18 March 2006
flores por los muertos
on the way home from the gym I went thru the strip mall where the crash happend. people have made a shrine there. the dead were a 20 y/o receptionist a 43 y/o woman & her 17 y/o son.
17 March 2006
vita brevis
from the post office I walkd to a favorite bakery. at the strip mall I saw ambulances & fire trucks & tv cameras. it lookd a bit like Iraq. & then I saw the front of a building smashd in. I went into the bakery & the woman who runs it told me that a woman drove her pickup truck into the waiting room of a medical center killing 3 & injuring at least a half dozen others.
16 March 2006
15 March 2006
cat as critic
I've never read much poetry criticism. I'd rather read poetry.
but Tony Trigilio trickd me. in his excellent blog he offers a discussion of Aase Berg's "In the Heart of the Guinea Pig Darkness" that's so unique you don't realize you're reading criticism.
but Tony Trigilio trickd me. in his excellent blog he offers a discussion of Aase Berg's "In the Heart of the Guinea Pig Darkness" that's so unique you don't realize you're reading criticism.
14 March 2006
another passing
when I was a kid one of the local Cleveland tv personalities was "Uncle Joe." behind the banjo was a young actor by the name of Joseph Bova. his father sold produce at West Side Market. I had Uncle Joe's signature in an autograph book I kept as a boy.
eventually he went to New York & appeard on stage & tv & in movies. he was best known as Carol Burnett's leading man in the original "Once Upon a Matress." the last time I saw him was in "42nd Street" with Delores Gray.
I learnd tonite that he died at the age of 81.
eventually he went to New York & appeard on stage & tv & in movies. he was best known as Carol Burnett's leading man in the original "Once Upon a Matress." the last time I saw him was in "42nd Street" with Delores Gray.
I learnd tonite that he died at the age of 81.
delicious casting
read there may be a film happening with Shirley MacLaine as Louise Brooks. then I read that Keanu Reeves will play Johnny Stompanato.
13 March 2006
dream on
my net bud Luca just e'd to say I was in his dreams last nite:
we were visiting
some memorial for a young actor dead befor his day.
you were the designer of the memorial. it was
fantastical. lots of wrought iron and stone. we then
mingled with lots of people there. you knew many of
the old actors and they knew you. the only one i
recognized was ms. bondi. she looked as good as ever
for being almost 120.
don't recall ever telling Luca abt the one time I was in the presence of Beaulah Bondi but he knows me well enuf to know of my infatuation with the denizens of Movieland.
I love being in other people's dreams -- even if I don't know it while it's happening.
we were visiting
some memorial for a young actor dead befor his day.
you were the designer of the memorial. it was
fantastical. lots of wrought iron and stone. we then
mingled with lots of people there. you knew many of
the old actors and they knew you. the only one i
recognized was ms. bondi. she looked as good as ever
for being almost 120.
don't recall ever telling Luca abt the one time I was in the presence of Beaulah Bondi but he knows me well enuf to know of my infatuation with the denizens of Movieland.
I love being in other people's dreams -- even if I don't know it while it's happening.
"what did you think all them saddles & boots was abt?"
yesterday's paper had an interview with Ned Sublette abt the song he wrote back in 1981 which Willie Nelson just record'd. the inspiration was the gay bar Boots & Saddles on Christopher St. how wonderful to see an old haunt transformd into art.
it was once a local dive calld George Herdt's. by the time I happend on to it the western name & theme had been adoptd. haven't been there in more than 20 years but I've heard it's now calld simply B & S. I remember seeing Tom Wirth there often. & once I had a long conversation there with Broadway director Stephen Porter. it was never my favorite bar but in my heavy-drinking days I made the rounds. & I recall a group of wags who prefer'd to call it Bras & Girdles.
it was once a local dive calld George Herdt's. by the time I happend on to it the western name & theme had been adoptd. haven't been there in more than 20 years but I've heard it's now calld simply B & S. I remember seeing Tom Wirth there often. & once I had a long conversation there with Broadway director Stephen Porter. it was never my favorite bar but in my heavy-drinking days I made the rounds. & I recall a group of wags who prefer'd to call it Bras & Girdles.
12 March 2006
11 March 2006
just back from the movies
Winterbottom's take on Tristram Shandy has a few good moments but is mostly tedious.
10 March 2006
take that Academy
fans of "Brokeback Mountain" collected $16000 in 48 hours to run this ad in today's Daily Variety.
what gives?
today's LA Times announces the death of Barbara Guest. don't they read other papers? she died almost a month ago.
09 March 2006
in dreams
yesterday I read online that it was Cyd Charisse's 85th birthday. so during the nite the leggy lady appeard in my dreams.
08 March 2006
in the land of kerchoo
back in Ohio we had something calld ragweed. when it came out in the fall I was a mess. so it was lovely to move to the southwest where there was no ragweed. my first several years were fine. then I began to sniffle. turns out that chamisa is the local version of ragweed. so now my autumns are a time of drippy nose & itchy eyes.
in the last few years I've begun to experience a bit of the same in spring when various tree pollens fill the air. we're just emerging from the driest winter since 1890. you'd think that wd dampen pollen. just the opposite. more people are suffering spring allergies than ever. I woke in the middle of the nite with my nose doing a Niagara imitation.
in the last few years I've begun to experience a bit of the same in spring when various tree pollens fill the air. we're just emerging from the driest winter since 1890. you'd think that wd dampen pollen. just the opposite. more people are suffering spring allergies than ever. I woke in the middle of the nite with my nose doing a Niagara imitation.
07 March 2006
& now for some good news
Mary Cheney's dad has sunk to an 18% approval rating. he's now the least popular veep in American history.
06 March 2006
get over it
I'm shockd to awake to such vitriol across the internet from gay people against the academy for failing to name "Brokeback Mountain" best picture. come on gay people you're supposd to know yr Hollywood history. the Oscar was inventd by a bunch of greedy businessmen as a means to increase the flow of shekels into the box office. it's never been abt art. just take a look at the award's history.
"Citizen Kane" lost best picture. Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd" lost. Judy Garland in "A Star is Born" lost. Imelda Staunton in "Vera Drake" lost. James Dean lost best actor twice. Barbara Stanwyck lost best actress 4 times. Thelma Ritter lost supporting actress 6 times. Marilyn Monroe was never even nominatd. best director never went to Hitchcock or Altman or Scorcese.
the important thing abt "Brokeback Mountain" is that it's become a watershed film whose social importance will only grow with time. the academy can't diminish that.
"Citizen Kane" lost best picture. Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd" lost. Judy Garland in "A Star is Born" lost. Imelda Staunton in "Vera Drake" lost. James Dean lost best actor twice. Barbara Stanwyck lost best actress 4 times. Thelma Ritter lost supporting actress 6 times. Marilyn Monroe was never even nominatd. best director never went to Hitchcock or Altman or Scorcese.
the important thing abt "Brokeback Mountain" is that it's become a watershed film whose social importance will only grow with time. the academy can't diminish that.
05 March 2006
Lance
Mindy Tucker knew someone for 8 years. when he died she found she had no photograph of him. this is her project of remembrance.
thx to Barry Hoggard on whose site I found this work.
thx to Barry Hoggard on whose site I found this work.
