Bytes from the Bean by Joe Manning 2-28-9912:00AM / Sunday, February 28, 1999
My most recent visit was Thursday, Feb 18th. Bob Paquette, News Director at WFCR Five College Radio, a National Public Radio affiliate in Amherst, met me in the morning at The Bean. I waited by the front window and stared at the miserable rain/snow mix. He parked his pickup in front of Zoie's and looked up at the Blackinton Block before coming in. We chatted a while, and then I took him on a downtown tour.
I guess we caused quite a spectacle as we walked, while he held a microphone in front of me and sheltered his tape machine under an umbrella. I showed him the Flatiron Building, the churches, the library, and the usual assortment of architectural marvels. Then we stood in the Kmart parking lot, while I talked for a half-hour about urban renewal and all the things that aren't here anymore.
It was cold, but I enjoyed having a willing listener. I cracked up when Bob stood under the Mohawk Marquee, pointed the microphone at the street, and recorded traffic noise for five minutes. He said his producer likes "ambient sound" in the background. We spent a good three hours together, and Bob even treated me to a Gateway Garden Burger at The Bean. In early March, the edited interview is slated to be broadcast in the morning on WFCR (88.5 FM).
Later, I attended the MASS MoCA reception and tour of the buildings that have been renovated for the grand opening on Memorial Day weekend. Members were invited to stroll unsupervised through the old brick mills. It was a melancholy and emotional journey. The spaces were quiet, empty, and full of the silent voices of the thousands who spent most of their lives here. Light beamed in and reflected the big windows onto the floor of Building Five. I stopped at each window facing River Street and listened to the river. The old row houses and tenements, many built by Arnold Print Works, lined the street all the way down. A well-dressed lady standing next to me predicted, "Guess they're all gonna be B & B's by next year."
In one building, the interior brick wall resembled a mural of many shades of earthy red, gray, and white. The tour guide talked about the art that was going to fill the large room. Someone pointed out, "What's here now is art, natural art." The guide replied, "Yes, it's so beautiful, we're afraid it may distract visitors from the exhibits."
I kept wandering back to Building Five. Tony Talarico, who had his first full-time job for Arnold in the '30's, pointed and said, "I think I sat right there." I imagined what it must have been like to work here, to see North Adams through these windows, and how it must have felt for the workers to realize that their ancestors worked here and that their children would probably wind up here, too. I watched the water rush into the river from underneath the road. In my mind, I followed it up the hills on the north side, up to Houghton Street, and Liberty Street, and Brooklyn Street, and then to the mountains behind. Many times, I have climbed up to the sand bank and looked down at the clock tower. Today, there was another view, and I almost felt like I must have been here in a different life a long time ago.
Over the last two and a half years, I have followed the progress of this ambitious and wonderfully crazy idea called MASS MoCA. I remember my first Hard Hat Tour, when these buildings were just dirty concrete floors and metal posts and broken windows. In a way, it's sad that the anticipation is almost over. I will never see these spaces again as they looked last Thursday.
Before I left and started home, I watched the river once again. It rushed by as it has for a million years, with never a thought to the changing scene that it passes. Soon, I will stand in the company of artists, but my eyes will still be focused on history and the works of God.
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Email Joe at: manningfamily@rcn.com. |
