I have returnd

from a super weekend with my dear friend Billy in Culver City. we had a full agenda. among our activities was a visit to the new Resnick Pavilion at LACMA. all 3 inaugural exhibitions are skillfully mountd & worth seeing. here I am with some Olmec masks:

how malagrugrous that those jolluxes can't freck

words

The Pink

I think I first heard abt the Pink Adobe from Jonathan Williams who knew a thing or two abt fine dining.

over the years I didn't go to this famous restaurant all that frequently. but I did love their green chili stew -- & of course that apple pie.

in the morning paper I read that the late Rosalea Murphy's restaurant -- a Santa Fe institution since the year after I was born -- closed a week or so ago.

hot shower

felt good. in the (hopefully) final stages of a cold I suspect I got while incarcerated in that germ canister following my pat-down.

been a sort of down day. anniversary of the finding of William Holden's body. one of the saddest celebritity deaths & something that hit hard in my last years of drinking. also birthday of Barbara Payton who led a tragic life.

but I'm abt to join the guys for our weekly dinner & that often lifts my spirits.

it's snowing

did Charles Delaney
make movie history
when he gave the finger
at the end
of a 1933 quickie?

let's say he did.

if Todd Moore
were still around
I'd call him
to announce
this historic find.

wd Todd remember
that Delaney's last film
was "The Beatniks"?
wd he even remember
who Delaney was?

can't say
I remember much
abt his career.

but we're saying
he had a moment
of movie history.

& how many
of us
made history?

scatter me

over the decades I've written many wills. in one I askd that my cremated remains be divided in half. one portion was to be dumpd into the Atlantic from Provincetown which gave me so many glorious memories. the other half wd go into the Pacific from Monterey where I was born.

I've since realizd this is a hugh favor to ask. also I haven't been to P'town in ages & have no real resonance with Monterey except as place of birth. so my current notion is to have my ashes scatterd in the arroyo that gives name to this blog. maybe even thrown from the pedestrian bridge I cross daily & which was the place for my piece "Bridge over Arroyo."

then this morning our local paper headlined that the archbishop -- with so little else to do -- has condemnd the scattering of ashes. I'm delightd. my passionate disdain for all religions goes into overdrive when they continually overrearch like this. I cdn't have askd for a better last chapter.

pat down

morning news had a story abt pilots objecting to the pat-downs they're receiving after going thru the new airport scanning machines.

last week I went thru one for the 1st time & as an exhibitionist was initially tittilatd by imagining a stranger observing my genitals in public. well.... I was stoppd for a search. that surprisd me. I was askd to stand on a pad which had markings for feet. the TSA man clearly was uncomfortable with his job. he told me he'd have to pat me down & did I object. I sd no. then he askd me if I wantd to go to a private area. as much fun as that mite be under other circumstances I told him to get on with it. he began putting his hands on me but you cd tell by the paind look on his face that he wasn't enjoying his job.

he askd me if I was wearing any kind of medical device around my middle. "only fat" I replied with a smile. this nervous gentleman wasn't smiling back. he told me the scan showd something around my middle. "I'll have to pat you there." it turnd out to be my shirt which naturally was tuckd in my pants.

now if we've paid all this money for a machine that can't determine if yr shirt's tuckd in I think we've made another mistake. traveling is unpleasant enuf. detaining someone for something as silly as this is simply irritating. the next time I get stoppd I think I'll demand having someone who at least enjoys patting me down.

for all the vets out there

Busam's "A Walk" #4

on sun 24 oct Mike Busam went on a birdwatching expedition which turnd into something different. instead he pickd plants.

"I've sent these plants and cards to people who have an appreciation for the 'small' or less obvious things in the world and who would find the humor in setting out on a walk with the intention of observing birds but instead spending an hour looking at plants -- mostly non-native and invasive plants, but plants with interesting histories and lives nonetheless."

I feel lucky to have been chosen to receive part of this piece. thx Mike.

& festival

Felice Picano & Armistead Maupin

Palm Springs Pride Parade

t h u d

I'm not happy Texans bought my state. perhaps it's time to move to California.