04 March 2006
Independent Spirit Awards
Felicity Huffman won't win the Oscar she deserves tomorrow nite so it was glorious to see her bag a Spirit this afternoon. & I was happy to watch it live on IFC because her hilarious & colorful acceptance will be censord by the time AMC rebroadcasts the show tonite.
03 March 2006
"so funky you can smell it"
second row center last nite. usually I don't like to sit that close to hear music. but part of the Buddy Guy experience is his elastic face so I'm glad I did. it was the first time I've heard the Chicago singer/guitarist & the whiff of funk was invigorating.
02 March 2006
births & deaths
a double beginning. embed'd in the premiere issue of Red Mountain Review is the first chapbook of Charles Jensen Little Burning Edens. in the first stanza of the first of 20 poems: "I am my own death." in the last stanza of the last poem: "a sun rises like deadly fevers." & in between: "There are dead boys / inside us right now."
these are poems abt "dirty kisses" "dirty needles" "dirty world." my first reading of this dark collection left me wanting to devour a box of truffles. these are poems that reflect a century of concentration camps nuclear games AIDS. but as bleak as the poet's world view I still mine delight in his language:
The lick of the river
reminds the eye of the flick
of tongues, the sudden thrust
that parts lips.
I find tumescence of image:
We can never forgive
their ambulance of lips that rushed
over the body like a city
in seige, taking vitals wherever
they found a pulse buried deep.
Charles Jensen is a poet to watch.
these are poems abt "dirty kisses" "dirty needles" "dirty world." my first reading of this dark collection left me wanting to devour a box of truffles. these are poems that reflect a century of concentration camps nuclear games AIDS. but as bleak as the poet's world view I still mine delight in his language:
The lick of the river
reminds the eye of the flick
of tongues, the sudden thrust
that parts lips.
I find tumescence of image:
We can never forgive
their ambulance of lips that rushed
over the body like a city
in seige, taking vitals wherever
they found a pulse buried deep.
Charles Jensen is a poet to watch.
reading
the bio of Joseph Cornell. how endearing that he wrote a fan letter to Fay Wray. & that she answerd it.
01 March 2006
LA in 1956
"Indestructible Man" is a minor Lon Chaney Jr. film. what makes it fascinating for anyone who loves the City of Angels is its location shooting. one scene uses the magnificent Bradbury Building. there is also a sequence on Angels Flight. that was the funicular which ran between 3rd & Hill streets from 1901-1969. originally the minute ride cost a penny.
interestingly the film was photographd by John L. Russell 4 years after undertaking the experimental cinematography for Fuller's "Park Row" & 4 years before achieving film immortality for shooting Hitchcock's "Psycho."
interestingly the film was photographd by John L. Russell 4 years after undertaking the experimental cinematography for Fuller's "Park Row" & 4 years before achieving film immortality for shooting Hitchcock's "Psycho."
28 February 2006
more black borders
in the past few days the obituarial news from LA has centerd on the acting profession. but in our morning paper I read of the death of Otis Chandler.
I only remember seeing him once. at one of the American Film Institute dinners. he was tall & oddly handsome. the former surfer made his mark as publisher of the LA Times. he was the son of Norman Chandler who may or may not have known Elizabeth Short & Dorothy Chandler who gave her name to the pavillion whose red carpet I walkd to the Oscars for the only time.
I only remember seeing him once. at one of the American Film Institute dinners. he was tall & oddly handsome. the former surfer made his mark as publisher of the LA Times. he was the son of Norman Chandler who may or may not have known Elizabeth Short & Dorothy Chandler who gave her name to the pavillion whose red carpet I walkd to the Oscars for the only time.
resurrection
some time ago I wrote here abt the fate of a potato chip. the Thomasson family of Elyria made the best chip in the world but sold the company to a firm in Mansfield. that company changd the recipe supposdly in an attempt to cut down on transfats.
my love affair with Thomasson potato chips goes back to high school. I even include a reference to them in one of the poems from Ohio Triangle. so I was delightd to receive in Mother's last batch of clippings an article announcing that the takeover company is returning to the original recipe. when I visit the folks in abt 5 weeks I'll have to purchase the product yet again.
my love affair with Thomasson potato chips goes back to high school. I even include a reference to them in one of the poems from Ohio Triangle. so I was delightd to receive in Mother's last batch of clippings an article announcing that the takeover company is returning to the original recipe. when I visit the folks in abt 5 weeks I'll have to purchase the product yet again.
27 February 2006
reflectd glory
speaking of The Avalanche of Time I happend across a copy being sold on eBay for $3.21. ouch. so I checkd Alibris & there it was $3.16. double ouch. finally I went to Abe & was happy to see a copy being offerd for $40. but that only because it was from Paul Metcalf's library.
26 February 2006
& the winner is
in yesterday's mail a small package from Judy Henske. it was the CD rerelease of "Farewell Alebaran." there's a reason she sent it to me. the first cut on the album was "Snowblind" a song Judy wrote with Jerry Yester & Zal Yanovsky. a line in that song -- "20 sonnets bound in gold" -- inspird me to write my sonnet sequence which I dedicatd to Judy. Canada's Killaly Press printd it as the first in their chapbook series in 1972. in an edition of only 100 copies it's one of my most collectible items.
the only time Robert Duncan ever acknowledgd reading me was his verbal appreciation of the sonnet sequence. I used them to open my selectd poems The Avalanche of Time (1986). my publisher Richard Grossinger wasn't happy with my decision. he thot the sequence "too difficult" to start the book. perhaps he was right. I became a neglectorino while still in print.
I've written here before abt my devotion to Judy Henske. she's one of those touchstone personalities who bob up & down thruout my life. if you haven't heard her go to her website & order a batch of her CDs. you won't be sorry. she's the real thing.
one reason I tend to turn off the Grammy awards is my embarrassment at the wins by nontalents. I became an awards junkie as a boy & have trouble shaking it. however it didn't take long to learn that awards are more abt politics than art. Frank O'Hara never won a Pulitzer. Hitchock never heard his name calld as best director at the Oscars. & where the bleep is Henske's Grammy? well Judy -- if you read this -- know that it's in my heart.
the only time Robert Duncan ever acknowledgd reading me was his verbal appreciation of the sonnet sequence. I used them to open my selectd poems The Avalanche of Time (1986). my publisher Richard Grossinger wasn't happy with my decision. he thot the sequence "too difficult" to start the book. perhaps he was right. I became a neglectorino while still in print.
I've written here before abt my devotion to Judy Henske. she's one of those touchstone personalities who bob up & down thruout my life. if you haven't heard her go to her website & order a batch of her CDs. you won't be sorry. she's the real thing.
one reason I tend to turn off the Grammy awards is my embarrassment at the wins by nontalents. I became an awards junkie as a boy & have trouble shaking it. however it didn't take long to learn that awards are more abt politics than art. Frank O'Hara never won a Pulitzer. Hitchock never heard his name calld as best director at the Oscars. & where the bleep is Henske's Grammy? well Judy -- if you read this -- know that it's in my heart.
25 February 2006
early spring
it's sunny & in the 60s today so I've opend up the windows. Melina had her brushing on the patio. & then there are those other seasonal indicators. the other day I bought my first package of Peeps. I opend them so they cd become "stale" before gobbling them up. & then this morning I purchasd Girl Scout cookies. thin mints of course.
my sweet girl
I feel closest to Melina when she decides to groom me. for me it's the greatest gift she can give. for that short time our spirits blend.
