the winter that won't quit

calendar says spring but freezing rain striking the house woke me while it was still dark. & right now it's snowing like mad.

thinking abt Snub

when you give yr whole life to yr art you suffer ups & downs. last year's headliner in unemployment line. poet with dozens of books gets rejection from a kid. painter of the year disappears from the art mags.

disappearance can be tricky. is the lost poet still churning out some epic? does yesterday's painter have an attic of art waiting discovery? but what abt movie stars? hard for them to disappear. o sure..... there are the classic stories of Wanda Hawley becoming a prostitute & Veronica Lake being discoverd as a waitress. & then there are those who don't leave Hollywood & who keep working even if it means becoming an extra.

an entry or so ago I mentiond Snub Pollard. he was an important silent screen comic. second tier but nonetheless important.



he workd in films for half a century. there are silent films in which he had top billing. & then there are appearances in such classics as "All About Eve" & "Singin' in the Rain" in which you can't look down at yr popcorn box or you miss him.

last nite he was on TCM again. the film was Wellman's "Stingaree." I endured Irene Dunne's singing just for those few moments of Snub. he's always a joy to see. somewhere between silent stardom & mid-century bits Pollard did a batch of cheap westerns. in the late 30s he was Tex Ritter's sidekick PeeWee. he always brought presence to a role. I suspect Snub was a favorite of filmmakers. in the last decade of his life he appeard under direction of Chaplin   Fuller   Brando   Capra.

I love movies. but sometimes I'm heartbroken watching them. every time I see a forgotten star standing in a crowd scene I can come close to tears. & seeing Snub Pollard can do that to me. often I think I'm the last one alive to remember some of these names. but Snub recently got some justice. there was a film series in NYC calld "Forgotten Clowns Ride Again." & sure enuf there was an evening which had just a few of his more than 450 film credits. I wish I cd've been there. I know it wd've been laughs mixd with tears but I wd've been on my feet cheering for a movie star who was finally back on the marquee.

nonautomobilists of the world unite

I accompany my morning coffee with television news. in these long years of the regime of President Worst Ever that has often startd my days with disgust. but this morning there was one of those "human interest" tales which brought a smile.

a NYC couple who don't drive hired a taxi to take them to their retirement home in Arizona.

my new alarm

I miss Melina getting me up. her method was sweet. she'd jump on the bed & creep quietly toward me. then she'd extend her paw which she'd gently brush against my face till I woke.

now I have birds who've made a nest in the courtyard outside my bedroom. they begin to chirp at abt the time of morning Melina woke me. the chirping is loud & constant enuf to get me out of bed.

a block on which to build a shrine to Virginia Grey

the last time I talkd with Virginia Grey I told her how much I'd like to see "Jeanne Eagels" again. she lookd wistful & sd she thot she did well in it.

I finally found the film on DVD & watchd it last nite. despite the fact that both Daniel Fuchs & John Fante workd on the screenplay -- it's bad. Kim Novak gives a nearly legendary lousy performance. one wants to forgive her because she had moments of blinding beauty. but she stinks. as does her leading man: all that's perky abt Jeff Chander are his nipples.

that sd -- I'm glad I saw it in this its 50th anniversary year. because Virginia Grey -- in her few moments on screen -- is as moving as I rememberd. Grey was one of those actresses who never achievd superstardom but never let down an audience. in one small part after another she was a joy.

it's also good to see silent screen comedian Snub Pollard in a bit in which he dances with Novak. & if you don't blink you'll spot a second of Richard Harrison in one of his first screen appearances.

but the one real reason to sit thru this turkey is to witness the art of Virginia Grey.

chocolate Jesus

so the Catholics managd to keep that art work from being seen.

my question is: who's gonna eat it?

Calvin Lockhart (1934-2007)

I met Alger Hiss

some of the kind folks who stop by here from time to time are young. so they may not know the significance of that name.

back in the Cold War era spying was a major industry. a fat gay spy by the name of Whittaker Chambers accusd the State Department's Hiss of passing secrets to the Soviets. it gets complicatd: microfilm hidden in a hollowd-out pumpkin & given to Richard Nixon. plot twists worthy of Hollywood.

I bring all this old history up because Hiss is back in the news. at an NYU sympsoium this week an author offers new information suggesting Hiss wasn't the spy history labels him as being. & at the same event Hiss' stepson sd that Chambers made up the claims because he was in love with Alger but Alger didn't reciprocate. don't you just adore history?

