reflection

 last nite I saw a documentary abt Peter Bogdanovich. it brought back a pleasant memory. some years ago I was in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt & saw the director standing alone. it hadn't been long after seeing the restoration of "The Last Picture Show." so I went up to him & told him I'd seen it & that the crisp print was beautiful & that I really enjoyd it.

he seemd pleasd. he smiled & askd "it holds up?"  & I was happy to report it certainly did.

thinking abt that lovely moment produced a rush of encounters with film directors. I've seen Hitchcock & Wilder    Welles & Fellini   Altman & Godard.  I've chattd with Truffant   been driven thru the Hollywood hills by Sam Fuller   been a movie date of James Bridges.

I recount all this not to boast but to fill with joy at my good luck. I've had one hell of a life. I've loved the movies since I was little. so I've not only gone out to attend screenings but have shared time/space with the people who made the films I love.

Speedo Cross Series

some swimsuits die. their elastic can limpen. or fabric stretch to the point where one's equipment  no longer snuggles. when this happens I usually toss the garments. however I found in 2 separate places I'd saved a pair of former favorites I suspect to eventually use for art. & today was that day.

I think I wore the purple pair when I was flirting with Rick Wilson at Jerome Lawrence's Malibu residence ("The House That Mame Built") in 1984. the pinkish pair (which wd redden when wet) appears in a photo taken in Aruba in 1992.

I decided to cut strips from them which I then pin'd together to form crosses. I made 15.

more Desert X

at a glorious work by Kimsooja

(photo by Gary Francis)

Desert X

 every 2 years the valley gets a major showing of outdoor art.

here is Ronald Rael's "Adobe Oasis" from this year's offering.

"Studio Visit"

 

not long ago Lynda Keeler invited me to her studio to see her new suite of oil paintings "Between the Sun & the Moon." before I left I wrote a poem. I guess she liked it because when I got to her opening tonite at Janssen Art Space I saw that she wrote it out by hand on a wall between her work.

now that's a thrill.

Alice Ripley

 

when Alice Ripley was a student at Kent State I was a special collections librarian. I saw her in many shows on campus. & since I've always been a collector I had all those programs. so after her Cabaret 88 performance last nite I got to visit her in her dressing room where I gave her those programs.

bat shit crazy

 

the RFK Jr. hearings have put this term into constant replay. it had me wondering what it's origin is.

we have bats on property & they usually delight. abt 6 years ago I startd a poem calld "Nite Swim" like this:

            little draculas

            swoop down

            toward pool

            but

            I feel

            no menace

I simply don't know what abt bat excrement is crazy. I began searching. there is much speculation abt the term's origin. it seems to derive from "bats in the belfry" which traces to circa 1900. however that doesn't answer the shit element of the expression. there is "anecdotal evidence" that is dates to the 1950s where it appears in the US military. the OED has a confusing entry putting it at 1950 but as another term for "bullshit." others give credit to various writers & a cartoonist.

whatever its birth & precise meaning the term has a certain power & current daily usage concerning what's happening in Washington.