Scott Caan's first autograph

watching "American Outlaws" last nite it was tough to take my eyes off Colin Farrell as Jesse James. but when I did it was to look at Scott Caan as Cole Younger. this beefy little guy has a certain swagger that the camera likes.



& as I watchd Caan I rememberd meeting him 15 years ago. it was at the Taos Talking Picture Festival after a screening of his first film "A Boy Called Hate." he seemd a bit nervous. I askd him to sign my program. he told me it was the first time he'd ever been askd for an autograph.

the signatures beneath his are those of co-star Adam Beach & their director Mitch Marcus.

serial dreaming

I don't think this has ever happend to me before.

2 nites ago I dreamt I was assisting in organizing the holdings of painter Bernique Longley after her death. last nite the narrative continued exactly where it left off in her attic.

when I was young I had a recurring nitemare but I don't recall this sort of thing happening in my dreamlife.

Places I will never see again

because they will never be again

high school homeroom
college dorm
first Manhattan hotel
all torn down
Jean-Claude's barn
burnd down

& places like
house in Twin Lakes
David's livingroom
shells remain
but interiors alive
only in photographs
& memory

& how long
will memory last

so I make
a reservation
for a place
I've never been
where I will meet
someone I don't know
to write
a new chapter

Lincoln weeps

"Underwear in a Box"

plantings

the ones in the clay pots are from Billy. they remaind alive in plastic bags for a couple of nites at Coral Sands. the cuttings in water are from Mom & await roots before being plantd outdoors.

new CD

Todd's memorial

another dream

Newport Beach

on the wall of the Crab Cooker

Laguna Beach

the coffee that made the latest stain in The Book of Java.

the restaurant -- overlooking the ocean -- was once the home of character actor Slim Summerville.

Culver City

unfortunately Billy's in partial shadow. but Emma looks good. & so does the new water feature in his backyard.

back from LA

Billy got me this new t-shirt. we both found it odd that surfboards are mentiond with Culver City since it isn't on the ocean. but later Craig sd that surfboards are manufacturd in CC.

I'm holding a fig fresh pickd from Billy's tree. as soon as the picture was taken I enjoyd eating the fig.

Gorky in LA

the first painting of his I ever saw was "The Plough and the Song" (1947) at Allen Memorial Art Museum. now it's in the excellent retrospective at MOCA.

musical summers

Wang at noon. then the evening begins with film actor Gary Farmer & his band on the plaza.

Yuja Wang

this is the 5th summer in a row I've heard this exciting young pianist. always a thrill.

when you're gone.... you're gone

Sheila Smith casually mentiond in an e-mail that Kent State has a new dean of libraries.

I've been retired for some time now so I suppose no one left at Kent remembers me. I long ago gave up thinking my opinion abt Special Collections wd ever be askd.

but it does feel odd after so many years of service to be so out of the loop.

last nite
a great meal & fun opera

tonite
salad & a disappointing movie

from the desert

reading an interview



& remembering dinner companions

"Film Fun" (May 1922)

found this photo of May McAvoy & Lois Wilson online:



& here they are 53 years later with me:

thx Montgomery. an honor to be read by you & to share this video with all those bright young poets.

in the air

this morning I wrote a poem in which Greg Bautzer has a central role.

this afternoon Sitemeter reveald that someone found an old post abt him I'd completely forgotten in a search & clickd on it at the same time I was putting the poem online.

early Marilyn

Sylvia Sidney (1910-1999)

the centennial of one of my favorite actresses



with Miss Sidney at my house in Twin Lakes in 1974

Zuill Bailey
calls his cello
J-Lo

Markham Arms

yesterday was Lucille Ball's 99th birthday & Stephen Rutledge postd this video in tribute:



at the beginning when Lucy arrives in Chelsea we see the pub I mentiond recently behind her. again it was a thrill to see it as it was when I drank there.

YOU IN SILK BOXERS
ME IN COTTON BRIEFS

          for Tom Beckett

"Deleuze & Foucault
go to the movies"
Woody Allen
tells
Milton Berle
while setting up
a low-angle shot

"shit"
interrupts Uncle Miltie
"I left a lit cigar
in Ilona Massey's
dressing room
40 years ago"

exactly 41 years ago

I threw a party for the guest artists of the Blossom Kent Art Program. one was Wayne Thiebaud. I liked his work then & still do.



Thiebaud -- who turns 90 in a few months -- continues to paint vigorously. he's in town for a show of current work (mostly mountains) with a sprinkle of older signature pieces (a dessert & some ties). he's still a gracious man (claiming to actually remember my party).

ONSLOW STEVENS WALKS NAKED
DOWN SUNSET BLVD

or was it in
a Joan Woodbury western?

the thing abt those of us
who spend so much time
in the dark
is that the stories blend

bios of our demigods
overlap with their scripts
so after seeing Stevens
on screen with Lila Lee
I close my eyes
& picture them
sharing a flask on set

those of us
who spend so much time
in the dark
know the catechism
by heart
so if Onslow Stevens never
walkd naked down Sunset Blvd
we know he walkd naked
where other people don't
& when we tell that story
it trips memories
of him filling screens
opposite Lois Wilson & Audrey Totter

for us
the font of holy water
is a bowl of chili
at Chasen's
& the shadow behind us
is Onslow Stevens
wearing only a moustache

lightning strikes twice

when I put the DVD in last nite the weather seemd fine. but suddenly during "House of Danger" there was lightning on screen that was a key element of the script at the exact moment that there was lightning outside. that overlap was startling.



it was the minorest of movies & its star Onslow Stevens is largely forgotten today. he came from a show biz family & was a nudist. late in life he sufferd from alcoholism & died a mysterious death which some think was murder. in another overlap he made "House of Danger" in 1934 -- the same year he did 2 quickie pictures with leading lady Lila Lee who I was featuring here.

1930

Wittgensteinian?

the image of Tom Beckett slapping himself seems Threestoogian.

Literary Underground Wiki

Coach & Horses (1937-2010)

this famous Hollywood bar servd its last beer last nite.

in the 24 years I was a regular at Chateau Marmont I walkd past this Sunset Blvd establishment hundreds of times. it was a watering hole for scores of film celebs -- from Alfred Hitchcock to Barbara Payton. some scenes for "Pulp Fiction" were written in its red naugahyde booths.

the space is ownd by neighbor Samuel French Books which raisd the rent so high the owner sd nix.