of late there has been new interest in the life & work of this Ohio artist.
I met him a couple of times at his home in Columbus in the '60s. he was a friend of my cousin Regina who owns several of his oils & who gave me this charcoal self-portrait.
probably as much has been written abt his life as abt his work. my memory is that Emerson loved living & certainly loved to talk. he seemd in constant motion. I remember us talking more abt writing than art. above his fireplace was his portrait of Carl Sandburg. that ignited chats abt literature. he also knew Eugene O'Neill in Provincetown. I think it was that first visit in 1962 that he gave me a paperback abt banned books which is now in my collection at Kent.
my most vivid memory however is being in his convertible with Emerson at the wheel. he enjoyd speed & I did not. & I felt he was more wreckless driving than any person needed to be. I think he was speeding us to Emil's for cheesecake.
when I wrote abt Ray Johnson earlier this year I made a mistake. I noted that I had only one piece of his.
in the past half hour as I was going thru some art books in the nicho in the living room I found this tuckd between volumes:
it's strange because I had it with art books instead of with actual art. altho not signd it's a print. my memory of it is dim but Johnson must have sent it to me in 1977.
& so my adventure continues as I discover more & more items that have been hidden for years.
things collide. I've written that before. only because they do. & tonite I watchd the PBS show "The Day the '60s Died." a bit later on Facebook there was a mention of this legendary Cleveland broadcaster. & I rememberd that one part of her legacy was her comment on Kent State: "We're killing our children."
anyone who grew up in northern Ohio at a certain time will remember this colorful lady. colorful for her fake red hair as well as her quick tongue. I still remember when I visitd my Uncle John in Lorain we always had to be quiet when she came on tv because he never missd her.
in 1971 I helpd arrange for her to donate her papers to Kent State. & in 1980 Dean Keller & I askd her for something to publish for the Friends of the Libraries. the result was a little book called The House I Live In. here is her signature in my copy:
I took this in Palm Springs in 2008
again I go thru piles & files looking for what needs to go somewhere special or be thrown out. & there was this CD cover:
it's by P. Craig Russell. & that cat of many colors is my own Tobias.
Craig first drew him for this portrait he did of me for the cover of Cat Scratches:
& just for the hell of it here is a rather adorable photo of Craig & I together with one of his cats o so many years ago:
Billi Jo Clayton (who paintd me years ago) made this for my birthday. only time I've been this close to Errol Flynn.
an announcement today from John Burroughs.
& here's what I wrote on Facebook:
it's a bit difficult to realize that I have another birthday this weekend. & I know all my dear friends are pondering what to get me. instead of the festoons of flowers & chocolates & jockstraps I usually receive I have a humble suggestion. please purchase a copy of my new book. I've been working on this collection for more years than I like to admit. but I'm so proud of this book. nothing wd make me happier this birthday than to share it with you.
& for my friends across the pond my publisher informs me that you can save international postage by ordering from yr own country's Amazon.
summer of 1987. Thessaloniki.
this is Radio City Theater. & I actually saw "Rebel Without a Cause" there. but I had this taken for a friend who was a Doris Day fanatic.
still finding treasures as I sort thru files & piles.
this was a broadside series from Windsor Canada (1970-71). 500 copies. original price: 75 cents each. today they sell from $15 to $150 each.
my poem "Dolphinsong on the Nile" was number 6.
other poets
Paul Goodman
Joyce Carol Oates
Douglas Blazek
Irving Layton
Greg Kuzma
George Bowering
Lewis Warsh
Hayden Carruth
as far as I know this is the complete run.
my admiration for this series is off the charts.
it began 14 years ago with the publication of one of my favorite d.a. levy poems "the bells of the Cherokee ponies" (which I reprintd in my 1971 levy issue of The Serif).
when Richard Robert Hansen scatterd my "Nijinsky's Underwear" around the world I was ecstatic.