24 February 2006
a new resource
cinemaddicts either love Internet Movie Database or don't. yes there are errors. everything man touches has. but for me it's an invaluable tool which I consult daily.
for some time we've heard that Turner Classic Movies & American Film Institute were collaborating on a rival resource. it's finally here. as a test I lookd up Percy Helton. the new database gives his birthdate as 31 jan 1998. it's actually 31 jan 1894. strangely the death date is absent. his filmography lists 88 films. most others have the number nearer 100.
if competition is healthy then this addition is welcome.
for some time we've heard that Turner Classic Movies & American Film Institute were collaborating on a rival resource. it's finally here. as a test I lookd up Percy Helton. the new database gives his birthdate as 31 jan 1998. it's actually 31 jan 1894. strangely the death date is absent. his filmography lists 88 films. most others have the number nearer 100.
if competition is healthy then this addition is welcome.
23 February 2006
till death do us
the obit for 90 y/o dancer Peter Hamilton containd the news that he was survivd by his partner of 62 years Don Liberto.
22 February 2006
memory on my mind
yesterday I was reading an article which mentiond a largely forgotten newspaper columnist Hal Boyle. I immediately rememberd being part of a mass interview of him while I was still in high school. that moment of my life has been buried for decades.
from that my mind was skittering around & somehow I began to think of people -- like Clay -- who were in my life ever so briefly. he was a photographer I met in Manhattan. altho I have a photograph of his I have no photograph of him. & his face has disappeard from memory.
because I work on Alex in Movieland every day & have for several years now the whole idea of memory continues to be potent. what do we remember & why? what do we forget & why? what can bring a memory back? where was it while it was "away"?
from that my mind was skittering around & somehow I began to think of people -- like Clay -- who were in my life ever so briefly. he was a photographer I met in Manhattan. altho I have a photograph of his I have no photograph of him. & his face has disappeard from memory.
because I work on Alex in Movieland every day & have for several years now the whole idea of memory continues to be potent. what do we remember & why? what do we forget & why? what can bring a memory back? where was it while it was "away"?
21 February 2006
20 February 2006
to hell with Oscar
I suspect Hollywood will be too chickenshit to give "Brokeback" a sweep. (remember Reagan was once president of SAG.) so it was lovely to watch the BAFTA awards last nite from London. when Jake's name was calld for best supporting actor he was obviously surprisd & thrilld. onstage he gave a sweet little speech. also in his interview after the ceremony he was generous & dear.
/
/
19 February 2006
a passing
2 weeks ago today I watchd the DVD Ira Joel Haber sent me of "Odds Against Tomorrow." in the impressive cast I was struck by Richard Bright playing a character with gay dimensions. it was his first film. Bright went on to appear in "The Godfather" films & work by Peckinpah & Leone. poetry fans may remember his 1965 arrest on obscenity charges for appearing in Michael McClure's "The Beard" in San Francisco.
minutes ago I rec'd an e from James Robert Parish informing me that Bright is dead. he was run over by a bus in Manhattan.
minutes ago I rec'd an e from James Robert Parish informing me that Bright is dead. he was run over by a bus in Manhattan.
the country of survivors
it's good to share the pages of St. Vitus with Hugh Fox. it's been 37 years since he put me in his famous anthology The Living Underground. a few years ago I gave Matthew Wascovich a copy of it. then Wasco brought us back together in the pages of his premiere issue of Thee Flat Bike.
Hugh's abt a decade older than I am & has been battling cancer. his poem in St. Vitus is esp poignant. one line: "I'm in the last lap of the Kentucky Derby."
Hugh's abt a decade older than I am & has been battling cancer. his poem in St. Vitus is esp poignant. one line: "I'm in the last lap of the Kentucky Derby."
18 February 2006
mailbox full of mags
so yesterday I got a trio of quite different periodicals in the mail.
since we run in different circles I have yet to encounter Tom Ford in town. so I can't call him up to chat abt "his" issue of Vanity Fair. after all the hype it's rather disappointing. the Annie Leibovitz portrait of Jake Gyllenhaal is terrific. the eyes & pout of Jonathan Rhys Meyers turn me on. & what a blast to see Mamie Van Doren right there with all of today's stars.
Out includes a piece on David Hockney with solid illustrations. his portrait of Divine I first saw on a visit to his studio on Santa Monica Blvd & it sort of follows me around.
the new issue of St. Vitus Press & Poetry Review deserves future comment. it's the little mag editd by Todd Moore & his son Theron. this number includes my Black Dahlia poem from the collection-in-progress abt Hollywood.
since we run in different circles I have yet to encounter Tom Ford in town. so I can't call him up to chat abt "his" issue of Vanity Fair. after all the hype it's rather disappointing. the Annie Leibovitz portrait of Jake Gyllenhaal is terrific. the eyes & pout of Jonathan Rhys Meyers turn me on. & what a blast to see Mamie Van Doren right there with all of today's stars.
Out includes a piece on David Hockney with solid illustrations. his portrait of Divine I first saw on a visit to his studio on Santa Monica Blvd & it sort of follows me around.
the new issue of St. Vitus Press & Poetry Review deserves future comment. it's the little mag editd by Todd Moore & his son Theron. this number includes my Black Dahlia poem from the collection-in-progress abt Hollywood.
17 February 2006
Barbara Guest (1920-2006)
I go separately
We have reached the arithmetics, are partially quenched
while it growls and hints in the lost trapper's voice
She is coming toward us like a session of pines
in the wild, wooden air where rabbits are frozen
O mother of lakes and glaciers save us gamblers
whose wagon is perilously apt.
"Santa Fe Trail" (1958)
We have reached the arithmetics, are partially quenched
while it growls and hints in the lost trapper's voice
She is coming toward us like a session of pines
in the wild, wooden air where rabbits are frozen
O mother of lakes and glaciers save us gamblers
whose wagon is perilously apt.
"Santa Fe Trail" (1958)
when pretty boys disappoint
o Johnny. were you worn out from shopping? or bushd from producing so much sass in all those interviews? that performance was tea left too long in the cup.
yr sad tale remind'd me of another talentd & brash young skater. Christopher Bowman. his personal excesses burnd him up before gold cd come his way.
yr sad tale remind'd me of another talentd & brash young skater. Christopher Bowman. his personal excesses burnd him up before gold cd come his way.
16 February 2006
Ned Sublette
the success of "Brokeback Mountain" has emboldend Willie Nelson to record "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" a song Ned Sublette wrote 25 years ago. I read abt it online yesterday afternoon & then saw Ned interviewd on the evening news.
in 1999 I producd the first pop music concert in the history of Santa Fe Opera. it was a benefit for our local AIDS fundraising organization. Ned was the opening act. the show was emcee'd by Bea Arthur & featurd Albita Rufus Wainwright & Amanda McBroom. quite an evening. Ned in his tight jeans & western hat was a striking figure. & the songs were from his ripsnorting CD "Cowboy Rumba."
last time I saw Ned he was in town for an exhibition of photographs he'd taken in Cuba. quite a talentd man. I'm happy for this new success.
in 1999 I producd the first pop music concert in the history of Santa Fe Opera. it was a benefit for our local AIDS fundraising organization. Ned was the opening act. the show was emcee'd by Bea Arthur & featurd Albita Rufus Wainwright & Amanda McBroom. quite an evening. Ned in his tight jeans & western hat was a striking figure. & the songs were from his ripsnorting CD "Cowboy Rumba."
last time I saw Ned he was in town for an exhibition of photographs he'd taken in Cuba. quite a talentd man. I'm happy for this new success.