Hiss came to Kent State in 1977 & visitd my department. our "coversation" was brief & centerd on the collections. but for me it was another instance of connecting to history. this theme that runs thru Alex in Movieland began when I was a boy. I was 13 when I saw Woodrow Wilson's widow & even then I realizd the power of occupying the same time & place with those who made history.

my aviary

clockwise (sort of) from top:

toucan purchasd in Key West
toucan candle from Cynthia
toucan tile purchasd at Buffalo Springs Station on Catalina as a gift from Billy
toucan purchasd in Brazil
toucan letter opener also from Brazil
Fanizani Akuda sculpture
toucan purchasd in Aruba
Aunt Mary's gourd rattle
chicken from Aruba

"the drag of the dead"

Being Frida Kahlo works on many levels.

I don't want to spoil the joy of a first reading of Jim McCrary's newest chapbook. so I won't "reveal" what it's abt. besides -- what it's abt for me may not be what's it's abt for you or even for McCrary.

it seems like a simple little set of poems but boy.... it's rich.

Lally on Brainard

check this out

"eschew"

I heard that word on "BBC World News" this morning.

can you imagine hearing one of our network dudes uttering it?

reruns

been watching "Twin Peaks" again.

here I am with Ray Wise & his wife Kass when they came over for drinks in the summer of 1983. I began following Ray's acting career when he was still an undergrad appearing in such diverse productions as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" & "She Loves Me."

weighing in on Dorn

in 1973 Kitaj sent me this print of Dorn. currently it's in my kitchen. so in a small way Ed is part of my everyday life. that sd let me admit that till yesterday I hadn't read a poem of his in years.

I knew Dorn for abt 3 years in the early 70s when he taught at Kent State. I recall that in our first real conversation I told him I had problems with Gunslinger because of its homophobia. (I don't own a copy so can't give specific examples from the text.) I no longer recall the particulars of his denial. but he must've put me at ease because he & Jenny came to my house for dinner & I went to their's for dinner.

by the time Donald Allen brought out The Collected Poems I think Ed had left Kent. & I'm not sure how soon after its publication I bought the book. but that collection includes a particularly vile poem calld "When the Fairies."

here are just a few of its lines:

When the fairies fly back to Santa Fe
coming in on their smelly little wings
they gesticulate and Paris is meant
and they play games like guess what
book is meant,

and what color
and order drinks no one can mix.

this insensitive piece is from 1959. so perhaps it is to be dismissd as the macho posturing of a young straight poet of an era when shrinks thot we were mentally ill. I must say that Ed treatd me well. I recall when John Wieners visitd campus Ed brought him to Special Collections & made certain we had time together.

but if he "outgrew" such feelings why did he include such a poem in the 1975 collection? & is it in the new collection that's causing such comment in the blogosphere?

I have so many unread books spilling over on the livingroom table where I assign the waiting that I doubt I'll be running to the stores for Way More West. but someday I need to read thru the body of Dorn's work with an open mind.

spring snow (for Jim McCrary)

speaking of Dirk

his nephew has put together a website covering his careers as actor & writer.

& here's a not-so-hot photo of me with Bogarde at a 1989 booksigning:

bitch

a friend sent me this quotation by Noel Coward from Philip Hoare's 1995 bio:

Walking across Leicester Square with a friend, Coward saw advertised [Dirk] Bogarde's new film (in which he co-starred with Michael Redgrave): The Sea Shall Not Have Them. "I don't see why not," said Noel, "everyone else has."

Keith Gordon

I was first aware of him as an actor. while still young he appeard in films of Bob Fosse & Brian DePalma. then he playd Jeff Miller in the telefilm "Kent State." but the film he's best known for was John Carpenter's "Christine."

5 years after that movie he made his directorial debut with "The Chocolate War." last nite he appeard at the college in a screening of that film. he likes to talk & gave full answers to all questions. altho he acts from time to time as a favor for a friend Gordon devotes his career energies to writing & directing. he also has a grounding in things outside the business which keep him sane during rough periods.

Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)

toward the end of his entertaining memoirs Edward Field mentions Conrad Aiken in passing: "Aiken published many well-received books of poetry in his lifetime, and is now pretty much dismissed."

altho I was never passionate abt Aiken this simple sentence depressd me. I recall that during my student years his poem "Morning Song of Senlin" was often mentiond alongside a poem of his Harvard classmate T.S. Eliot -- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." & altho I never read his autobiographical novel Ushant I remember my belovd professor Howard Vincent enthusing abt its opening pages.