Day of the Dead

pundits predict a Republican sweep at the polls. how appropriate that such a giant step backward happens on this particular day.

seeing myself

tonite TCM presentd the David H. Shepard compilation of Edison films. this is one that hit me:



from the moment it began I saw the boy in the white shirt carrying the packages & immediately identified with him. everything is happening around him but he's transfixd by the camera. as the film went on I felt that that boy was me in "Alex in Movieland." it was a powerful feeling.

wonderful interview with Doris Day

overheard at Love Field

"the devil is the author of confusion"

_____________________________________________

part of the curse of the cell phone is that in public places we have no choice but to enter into private lives of strangers. much of what one hears in passing on the street or at the grocery store or in an airport is boring in scope & banal in delivery. so I was surprisd yesterday when a woman passing my gate sd this. since that was all I heard as she went by I have no idea of context. is it original or a quotation?

critters

since Melina died I haven't shared my house with an animal. I feed neighborhood cats on the back portal. I can go a few houses down to Rita's to greet her dog Cinco & cat Marcos. & I've become an uncle to Emma to Culver City.

an hour ago I returnd from a quick trip to visit my penpal Bob in Texas. for the 1st time I met his two wonderful pets. Cali is a sweet dog.

& here Hilton decides to lick my chin.

"The Book of Java"

marrying this clock

no quick courtship
it's
been ticking
along for years
waiting
just for

the RIGHT time

from "Ohio Triangle"

thx John

Sylvia Sleigh (1916-2010)

one of her portraits of Paul Rosano from the '70s

& on his blog Ira Joel Haber posts some wonderful photos

here the artist speaks

& here are other portraits of Rosano as well as "The Turkish Bath"

winds

Weather Channel sez they're 40 mph. but it feels much gustier out. & the cooldown these winds are bringing looks to give us our first frost tonite.

the word "focus" becomes a movie star

        for Tom Beckett

what was hearth
gave heat to Kepler

its rays spread

words in a row
like Busby's chorines
till one
steps out of line

focus on the figure
fake coins sewn
on bodysuit

third girl from left
becomes Kim Novak

I pluck "focus"
from Tom's sentence

a star is born

not since that
dirty joke
from junior high
has "focus"
scored like this

it clutches
its breast
walks into
the spotlight
to shimmer
forever

smells of fall

roasting peppers
farmers market
this morning

as I age

dance becomes an ever more poignant art.

I'm just back from seeing Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. this extraordinary company of beautiful young people delights on so many levels. but there was a moment in "Uneven" when Sam Chittenden was alone on stage that was a sort of personal time warp. his movements -- of hands & legs then whole body -- suddenly propeld me into a space in which I was my current self as well as a long ago self. it didn't last long but I was suddenly living several moments of my life. I was young & flexible & moving as if time didn't matter. & I was old & lumpy & aware of my ending. all the while physically confined to my seat but with my spirit soaring freely toward the ceiling of the theater.

it made me think that as much as I've loved dance all my life it matters more now. what happend to me tonite cdn't have happend to me 30 years ago or 20 or probably even 10.

remembering the Blind Owl

I've been working on a collection of poems calld Ohio Triangle for quite a while. each section of the book focuses on an important city in my life. opening section is "Elyria" & was publishd as a chapbook last year by Crisis Chronicles Press. middle section is "Cleveland" which is ready for publication as a chapbook. & I'm still working on the final section "Kent."

one of the poems in that last grouping is "Blind Owl (1964-65)." & now I've discoverd a wonderful little history of the folk music venue by Roger Thurman (who stage-managed a high school musical for which I wrote publicity many years ago).

altho I saw several of the famous performers listd in Thurman's piece there are so many more I didn't but now wish I had. after all these years I can still bring back the feeling of sitting in that little black space drinking hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick & waiting for the music to begin.

