I like

when
my barista
calls me dear

tension

while the Koreas glower at each other someone in Seoul did a Google search for Farley Granger & came to an old post of mine.

my own private white party

      after reading Facebook
      status report of Matt Skallerud

Mom sent me 2 teabags
(oriental white tea)

Sal Mineo liked blond twinks
in white jockey shorts

white dots on dark chocolate
(non-pareils from Rita Wood)

Tom Ford's white shirt
unbuttond on the plane

Pearl White had dark hair
but wore a blonde wig

Colin Coonsis didn't wear
the white suit to his opening

bah humbug

so cold walking to the gym I thot my nose wd fall off. got there at 7:30. lockd tight. on holiday schedule. shit. I must've been asleep when someone made Bleak Friday another fricking holiday.

today's menu

leftover pizza

since I was left out of the last 2 bios of writer friends that I've read I'm pleasd to be quoted in this bestseller. I didn't know Mineo. but I saw him in a stunning summer stock production of "End as a Man" which he also directd.

early Thxgiving

for the past several years I've spent this holiday with either Billy in Culver City or with Garold in Rockaway. but I'm getting older & crankier & wasn't sure I cd deal with the nuttiness that is flying on the busiest travel weekend of the year. so I told Billy I'd arrive the weekend before & we'd celebrate.

here we are at a favorite place. Miceli's -- the oldest Italian restaurant in Hollywood -- has been host to celebs from John F. Kennedy to the Beatles.

I have returnd

from a super weekend with my dear friend Billy in Culver City. we had a full agenda. among our activities was a visit to the new Resnick Pavilion at LACMA. all 3 inaugural exhibitions are skillfully mountd & worth seeing. here I am with some Olmec masks:

how malagrugrous that those jolluxes can't freck

words

The Pink

I think I first heard abt the Pink Adobe from Jonathan Williams who knew a thing or two abt fine dining.

over the years I didn't go to this famous restaurant all that frequently. but I did love their green chili stew -- & of course that apple pie.

in the morning paper I read that the late Rosalea Murphy's restaurant -- a Santa Fe institution since the year after I was born -- closed a week or so ago.

hot shower

felt good. in the (hopefully) final stages of a cold I suspect I got while incarcerated in that germ canister following my pat-down.

been a sort of down day. anniversary of the finding of William Holden's body. one of the saddest celebritity deaths & something that hit hard in my last years of drinking. also birthday of Barbara Payton who led a tragic life.

but I'm abt to join the guys for our weekly dinner & that often lifts my spirits.

it's snowing

did Charles Delaney
make movie history
when he gave the finger
at the end
of a 1933 quickie?

let's say he did.

if Todd Moore
were still around
I'd call him
to announce
this historic find.

wd Todd remember
that Delaney's last film
was "The Beatniks"?
wd he even remember
who Delaney was?

can't say
I remember much
abt his career.

but we're saying
he had a moment
of movie history.

& how many
of us
made history?

scatter me

over the decades I've written many wills. in one I askd that my cremated remains be divided in half. one portion was to be dumpd into the Atlantic from Provincetown which gave me so many glorious memories. the other half wd go into the Pacific from Monterey where I was born.

I've since realizd this is a hugh favor to ask. also I haven't been to P'town in ages & have no real resonance with Monterey except as place of birth. so my current notion is to have my ashes scatterd in the arroyo that gives name to this blog. maybe even thrown from the pedestrian bridge I cross daily & which was the place for my piece "Bridge over Arroyo."

then this morning our local paper headlined that the archbishop -- with so little else to do -- has condemnd the scattering of ashes. I'm delightd. my passionate disdain for all religions goes into overdrive when they continually overrearch like this. I cdn't have askd for a better last chapter.

pat down

morning news had a story abt pilots objecting to the pat-downs they're receiving after going thru the new airport scanning machines.

last week I went thru one for the 1st time & as an exhibitionist was initially tittilatd by imagining a stranger observing my genitals in public. well.... I was stoppd for a search. that surprisd me. I was askd to stand on a pad which had markings for feet. the TSA man clearly was uncomfortable with his job. he told me he'd have to pat me down & did I object. I sd no. then he askd me if I wantd to go to a private area. as much fun as that mite be under other circumstances I told him to get on with it. he began putting his hands on me but you cd tell by the paind look on his face that he wasn't enjoying his job.

he askd me if I was wearing any kind of medical device around my middle. "only fat" I replied with a smile. this nervous gentleman wasn't smiling back. he told me the scan showd something around my middle. "I'll have to pat you there." it turnd out to be my shirt which naturally was tuckd in my pants.

now if we've paid all this money for a machine that can't determine if yr shirt's tuckd in I think we've made another mistake. traveling is unpleasant enuf. detaining someone for something as silly as this is simply irritating. the next time I get stoppd I think I'll demand having someone who at least enjoys patting me down.

for all the vets out there

Busam's "A Walk" #4

on sun 24 oct Mike Busam went on a birdwatching expedition which turnd into something different. instead he pickd plants.

"I've sent these plants and cards to people who have an appreciation for the 'small' or less obvious things in the world and who would find the humor in setting out on a walk with the intention of observing birds but instead spending an hour looking at plants -- mostly non-native and invasive plants, but plants with interesting histories and lives nonetheless."

I feel lucky to have been chosen to receive part of this piece. thx Mike.

& festival

Felice Picano & Armistead Maupin

Palm Springs Pride Parade

t h u d

I'm not happy Texans bought my state. perhaps it's time to move to California.

Day of the Dead

pundits predict a Republican sweep at the polls. how appropriate that such a giant step backward happens on this particular day.

seeing myself

tonite TCM presentd the David H. Shepard compilation of Edison films. this is one that hit me:



from the moment it began I saw the boy in the white shirt carrying the packages & immediately identified with him. everything is happening around him but he's transfixd by the camera. as the film went on I felt that that boy was me in "Alex in Movieland." it was a powerful feeling.

wonderful interview with Doris Day