I saw Aiken once. it was at a small restaurant on Cape Cod in the summer of 1970. he was with his third wife Mary Hoover -- a painter best rememberd for her 1933 work "Cafe Fortune Teller." at one point I overheard the name Eliot mentiond but I was trying not to eavesdrop & have no idea if they were talking abt that Eliot.

some 90 years ago Aiken wrote a poem abt Cleopatra in her casket. the image of her remains -- gold rings pulld from her fingers by graverobbers -- almost fits Aiken. he was a mighty literary figure in his day but does anyone still read him?

I return to Howard Vincent. he once told me that literary history is like the stock market. he was a Melville scholar. we all know that after his death Melville was forgotten. his stock was worthless. that's hard to imagine today when he's so firmly part of the pantheon.

I'm not suggesting that Aiken shd be reconsiderd. I have no investment in his work. but I've always been fascinatd in the ups & downs of fame. one has only to look in the crowd scenes of many 40s films to find major stars of the silent era in fleeting glimpses.

but as depressd as Edward made me with that one sentence I'm also glad. it promptd me to put down his book & look up some Aiken poems for the first time in decades.

a poll to ponder

I'm one of too many bloggers who blather on abt politics without anything to back me up. I suspect I shd shut up & write only abt movies. however attacking President Worst Ever & Darth Cheney & the gang that can't stop shooting somehow soothes me when the sad state of the nation makes me moan.

but just now I've been looking into "Trends in Political Values & Core Attitudes: 1987-2007." this poll from the Pew Research Center has so much information in it. rather than ruminate endlessly abt it I'm simply offering it to you for consumption.

went to the beach to bask

but it raind there for the first time in months.

returnd to the desert & my yard was wet & the breeze chilly.

when I got back from the gym this morning I plantd a few seeds in the still damp ground.

my apricot trees are abloom.

another tradition gone

word from the west is that the Hollywood Christmas Parade is no longer.

began in 1928 the parade was producd for 20 years by Hollywood's honorary mayor Johnny Grant. the only time I saw it was in 2001 when Billy & I watchd Peter Fonda as grand marshall. for me the highlight of that parade was seeing director Richard Fleischer.

Ocean Beach

need some ocean

see ya in a few

cholla planting

when I moved here there was nothing but field between my house & St. Francis Drive -- a major artery into town. in 3 of the 4 seasons I'd delight in combing the field for small cacti & pines to transplant onto my property. I'm happy I did because when the land was being "prepared" for building men on machines flattend everything.

I think it's been at least 6 years since the unwantd apartments were built next door. in that time all I've plantd have been snips brought back from my parents in Ohio. so I was delightd the other day when Roger cleard some of his cactus & askd if I wantd them. we carefully brought 10 plants to my yard.

even with gloves & tongs I managd to leave one hand looking & feeling like a pin cushion. however if they take & enjoy the poor soil I have to offer it'll be worth it.

"Dancing with the Hasbeens"

altho I watch little network tv it's tough to avoid the hype for this show. I admit I saw it once. yes I wantd to see Mario Lopez move. but I'm not fond of that genre of program.

& this season seems esp sad. everything is focusd on Mrs. McCartney's false leg. I suspect if it doesn't come off at some point the show will be considerd a failure. but when? if it comes off too early will anyone continue to watch?

I really don't care.

Stuart Rosenberg (1927-2007)

my neighbors

collections

I'm stunnd to learn I have a folder in Allen Ginsberg's papers at Stanford. I don't recall writing to him.

I do remember a 1970 letter I wrote to Jean-Claude van Itallie abt my encounter with Ginsberg at the COSMEP conference in Buffalo. funny stuff.

I suspect I may have invitd him to contribute to the d.a. levy issue of The Serif that I editd in 1971. but if I did he never answerd.

how delightful

now even conservative columnists have begun to beat up on President Worst Ever. Rich Lowry offers this today: "Bush has overrelied on a team of loyalists -- often from Texas -- who weren't always the best or the brightest."

LIFTING
THE COVERS
FOR THE DEAD



never
to touch
his flesh again

    TOM

    every
    tale begins
    at the beginning

    PETER

    before
    the fireplace
    our own heat

    MICHAEL

    mostly
    laughter but
    that one time

    DENNIS

    after
    cactus bloom
    a garden refulgent

    BOBBY

    leaping
    over snow
    to pillow glow

    ALAN

    when
    a kiss
    makes you fly

    RICHARD

    catching
    our breaths
    on the whirligig


except
the poem
brings him back

pollen superburst

so now the downside of all that moisture to hit New Mexico over winter.

yesterday I was doing some yardwork when I began to sneeze. I came inside but it kept up. by evening my poor nose lookd like that of W.C. Fields. & during the nite I awoke with sniffles.

midnite in the garden of the dwarves

Scooter took the fall for Darth Cheney. now Sampson lunges at the petard engravd with the name of Gonzales. will no one in this administration stand tall?

