still more Wietor

this 1994 painting hangs in my guest room 

more words by Alex & art by Jeff

years ago Wietor was a sort of resident artist for photographer Bryan Ockert (of Chaos Men fame). I've lost the details but Bry askd Jeff to do this piece as a gift for me.  the text is my nite-blooming cereus poem.

Hungry Ghost Journal

every once in a while I go thru piles & files to gather materials to send to my collection at Kent State.

today I came across some postcards from San Francisco artist Jeff Wietor from a project we did 13 years ago.  as I recall he askd me for a list of some of my favorite words & for one month he did an art piece every day using a trio of those words.

here are two from that series:

laughter too

there was no opening act. but Santana surprised us by announcing George Lopez who did a bit of patter.

he calld for legalization of pot in the state & defeat of our awful governor.

"Black Magic Woman"

when Santana introduced this song the vocal was by Gregg Rolie who I heard sing it at this same venue 2 months ago.

last nite the vocal was shared by both of the band's current singers:

Tony Lindsay

Andy Vargas

Carlos in the rain

we were in his dressing room at Sandia Casino before the concert & Santana playd us  Ronald Isley's rendition of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."  so I gave him a copy of Another Book of Rain Poems.

my neighbor Phil Andrews brought his mother to meet the master & he was gracious with his time & spirit.

the concert was delayd an hour because of the rain.

& after it began there was more rain.

Polly Bergen (1930-2014)

in memory Polly Bergen's performance in "The Helen Morgan Story" on 'Playhouse 90' holds a special place. & this album which I bought then has been a favorite of mine over the decades.

I tend

to wake & spring from bed. but this morning my eyes opend & I didn't feel like rising. I had almost 7 hours of uninterruptd sleep but just didn't want to get up. I'm not sick nor depressd. yes it's no thrill to face paying bills & other mundane activities facing me today. but many are the days when my agenda is unappealing.

what I do on those rare mornings such as this is to think & "write."  I compose elaborate essays. this morning began with one I've considerd before: of Brando/Dean/Newman which is the greatest actor of that generation. I did compose some pithy sentences. but soon my mind was elsewhere.  I began to contemplate how I developd from student of the academy to outlaw poet. of course this shd be of no interest to me. whatever happend to me as poet ought to be subject for others. but my little books rarely receive reviews. so I hardly can expect anyone to want to write abt my life or work.

realizing such thinking was silly & that Kiddo was no doubt hungry I liftd myself out of bed.

the Kovach side of the family

Sal (son of Frank Kovach)
Karen (daughter of John Kovach)
Regina (daughter of Mary Kovach Yando)
Alex (son of Helen Kovach Gildzen)

& here's a better picture of the birthday girl:

back from Ohio

Mom was 93 yesterday.  so I spent several days in Elyria/Lorain preparing for her party.  was so busy talking with folks I forgot to use my camera. this is one of the few pix I took:

the cake is from Kiedrowski's -- one of the nation's legendary bakeries.

I just got home. I'm hoping others who were more diligent with the picturetaking will share.  I want to post a sweet picture of Mom.

once a year

at the end of every summer I go to farmers market to buy harvest beets. I also stop by to chat with novelist Stanley Crawford & purchase some of his famous garlic.

both of these go into this favorite recipe.

it'll marinate overnite & tomorrow I'll be in some kind of heaven as I savor this annual treat.

my painting hat

on the blue swing 

Marjorie Strider (1931-2014)

Ira Joel Haber took this picture of us at his loft many many years ago

Aruba

& while I had the albums out & the scanner on I did this of me (from later in 1992):

Grande Bretagne

because there are hundreds of tv channels these days one never knows what old items will be broadcast. I was channel-chasing the other day & founbd a "Murder She Wrote" marathon.

I watchd 2 episodes. in the second Jessica Fletcher arrives in Athens & checks into its most famous hotel. that had me remembering staying there in 1992. so I got out the photo albums & found this:

yes. that spec waving from the balcony is me.

my partner at the time wd surprise me on returning from trips. when he unpackd there was always some kind of "souvenir" which he pilferd from this hotel & that.

so after watching Jessica at the hotel I took a shower & steppd out & onto a GB bathmat.

Labor Day

this is the factory where Dad workd. it burnd down months after his death.

going thru his "stuff" I discoverd he'd kept every pay stub from all those years at General Industries.  those stubs were the inspiration for this piece: