in Culver City

wearing my Bill E. Berger t-shirt for the first time

outside Geffen Playhouse

outside MOCA Geffen

back from LA

where my visit began by meeting Michael Alago at The Abbey:

I'm reading

at 5 today
at Antebellum Gallery
in Hollywood

I've never seen anything like it

a rabbit acting like a cat.  this bunny went back & forth on my back portal for several moments before plopping down. the pose was completely feline with hind legs sprawld. abt a 5 minute rest then a bit of grooming. finally up & sniffing posts. it jumpd off the portal to forage for food but quickly returnd to sit a bit. suddenly -- without notice -- it sprintd off toward the arroyo.

Bette Davis in 1989

I took this at the Beverly Hilton

& this at Tavern on the Green

visiting graves

as I postd on Facebook pix of me at the final resting places of the 3 characters in "Unfinishd Play" I suddenly rememberd this old photo.

Mom & I are visiting the grave of her parents in Lorain. this was a regular family activity. most often it was done on holidays.  I suspect this picture may have been on an Easter. but it certainly plantd in my young mind the idea of such visits & it's something I've always done.  

self portrait (1965)

the frontispiece for Gildzen at 50 is "Skins: left behind in the night." here is the source for that.  I took it for a photography class at Kent.

The Century Dimes

nature

I've enjoyd having rabbits in my yard.  until today when I discoverd one of them ate one of Aunt Sophie's trumpet vines that I transplantd from my parents' backyard in Elyria.

movie massacre

anytime a madman guns down multiple people it's a tragedy. but for someone who has spent so much time in a movie theater I'm feeling especially grieved at the unfolding of the Colorado story.

New Mexico cheese

before yesterday's hike I was at the agora in Eldorado.  had coffee at Las Chivas (home of the Obama blend) with some of the guys. then stoppd at the market. there I saw products from this nearby cheese company for the first time.  I bought some feta which I crumbld in last nite's salad (spinach / cucumber / garlic / sundried tomatoes). tasty.

after today's hike

the famous green chili cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite

chamber music

our summer festival is one of the glories of Santa Fe. today's noon concert was Russian piano music.


I was unfamiliar with Jon Kimura Parker. he burst onto the stage sat down & quickly wiped the keyboard with a red handkerchief. & then bam... he immediately attackd the piano & exploded with a quick punch that is a Prokofiev sonata.


he left the stage. returning to the piano he playd some Rachmaninoff. some pianists -- even good ones -- perform music.  Parker interprets it. whatever he plays sounds so fresh. with that short piece done he didn't even leave & went straight into the program's longest piece -- Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." he was astonishing. Parker hunchd over the keyboard his head bobbing like a bird's. he ravishd the keys. near the end of the piece he began to lift himself from the bench. almost at the finish his arms flew off the keyboard into the air as if he were abt to levitate. looking as if he were going to collapse he playd that last note & the entire audience was immediately on its feet. it was as thrilling as any performance I've ever been so lucky to experience.

William Asher (1921-2012)

I took this in Palm Springs 3 years ago

in Oz

here's another of Darryl's photos from 2002.  this is at MGM Grand.

these are the same figures -- before the Grand moved them. I'm with another friend no longer with us  (T. R. Queen).

out of the past

I guess anything that gets postd on the internet lives forever.  I was doing some searching this ayem & stumbld on the blog of the late Darryl Grimm.  I must say it was pretty shocking to read decade-old blog entries as if they were written yesterday. at first I was sad because Durl is no longer here to write new entries. but then I felt good that we still have these old posts. & what fun to see again pix I'd forgotten.

with Steve Schnittker aka Dazed

if

you've ever fallen for a James Broughton poem or film please consider making a pledge to the Kickstarter campaign to raise finishing funds for "Big Joy."  this important documentary shd bring new audiences to James.  the way Kickstarter works $22000 must be pledgd  or the producers get zip. it's down to the last 2 days & the campaign is a couple of thou short.

James & I in Richard Myers' "Jungle Girl" (1984)

Plaza Cafe

I was on hand for the reopening of this Santa Fe tradition & one of my favorite local places. it had been closed for abt 2 years because of a fire. during its closure Hollywood briefly turnd it into Pico Mundo for the forthcoming film "Odd Thomas."

bandstand concerts are back

Guitar Shorty playd on the plaza last nite

& here I am with Kenny Delgado & Rita Wood & Phil Andrews

Helen O. Borowitz (1929-2012)

I took this picture of Helen with novelist James Ellroy at the 1990 opening of the Borowitz True Crime Collection exhibition.

& in this one you don't see much of Helen but certainly more of Ellroy.

Jonathan D. Katz

co-curator of "Hide/Seek" was in town for a presentation at Museum of Fine Arts. his forthcoming book is a study of Jasper Johns & Robert Rauschenberg.

beautiful morning

eating apricots from my tree


& calld Mom in Ohio to see how she's dealing with the heat. her only concern is getting to the hairdresser this afternoon.

Brandon de Wilde (1942-1972)

hard to believe it's been 40 years since he died.  I saw him play Tom Jones in summer stock 7 years before his death & he was stunningly beautiful.

"Jasmine Green Andy" (2003)

my recollection of this piece: postcards with the Warhol stamp on front & one of these empty tea bag packets pasted to the back.

40 years ago

"wearing my high school vest"

what dust must rest
in ridges of that corduroy
& memories of more
than a half century


its green & brown lines
still form squares
while my lines
whir & jig


were I to know
when I wore it then
what I know now
how wd life change


cars still crash
loves dash & walls fall
but here I am
smiling in an old vest


___________________________


it startd with that picture from the Chestnut Burr. I'm sure that vest is the same one which I'm wearing in another picture in my high school yearbook. from the scan it's difficult to tell it's the same item but I know it is.

I don't remember the origins of that vest but I've been wearing it longer than any other article of clothing I've ever ownd.

people with whom I've spoken on the phone but never met

James Wong Howe
Henry King
Robert Lowry
Guy Davenport
Gerrit Lansing
Brom Weber
Chana Block
Joseph Hansen
Jean Valentine
Edmund White
Richard Harrison
Dina Metzger
D. Nurske
William Matthews
Charlie Atlas
Barry Magid
Rane Arroyo
Jim Sagel
Andrew Lundwall

"Tape Downs" (1999)

I did a dozen of these.  they were postcards on which I placed something (such as earth from Dad's garden) & then taped over it.  I think I only photographd the first & have no idea if any still exist. documentation is here.

watering

the apricot trees at 6:30 this ayem & a thirsty hummingbird cdn't wait -- landing on branches to drink.