General Pace

I never liked the guy. who can trust a man who preens in public with medals from chin to waist. he looks like a cartoon.

now we learn his neanderthal notions on homosexuality.

I'm so tired of bigots in power.

spiritual cleansing

we need to invite the Mayans to DC to purify the White House.

help a poet

Frank Sherlock is recovering from a series of health crises. poets across the country are sending donations of cash & books to help with his overwhelming expenses.

among the organizers is Shanna Compton. click on the link to find out how you can help.

"palls / balls"

sometimes I pull a book from the shelves & discover my past.

why wd I reach for Richard Kim's The Martyred this morning? I don't know. but written in red ink is an inscription from my old friend T. R. Queen noting that the novel is a gift for my 21st birthday. seeing his familiar scrawl is a touchstone to another time.

I don't remember ever reading the book but in the back is my own writing in pencil: 4 quotations from poetry. in addition to Ginsberg & Rilke (didn't all 21 year-olds of my generation venerate them?)are some lines from John Peale Bishop that have been long lost to me.

The question, lords & ladies, is
With what did Percy Shelley piss?

. . .

We ask & ask, till silence palls,
Did Percy Bysshe have any balls?

I have no recollection of reading Bishop who died the year after I was born. was it because he was a friend of Scott Fitzgerald who used him as a model for one of his characters? was it because I was an English major who was reading the Romantics & somehow stumbld upon this bit of frivolity? & as far as Bishop's sentiment I'm certain if I ever ponderd the genitals of the Romantics it wd've been Byron I'd be wondering abt.



I'm not sure what part of Byron was on my mind when this was taken in Missolonghi in the summer of 1992 but I am certain that I hadn't given thought to Bishop in many decades.

no tears

I let my subscription to Premiere lapse after it named that Scientologist the third greatest movie star "of all time." so I'm not surprisd it's shutting down this month.

Carolyn Jones triple treat

if you know me or my work you know I've been in love with Carolyn Jones since I was a boy. so it's a particular delight to see that Turner Classic Movies is honoring her tonite with a trio of her films. the one I particularly want to catch is "The Bachelor Party" from 1957. in this rarely seen film she's on screen for only 8 minutes but it's a performance film buffs have been talking abt for a half century.

"I'm free"

John Inman (1935-2007)

more memoirs

word is that in his new book Farley Granger stresses his bisexuality. while calling Leonard Bernstein a passionate lover he also claims to have had sex with Ava Gardner & Barbara Stanwyck.

Scooter guilty

bet the Libby verdict is causing Darth Cheney's blood clot to pulse.

another scan

I took this of Jean-Claude van Itallie & Stella Adler in 1986.

dear lord

did you hear the groans? the expletives?

yes I got a new machine. haven't had a scanner since my new computer faild to "accept" the old one. I live almost across the street from an Office Max & they're having a sale on an HP machine which scans & copies & prints. so I was brave & bought one. the installation causd the swearing but it's done & seems to be working. (altho I worry that I may have "undone" something vital.) the machine is a behemoth that consumes too much of my workspace but alas what can one do?

as a test here's my initial scan. it's a 1992 photo of me with Nancy & Paul Metcalf.

bookstore reading

artist
writer
fisherman
musician
James Prosek

old school

at 91 Elmer Schooley is probably the oldest practising artist in Santa Fe.

I went to his opening tonite.

last nite

I did the final work on the book. my elation was so intense I cdn't sleep.

a listmaker avoids making a list

Richard Lopez has taggd me again. this time it's the 10 most influential books which gave birth to our personal poetics. & again I demur.

in high school my notion of poetry was antique. I memorizd Shakespeare's sonnets. I found Keats & Byron to be standards to which we were to aspire. then came some discoveries. it gets a bit foggy now that I'm approaching the forgetful era of my life. I can no longer tell you when I read Leaves of Grass but it had to have put some step into my blue suede shoes. & since Sherwood Anderson once had a paint factory in my town I also read his Whitman knockoffs Mid American Chants. & the first major poetry reading I went to was by another who emulatd Whitman -- Carl Sandburg.

but probably the first book I read in high school of contemporary poetry that slappd my face was A Coney Island of the Mind. serious poets today don't seem to admit having ever read the book. but to me in my teens it was as important as Catcher in the Rye was as fiction.