I love

the kind of project Ernesto Priego is doing now. & in addition to the blog he's keeping there's now a map which gives a different dimension to the work. wish I'd have thot of that for some of my pieces.

levy online

Joanne Cornelius announces that Cleveland Memory Project updated its d. a. levy website. among the new material is rare 1967 footage of the Fugs performing at the levy/Lowell defense benefit.

also available are page-by-page scans of many publications levy edited     including Marrahwannah Quarterly. here is a poem of mine which appeard in that legendary publication in 1966:

just when I thot snail mail was dead

this happens:

a box from Brent Kubasta in Florida containing a book     a t-shirt     CDs of his program "The Magic Transistor Radio Show"

an envelope from Gary Brower in nearby Placitas with the newest issue of Malpais Review with 2 of my poems

a box from cousin Paula in Georgia full of Halloween goodies

all in the same day

Egyptian Theater

I just read on Facebook that this famous Hollywood movie palace is 88 years old today. Bill Berger took this of me there a couple of years ago.

whole lotta hate goin' on

Frank Rich seems spot on here.

not sure where all this is leading
but it scares me.

happy Sweetest Day

my mother celebrates every holiday & when there isn't one makes the day into one. this year she sent me money to get my neighbors Sweetest Day gifts from her.

since there is already a Valentines Day which I always presumd was begun by candymakers as a way to boost profits I never understood exactly what this Sweetest Day is. then this morning I discoverd via a Facebook post that the holiday was begun in Cleveland. I checkd Wikipedia & found that indeed it was begun in Cleveland. & yes its guise was to cheer the less fortunate but was actually another means to peddle sweets since it was creatd by candy manufacturers.

besides the Cleveland connection I like that Theda Bara was slightly involvd in pushing the holiday. I'm sure Cleveland's candy merchants learnd a great deal abt promotion from Hollywood & this cross-pollination tickles me.

from the files

going thru old stuff I found these notes from my only meeting with Sam Steward in the spring of 1982.

time strikes on entering Sam Steward's. it's the clocks all over the house. ticking their unsynchronized concertos. it's the mementoes: Gertrude Stein's stamp box     Valentino's public hair in a reliquary. enough police patches to make a quilt. then it's Sam himself     the man whose lovers aren't just legion but legend. Sam     nearing his 80s   nbsp; & still averaging four fucks a month (large pink slashes in his engagement calendar).

he's just out of hospital wth a pneumonia seige. besides the clocks & the phone which registers a few honks rather than the traditional ring     there's another interlude of bells to remind him to take a pill.

we talk abt his late fame     which still surprises him     & his writing. a roman a clef abt Sir Francis Rose     written in the '50s     is being revised. & he's correcting proof on an old Gay Sunshine interview which was never printd but will appear at last in the 2nd book of GS interviews (which Winston Leyland told me abt last nite). & finally the most recent Phil Andros novel will appear from Gray Fox. (Sam had phoned me in Ohio to see if Craig Russell might undertake a cover     only to discover Don Allen had already askd Tom of Finland whose drawing Sam showed me.)

Sam told me he hoped Mark Thompson wd cease sending him books to review for The Advocate. the last was the Brendan Behan memoir which he found dreary.

next time

I forget
where
I put my keys
I am
gonna
take a walk

weepy

between release of the miners in Chile & proliferation of "it gets better" videos I've been rather emotional of late.

thx Ernesto

The Hay(na)ku Postcard Project

queen for a day

I was starstruck as a child. & many of the personalities upon whom I gave star status have stayd with me over the decades. for reasons I don't understand I've continued to think on & off abt many of them.

this morning I read the obit of one of those long-ago fascinations -- Leona Gage. clippings of her short reign as a beauty queen are in the scrapbooks I kept so many years ago. the obit fails to mention the 5 movies she made or her descent into working strip clubs.

if I'd become a journalist -- as one early career path suggestd -- I think I wd've concentratd on finding out what happend to people who are thrown into the spotlight for a short time & the results of that on the rest of their lives.

woke

in middle of a dream in which I was writing an entry here. as I stumbld toward the kitchen I had growing ideas on how to amplify the post. but by the time I'd finishd cereal I came to the realization that I'd already written this entry some years ago.

a tent of tens

Stanley Crawford's radishes

Homecoming at Kent State

not there today. but remembering Homecoming back in 1986 when rock legend Joe Walsh returnd to town to grand marshall the parade.



sharing the Cadillac were Gary Jackett & Bill Zorn.

Roy Ward Baker (1916-2010)

when I think of this British director 2 of his films come to mind.

in "Don't Bother to Knock" he guided Marilyn Monroe to one of her first important performances. & altho I haven't seen "Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde" in years it's one of those films for which I had an unexplicable fondness.

