Got a lovely card from a fan today. CORRECTION: we got a wonderfully artsy postcard from the Tate along with a letter from someone of whom which we happen to be huge fans! Smart, young, creative, gutsy, irreverent... we just LOVE Topaz Partners' Adam Zand. He's the best.

Anyway, thought we'd share it (with Adam's permission, of course).

Dear Amanda,

Greetings from London. I am here on holiday. Taking in the Tate Modern with my son. Thinking of you.

We're sitting here at the Tate cafe 1/2 way through the super cool Gilbert and George retrospective: the staff is a Brazilian woman telling her Italian assistant the word "fired." Gosh, if they only knew how I've felt at work over the years ;-). We strike up conversation about Italy's World Cup win and Brazil's dip like we've known each other for years. Apparently, football (that's soccer for you Yanks) is the international language.

FYI: I just realized my son playing Sims Pets on his Nintendo DS is a small, but important work of art. After all, in the limited time since we entered the museum, he has built an avatar, furnished a house, showered, shit (Gilbert and George scatological reference), bought and cared for a dog and got a job at a pet clinic. Who says kids aren't productive and task oriented?

Anyway, the rest of our trip has been very exciting.

I spent time on Tuesday with David Brain, president and CEO of Edelman, Europe. Chit chat involves his team's loss (Manchester City - so much cooler than supporting Manchester United a.k.a. ManUre or Scum to us Liverpool supporters) to Arsenal (bit of a cheeky name) the previous night. He has a mystery present for my son. First glimpse looks like a red shirt (maybe a simple local t-shirt?), but wait, it's a replica jersey with my son's favorite player 6 foot 7 Peter Crouch in miraculously red poly Liverpool shirt. What an amazingly thoughtful, generous gift. Whatever notions I may have had about the reputation and personality of Edelman are gone.

In closing, I'll leave you with a lovely quote that speaks to overpaid and under-worked artists (and PR people):

THE LAWS OF SCULPTORS:
1. Always be smartly dressed, well groomed relaxed friendly polite and in complete control;
2. Make the world to believe in you and pay heavily for this privilege;
3. Never worry assess discuss or criticize but remain quiet respectful and calm;
4. The lord chissels still, so don't leave your bench for long.
-- Gilbert and George, 1969

See you soon.

Cheerio luv,

Adam

EDITOR'S NOTE: See Zand on Sixtysecondview.