in college I fell in love with Hart Crane & Marianne Moore. then came the summer of 1963. I went to NYC to become a student of Kenneth Koch for a couple of weeks. I discoverd Donald Allen's The New American Poetry 1945-1960. & so I began reading Ginsberg & O'Hara & Broughton & Williams & Snyder & Corso & Field. then early in 1965 I met d.a. levy.

by grad school I had to turn out a thesis in order to graduate. that last summer I threw together a truly awful piece of work on Robert Lowell. altho I haven't read him in some years his Life Studies was important to me then. I had more passion for O'Hara but Lowell was safer & I had a teaching fellowship to accept & had to churn out something quickly. it's such an embarrassment to me I don't even have a copy.

so those are some of the books & poets who matterd. somewhere along the way film & art became as important to my poetics as poetry. but then I'm not an intellectual & even tho I was involvd for years at a university I don't consider myself to have ever been an academic. no one reads me seriously so I haven't had to deal with discussing these matters. I just keep reading who I want to read & writing what I want to write.

Bruce Bennett (1906-2007)

my copy

it may be unique.

on the verso of the front cover of ukanhavyrfuckincitibak I've written my last name & the date "jan. '68." this promptd its original publisher T. L. Kryss to write that it was "a pre-publication copy snatched from the jaws of industry by the 'Arab taxi camel driver'." I presume levy brought me this copy when he came to Kent that month.

& on the back cover is Allen Ginsberg's address in levy's handwriting.

this from Kryss

Tom passes on news from Russell Salamon:

I will reprint d.a. levy's UKANHAVYRFUCKINCITIBAK. by May 1, 2007.
It has been long out of print and the remaining copies are collector's items
which sell for from between $100 and $400, maybe more. New readers
must have access to this historic work.

. . .

There is so much history and good material in this book that it stands as a
document for freedom of thought and freedom of speech from the exciting
Sixties and the mimeograph revolution in Cleveland, Ohio. New readers
should have access to copies, but it should stay in its original form.


Russell's looking for patrons for the reprint. if you have some mad money you want to send him e-mail me & I'll forward his address.

hey(nonnynonny)ku

sick
of html
I go outside

damn
I see
daffodils in bloom

back
in I
gobble easter peeps

let
fricking winter
be declard dead

New Blogger

the problems have been fewer than I expectd.

however I can no longer post videos from You Tube. apparently it exports to Blogger accounts but not Google accounts.

another good day of writing

that always pleases me.

harbingers?

the sweetest birds came to the pond this morning. they lookd like sparrows except their tops were iridescent blue.

peaks & valleys

it used to be manic-depression. I guess now it's calld bipolar. I don't think I'm bipolar. but boy do I have highs & lows.

the exhiliration of basically putting a book together in 4 days was extraordinary. but now I seem to be crashing. I feel so yucky I'm not sure I can push myself to the gym.

tag

yr top 10 fave films. it's going around blogs like a virus. Richard Lopez gave it to me.

shit. I cd never limit my list to 10. besides it's always changing. I'd have to review what I mite think are my faves & try to rank them. which Hitchcock? which Wilder? I guess I cd do a list if I calld it "my 10 favorite films on such & such day."

a hundred years ago -- when I was in junior high............ well that shows you how old I am. there no longer is a junior high. it's now "middle school." anyway there was something calld slam books. they were usually one of those spiral notebooks with questions on either side of that dividing line. they were surreptitiously passd around during classes. I think I've written abt this somewhere. "favorite movie" was one of the questions. as I consider this tag business it seems to me to be the electronic version of a slam book.

can you believe?

he died 20 years ago...

suddenly

poetry blogs are agog with Elaine Equi. so let me add to it by offering her contribution to "Dossier: Political Poetry" in the new Court Green which just arrivd:

PERVERSELY PATRIOTIC

Terrorism has ruined
S&M for me.

