the soft pretzel and diner salt shaker behind Happy's head.

Scary Mean Coffee Skull Ring

Scary one-eyed coffee ring antlered skull thing.

Parrot Scissor Hands

Was scribbling this along last week and didn't know what it was until someone said it looked like a parrot scissor hands kind of creature. The daughter just watched Edward Scissorhands for the first time and has renewed her love and commitment to all-things Johnny Depp.

While I didn't get to watch it with her, it must be in my head. Here's a neat little Edward Scissorhands claymation clip.

Victory Barkeep Shocker

Reaction of Victory Brewing Co. bartender when  my visiting-from-Texas brother pointed out that she had been included in a snapshot of the Victory Growler Filler on Feed The Ogre soon after Victory reopened in May.

[sincerest apologies to the barkeep for the unflattering and/or lack of likeness of this illustration! that's just how i roll my Pentel e-Sharp mechanical pencil.]

Living with disappointment

Have you ever been yearning for a specific flavor of ice cream or anything and then when you finally get it, it's just doesn't live up to your expectations? That usually happens when I come across an ice cream place that makes Butter Brickle.

The freshest, bestest, creamiest Butter Brickle will always live in my memories from The Guernsey Cow in Exton PA. The second best was at the Yum Yum Affair in Sea Isle, NJ.

At The Cow, we had big 10 or 15 gallon drums filled to the brim with brickles -- essentially the broken up hard toffee center of a Heath bar without the chocolate coating. When I worked there I would take a Butter Brickle break after a mad rush like we'd experience when a tourist bus would show up or the fireworks at the Exton Mall would let out on the 4th of July.

I'd scoop a small bowl and head into the deep freezer where we kept the five-gallon cardboard bulk ice cream containers stacked. Then I'd open up a brickle drum and garnish my ice cream with a healthy helping of fresh crunchy brickles. In the heat of summer, sitting in the deep freezer after a mad rush for a quick respite was all you needed to keep going for the rest of the night.

When you can get Butter Brickle ice cream today, in most instances, the brickles have sat in the ice cream for so long -- or sat too long before the ice cream was frozen solid -- and they turn out to be squishy chewy bits of nothing. It's probably the reason not too many places make it anymore.