Junior & Lulu Have An Afternoon Nap At Post Apocalyptic Bohemia

The Fast & The Furious

The Husband & I when we had been together one year.

A blogger that I admire documented, with discourse & photography, his long diet & exercise regime as he changed his shape over the course of a year. I admire his accomplishment. I don't believe in diets, but I am in favor of changing eating habits. I have done it a few times in my considerable life. I became a vegetarian 30 years ago & I once gave up coffee for 15 years.

Since I have been on a full blast binge of espresso, whiskey & pizza for 4 years, I have decided to do a cleansing fast: nothing white, no flour, grains, rice, sugar, dairy or booze. 3 smart individuals in my company & a good friend have done this with real rewards of weight loss, clarity & focus. I could use all 3.

The Husband, with his tiny waist & mostly vegan diet, joined me to be of support. I believe his true intention was to show that he could go through this program as proof of his prowess at poise, sobriety & self-restraint, while I will most certainly fail. The Husband plans to point out the cheese on my chin, forgetting my resolve at self-denial. If I need to, I can have the countenance for abstinence of a nun.

15 days. The first 5 days: all the vegetables & fruit you wish. The middle 5 days: juice... all you can stomach & lots of water, & finish the last 5 days back with the veggies & fruit again. Today is the end of day 4.

The Husband has a decided advantage with his regular diet being close to this routine, minus the candy bars (I find the wrappers. He thinks I don't know.) & Americanos. I work around an astoundingly ambrosial array of fresh food for 45 hours a week. For me this adventure is akin to the scene in The DeVinci Code when Paul Bettany flagellates & thrashes himself.

15 days without alcohol. I have not gone 15 days without alcohol since, well... since I was 15 years old.

I will not being doing daily updates. I do not weigh myself. I only look in the mirror to trim nose hair. I just wanted you to know, dear readers, should you note that my posts are cranky, crazy or confused.

Summer Songs #39... If You Go Away

It is difficult to wrap my head around... summer is winding down, Labor Day weekend is the second bookmark that holds the season up, & that holiday's stab is the start of summer's sleep. I took a vacation day yesterday & the first half of the day was greeted by dark & drizzle. I just got right in there & threw myself into a fit of melancholia. For a guy who looks tough, I do wistful & woeful well.

I have loved Ne Me Quitte Pas since the early 1960s, when at age 7, I would pose & brood while sipping a whiskey, wearing a beret as I would regard the rain listening to Jacques Brel.

I sang Ne Me Quitte Pas at my Elementry School graduation ceremony, & it has been covered by nearly every important singer of the past 60 years: Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Brenda Lee, Shirley Bassey, Madonna, Marc Almond  & Cyndi Lauper, but Dusty Springfield does my favorite cover.

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Il faut oublier

Tout peut s'oublier

Qui s'enfuit déjà

Oublier le temps

Des malentendus

Et le temps perdu

A savoir comment

Oublier ces heures

Qui tuaient parfois

A coups de pourquoi

Le coeur du bonheur

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai

Des perles de pluie

Venues de pays

Où il ne pleut pas

Je creuserai la terre

Jusqu'après ma mort

Pour couvrir ton corps

D'or et de lumière

Je ferai un domaine

Où l'amour sera roi

Où l'amour sera loi

Où tu seras reine

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Je t'inventerai

Des mots insensés

Que tu comprendras

Je te parlerai

De ces amants-là

Qui ont vue deux fois

Leurs coeurs s'embraser

Je te raconterai

L'histoire de ce roi

Mort de n'avoir pas

Pu te rencontrer

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent

Rejaillir le feu

De l'ancien volcan

Qu'on croyait trop vieux

Il est paraît-il

Des terres brûlées

Donnant plus de blé

Qu'un meilleur avril

Et quand vient le soir

Pour qu'un ciel flamboie

Le rouge et le noir

Ne s'épousent-ils pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

ne me quitte pas

Je ne vais plus pleurer

Je ne vais plus parler

Je me cacherai là

A te regarder

Danser et sourire

Et à t'écouter

Chanter et puis rire

Laisse-moi devenir

L'ombre de ton ombre

L'ombre de ta main

L'ombre de ton chien

Ne me quitte pas

Jacques Brel

1959

In English, loosing a lot in translation, I am told:

 

If you go away on this summer's day,

Then you might as well take the sun away

All the birds that flew in the summer sky

When our love was new and our hearts were high

When the day was young and the nights were long

And the moon stood still for the night bird's song

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.

 

But if you stay, I'll make you a day

Like no day has been, or will be again

We'll sail on the sun, we'll ride on the rain

& talk to the trees & worship the wind

But if you go, I'll understand

Leave me just enough love to fill up my hand

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.

If you go, as I know you will

You must tell the world to stop turning

Till you return again, if you ever do,

For what good is love without loving you?

Can I tell you now, as you turn to go

I'll be dying slowly till the next hello

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.

But if you stay, I'll make you a night

Like no night has been, or will be again

I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch

I'll talk to your eyes that I love so much

But if you go, I won't cry

Though the good is gone from the word goodbye

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.