Now it just seems
like watching
the news.

hi ho hi ho

I don't remember when I workd so hard & was so thrilld. putting together the new book is like an anthropologist excavating. I've gone thru computer files as well as old-fashiond files in cabinets. I've checkd stacks of stuff hidden around the house & have had trouble getting to sleep because my mind was casting nets for more items. it's exhausting but exhilarating.

what Presidents Day means to me

no mail dammit.

hard work good work

got so excitd yesterday abt a new book I'm assembling that I put in a 14-hour work day. by the time I tore myself away from the computer my fingers were nearly numb & my eyes watery.

a nite of leather pants & hot words

a week ago there was a reading of some of the poets in the anthology Queering Language at Bowery Poetry Club. I wasn't invitd. that makes me sad because from photos I've seen online it looks like it was an evening to remember. it also makes me sad because I missd gazing into the eyes of Filip Marinovich.

box of memories

I've known Michael Brittain since he was a theater student at Kent State in another century. for a short time I was even his landlord. but that's another story.

for some years Michael has been a property master for a string of Hollywood television shows. he's doing some housecleaning & knowing that I'm a pack rat askd if I'd like some of his KSU memorabilia. yesterday a small box arrivd.

among theater programs & clippings & periodicals I found photos by Michael Chikiris & poems by Susan Lincoln . there was Ken Parks with a beard. &.... well it goes on & on.

& the good news is that another box of even older items is on its way.

movieland directory

my friend of 30 years James Robert Parish -- who has written more books than anyone I know -- just told me abt a fascinating site for film buffs.

one can look up by name (I learnd that Lila Lee once rentd a bungalow at Garden of Allah) or place (the traffic jam in "Two Tars" was filmd on Centinella in Culver City).

a valentine for my pen pal

many many years ago my mother had a pen pal in England. I recall her name was Kathleen & she lived in Sheffield. that was probably the reason that as a boy I took a pen pal. I no longer remember how I "found" her or what her name was. in fact I remember very little of that experience. however I do recall that in my first letter I askd if she lived in an igloo & when I discoverd she didn't I was disappointd.

over the years I've had many correspondences. but it wasn't till abt 8 years ago that I "found" another pen pal. I met Bob in a men's chat room calld MAB (Music Arts Books). I discoverd other fascinating men there -- several of whom I actually met -- but Bob is the one to whom I became closest. & we have yet to meet.

I can't tell you much abt him because he's a private person who doesn't trust the internet enuf to allow his face to be transmittd. but we've come to know each other so well that we share everything abt our lives. it's not uncommon for us to e each other a dozen times a day.

so on this Valentines Day I'm going public with something most private. I have a pen pal who means a great deal to me. & I want to thank him for caring enuf abt me to always be there to listen.

since I can't post his picture I'm offering one of the ones Izayah took of me at Bubbling Wells Ranch. you see Bob knows my fondness for wearing other people's clothes. so every once in a while he sends me some of his oldies. & here I am in an Old Navy shirt of his:

Prokosch

the other day the topic on a message board I frequent was "Gay Books That Changed Your Life." at the end of my contribution was "the forgotten novels of Frederic Prokosch."

Tom -- my best friend in high school -- was passionate abt Prokosch's The Asiatics. so I had to read it. what discussions we two had abt that book. it was first publishd in 1935 when the Wisconsin-born author was in his 20s. the 1941 Readers Club addition had an intro by Carl Van Doren which began "Nowhere in Amerian literature is there another book quite like The Asiatics..." there must've been a paperback reprint in the late 50s. now I remember little abt the book except that it was sexy. in those days one read either Peyton Place (& we knew that novel so well we referrd to episodes by their page numbers) or the comic novels of Patrick Dennis for sex. D. H. Lawrence & Henry Miller then followd.

the other Prokosch novel that was important to me was The Missolonghi Manuscript. that was when I was still in the Byron orbit. looking at my bookshelves I see that I have the painter William Schock's copy of The Skies of Europe but like so many novels on my shelves I have yet to read it.

this morning I began the memoirs of Edward Field. in the third chapter he mentions the Oscar Williams anthology which includes portraits of the poets singling out "the beautiful ones, like Frederick Prokosch."

late in life Prokosch sufferd from revelations that he forgd literary pamphlets for profit & "inventd" parts of his memoirs. these days I doubt he has many readers. & I fear reading The Asiatics again for the same reason I hesitate rereading Catcher in the Rye. I respect its importance in my life at a certain moment.

the last time Prokosch came up was some years ago when fashion designer Shannon Rogers told me abt his long-ago romance with the novelist. he'd receivd a loving letter from him after a long silence. it was touching to look into Shannon's face & see there was still affection after so many years.

test

so I'm trying to post a picture. this is me at the Viceroy in Palm Springs wearing an Ira Joel Haber shirt.

