Moving tribute
to Durban's
Renaissance Man
'TWAS an occasion of melancholy mingled with beauty as the St Clements arts soiree met in large numbers this week to pay tribute to Andrew Verster, painter, sketcher, sculptor, costume designer, writer, poet – truly a Renaissance Man – who has died aged 82 .
We were under the trees in the St Clement's garden on a sultry evening, where we were treated to a marvellous film made eight years ago by local musical duo Rick and Jill Andrew, in which Andrew (Verster, that is) spoke at length about art, the creative impulse and the wonder of creating a thing of beauty without forethought or planning.
Rick shot the movie; Jill did the interviewing. The result is a fascinating, moving - and very lucid – exposition of what it is that makes the artist tick. Andrew was normally very reticent, almost self-effacing. Here he really opened up – talking about the artistic impulse in general rather than himself. This is a film to be shown again and again.
The soiree ended with Rick and Jill singing Bob Dylan's Forever Young – Andrew's favourite, which they had also sung at his funeral.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young …
Still leaning in Dallas
AS DISCUSSED last week, the Texas city of Dallas now has its own version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It happened when the implosion of an 11-storey building didn't quite work.
The core of the building, including lift shafts, remained but at an angle just like the famous Leaning Tower in Italy.
Next they got going with a wrecking ball to demolish the remaining core. But – nope – that didn't work either. The Leaning Tower of Dallas is still there, leaning.
It's getting a bit embarrassing. Social media had been full of photos of people posing as if they were trying to hold the tower up. Now they're posing as if they're trying to push it over.
What to do now? The answer surely is for Dallas to twin with Pisa. Then set up a two-way inclusive tourism shuttle. They could make a fortune out of this. Rope in JR Ewing. He never misses a trick.
Line dancing
AS IT HAPPENS, I've been to Dallas. It's a place of skyscrapers and gleaming modernity, if you like such things, but there's also something disarmingly old world about the folk.
The men are in ten-gallon Stetsons, boots and spurs. They speak in the slow, drawling accents of the Western movies. "How's y'all?" In the evenings, they and the gals go in for old-fashioned line dancing in the open air.
I first encountered this at Fort Worth, which is where the airport is located. Walking down the street towards me was a huge fellow in Stetson, boots etc and with a magnificent blond moustache.
Then I spotted another fellow just like him, same togs, same blond moustache. Then another. Then another. And then yet another.
Heavens, were they shooting a movie? No, it turned out that's how all the fellows look in Dallas/Fort Worth. They all have blond moustaches, having a strong infusion of Scandinavian lineage.
Did I try the line dancing? Er, no, a little too stately for my taste and very little bambaduza that I could see.
Tailpiece
IT'S the jet-set. Breakfast in Rome, lunch in Paris, dinner in London – bags in Singapore.
Last word
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt
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