15 February 2006
those skating judges
the worst judging in the Olympics has always been in figure skating. the new rules were supposd to protect skaters from politics & bias. so it's interesting to read today's commentary abt yesterday's skate. the backlash against Plushenko's inflatd marks is spreading across Turin. it doesn't help that the skater has the arrogance of Dick Cheney.
with Plushenko already given the gold the real contest tomorrow will be for the other medals. & the skaters who probably will take those are all more artistic than the Russian. how much do you want to bet that Weir's off-ice flamboyance cost him the top spot?
with Plushenko already given the gold the real contest tomorrow will be for the other medals. & the skaters who probably will take those are all more artistic than the Russian. how much do you want to bet that Weir's off-ice flamboyance cost him the top spot?
Olympic ice
Plushenko's short program was masterful. Weir the Rufus Wainwright of skaters was stunning. Lambiel displayd great style. & despite his stumbles wasn't Jeffrey Buttle adorable?
Dick Button is the dean of figure skating commentators. I respect & appreciate the eveness of his reportage & his ability to footnote a performance with his knowledge of the sport's history. why the network add'd the irritating Scott Hamilton is a mystery.
in speedskating Joey Cheek became a model for good sportsmanship. he wasn't afraid to show emotion on the podium & he donatd his bonus to charity. a class act at a time when so many athletes are grandstanding.
Dick Button is the dean of figure skating commentators. I respect & appreciate the eveness of his reportage & his ability to footnote a performance with his knowledge of the sport's history. why the network add'd the irritating Scott Hamilton is a mystery.
in speedskating Joey Cheek became a model for good sportsmanship. he wasn't afraid to show emotion on the podium & he donatd his bonus to charity. a class act at a time when so many athletes are grandstanding.
14 February 2006
from the trip
here I am with Frank Piper & Garold Gardner decades after seeing them in "Camelot" :
,
Luca sent me this picture of me putting the Century Dimes on London Bridge. he insists I was flipping him the bird. actually I didn't even know he was taking a picture. it was windy & I was trying to keep my hat on.
.
,
Luca sent me this picture of me putting the Century Dimes on London Bridge. he insists I was flipping him the bird. actually I didn't even know he was taking a picture. it was windy & I was trying to keep my hat on.
.
13 February 2006
a weekend to savor
good friends. good weather. good adventures.
yesterday ayem Luca pickd me up & we were off to Henderson to visit Darryl in his new digs. he's out internet buddy from New Orleans who was displacd by Katrina. together we did the gospel brunch at House of Blues. then the Rubens exhibition at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum & the Chinese New Year's floral display at the Bellagio. finally it was Harvey Fierstein who was a different kind of divine in "Hairspray." a slightly shorter but lively production with a superb cast.
yesterday ayem Luca pickd me up & we were off to Henderson to visit Darryl in his new digs. he's out internet buddy from New Orleans who was displacd by Katrina. together we did the gospel brunch at House of Blues. then the Rubens exhibition at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum & the Chinese New Year's floral display at the Bellagio. finally it was Harvey Fierstein who was a different kind of divine in "Hairspray." a slightly shorter but lively production with a superb cast.
11 February 2006
I was in 3 states today
Luca pickd me up early this ayem. we drove to Boulder City for breakfast. then we went to Lake Havasu so I cd put the Century Dimes on London Bridge. finally dinner in Laughlin.
10 February 2006
flew to Las Vegas yesterday
the first musical I ever saw on Broadway was "Camelot" with Julie Andrews. in the chorus were Garold Gardner & Frank Piper. I met Garold 2 years later & we've been friends for more than 40 years. today he & I joind 2 other friends & drove to Pahrump where I finally met Frank Piper. before appearing on Broadway Frank had dancd with Alicia Alonzo's company in Cuba & then in the corps de ballet at the Met.
after much dance gossip we all went to a local casino for a buffet lunch & told stories abt our mutual friend T.R. Queen.
after much dance gossip we all went to a local casino for a buffet lunch & told stories abt our mutual friend T.R. Queen.
09 February 2006
08 February 2006
perspectives change
I remember a century ago being excitd when I was first askd to be in "Who's Who in America." the other day Marquis sent me an update request to add my bio to "Who's Who in the World." I threw it out.
as one gets older things that were important are less so while some quite ordinary things are staggering.
as one gets older things that were important are less so while some quite ordinary things are staggering.
07 February 2006
lick this
to celebrate Valentine's Day a department store in Seoul has made a life-size statute of Brad Pitt out of chocolate.
Danish blue
I'm an old fart living on a pension. so to spend $6.12 on a small wedge of cheese is an event. but this wedge is clearly markd "importd cheese from Denmark."
06 February 2006
when will Shrub invade Iran?
from the front page of my local paper:
former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter was in town yesterday. he predictd the current regime in Washington has plans for the invasion. he claims John Bolton's speech to the UN is already written: "It says America cannot allow Iran to threaten the United States and we must unilaterally defend ourselves."
former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter was in town yesterday. he predictd the current regime in Washington has plans for the invasion. he claims John Bolton's speech to the UN is already written: "It says America cannot allow Iran to threaten the United States and we must unilaterally defend ourselves."
05 February 2006
strange
when I'm in town I try to post something here everyday. if you look you'll see nothing for the 4th. however if you checkd yesterday you will have read an entry calld "buy Danish cheese by the ton." this morning it's gone. I didn't erase it. where did it go? why?
a tale of 2 docs
yesterday I walkd to the cinemateque at the college where "Ballets Russes" was being held over. the film begins with archival footage of a ballerina. it's b&w. it's grainy. we know it's only an approximation of an evanescent art. but it's still full of life. by telling the stories of competing ballet companies the film becomes a major document preserving the history of dance in the 20th century. the interviews with survivors are as lively as the interviewees. several nearing 90 continue to teach & some even to dance. it's inspiring. I left the theater wanting to reach out to the sky & jump.
several hours later I began watching "Grizzly Man." it begins with its subject crouching with a bear behind him. almost as soon as he begins to speak we know we're facing a disturbd man. one of the blackest films in Herzog's dark canon the documentary becomes increasingly difficult to watch. it's such a painful film that by the time it was over I felt draind.
2 very different docs producing strong emotions.
several hours later I began watching "Grizzly Man." it begins with its subject crouching with a bear behind him. almost as soon as he begins to speak we know we're facing a disturbd man. one of the blackest films in Herzog's dark canon the documentary becomes increasingly difficult to watch. it's such a painful film that by the time it was over I felt draind.
2 very different docs producing strong emotions.
03 February 2006
Karloff
when you walk into the guest bathroom this is the wall you see:
,
all film stars. & mostly pictures I collectd as a kid. here is one close-up:
.
Boris Karloff has long been a favorite. altho I see him on this wall everyday he's esp with me today. Film Forum in NYC opens its Karloff retrospective tonite. wish I cd be there for the whole event.
,
all film stars. & mostly pictures I collectd as a kid. here is one close-up:
.
