Ada Books went to New York the other day. Some Strangers may have found this out after seeing the sign posted on the front door. (I hope my good name was not cursed, but judging from my typical Monday business, or simply business in general, there probably weren't many of you shaking your fists or hanging your heads on your chests.) My wife and I met up with some old friends in the City and in between luncheon and tea, we looked at some fine paintings by Egon Schiele (at the Neue Gallerie). I could wax ecstatic over the strange beauty of these paintings but I'll leave that to the throng of amateur and professional hagiographs out there. Schiele's work (and his ghost, if you believe in such things) doesn't need me to bury it ever deeper under adjectives, nor to gild it with superlatives. But I can do something for one of the friends I met up with the other day, Mitchell Long. He is an artist who lives in New Orleans, who paints New Orleans (mostly) but his work does not fall into the usual New Orleans traps (the traps being "party" colors, "fun" scenes, ill-defined and overworked "energy"). What his paintings do have is not for me to say (I'll only sound pompous if I try). But I like them and I think you might, too. Have a look here www.mitchell-long.com or just drop by the shop. I might have one of his pieces hanging here soon.