The glory is in the details in many of life’s highest domains. One detail in gallery hopping is transportation. To map out what gallery openings, book talks, or art events we want to pack into an evening’s enjoyment,  we now have three major resources – discussed previously and to be revisited soon. Two are online: ArtCards.cc and LarryQualls.blogspot.com; one, inTheArtWorld.com, is strongest in print, with its M Magazine and NYC gallery maps for the Village/Lower East Side, Soho/Tribeca, Chelsea, Midtown/57th street, Uptown/UES/Madison ave, Brooklyn/Williamsburg, Queens/LIC, and greater New York.

Most New Yorkers know with chagrin that Taxis are never there when you need them – and that standing with arm raised high in hopes of getting one is a very frustrating position to be in.

Enter Uber, offering unlimited Uberpool riding in October for $200 and unlimited Uberpool riding 6am-8pm weekdays most of November for $89. It seemed simple, it seemed wonderful. But then again there are those details.

I tried Uber though it seemed too good to be true. But yes it is true. Go from home to gallery one, look at the show, have a drink and a nibble, and summon a taxi to go to gallery two, knowing exactly when and approximately where you’ll be picked up. That part worked.

But the glory is in the details. And Uber’s glorious vision is dashing about NYC on errands and for enjoying art-on-demand has foundered on the rocks of computer glitches and strange policies & procedures. The conclusion? When dancing with a Gorilla Corporation be prepared to have your toes stepped on and your plans crushed.

In six weeks of use I have logged no less than 10 disappointments. Drivers not showing up, times suddenly changed, odd pick locations. Then my credit card got hacked – and Uber mercilessly blocked any use. Then I found Uber has virtually no help. Oh, it’s there, but it’s one of those specially protected secrets of the universe. And whoever they’ve hired as help doesn’t believe in answering questions – though they seem quite free and easy with reimbursements and credits.

The result if you persist in using Uber is that you must become an expert on their software, on how to work their arcane help, and their seemingly capricious rules. Be prepared for tests of equanimity that would break the serenity of a buddhist monk.

The dream was so near – and the realization of that dream, so far. Pooling also means having Mr. Computer decide that though you were well on your way, picking another plum off the tree is just too tempting. Be prepared for drivers who must forego common sense – and driving situations they can see with their own eyes – and Obey The Mapping Program – – which can send you to places no sensible person could ever even imagine. Be prepared for Helpers who offhandedly tell you that your current disaster is due to a glitch or software adjustments – but who can’t tell you when or how a solution will be achieved.

At times I never thought I’d welcome being in the cramped, lumpy, TV screen screaming and jailhouse atmosphere of Manhattan’s Yellow Cabs. At least the transaction there was up front and personal – with no after-the-fact penalties levied for changing my route, showing up a minute late, or bringing along a pal.

Uber seems to have hired Ming the Merciless as its CEO. And its minions are making a the dream of going from gallery to gallery – a nightmare.

Major galeries celebrate the holidazed period with artistic exclamation points. Gallerie Mourlot is major – and Judith Seligson’s explosions of shapes into art space ships is how it is celebrating this holiday period. Seligson uses the line to make shapes living beings – just by adding the purest notion of color seen since – yes, Josef Albers. But whereas Albers used shapes to play in, Seligson uses them to explore the world. Yes, feelings abound when a Seligson shape is sighted.

The Mourlot name will celebrate its impact pm NYC’s art scene fifty years next year – and it has celebrated contemporary art for an incredible 164 years now since its start in Paris in 1852. Congratulations to the galerie and this space-worthy artist… for Seligson sure knows how to use space to reach places accessible only by the imagination.

It’s simple: is Uber paving a path to access art, or is it making it more difficult – or, worse, promising access but giving distraction?

The lure is enticing: $200/m for unlimited use in Oct, $89/m for use in Nov from 6am to 8pm – but possibly not on weekends.

We fish need to weigh our bait carefully. Let me give you the benefit of my experience.

No, this is no tale of woe. No outlet for outrage. This is simply tips with supporting facts to help you wind your way through the labyrinth that Uber & its kind have put before you.

Fact # 1: you will be charged for rides that should be free; #2: you’ll be told to go 2-3 blocks away from where you are to catch the driver to avoid a $5 no-show fee – with 1-2 minutes to do that; #3: you’ll be told a plan is free 6am-8pm, and when you use it on a Sat or Sun you’ll be charged; #4, AND THIS IS THE BIG ONE, you’ll have to find out on the Uber site how the hell to dispute a charge.

I challenge you: find out how  we mere users can file a complaint, and you will have achieved the holy grail. Has life come to this? that we must be grateful to simple be users – and have no say? have no recourse? be at the gigantic corporation that will never earn a profit’s mercy? they’ve got nothing to loose to thumb their noses are our faces – they’re not making any money anyway – except on paper – except at our expense.

I signed up in Oct, $200 for unlimited pool use – and in the last ten days of October I was charged and charged while I struggled to find A Way To Be Heard. And the only way I  got heard is by rattling my press credentials. And I still do not have a phone #, a text #, an email, a name, an extension – A Way To Be Heard. Oh, they paid me off.

Then they did the whole thing over again, this time worse – in November. $89 for unlimited use from 6am-8pm for the month. Oh, recently, in response to my rattling their chains, they said that was supposed to say Monday-Friday – except it didn’t say that. Ooops……

So they started charging me. Mind you: they only start their antics, their trics, their chicanery – on the weekend… the time when you little likes of you and I have but a little of our Precious Personal Time. To spend on hold – ooops: ‘cept they don’t give you a number to call. They’re earning too many billions of dollars – on paper – to afford such luxuries. It’s time we just stopped paying for them adding insult to injury.

The best to expect? justice – that’s all. A credit. But most of the time expect they’ll tell you to send them screen shots of your accounts. BUT: bank or credit, they don’t tell you; Why they don’t tell you; How to do it they don’t tell you. Welcome to The Gauntlet. They set the rules, they create the barriers – and to get back your piece of cheese that they just stole you have jump the hoops, dance their dance, and waste your time.

This is Instant Wealth telling you to Get Lost.

This is Instant Wealth telling you We Don’t Care.

This is Instant Wealth telling you We’ll Wear You Down.

And the worst thing I have to tell you in this post? Unless you Hate Injustice, People Hurting even Harder people who can’t fight back, Big Business inflated by internet estimates But Bit Enuf to Screw You – Screwing you. Yeah, it’s bad. But better we know now than later – and scramble to muster our defences against these new Vampires, Feeders on the Innocent, Devourers of Every Cent They Can St