& now I'll attempt a link .

scary

I knew it wd happen one of these days.

today was my day. I had to switch to the new Blogger. so I'm posting this as a test.

light

there are 16 poems in the chapbook Super 8. Richard Lopez uses the word "light" 5 times in those poems & "lit" twice more.

the poems are abt many things. one of those things is the power of film. there can be no film without light.

the word first appears in the first poem:

weighted by the
splay of light
printed

a simple explanation of how film works. but this is a book abt many things. another of those things is the weight of desire. "splay of light" incites play.

these poems force yr hand down yr pants. & no matter how familiar that journey it still ends with an explosion of light.

such good company

"Queering Language" is an anthology which comprises issue 3 of EOAGH.

da news

who needs fiction when we've got:

an astronaut driving nonstop in diapers to harm a rival in a romantic triangle

Ted Haggard announcing he's straight again

a "journalist" trying to sell footage of paramedics working to resusitate Anna Nicole Smith

HVD

hard to believe: I've known Henry Van Dyke since 1969.

I cd tell tales abt the novelist but the good news is that he is telling on himself. he's at work on his memoirs Cloudy Mirror. a sample   "Two Abortions"   appears in the current issue of Michigan Quarterly Review. reading it leaves me wanting more.

more memorial

on his blog Izayah postd this picture of me with Michael Childers   the Hollywood photographer whose portraits of Steve as well as David Hockney will appear in Kimberly's memorial volume.

remembering Steve

with Izayah & Kimberly Nichols

Shawn Mafia

with Judith Lautner

flying to California for Steve Lowe's memorial service

he took this of me with some of "85 envelopes" on the steps of Beat Hotel.

face lift

You Tube has freshend up its channel pages.

here's mine.

yet another sadness

Molly Ivins is dead.

winter swallows the horizon

Liza

I haven't seen her perform in a few years. so it was a bit of a shock when she turnd up on "Law & Order" tonite. it's not that she's older. that happens to us all. but her face is different. perhaps plumper. but also softer.

"Volver"

I've been an Almodovar fan for some time. & this is one of his best.

a star is born

Lysacek was super   Weir a mess. but the surprise winner of the silver -- Ryan Bradley -- had one of those electrifying performances that skating enthusiasts will be talking abt for years.

after the fall

2 weeks ago Billy & I went to Santa Monica Playhouse to see Evelyn Rudie in a backstage musical she wrote. back in the days of "Playhouse 90" Kay Thompson pickd 7-year-old Evelyn to become the original Eloise. she soon became the highest paid child star of her time. by age 14 she'd become an extra in "Bye Bye Birdie" & retired. however she became involvd in theater. her work at the playhouse over the decades has made her one of the important names in the community as well as in the history of the boards in LA.

the most touching moment in her current musical is when she calls out the names of child stars who endurd varying degrees of tragedy. it's a long & painful list. I rememberd Evelyn today when I saw "Little Children." so few child stars have a second act in the lights. but now we can add another.

little Jackie Earle Haley was big. his roles in "Day of the Locust" & "Breaking Away" assurd him of at least a footnote in Hollywood history. then like so many others he disappeard. we now know that he delived pizzas & drove a limo. but he made it back onto the big screen. & his performance in "Little Children" is complex & deep & compelling. it qualifies him for a long career as a character actor.

remembering Steve

I have yet to see an official obituary but the blogosphere is paying tribute.

Kimberly wrote a touching piece & includ'd this photo I hadn't seen before. it was taken at the party Steve had for me at the Beat after my reading. he's showing me & 2 friends who drove all the way from Las Vegas some Burroughs material.

there are also tributes from Ruby Montana & MJ.

shocking news

this morning I got an e from Kimberly Nichols informing me of the death of Steve Lowe.

progress indeed

so I was upset enuf that I kept looking into my problem. & then I discoverd that now it's easier than ever to publish a photo on the blog w/o even having to use an outside source. yes I'm slow. yes I know nothing abt how computers work. but I'm also an obstinate old cuss & I'm glad I kept after this.



so here's a picture my pal Billy took of me at Musso & Frank. it's the oldest restaurant in Hollywood & I've been going there since 1978. I love that you see the wonderful wooden booths & one of the cadre of ancient waiters that give the place such ambiance.

more progress

wantd to load a picture to the blog & clickd on Hello. well it tells me "bloggerbot is dead." I have no idea what that means. for a while now Hello has been telling me it's going out of business. so I suppose that's what this is all abt.