If you go away, as I know you must

There is nothing left in this world to trust

Just an empty room, full of empty space

Like the empty look I see on your face

I'd have been the shadow of your shadow

If you might have kept me by your side

If you go away, if you go away, if you go away

Rod McKuen

1964

Born On This Day- August 29th... Musical Theatre & Karl Ulrichs... Coincidence?

Did you know that the Broadway musical & the term "homosexuality" were invented almost simultaneously? Pure coincidence?

Beginning in Paris with Jacques Offenbach & in Vienna with Johann Strauss, the operetta waltzed and can-canned its way across Europe. In the same era, America stumbled upon a musical theatre of its own. The Black Crook (1866) had little plot, crappy songs & lots of spectacle. There had been American musicals before this show, but this was the first to be a great big SRO hit. It spawned 100s of musical spectaculars with fantasy themes, known as extravaganzas. American audiences made these early musicals a thriving part of what was then referred to as "the show business." The Musical Comedy Queen was born, & meanwhile, in Europe:

In 1839, German born- Karl Heinrich Ulrichs & his riding teacher began a sexual affair when Ulrichs was a youth. As a lawyer, he seemed restless, often moonlighting as a freelance writer. As a closet gay, he risked financial ruin in engaging in a relationship with a soldier, & several other men.

When he was 34 years old, Ulrichs lost his government job for being gay, & he began publishing pamphlets explaining & defending love between men. When he had just turned 42 years old, he addressed the German congress, coming out publicly & demanding they repeal their anti-gay laws. He was shouted down before he could finish his speech. His books were banned, but he continued writing about homosexuality (a term that he was the 1st to use) for the rest of his life.

100 years before Stonewall, his book- Araxes, would put forth the modern arguments for gay rights. In 1879, he published- Research on the Riddle of Man-Manly Love. In bad health & feeling he had done all he could in Germany, he went Italy, where he settled in L'Aquila, where his health improved.

Ulrichs continued to write prolifically & publish his works (in German & Latin) at his own expense. In 1895, he received an honorary diploma from the University of Naples. Shortly after he died in L'Aquila, where he had lived as the guest of a local landowner, Marquis Niccolò Persichetti, who gave the eulogy at his funeral.

Forgotten for many years, Ulrichs is now a cult figure in Europe. There are streets named for him in Munich, Bremen & Hanover. His birthday is marked every year by with a street party & poetry reading at Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Platz in Munich. The city of L'Aquila has restored his grave & hosts the annual pilgrimage to the cemetery.

Ulrichs: "Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the spectre which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature. Many have been driven to suicide because all their happiness in life was tainted. Indeed, I am proud that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt."

I like to think that this most important of gay rights pioneers would have named CATS- now & forever, as his favorite Broadway Musical.

Hydrangea At The Post Apocalyptic Bohemian Garden

Native to Japan & Korea, there are hundreds of variaties. I used to consider them a "grandma" plant, but they have won me over with their long season show. The flowers set bud in early spring, the blooms come slowly & once open they change color every few weeks through October & beyond. One of the few plants that flower on new wood.

When we moved to Post Apocalyptic Bohemia we had inherited bad sod & a bunch of Rhododendrons pressed against the house. The land was scorched, with very little shade or cover. The back garden had been overrun with blackberries & ivy (neither native to Western Oregon) & had a dog run & clothesline. A decade later we have a shade garden, with peek-a-boo sun during the day.

We have planted many Hydrangea, which do well in our regular soil & shady conditions. They need little extra care & in the PNW, seem to have little pest problems.

I Am 6 Degrees of Separation From Activist/Pioneer Edward Carpenter On His Birthday

Gay activist, socialist, feminist, pacifist, nudist, mystic, poet, essayist, sandal wearer… The Post Apocalyptic Bohemian? Wrong... today’s Birthday gay is Edward Carpenter. Challenging both capitalism & the values of Western civilization, Edward Carpenter had an extraordinary impact on the cultural & political landscape of the late 19th & early 20th centuries. Carpenter’s enjoyed friendships with Walt Whitman, Robert Graves, Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, Isadora Duncan & Emma Goldman. After reading Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Carpenter envisioned a world of brotherly love that would do away with the class system & bring true freedom & democracy.

Edward Carpenter in1874

George Merrill in 1874

Carpenter graduated from Cambridge & held a position once filled by Leslie Stephen, the father of Virginia Woolf. He gave public lectures for the working class,but attended only by the middle class, who didn’t like to his ideas. He unsuccessfully sought the friendship of laborers, but in 1891, after meeting by chance on a train, he & uneducated worker- George Merrill became lovers. In 1898, when Carpenter was 54 & Merrill was 32, they set up house together, unheard of in England which was profoundly anti-gay after the Oscar Wilde trials. They lived openly as a couple for 30 years until Merrill’s death, & their love affair, crossing the classes, was the direct inspiration for their friend E.M. Forster’s novel Maurice, as well as D.H. Lawrence’s straight version- Lady Chatterley's Lover. American- Harry Hay, credited Carpenter’s writings for galvanizing him to start the 1st gay rights group- The Mattachine Society, in L.A. in 1950.