Steepletop

haven't read Millay in a hundred years. & never had a connection with her. but I'm a fan of Bill Fogle & I'm happy when he's making his little films. & his love of Millay turns this into a small joy.

a favorite poster

I pickd this up at a screening of this film in 1972. it was a period in which I was reading Mishima. haven't seen the film since. don't know if it's available.

& the theater is one of those which were torn down to build an ugly tourist hotel.

crossd the arroyo to go to my neighborhood office supply store to purchase a new desk lamp. they had a DVD sale. it's impossible for me not to peruse any DVD sale. I pickd one -- the 1949 "Batman & Robin" serial featuring durable Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon.

as I was checking out the saleslady told me that was a very popular item. "you must have a little guy at home" she sd. "yup" I replied "the little guy is me."

a beautiful photograph

waiting

for other people to do things.

a bunch of people. lots of stuff.

not to worry. I'm still producing

but sometimes one has to wait for others.

Buddy Morrow (1919-2010)

4 years after the release of this -- his biggest hit -- I saw Morrow & his big band at the Lorain County Fair.

free meals

I was in shock when I got a free lunch on my Continental flight to Cleveland & then breakfast on my return.

in the latest batch of clippings from Mom I read in the Plain Dealer that Continental was the final airline to provide meals in economy class for nothing & that the service will end in 2 weeks.

& I remember when people got dressd up to fly & were servd a complete dinner on china with silverware & cloth napkins even in coach.

this is the pose that was in my head when I wrote "Tony Curtis."



I took this of the actor in front of the wax museum on Hollywood Blvd in april.

Tony Curtis (1925-2010)

here is the poem I read before the actor 5 months ago:

TONY CURTIS

hairs on the arm
that holds a dagger
makes smooth chest unreal

he wears earrings
& a thick bracelet
on his bicep

this is a prince's pose
with a 42nd St
swagger



(publishd in It's All a Movie)

Curtis also appears in 2 poems in The Arrow That is Hollywood Pierces the Soul That is Me which needs to be publishd soon.

Arthur Penn (1922-2010)

I took this of the director in Cleveland 20 years ago.

Michael Gizzi (1949-2010)

I took this of the poet in 1986 during a rehearsal of our friend Paul Metcalf's "The Players" in which he playd John Burroughs.

yesterday

my travels began at Cleveland Hopkins & finishd at Albuquerque Sunport.

today Jimmy Carter flew into Hopkins & was rushd to a nearby hospital while President Obama flew into the Sunport.

a few hours

after returning home I was off to dinner with Rita & Phil & Canuto. then we went to the Lensic together to hear Sharon Jones.

photography was forbidden during the show but during intermission I got this one of opening act Grace Potter.

also

part of my whirlwind visit was back to campus to mark the 25th anniversary of Kent State University Museum. since I was acting curator during the museum's planning stage I wantd to be there.

other guests included Ann Rutherford who is known to film buffs as Scarlet O'Hara's sister & Andy Hardy's girlfriend



& TCM's Robert Osborne

quick trip to Ohio

for a family celebration of Mom's 89th birthday.



before I left this morning she askd me if I was putting her picture on the internet. so here we are with my cousin Regina.

penpals

many years ago Mom had a penpal in England. her name was Kathleen. maybe that was why I decid'd as a child to have one. I no longer remember where I got the girl's contact material or just how we startd writing. I don't even recall her name or how long that correspondence lastd. she lived in Alaska & my first question to her was "do you live in an igloo?" she didn't.

more recently -- & more importantly -- I've had another penpal. we can't agree on exactly how long ago it was that we met in a chatroom but Bob & I have written each other almost daily for at least a decade.

yesterday we finally met face-to-face. I had such a good time & hope he did as well. I'm not sure why it took us so long to meet. perhaps each of us was afraid the other wdn't find us as scintillating in real time as online. but it was effortless. & when we sd goodbye it was as if we've known each other a dozen years. but then we have.

nite visitors

noise woke me at 4:30. stumbld out of bed & saw on back portal a pair of raccoons. one scamperd off when I lit up the space. but the more persistent one kept on its task. it had been on the table on which I keep a plastic container full of dry food for Jonathan & other neighborhood felines. it had knockd the container from the table & was attempting to pry open the lid. I bangd on a glass door till it too left.

on the anniversary of Melina's death

my year-old cellphone died

rec'd in snail mail a proclamation of love from a crazy lady

intense rain storm

dear friend undergoing tests.....

better not watch the evening news

internet as archives

was surprisd to find a "Taking My Turn" fan page on Facebook. & on it a clip of old friend Sheila Smith doing one of her numbers.