WORDS instead of ROSES

word:   recipient:   occasion:  ' date:

azoth   Ilona Klein   dinner   3 may 00
burgoo   Sidney Coates   party   2 jun 00
clinquant   Jesse Wood   private preview   1 aug 00
divagation   Alicia Metcalf Miller   party   14 dec 00
embouchure   Robert Nott   birthday   30 dec 00
febrifuge   Cookie Jordan   housewarming   8 may 01
glebe   Guy & Kate   garden party   17 jun 01
hexenbesen   R. B. Sprague   birthday   12 sept 01
indult   Craig Eadie   first meeting   20 nov 01
jactitation   Bill Berger   house gift   13 mar 02
khamsin   Alfred Cavaretta   party &nsbp; 17 may 02
limbate   Dan Bernard   house gift   10 aug 02
machicolation   Garold Gardner   Thxgiving   28 nov 02
nelumbo   Bryan Ockert   house gift   17 jan 03
octamerism   Pooka Glidden   party   12 sept 03
puncheon   David Meredith   Thxgiving   27 nov 03
quercine   Rita Wood   Xmas   25 dec 03
ravelin   Gary Sielaff   housewarming   4 jan 04
shalloon   Regina Yando   house gift   8 jul 04
tufaceous   Kimberly Nichols   first meeting   9 dec 04
ubiety   Todd Moore   reading   10 may 05
vang   Phil Andrews   New Year’s Eve  31 dec 05
wappenschaw   Darryl Grimm   housewarming   12 feb 06
xebec   Jim Cory   first meeting  17 may 06
yashmak   Richard Balthazar   Thxgiving   23 nov 06
zedoary   Monica Meehan   first meeting   23 jan 07

every day a little death

I didn't stop there every time I went to the gym. but at least once a week for years I'd walk into an unassuming little spot calld Desert Desserts. they made a luscious cookie calld The Double-Dippd. & their lemon squares weren't bad. over the holidays I bought a cherry pie & eventually ate the whole thing.

today I stoppd & the door was lockd. no lights were on. & then I saw the sign "out of business."

"Richardson To Run"

the exercise will do him good.

sweet dreams Denny

"California Dreamin' " came out in nov 1965. I'm not certain when I first heard it. but I do have a clear memory of hearing it over the radio the only time I ever lived in a trailer.

fellow grad student George Smullen & his wife got a job working at an off-campus apartment building which requird they live on site. so until they sold their trailer I rentd it from them   living just outside of Kent at the State Trailer Park from jan thru april 1966. & I have a definite memory of hearing the Mamas & the Papas sing that song one wintry day.

yesterday Denny Doherty died   the third member of the quartet to exit. I never heard the Mamas & the Papas live. I did hear the male half of the group in a musical Andy Warhol producd in 1974. but I still have & treasure 4 of their Dunhill albums on vinyl. they were as much the voice of the 60s as the Andrews Sisters were of the 40s. & I never tire of hearing their perfect harmonizing.

an aside

much has been made of the ubiquity of del Toro's notebook. yes he had it on his lap during the panel. & at one point -- I think Donnersmarck was speaking -- he opend it & made a jotting.

today's screening

I prefer not to read reviews because (a) they give too much away & I like approaching things fresh (b) I rarely agree with critics. so I didn't know what "Pan's Labyrinth" was abt. I was so enthralld by Guillermo del Toro at the panel the other day that I made sure I was at the first local screening this afternoon.

del Toro is such a funny man I wasn't quite expecting what I saw. this is one of the darkest movies ever made. Sergi Lopez becomes one of the screen's great villains   a man as cold as Dick Cheney.

wearable art

I just put in my order for several Ira Joel Haber items. yes the artist now has a line of products from things you can wear to mugs & cards.

check out his site.

American Cinemateque directors panel

Guillermo del Toro (left) being interviewd upon his arrival at the Egyptian 


Clint Eastwood 


Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 

more change

, 

another recent renovation in LA was at Getty Villa. it's been many years since I was last there. but you can tell which areas have been redone. the current exhibition   "Stories in Stone"   is smashing. mosaics. I was particularly excitd at how contemporary "Unswept Floor" looks.


Billy passes a naked boy sunbathing in the cold 

_________________________________________

this was a weekend in which the past & present had frequent collisions &nsbp; in which associations bouncd off each other. the crime bus went past the spot on Wilshire & Crenshaw where the Getty Mansion once was. built in the 20s & demolishd in 1957   the residence was used by Wilder as Norma Desmond's house & a few years later by Ray for "Rebel."

things change

when I first visitd Griffith Observatory in 1988 I made a beeline to that area where Nicholas Ray shot the knife fight in "Rebel Without a Cause." it's essential James Dean territory.



on friday my pal Billy & I took the shuttle from Hollywood & Highland to Griffith Park. it's the first time we'd seen the observatory since its multi-million dollar renovation. I was startld to discover that the knife fight area was completely destroyd. at its location the redesigners put up this Dean memorial:


, 

at Hollywood & Vine