Boris Karloff has long been a favorite. altho I see him on this wall everyday he's esp with me today. Film Forum in NYC opens its Karloff retrospective tonite. wish I cd be there for the whole event.
what celluloid preserves
the shelf life of a made-for-tv movie is similar to that of a strawberry. but now that there are all-movie channels even telefilms are being dug up.
last nite I saw a clunker calld "Scandal Sheet" (originally broadcast in 1985). I was attractd by the cast -- from Burt Lancaster who had driftd away from stardom to Frances McDormand who was on her way there. & wasn't that Lukas Haas in a small role?
what I enjoyd most was the location shooting. the final scenes are at the cemetery now calld Hollywood Forever. but more importantly there is some wonderful footage of Janes House.
when I first startd going to Hollywood regularly some 30 years ago the dilapidatd Victorian which had been built in 1903 was the last house on Hollywood Blvd in which people still lived. it was a mess but one heard its whispers. I probably saw the place's final inhabitant Carrie Belle Janes on the porch. for 15 years in the teens & 20s she & her sisters ran a private school there. the children in attendance had last names like Chaplin & Chandler.
Carrie Belle died in 1982 & some 2 years later this telefilm used the property. in the film there is wire fencing around it. eventually it was restored & became the Hollywood Visitors Center in the middle of a mini-mall calld Janes Square. it was then that I walkd thru it.
just this year historic Janes House opend as a cajun restaurant calld Memphis. my sense of history propels me to its tables.
last nite I saw a clunker calld "Scandal Sheet" (originally broadcast in 1985). I was attractd by the cast -- from Burt Lancaster who had driftd away from stardom to Frances McDormand who was on her way there. & wasn't that Lukas Haas in a small role?
what I enjoyd most was the location shooting. the final scenes are at the cemetery now calld Hollywood Forever. but more importantly there is some wonderful footage of Janes House.
when I first startd going to Hollywood regularly some 30 years ago the dilapidatd Victorian which had been built in 1903 was the last house on Hollywood Blvd in which people still lived. it was a mess but one heard its whispers. I probably saw the place's final inhabitant Carrie Belle Janes on the porch. for 15 years in the teens & 20s she & her sisters ran a private school there. the children in attendance had last names like Chaplin & Chandler.
Carrie Belle died in 1982 & some 2 years later this telefilm used the property. in the film there is wire fencing around it. eventually it was restored & became the Hollywood Visitors Center in the middle of a mini-mall calld Janes Square. it was then that I walkd thru it.
just this year historic Janes House opend as a cajun restaurant calld Memphis. my sense of history propels me to its tables.
02 February 2006
time for a visual
Mother & I were browsing antique shops in Manhattan 35 years ago. I took a shine to this head & she bought it for me. I suspect it belongd to a doll in the 20s & possibly French.
let's hear it for the biblethumpers
an evangelical film company is releasing "End of the Spear." it tells the true story of American missionaries slain in Ecuador a half century ago. & it's creating a controversy. seems some preachers found out its lead Chad Allen is an openly gay actor. perhaps these same preachers subscribe to The Advocate? I guess the pulpit bullies have exhaustd their rants against Brokeback already & need fresh material.
01 February 2006
31 January 2006
The State of My Mind
the jackass in the White House is too scary so instead of listening to him pontificate tonite I watchd Bela Lugosi.
nominations
fascinating that "War of the Worlds" got both Oscar & Razzie noms. I confess I haven't seen it. it's just too painful to watch Tom Cruise.
30 January 2006
next up
"closure."
what sillyass self-help guru came up with that concept? it's impossible to watch the evening news without hearing some "victim" whining thru an interview & demanding such & such to happen "to provide closure." fricking get over it.
what sillyass self-help guru came up with that concept? it's impossible to watch the evening news without hearing some "victim" whining thru an interview & demanding such & such to happen "to provide closure." fricking get over it.
Word Court
we are a litigious nation. o how we love to sue when things don't go our way. I think writers shd institute a court of their own. one in which a panel of peers cd put to death certain words.
my candidate for the first word in the docket is "awesome." my ancient college edition of Webster's defines it as "inspiring awe." you have only to listen in on a cellphone call by a young person at the grocery store or turn on a tv reality show to hear it utterd over & over. makes me cringe.
my candidate for the first word in the docket is "awesome." my ancient college edition of Webster's defines it as "inspiring awe." you have only to listen in on a cellphone call by a young person at the grocery store or turn on a tv reality show to hear it utterd over & over. makes me cringe.
29 January 2006
good day & good luck
as I stumbld toward the coffeemaker I was thinking abt writing here. it was going to be abt Melina going rockclimbing this ayem. & I was the rock. but then I turnd on tv & learnd abt Bob Woodruff. so now I'm depressd.
28 January 2006
Barrymore's
this restaurant in Manhattan's theater district is set for shutters this weekend.
so many famliar places on both coasts now exist only in my mind.
so many famliar places on both coasts now exist only in my mind.
27 January 2006
Dogpile enters the poetry sweepstakes
Web Search Results for "brakhage chikiris"
Did you mean "breakage chicories"?
Did you mean "breakage chicories"?
26 January 2006
"I've taken a liking to that gun of his"
"Brokeback Mountain" may be the first major openly gay cowboy movie but it isn't the first gay cowboy movie. some academic will one day write a dissertation abt all those hunky cowpokes & their "sidekicks." I remember abt a year ago seeing a Gene Autry film which astound'd me with the richness of its subtext revolving around a character playd by Sterling Holloway.
but perhaps the gayest classic western is Howard Hawks' "Red River." it's a great film with so many things going on in it & at so many levels that I can only hint abt its complexity here. but at the core is a love story between the characters playd by John Wayne & Montgomery Clift. major stuff. & then there's a lust story between Clift & John Ireland with some of the best double entendres since Mae West.
I hesitate to say more because if you haven't seen it you shd look it up.
but perhaps the gayest classic western is Howard Hawks' "Red River." it's a great film with so many things going on in it & at so many levels that I can only hint abt its complexity here. but at the core is a love story between the characters playd by John Wayne & Montgomery Clift. major stuff. & then there's a lust story between Clift & John Ireland with some of the best double entendres since Mae West.
I hesitate to say more because if you haven't seen it you shd look it up.
25 January 2006
more soup
Richard Lopez informs me that not only is there a Campbell's plant out his way as well but that his father workd there. & the final 2 summers of his teens he did too.
& here's my constant reminder of Campbell's & its ramifications in contemporary art. it's a mug -- or more properly a soup cup -- which I purchasd on Thxgiving 2001 in Palm Springs. it carries the license of the Andy Warhol Foundation. that's a copy of the artist's signature beside the soup can image.
/
& here's my constant reminder of Campbell's & its ramifications in contemporary art. it's a mug -- or more properly a soup cup -- which I purchasd on Thxgiving 2001 in Palm Springs. it carries the license of the Andy Warhol Foundation. that's a copy of the artist's signature beside the soup can image.
/
24 January 2006
"skating with celebrities"
dilemma: I like John Zimmerman as skater & hottie but dislike this genre of competition tv. I missd the first show but finally turnd on last nite's. I witnessd some of the most appalling skating ever broadcast. Zimmerman emerges as the show's top star but I don't think his few minutes on screen are worth wasting an hour of one's life.
23 January 2006
Napoleon
I googld the Ohio hamlet & discoverd that it boasts "the world's largest Campbell Soup plant."
