KFC

Posted on by Thor

By Thomas Thorspecken

I drove to Crealdé to drop off a painting for a show happening at Casa Feliz (656 N. Park Avenue, Winter Park Florida). That show, titled In Good Company is happening from August 5 to August 28, 2025. the hours are Tuesday through Friday and Saturdays 10am to 4pm. Admission is free.

On the way to Crealdé, I passed a Mediterranean restaurant I used to go to religiously with a friend named May Hill. I decided I should order lunch there and sketch the interior. However when I got there, there was a sign on the door that said, “Dear friend, I am sorry but we must close for a few weeks due to family matters.” Ugh, so disappointing.

So, on the drive back to Lake County, I just looked for fast food options. I stopped into KFC. I can not resist the original recipe.

There is no human interaction anymore inn fast food joints. If you want to talk to a person you must use the drive through. KFC was a staple that got me through the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I used to order chicken all the time at the restaurant across from Macy’s.

Today you have to order using a computer kiosk. I got lost in an endless loop trying to order my meal. The kiosk kept adding cherry pastry bites to my meal and there was no way to remove the offending item from my order. Frustrated, I finally gave up and took the bloody sweets. A gentleman was trying to place his order next to me. After my order was approved, I helped him out. He kept ordering $20 and $30 family meals but he just wanted a few bites for himself. I guided him through the choices I had made. I was essentially doing the work for the KFC corporation with no paycheck. Annoyed the guy next to me said, These kiosks are here so we do the work the employees used to do.

The woman who handed out the meals was doing a stellar job. She apologized any time a meal was late and she addresses the woman as mama. “You wait right there moma, your order is coming right up.” she said.There was a major rush of orders as I was sketching. The woman must have been a manager, because once the rush had subsided, the clapped loudly and shouted, “You all did an amazing job.” That woman deserved a a tip, but tips are not an option with human interaction stripped from the ordering process.

As I was sketching I watched a young couple struggled with trying to order on the kiosk. I have no idea why a KFC chicken bucket was hanging from the ceiling as decoration. It makes for a very odd chandelier.

Callicoon Barn Studio

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I took a trip up to New York State for a week to search for an artist studio to buy. I gave myself a week to search for places within a one hundred mile radius of NYC.

The drive to this property from further upstate was absolutely spectacular. Side roads wound their way down the Delaware river and a large lake. For one long stretch, I never had to hit the gas pedal since the car coasted down the mountain valley for about half an hour. My ears would pop as I descended or gained elevation.

This converted barn in Callicoon, New York was the first property I looked at. The barn sits on 3 acres that slope away towards the woods on none side and multiple sloping fields on the other. It must be amazing to watch a sunset form this elevated property.

My broker was a bit late, so I started the sketch. The property owner is an artist and seemed to be a single woman occupying all this space. She shouted at me from the doorway, “Hey, why not come sit up on the deck is is much more comfortable?” I was sitting on a low moss covered slate wall as I sketched. I shouted back, “I am an artist doing a sketch.” I shouted out that I loved the huge skylights. She let me know that the skylights were for her studio. The conversation ended after that since she had to cart off a mattress to a local dump using her Prius.

She left the front door open and when the agent arrived we walked around inside. The place really is perfect, although it is far larger than I need. The upstairs studio is huge. An amazing feature which I have never seen before was a false wall that was set up for the entire length of the room, covering the skylights. The walls were set up with large paneled doors which could be opened in front of the skylights that she wanted to open. Another great feature of the false walls is that they offered tons of art storage space.

The bedroom downstairs which was an addition also had sky lights and it too would make a great studio space since there were two other bedrooms to spare. A bathroom was decorated in a Japanese theme and had a bidet. Grape vines covered the outdoor patio. Everything seemed idyllic and perfect but then the broker pointed out the grey panels that were used to cover each end of the barn. Those panels were asbestos.

I was staying with KC Cali and Bob Szafranski, north of this property. They had moved to New York State two months ago from Orlando Florida. Bob worked in construction for years and he pointed out that removing the asbestos was a very  expensive proposition. He also said that if there was asbestos, you could bet that there would be lead paint inside. Another down side to the property was that there was no cell phone service. When I tried to bring up Google maps to find my way back to KC and Bob’s, the signal didn’t kick in again until I had driven a mile away from the property. Another down side is that the drive to NYC is almost 3 hours which is much further than I am hoping for. Although the property seems perfect in so many ways, I had to let it slide.

Old Church: Portland Oregon

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While in Portland Oregon I sketched The Old Church (1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR).

While living in NYC, I sketched the 50 oldest churches in the 5 boroughs, so of course I would have to sketch a church called simply, “The Old Church.”