I've known Sheila for many years & have seen her in countless shows over that time. it's great to have this bit of her past so easily available.



here we are in Kent in 1990.

Mama Grizzlies

I am not a misogynist but I must say I'm disgustd by how many hateful backward-thinking women are currently running for public office.

as I waterd

my apricot tree this morning a hummingbird came to the edge of the spray for a tentative dance. after a few moments of play he went to a branch for a brief sit & then was off.

remembering James Broughton

Stephen Silha is executive producer & co-director of the forthcoming "Big Joy." he stoppd by yesterday to talk abt the subject of his documentary.

left out

in Denver I bought the new Sam Steward bio -- Secret Historian -- which I'm reading now.

sadly (for me) it omits his intro to my Postcard Memoirs from the bibliography. also missing is his contribution to Gildzen at 50. Sam's part of our correspondence is available to the public at Kent State but that gets no mention either.



on my only visit to his house Sam gave me this souvenir of his tenure as a tattoo artist.

happy birthday John Burroughs

some days

I wonder if this really is the 21st century.

my morning starts with vitamin pills & juice after which I stumble toward the tv for the news. this morning it's tape of the Delaware loon proclaiming the evils of masturbation. then we see the queen of England lumbering beside the pope.

after my cereal I turn on the computer & check the obits to see who didn't make it thru the nite. then favorite blogs & other sites. I learn that today Anne Francis turns 80.

all right. I know not everyone who visits here is as addictd to cinema as I am. so if you are of a certain age & disposition you may not know or care who Anne Francis is. but I do. so I lift my coffee mug in her honor.

these days I suspect her best known film is "Forbidden Planet." she's also become somewhat of a tv cult figure for her short-lived series "Honey West."



her leading man in that show was my friend John Ericson. some years ago he introduced me to her at Riva Yares Gallery in town. they also appeard opposite each other in the classic film "Bad Day at Black Rock."

so while some queen grasping her expensive handbag walks alongside the rodent pope & the teabaggers protest they really aren't homophobic racists I'll check out Anne Francis on You Tube. soon my state will elect one of those lunatic ladies from the backward-looking Tea Party Express as our 1st female governor. maybe it doesn't matter. all politicians seem to end up as power-hungry crooks. perhaps it's time to give up on all the cable political panels & only watch old movies. Anne Francis will always be more important to me than Sarah Palin.

Alan Horvath (1952?-2010)

poet

publisher

keeper of the flame

Kevin McCarthy (1914-2010)

Kevin took this picture of me in Twin Lakes when he came over to swim in 1976.

at Brown Palace

false advertising

just back from a weekend in Denver. I went for the King Tut exhibition. I'd missd previous incarnations of the show. it's theatrically presentd with Harrison Ford narrating the commentary. & there are exquisite pieces worth seeing.

however all the ads feature the most famous item from that treasure trove -- the boy king's gold funeral mask. & that piece is absent from this version of the traveling show.

Nina Vale

never heard of this actress before. but I just saw "Cornered" on TCM. she's quite intriguing. so I lookd her up in IMDB. says there she only made 3 films.

van Itallie

returns to La Mama

a good read

at dinner the other nite Robert Nott gave me the sept issue of Playboy. it's been many a year since I've dippd into that magazine. but he had a reason. the once-celebratd Playboy Interview is with Paul Reubens.

in an age when celebrity interviews have become boringly predictable this one is the best I've read in some time. refreshingly honest. if you're a Pee-wee fan this is must reading.

"soap"

out of the past

John Reeves is bringing some of the old Shelly's publications to the internet.

among them: my Kencompotl pamphlet from 1979.

odd

I can go for weeks without remembering my dreams. then I'll wake up with one as bright as a penny found on the bike path.