& a local headline today reads "State Fair adds Beef Performance and Carcass Quality Show."
& a local headline today reads "State Fair adds Beef Performance and Carcass Quality Show."
22 January 2006
family history
after a busy day of writing I took a break. pickd up Henri Cole's The Visible Man. there I found the line "a shy farmboy from Napoleon,Ohio." it joltd me because I knew my parents were wed in that small town. but I got to thinking "why?" it's a distance from Lorain. so I calld my parents. they were surprisd since I'd already talkd with them at my regular time.
Mom sd that Dad was on furlough & had to get back. there was a 3-day wait to get married in Lorain. so they drove to Napoleon which had no waiting period. & Dad recalld paying "10 or 12 dollars" to spend the nite at someone's home. that amount includ'd breakfast. apparently this early type of bed & breakfast became a cottage industry in that town during the war.
Mom sd that Dad was on furlough & had to get back. there was a 3-day wait to get married in Lorain. so they drove to Napoleon which had no waiting period. & Dad recalld paying "10 or 12 dollars" to spend the nite at someone's home. that amount includ'd breakfast. apparently this early type of bed & breakfast became a cottage industry in that town during the war.
Grace Cunard is not a ship
90 years ago she was one of the biggest stars in film. what makes the Ohio-born actress important today is that Cunard was a pioneer among women directors having helmd 11 movies between 1914 & 1921. she also had a hand in writing nearly 100 films.
yesterday I took advantage of a tour of prints restored by Women's Film Preservation Fund. one of the 4 on the program was the 1917 short "Unmasked" which Cunard co-directd co-wrote & co-starrd with Francis Ford. it isn't long nor particularly brilliant but fun to watch. it's a great example of filmmaking before the advent of soundstages. studios then were al fresco no roof & only make-believe walls. so we see indoor scenes in which everything not naild down is being whippd by wind.
less than a decade after directing her final film Cunard was playing maids. later she'd have bits in "Bride of Frankenstein" & "The Mummy's Tomb" before retiring in 1946. she died 21 years later. but via the glory that is cinema there she was yesterday bigger than ever on a movie screen.
yesterday I took advantage of a tour of prints restored by Women's Film Preservation Fund. one of the 4 on the program was the 1917 short "Unmasked" which Cunard co-directd co-wrote & co-starrd with Francis Ford. it isn't long nor particularly brilliant but fun to watch. it's a great example of filmmaking before the advent of soundstages. studios then were al fresco no roof & only make-believe walls. so we see indoor scenes in which everything not naild down is being whippd by wind.
less than a decade after directing her final film Cunard was playing maids. later she'd have bits in "Bride of Frankenstein" & "The Mummy's Tomb" before retiring in 1946. she died 21 years later. but via the glory that is cinema there she was yesterday bigger than ever on a movie screen.
21 January 2006
mail from Mom
I've mentiond before that at least once a week my mother sends me an envelope full of clippings. she's done this forever.
the current mailing has the usual obits (deaths I already know abt: Phyllis Gates & Shelley Winters). there was also an article abt the naming of Jack Hirschman poet laureate of San Francisco. if John Macker hadn't sent me a notice of that a few days ago I wdn't have known. what makes it sweet is that Hirschman is a critic of Gavin Newsom but the sexiest mayor in America named him anyway.
but there were 2 articles which were fresh news & both were abt donations in the arts. the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts made a significant gift to support the Katrina Artists Fund which in turn grants cash to artists in Alabama & Louisiana & Mississippi & Texas who sufferd from the hurricane.
& Paul Newman -- one of the great actors in the history of film -- sent a check to Cleveland's Ensemble Theatre. the company uses the old Brooks Theater which has been part of the Cleveland Playhouse for years. in fact Newman made his stage debut on those very boards when he was 11. Ensemble is run by the Colombi twins (Lucia & Licia) who I remember from their student days at Kent State.
the current mailing has the usual obits (deaths I already know abt: Phyllis Gates & Shelley Winters). there was also an article abt the naming of Jack Hirschman poet laureate of San Francisco. if John Macker hadn't sent me a notice of that a few days ago I wdn't have known. what makes it sweet is that Hirschman is a critic of Gavin Newsom but the sexiest mayor in America named him anyway.
but there were 2 articles which were fresh news & both were abt donations in the arts. the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts made a significant gift to support the Katrina Artists Fund which in turn grants cash to artists in Alabama & Louisiana & Mississippi & Texas who sufferd from the hurricane.
& Paul Newman -- one of the great actors in the history of film -- sent a check to Cleveland's Ensemble Theatre. the company uses the old Brooks Theater which has been part of the Cleveland Playhouse for years. in fact Newman made his stage debut on those very boards when he was 11. Ensemble is run by the Colombi twins (Lucia & Licia) who I remember from their student days at Kent State.
20 January 2006
19 January 2006
Janis Joplin
today is her birthday. she was born 3 months before me.
the only time I heard her was in aug 1969 at Blossom Center in Ohio. one of the great musical moments of my life. we were both 26. she died abt 13 months later.
how often in that in-between time have I heard her sing "Me & Bobby McGee." I don't need to slap the vinyl on a turntable. it's burnd in my head.
the only time I heard her was in aug 1969 at Blossom Center in Ohio. one of the great musical moments of my life. we were both 26. she died abt 13 months later.
how often in that in-between time have I heard her sing "Me & Bobby McGee." I don't need to slap the vinyl on a turntable. it's burnd in my head.
18 January 2006
snail mail
not much comes that way anymore -- except bills. & Mother's weekly envelope of clippings. however today I got 2 packages. my Fort Worth penpal -- responding to my post here abt wearing the clothes of other people -- sent me 2 Hawaiian shirts & Cherokee cargo shorts of such a lovely cotton/nylon mix that I had to put them on immediately.
& Ira Joel often sends me packets of goodies. today is was a batch of vintage Playbills -- including 4 of Tennessee Williams productions. also he sent examples of his work -- color copies of some 1971 drawaings & a suite of versions of the photo P. Craig Russell took of us on that long-ago Oscar nite. here's one in which I think we look like a couple of Marx Brothers:
/
thx gentlemen. major hugs to you both.
& Ira Joel often sends me packets of goodies. today is was a batch of vintage Playbills -- including 4 of Tennessee Williams productions. also he sent examples of his work -- color copies of some 1971 drawaings & a suite of versions of the photo P. Craig Russell took of us on that long-ago Oscar nite. here's one in which I think we look like a couple of Marx Brothers:
/
thx gentlemen. major hugs to you both.
17 January 2006
Golden Globes
I was pissd at the Hollywood Foreign Press for not nominating Jake Gyllenhaal. then the show came on a few hours after I had to fork over an unexpectd $500 plus to a plumber. so I wasn't in the best mood for the frivolity that is this second-tier awards show.
altho I have issues with "Brokeback Mountain" I want it to win everything just to tick off those religious bigots who enjoy preaching against it. but I must say I was disgustd when Dennis Quaid sneeringly calld it a "dick flick." & I wasn't pleasd when the folks from the movie who did win faild to mention its theme.
in fact the only clever acceptance speeches came from tv folk whose work I don't know (Hugh Laurie & Steve Carrell). at least we got to see a minute & a half of Catherine Deneuve.
altho I have issues with "Brokeback Mountain" I want it to win everything just to tick off those religious bigots who enjoy preaching against it. but I must say I was disgustd when Dennis Quaid sneeringly calld it a "dick flick." & I wasn't pleasd when the folks from the movie who did win faild to mention its theme.
in fact the only clever acceptance speeches came from tv folk whose work I don't know (Hugh Laurie & Steve Carrell). at least we got to see a minute & a half of Catherine Deneuve.