& now I have a second contribution to this history-making series:
yesterday I was thinking abt Eve Arden.
then today 2 things happend. first I saw that "My Reputation" in on TCM tonite. Arden supports Barbara Stanwyck in that one. then a dear friend wrote to tell me that yesterday he met Arden's nephew.
here I am listening to Arden at the Beverly Hilton following the AFI salute to Stanwyck in 1987:
Billy's silk floss tree is mentiond in my poem "Colors."
here it is the other day. those white tuffs are what's left when the parrots have rippd off the seed husks. Billy got out his cutting gizmo & snippd the one on the right for me. I have it here in a baggie waiting till the day I spin some art out of it.
thx John Dorsey & Colin Scholl
where I celebrated a special birthday of a special friend who took this of me with the beautiful Emma:
we were on a panel together at the CUNY seminar "The Theater of Jean-Claude van Itallie" in 2008
I took this of her with Jean-Claude & Brad Burgess
for years I've been looking for this photo. it shows two leading ladies of the silent era meeting for the first time in more than 40 years.
that's Lois Wilson on the left with May Allison. the photo was taken on the Kent State University campus in spring of 1973. Lois was in town to appear as Mary's mother in the University Theater production of "The Women." she had playd Mary years before in the national tour. so I suggestd to the Kent director that he cast her as a guest star. Miss Allison had been living in nearby Cleveland for years.
the original photograph must exist in the files of the University News Service. this copy isn't so good because it's a scan taken from the back cover of The Silent Picture (no. 18). I didn't remember I had a copy but discoverd it while culling stacks of ancient periodicals.
& during that same visit here I am watching Lois sign the library's copy of the poster for "The Women" which proudly hung in the Special Collections reading room during my tenure as curator.
this is the little Bernique Longley piece I mentiond in the previous post.
with all the interest in "Mad Men" there's also been memories of La Fonda Del Sol. this legendary restaurant opend in the Time-Life Building in 1960. it was designd by Alexander Girard with furnishings by Charles & Ray Eames. & a Google search just informd me that the men's room featured a mural by Bernique Longley (1923-1999).
Bernique was one of Santa Fe's legendary painters. & I was lucky to have known her in her final years. shortly after meeting actress Sally Kemp she invitd me to dinner saying she had a friend I must meet. that friend was Bernique & we liked each other immediately.
since her death I regrettd that I didn't have a photograph with her. just the other day I was looking thru my albums for something else & encounterd this:
I had completely forgotten abt this long-ago party but there I am (in the rocker) & there is Bernique -- in between art historian Richard Trump & actor John Ericson. we're not side by side but at least I have this one document.
of course I have Longleys in most rooms of my house. there's a painting I commissiond in the bedroom. one of her chickens in the kitchen. & a small goddess sculpture in the guest room.
I haven't been able to find an image of her La Fonda Del Sol mural. maybe someone somewhere will share that. until then I'll have to imagine Jon Hamm sharing space with a Longley (even if that is only film fiction).
I took this of my dear friend Julia Waida at a holiday dinner on Morris Rd. the lamb cake in the background was made by my cousin Sal.
it was a cold & windy morning. but I woke from a wee nap to feel that it was nicer out. so I opend the front door. & there was a package. it was Peeps from Bill E. Berger. something he's done for years.
this time I took them outside for a photo shoot. the bread box is also a gift from Billy (in 1972). Paul Metcalf told me it looks like the bread box his mother found Billy Budd in. posing with the sweets are an egg Nancy Holt gave me in 1997 & a little pink basket from one of Pooka Longley Glidden's Easter dinners.
Stan Hywet Hall in Akron has begun celebrating its 100th year.
here's a little Wedgewood souvenir which shows its doorway.
& just for the record the black bud vase was pilferd from The Mark in NYC by my last partner years ago.
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| Dragonback Trail |
into today's box of books going to Kent is my copy of this 1993 KSU Press imprint. I remember having some friends sign my copy (a la high school yearbooks). but looking thru it one last time I didn't remember just how many signatures I collectd.
here are those of true crime writers Albert Borowitz & Jonathan Goodman. the photo was taken on the nite of a library gala I organized in 1990.
another true crime writer signd the book -- the late Leo Damore. & I discoverd as well signatures of astronaut Carl Walz novelist Henry Van Dyke football star Jack Lambert childrens author Virginia Hamilton entertainer Bertice Berry fantasy writer Stephen R. Donaldson historian Lawrence Kaplan & many others. also all 3 editors (including the man responsible for my library career -- Dean Keller).
going thru more "stuff" & I found 3 photographs Stathis Orphanos took during our 2001 shoot at Chateau Marmont. those are the Century Dimes on my chest.
here's one of the b&w photos from that shoot:
of course the best known one from that day is the portrait which appears in It's All a Movie.