It isn’t actually a church anymore, but, a  performance venue in a Gothic, former church with a pipe organ and stained-glass windows. It was built in 1883. It is also knows as the Sanctuary of Sound. It was, saved from demolition by community activists and volunteers in 1967. Concerts are a mix of musical performances, including rare opportunities to see groundbreaking national and international artists, in an intimate setting. They also produce and host free Summer Concerts and monthly Lunchtime Concerts, community social justice conversations (through We Can Listen), and ambient music concerts during new and full moons. If I lived in Portland, I know this would be one of my regular venues to sketch. It has a welcoming vibe. I was immediately drawn to it.

NYC COVID Cabanas

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Pam and I flew into New York City for a weekend. The first thing we did when we arrived was go to a restaurant. She isn’t as COVID cautious as I am but I insisted on outdoor seating. Thankfully the first restaurant we went to had a COVID Cabana. It was built in the street in front of the restaurant. The indoor restaurant was packed which to me seems insane, but no one was in the outdoor seating area.

The Maitre d’ was wearing a mask and seemed thankful that I entered wearing a mask. The outdoor cabana had plenty of heaters and was fully enclosed. One waitress was working on paperwork out there but she left shortly after we were seated.

COVID Cabanas popped up all over Manhattan at in the first years of the pandemic. Recently the mayor has decreed that the outdoor seating areas can stay with restrictions. They are to become seasonal after November of 2024. That means restaurant owners will have to foot the bill of tearing them down and putting them back up every year.

Some COVID Cabanas are beautifully destined and built. One is in the shape of a London Bus and another is in a classic art Deco style. I think that restaurants that invested so much in creating unique outdoor dining experiences should not have to tear them down. COVID has not disappeared. Over 8000 Americans died this last December from COVID yet that is not being reported.

If I had more time in NYC, I would want to sketch all the COVID Cabanas and write bout which restaurants still take COVID precautions. They deserve the patronage of people who remain sane.

What the flock are they doing?

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Most sheep are easily controlled and manipulated. The rebel black sheep cares about the herd. The United States has decided mass infection is the cheapest cost of action. If you wanted to thin the herd by several million people then convincing the population that a deadly virus is “mild” would do the trick.

Propaganda is now in the works to make those who wear masks seem like outliers. The mayor of NYC is asking store owners to insist that people entering their stores must remove their mask. It might be far easier to ask them to show their drivers license, but the point is to discourage the population from protecting themselves from an airborne virus that has killed millions of Americans and continues to do so.  The unintelligent are scapegoating the intelligent.

Floriduh Governor Ron DeathSantis wrote an order, that directed the state’s health and education departments to issue rules preventing the implementation of school mask mandates in an effort to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”

Mandatory masking in schools reduced the spread of the virus. Some masks are better than others. Cloth masks and the flimsy blue medical masks are not as effective as N-95 masks. By the time quality N95 masks were being advised, masks had already become a political flash point.

CDC released three studies in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that highlighted the importance of using layered prevention strategies including universal masking to stop the spread and minimize disruptions to school operations for safe in-person education. These studies found that school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.

There are no longer any states requiring people generally to wear masks in public places. Several states still mandate masking for most people in certain high-risk settings, including health care and long-term care facilities. The federal government’s nationwide mask order for public transit, commercial flights and transportation hubs such as airports and train stations was struck down by a federal judge in April 2022. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has stopped enforcing the mandate and major U.S. airlines made face-covering optional on domestic flights.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that people ages 2 and older wear masks while on public transportation and at transportation hubs.

Though president Joe Biden has decided to promote, “the pandemic is over” since he is eyeing a re-election run. No level of fantasy or denial can dispute the fact that several thousand people continue to die every week inn America due to COVID-19.  The American workforce is also continuing to thin as more and more people are crippled by long COVID.

People who are going about life unmasked as if the year were 2018 are fearful of those who wear masks since it reminds them that the pandemic is not over. Seeing someone in a mask can actually make them angry.

Knickerbocker

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After my mother died when I was ten years old, my father quickly re-married and we moved to 363 Knickerbocker Road Tenafly, New Jersey. It was a Brady Bunch type of situation with two families quickly merging. Sons and daughters in both families were of the marrying age so not every sibling moved into the new house.

One of my older brothers stayed in the basement of our former home in Dumont, New Jersey. That home was rented out and the renters completely demolished the place from what I heard. One of my older step sisters was having a shouting match with her mom the first week we moved in. Shortly after she moved to California. All told, there were ten brother and sisters including myself. I don’t think all ten ever lived in the home together. If I remember right, an older step sister lived inn the attic while my step brother, who was just about my age, and I shared a bunk bed. My younger sister had her own bedroom.

There was another bedroom at the top of the stairs and an older sibling must have been there. I took that bedroom while I was going to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After commuting to college each day by bus, and working at a mail sorting facility to pay for it, I had a bit of a meltdown and had to leave home. I bought a tent, panniers, a sleeping bag and a bike and started camping in the back yard to test out the tent.

In the middle of winter, I left to bike across the country. My older brother had gotten a job out in Seattle and that became my final destination. This was my way to leave the nest and take flight. It wasn’t an easy flight, but now every choice was my own. If I could make it across the country I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

Times Square Pop-Up

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On March 12, 2020 Broadway in NYC went black due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. All 41 Broadway theaters shuttered their performances. A solid year has gone by with no live theater on Broadway. This has been the longest shutdown in Broadway’s  history. To mark the one year anniversary, a live pop-up concert titled We Will Be Back, was held in commemoration of the industry’s lost year. Disney‘s Frozen was the first musical to shutter permanently.

The pop up concert provided a sense of hope as the industry and city move forward from the challenges of the past year. Over 97,000 arts workers have suffered during the theaters darkest hours. All the performers at this pop up performance were paid.

“I don’t think anyone of us expected it to last this long,” Brian Stokes Mitchell said. “That’s what’s been so shocking about it. It’s why I’m so happy I’ve been with the Actors Fund and to be able to help people get all through this terrible, terrible time we’re going through.”

The gathering was presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, NYCNext, and the Times Square Alliance. It is directed and produced by Holly-Anne Devlin/Kaleidoscope Entertainment, and Executive Produced by Blake Ross. Social distancing, face shields and masks were the norm.

The $17 billion a year theater industry still doesn’t know when it will get back to work, but the feeling is certainly optimistic.

Pre-Pandemic: The Wooly

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The after work crowd quickly filled The Wooly in Manhattans Financial District (9Barckay Street NYC). I quickly dashed off a sketch while Pam met with fellow museum curators.

The Wooly began in 2009 with a clandestine bar in the landmark Woolworth building in lower Manhattan.

The Wooly quickly became a downtown destination for private parties within the art, fashion, music, tech and entertainment industries.

I liked the dark wood warmth of the places lighting. I was standing at a central room divider with seats and a simple shelf for drinks.

The kitchen has pretzels, Buffalo wings tacos and burgers. I’m pretty sire I just had a beer while I sketched. They are offering take out and catering during the pandemic. I don’t imagine the scene I sketched exists right in NYC.

I miss sketching these sorts of crowded scenes. Thankfully the COVID-19 case numbers are falling and perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after a year of isolation in my artist studio.

Pre-Pandemic: The Cloisters NYC

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While in NYC in October of 2020, Pam and I visited The Cloisters in the northern climbs of Manhattan. The subway station let us out at the base of the highest hill in Manhattan and we took a trail that chris crossed its way upwards.I once lived in Washington Heights so I have quite a few prints and sketched of the area around the Cloisers.

The museum in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont and Trie—that were purchased by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard, dismantled in Europe between 1934 and 1939, and moved to New York. They were acquired for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer. The Cloisters were built right before WWII.

We took a guided tour but I lagged behind doing several sketches along the way. I spent some time doing a sketch of the Tomb of Ermengol VII the Count of Urgell who died in 1314, and a quick study of a standing sculpture of the Virgin and child by Nicolaus Gerhaert Von Leiben. Nicolaus was a seminal artist of the generation preceding Albrecht Dürer’s, and was presumably born in Leiden  active in Strasbourg and Vienna, as well as in several cities between them. The tour guide stopped for a long time in front of the limestone doorway of Moutiers-Saint-Jean.

I miss sketching while traveling. I miss traveling in general.

Pre-Pandemic: New York City Subway

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In October of 2019, Pam and I traveled to NYC because she was meeting with colleagues at the 9-11 Museum. I got to attend the 9-11 museum for the first time, but don’t have a window in which to get a sketch done. The huge 9-11 Memorial reflecting pools inhabit the footprints where the towers used to stand. They were a moving tribute to those who were lost. Names were etched in the granite surrounding the dark voids. Photos never quite capture the immensity of this memorial.

I believe this sketch as done as we went up to my old neighborhood, Washington Heights to visit the Cloisters. Pam was disgusted by what she saw on the subway ride. Some guy using his cell phone, wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand, then pinched more snot out of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He then played with his phone and reached out with the snot covered hand to grab a support bar. As she said, “He was F%&king gross.” She said she could never live in the big apple after seeing that guy on the subway.

We both got sick on this trip with what we called the plague. It was a really bad cold that lasted for months. It started to clear up by New Years day of 2020. Who knew that 2020 would be the start of the very real world wide plague of COVID-19.