16 January 2006
15 January 2006
images linger/ideas spin
so I mow thru this new Black Dahlia book. & I can't shake it.
I go to Crag Hill's blog. he begins a "give my stamp a name" competition. the first image is a piece of sidewalk with some grass (which will become "course would course"). I immediately see the lot on Norton where the bisectd parts of Elizabeth Short were found.
then this morning I begin reading Mark Young's Betabet & encounter the line "Sacred / sites are fairground / businesses." I remember Wolfe discussing Harry Hensen bending over Beth's pieces at that Norton lot. the author quotes something Hansen wrote in a police handbook: "Homicide is a union that never dies. Like marriage, murder is an irreversible act. It can never be changed, or the circumstances altered. The murderer and the victim are tied together in a bond that goes on into infinity. That's why I say it's sacred, and every murder scene has its sacred ground which should not be touched." but of course the Norton lot quickly became what Mark mite call a fairground.
I no longer remember when I first saw those grisly photos taken on Norton but they are as indelible as images from the JFK assassination & the Kent State massacre. & they obviously color my vision.
I go to Crag Hill's blog. he begins a "give my stamp a name" competition. the first image is a piece of sidewalk with some grass (which will become "course would course"). I immediately see the lot on Norton where the bisectd parts of Elizabeth Short were found.
then this morning I begin reading Mark Young's Betabet & encounter the line "Sacred / sites are fairground / businesses." I remember Wolfe discussing Harry Hensen bending over Beth's pieces at that Norton lot. the author quotes something Hansen wrote in a police handbook: "Homicide is a union that never dies. Like marriage, murder is an irreversible act. It can never be changed, or the circumstances altered. The murderer and the victim are tied together in a bond that goes on into infinity. That's why I say it's sacred, and every murder scene has its sacred ground which should not be touched." but of course the Norton lot quickly became what Mark mite call a fairground.
I no longer remember when I first saw those grisly photos taken on Norton but they are as indelible as images from the JFK assassination & the Kent State massacre. & they obviously color my vision.
14 January 2006
Out of a Poem of Words Perfectly Inexact
Out of a poem of words perfectly inexact
You will discover my meaning, who now
Wince in so many ways under my love
As if it were a distant relative
Come unexpectedly
To spend the week-end, or a kangaroo
Delivered without instructions as to diet.
Not a kiss interrupted by your timidities
Nor a long loving look from which you turn your eyes
Will give you this direction;
Neither will your rational conclusions.
You will bend over me
As a pianist who discovers his mistake
And walks, surprised, into a city of curious customs
Which was not there last time he came this road.
Jake Falstaff
You will discover my meaning, who now
Wince in so many ways under my love
As if it were a distant relative
Come unexpectedly
To spend the week-end, or a kangaroo
Delivered without instructions as to diet.
Not a kiss interrupted by your timidities
Nor a long loving look from which you turn your eyes
Will give you this direction;
Neither will your rational conclusions.
You will bend over me
As a pianist who discovers his mistake
And walks, surprised, into a city of curious customs
Which was not there last time he came this road.
Jake Falstaff
my neglectorino
somewhere in my papers is a review I wrote in the early 1970s of a book Putnam publishd in 1937: The Bulls of Spring: The Selected Poems of Jake Falstaff. Falstaff was the psuedonym of Herman Fetzer a burly newspaperman whose friends included Hart Crane & William Sommer. altho he spent some time in NYC most of his 36 years unwound in Ohio.
I remember trying to make the case that in the poem "Interludium in Modo Antico" that Fetzer/Falstaff was the literary grandfather of Frank O'Hara. that poem begins:
At Luchow's in Fourteenth Street
On the evening of Saturday, July 27, 1929,
Having eaten a dinner of sauerbraten, weinkraut and kaskuchen,
Having smoked two cigarettes and the half of a cigar,
Having made a mental note to have my shoes shined
And buy the Everyman edition of the Paston Letters . . .
I showd the piece to John Ashbery who paid as much attention to it as he did to my poems. but I recall Paul Metcalf taking it seriously.
it's been some years since I've read Fetzer but with the recent blog interest in forgotten poets he came to mind.
I remember trying to make the case that in the poem "Interludium in Modo Antico" that Fetzer/Falstaff was the literary grandfather of Frank O'Hara. that poem begins:
At Luchow's in Fourteenth Street
On the evening of Saturday, July 27, 1929,
Having eaten a dinner of sauerbraten, weinkraut and kaskuchen,
Having smoked two cigarettes and the half of a cigar,
Having made a mental note to have my shoes shined
And buy the Everyman edition of the Paston Letters . . .
I showd the piece to John Ashbery who paid as much attention to it as he did to my poems. but I recall Paul Metcalf taking it seriously.
it's been some years since I've read Fetzer but with the recent blog interest in forgotten poets he came to mind.
13 January 2006
an absorbing read
,
each new book abt the Elizabeth Short case "reveals" a different murderer. the recent Daddy Dearest volumes (Knowlton & Hodel) seemd wildly far-fetchd. but my fascination with this haunting crime makes me want to read more.
on tues I bought The Black Dahlia Files but had time to read only a few pages. on wed I was involvd with out-of-town visitors. but yesterday I read straight thru the more than 350 pages -- quite the achievement for a slow reader. I don't want to give away Wolfe's conclusions but I will say that anyone interestd in Hollywood of the '40s or in the history of true crime will want to purchase this.
12 January 2006
11 January 2006
ride the white horses to yr sacred place
Don Cauble informs me that Rachel & Douglas Blazek exchangd vows between Xmas & New Year's.
/
/
10 January 2006
"knowledge = paralysis"
Tom Beckett quotes Nietzsche this morning as I feel the accumulation of little deaths surround me. I search for air in bedroom corners. cat follows me. she thinks I'm daft. she's deft at that. she can know without shutting down. right now she's gone into her closet hideaway. she realizes she's invincible there. I can't tel her she's not so I'll take a walk. if I don't move I'll go mad. I know that.
09 January 2006
Tracey Twins
I first heard them live at a political rally at Euclid Beach Park in the fall of 1956 the year of their biggest hit record "Tonight You Belong to Me."
(this copy selling on ebay)
at the time the Billy Rose song was 30 years old. it was first a hit for Gene Austin in 1927. but another sister team made it a new hit. Reserve Records did a cover with the Tracey Twins who were from Cleveland. so on northern Ohio radio stations we heard their version rather than the other. 8 years later actor George Maharis titld one of his albums after the song. & it had a new life when Steve Martin & Bernadette Peters performd it in "The Jerk."
born Eudice & Eunice Margolis the twins startd singing & tapdancing before audiences at 4 & were Cleveland favorites. I cdn't find a download of "Tonight You Belong to Me" but there are snippets of other recordings online.
as a teenager I was smitten by the twins. I met them & kept in touch over the years. here I am with them in my backyard in the summer of 1984:
the last time I saw them perform was in Chagrin Falls in 1990. in the last few years Eudi has begun a new career as an actress in indie films.