I just woke from a dream in which I was playing a heavy in an Orson Welles film. the rotund Welles was a precise director but also was welcoming of collaboration. my scene was at the end of the film & was being shot on a stage. Welles stoppd filming mid-scene when he'd suddenly come up with a new idea.

the impetus for the dream must be something that happend yesterday. George Wallace askd me for a poem & the one I sent him was abt Welles from one of my books-in-progress.

listening to Geof Huth thru the wall

between room service
& late show
fluidity of song

for GWTW buffs

Cammie King died yesterday. as a child she playd Bonnie Blue Butler in the 1939 classic.



to mark the 50th anniversary of the film some friends & I went to Cadiz -- birthplace of Clark Gable -- to attend a celebration of the movie. several of the cast memebrs were there. in this photo King on the right is being interviewd for a local tv station. that's me on the left. my friends & I spent more time with her cute son Matt who was beginning an acting career of his own.

how we change

my last post got me thinking abt my experiences with autographs. I think the first celebrity I askd was film star Denise Darcel when I was 12. later that same year I also got the signatures of Keefe Brasselle & Duke Ellington when they visitd Elyria. & I remember being disappointd when Carl Sandburg refusd to sign.

early trips to Manhattan had me at stage doors. I waitd what seemd forever for Geraldine Page who expressd shock that I was still there.

I never considerd the psychology of autograph hunting & won't here. but like so many things in life its appeal simply went away. as someone who once held autographs in esteem it tickles me now when someone asks for mine. it doesn't happen with any regularity but sometimes at readings (which in themselves don't happen to me with regularity). it brings back so many memories.

Scott Caan's first autograph

watching "American Outlaws" last nite it was tough to take my eyes off Colin Farrell as Jesse James. but when I did it was to look at Scott Caan as Cole Younger. this beefy little guy has a certain swagger that the camera likes.



& as I watchd Caan I rememberd meeting him 15 years ago. it was at the Taos Talking Picture Festival after a screening of his first film "A Boy Called Hate." he seemd a bit nervous. I askd him to sign my program. he told me it was the first time he'd ever been askd for an autograph.

the signatures beneath his are those of co-star Adam Beach & their director Mitch Marcus.

serial dreaming

I don't think this has ever happend to me before.

2 nites ago I dreamt I was assisting in organizing the holdings of painter Bernique Longley after her death. last nite the narrative continued exactly where it left off in her attic.

when I was young I had a recurring nitemare but I don't recall this sort of thing happening in my dreamlife.

Places I will never see again

because they will never be again

high school homeroom
college dorm
first Manhattan hotel
all torn down
Jean-Claude's barn
burnd down

& places like
house in Twin Lakes
David's livingroom
shells remain
but interiors alive
only in photographs
& memory

& how long
will memory last

so I make
a reservation
for a place
I've never been
where I will meet
someone I don't know
to write
a new chapter

Lincoln weeps

"Underwear in a Box"

plantings

the ones in the clay pots are from Billy. they remaind alive in plastic bags for a couple of nites at Coral Sands. the cuttings in water are from Mom & await roots before being plantd outdoors.

new CD

Todd's memorial

another dream

Newport Beach

on the wall of the Crab Cooker

Laguna Beach

the coffee that made the latest stain in The Book of Java.

the restaurant -- overlooking the ocean -- was once the home of character actor Slim Summerville.

Culver City

unfortunately Billy's in partial shadow. but Emma looks good. & so does the new water feature in his backyard.

back from LA

Billy got me this new t-shirt. we both found it odd that surfboards are mentiond with Culver City since it isn't on the ocean. but later Craig sd that surfboards are manufacturd in CC.

I'm holding a fig fresh pickd from Billy's tree. as soon as the picture was taken I enjoyd eating the fig.

Gorky in LA

the first painting of his I ever saw was "The Plough and the Song" (1947) at Allen Memorial Art Museum. now it's in the excellent retrospective at MOCA.

musical summers

Wang at noon. then the evening begins with film actor Gary Farmer & his band on the plaza.

Yuja Wang

this is the 5th summer in a row I've heard this exciting young pianist. always a thrill.

when you're gone.... you're gone

Sheila Smith casually mentiond in an e-mail that Kent State has a new dean of libraries.

I've been retired for some time now so I suppose no one left at Kent remembers me. I long ago gave up thinking my opinion abt Special Collections wd ever be askd.

but it does feel odd after so many years of service to be so out of the loop.

last nite
a great meal & fun opera

tonite
salad & a disappointing movie

from the desert

reading an interview



& remembering dinner companions