Eudi & Euni celebrate their birthday today & I send them best wishes.
(this copy selling on ebay)
at the time the Billy Rose song was 30 years old. it was first a hit for Gene Austin in 1927. but another sister team made it a new hit. Reserve Records did a cover with the Tracey Twins who were from Cleveland. so on northern Ohio radio stations we heard their version rather than the other. 8 years later actor George Maharis titld one of his albums after the song. & it had a new life when Steve Martin & Bernadette Peters performd it in "The Jerk."
born Eudice & Eunice Margolis the twins startd singing & tapdancing before audiences at 4 & were Cleveland favorites. I cdn't find a download of "Tonight You Belong to Me" but there are snippets of other recordings online.
as a teenager I was smitten by the twins. I met them & kept in touch over the years. here I am with them in my backyard in the summer of 1984:
the last time I saw them perform was in Chagrin Falls in 1990. in the last few years Eudi has begun a new career as an actress in indie films.
Eudi & Euni celebrate their birthday today & I send them best wishes.
08 January 2006
07 January 2006
Erasures:
making hay from old notes
for Mark Young
1)
opening
tombstones hides
rolling sand soon
2)
pink
curtain clouds
rubbing yr photograph
3)
edges
plunge discover
like bath fingers
4)
me
dampening sentimentality
with old yogurt
5)
drives
repeat eyes
we wet ourselves
6)
stalk
root of
scratchd nun monthly
7)
avocado
mite blow
sky pie dresser
8)
imaginary
never never
teaches lovers distrust
9)
of
some beauty
only deep dark
10)
survive
winter poems
heat eats Keats
11)
face
bed tension
without discovering skin
12)
skullcap
scrapes with
apprehensive to down
13)
from
triangles dead
some wastd chocolate
for Mark Young
1)
opening
tombstones hides
rolling sand soon
2)
pink
curtain clouds
rubbing yr photograph
3)
edges
plunge discover
like bath fingers
4)
me
dampening sentimentality
with old yogurt
5)
drives
repeat eyes
we wet ourselves
6)
stalk
root of
scratchd nun monthly
7)
avocado
mite blow
sky pie dresser
8)
imaginary
never never
teaches lovers distrust
9)
of
some beauty
only deep dark
10)
survive
winter poems
heat eats Keats
11)
face
bed tension
without discovering skin
12)
skullcap
scrapes with
apprehensive to down
13)
from
triangles dead
some wastd chocolate
06 January 2006
05 January 2006
Irving Layton (1912-2006)
"Commuters pressed against me
as if my good looks were contagious,
and I had a sudden vision
of mashed potatoes."
as if my good looks were contagious,
and I had a sudden vision
of mashed potatoes."
04 January 2006
son of summer stock
in one of those synchronicities which seem to happen more & more often: on the same day I wrote abt summer stock I encounterd a sweet description of working in a company in the summer of 1961 by pioneering gay playwright Robert Patrick.
it was a surprise to hear that hunky George Montgomery pinchd his bottom. & that he washd Penny Fuller's hair was fascinating to me because she was in the last show I saw in summer stock. Patrick workd with her in Kennebunkport. I saw her not that many miles away in Ogunquit 43 years later when she playd Vera Charles to the Mame Dennis of Charles Busch.
that summer of stock was the in-between time for Patrick the Santa Fe waiter & Patrick the playwright of Caffe Cino. I just love all these layers.
it was a surprise to hear that hunky George Montgomery pinchd his bottom. & that he washd Penny Fuller's hair was fascinating to me because she was in the last show I saw in summer stock. Patrick workd with her in Kennebunkport. I saw her not that many miles away in Ogunquit 43 years later when she playd Vera Charles to the Mame Dennis of Charles Busch.
that summer of stock was the in-between time for Patrick the Santa Fe waiter & Patrick the playwright of Caffe Cino. I just love all these layers.
03 January 2006
summer stock
James Robert Parish sent me a fascinating link this morning. it's a list of the productions of the Kenley Players.
John Kenley (who turns 100 next year) was a onetime Broadway chorus boy who became a producer. he brought major stage & screen & TV stars to Ohio every summer to perform in stock. my first experience with that cavernous auditorium in Warren was in the summer of 1959 when I joind cousins Regina & Vivian to see real-life Hollywood couple Virginia Mayo & Michael O'Shea in a light comedy. my only memories of that long-ago production were that Mayo lookd gorgeous & her husband muggd mercilessly.
over the years I saw everyone from Gloria Swanson & Sylvia Sidney to Tommy Kirk & Vincent Price in Kenley productions. it was a way for current & past stars to appear before fans in the hinterlands. & it also was a training ground for such future stars as Elizabeth Hartman & John Spencer.
summer stock is pretty much dead now. in its heyday there were theaters all over the east coast & creeping into the midwest. it was a glorious time for theatergoers & just one more vanishing tradition which I miss.
John Kenley (who turns 100 next year) was a onetime Broadway chorus boy who became a producer. he brought major stage & screen & TV stars to Ohio every summer to perform in stock. my first experience with that cavernous auditorium in Warren was in the summer of 1959 when I joind cousins Regina & Vivian to see real-life Hollywood couple Virginia Mayo & Michael O'Shea in a light comedy. my only memories of that long-ago production were that Mayo lookd gorgeous & her husband muggd mercilessly.
over the years I saw everyone from Gloria Swanson & Sylvia Sidney to Tommy Kirk & Vincent Price in Kenley productions. it was a way for current & past stars to appear before fans in the hinterlands. & it also was a training ground for such future stars as Elizabeth Hartman & John Spencer.
summer stock is pretty much dead now. in its heyday there were theaters all over the east coast & creeping into the midwest. it was a glorious time for theatergoers & just one more vanishing tradition which I miss.
02 January 2006
rain on Bill's parade
don't think I've ever seen a Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast before. abt all I know abt it is that my friend May McAvoy was parade queen back in the '20s. but New Mexico had a float this year so I turnd it on.
the network commentators were so inane that I switchd to HGTV. I felt so bad for all those band members having to play for hours in the rain.
my state hasn't had a float in years. I'm sure the only reason we have one today is because our governor wants to be president & there he was waving in the rain. I'd take the downpour as a bad omen but I'm sure Richardson will finese his way out of that & as politicians are wont to do turn it all into sunshine.
the network commentators were so inane that I switchd to HGTV. I felt so bad for all those band members having to play for hours in the rain.
my state hasn't had a float in years. I'm sure the only reason we have one today is because our governor wants to be president & there he was waving in the rain. I'd take the downpour as a bad omen but I'm sure Richardson will finese his way out of that & as politicians are wont to do turn it all into sunshine.
01 January 2006
questions for the new year
2006 opens with these images: Richard Florida asking a Chicago audience for questions Judith Malina suggesting Ray Johnson provokd his audience into asking questions.
if questioning is the theme for the new year's first day I'll present a couple favorites askd by poets:
"who do you think you are Jo Van Fleet?"
-- Frank O'Hara
"Do I think I'm the beautiful pants?"
-- Joe Ceravolo
if questioning is the theme for the new year's first day I'll present a couple favorites askd by poets:
"who do you think you are Jo Van Fleet?"
-- Frank O'Hara
"Do I think I'm the beautiful pants?"
-- Joe Ceravolo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)