Carpenter in 1924

 Carpenter felt strongly that people tend to settle down into a single deep permanent union, but along the way they should be experiencing a variety of relationships & sexual adventures. He warned that the ideal of exclusive attachment can lapse into a stagnant 2 way selfishness. He saw a society with love & devotion between individuals without the quality of their love being defined by exclusiveness based on jealousy, a sense of private property in the other person, social opinions, & legal unions. He believed that such unions suffocate love in egoism, lust, & meanness.Carpenter wrote of sex as a good thing in human consciousness & not a sign or cause of human frailty & sinfulness.

In May 1928, Carpenter suffered a stroke leaving him almost helpless. He lived another 13 months before he died on a perfect summer afternoon, Friday June 28, 1929, exactly 40 years before the Stonewall riots. In 1910 Carpenter had written:

"I should like these few words to be read over the grave when my body is placed in the earth; for though it is possible I may be present & conscious of what is going on, I shall not be able to communicate. Do not think too much of the dead husk of your friend, or mourn too much over it, but send your thoughts out towards the real soul or self which has escaped to reach it. For so, surely you will cast a light of gladness upon his onward journey, & contribute your part towards the building of that kingdom of love which links our earth to heaven."

In 1967, gay Beat poet Allen Ginsburg interviewed Gavin Arthur (grandson of U.S. President Chester A. Arthur), world traveler, adventurer, & later a San Francisco astrologer,about his experience, as a young man of 23 years old, visiting Carpenter in England & having sex with the then 80 year old. Carpenter had told Arthur of his own sexual experience, as a 33 year old man, with the 58 year old Walt Whitman. When the young Arthur asked how Whitman had made love, Carpenter replied, "I will show you." The account of their night together is very sweet.

The Post Apocalyptic Bohemian in 1971

This means I am 6 Degrees of Separation from Walt Whitman
... who slept with Edward Carpenter:

Edward Carpenter slept with Gavin Arthur

Gavin Arthur slept with Beat poet Neal Cassady

Neal Cassady slept with Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg slept with James Dean
James Dean slept with producer Robert Fryer
Stephen slept with Robert Fryer in 1974.

For more on Edward Carpenter check out- Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty & Love by Sheila Rowbotham

Summer Song #38... If I Had A Boat

If I had a boat

I'd go out on the ocean

& if I had a pony

I'd ride him on my boat

& we could all together

Go out on the ocean

Me upon my pony on my boat

If I were Roy Rogers

I'd sure enough be single

I couldn't bring myself to marrying old Dale

It'd just be me & trigger

We'd go riding through them movies

Then we'd buy a boat & on the sea we'd sail

& if I had a boat

I'd go out on the ocean

& if I had a pony

I'd ride him on my boat

& we could all together

Go out on the ocean

Me upon my pony on my boat

The mystery masked man was smart

He got himself a Tonto

'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free

But Tonto he was smarter

& one day said Kemo Sabe

Kiss my ass I bought a boat

I'm going out to sea

& if I had a boat

I'd go out on the ocean

& if I had a pony

I'd ride him on my boat

& we could all together

Go out on the ocean

Me upon my pony on my boat

And if I were like lightning

I wouldn't need no sneakers

I'd come & go wherever I would please

& I'd scare 'em by the shade tree

& I'd scare 'em by the light pole

But I would not scare my pony on my boat out on the sea

& if I had a boat

I'd go out on the ocean

& if I had a pony

I'd ride him on my boat

& we could all together

Go out on the ocean

Me upon my pony on my boat

Lyle Lovett

1987

This is a serious favorite song of of mine. If I Had A Boat is one of 3 songs about the sea that made the list in my Top 10 Songs Of All Time. I wish it to be played at my memorial service. Take note.

Tom Ford Turns 50

“I don’t think of myself as gay. That doesn’t mean that I’m not gay. I just don’t define myself by my sexuality.”

Not only am I inspired by people who, along with tremendous talent, are able to "brand" themselves, but I also want to follow in their footsteps. I have provided past posts that include: Martha Stewart, Andy Warhol & Keith Haring.

I would like to have my own line of products: nipple clamps made from re-purposed office supplies, cocktail mixers, & a magazine- Post Apocalyptic Bohemian Lifestyle. There would be a STEVE! TV network, which would only show films & series re-runs that I appear in, or that I love, or that feature : Steve Allen, Steve Buscemi, Steve Reeves, Steve Carell, or Steve McQueen. I want my own fragrance- Douche by Stephen: nutmeg, whiskey, dirt & a hint of desperation.

Tom Ford has not only made himself a part of his own product, but he is his own muse.

Each time I have come upon a print ad for Tom Ford, a man who has the right stuff & designs beautiful clothing; I have earmarked the magazine ad & said to the Husband- "wow, can you believe how beautiful he is? Plus... the clothing & accessories are gifts from a genius". The Husband concurred.

Ford: "I think I detach the physical from the spiritual. It’s my business to make a woman or a man beautiful, & I’m working with a model in a fitting, & I’ve objectified them to the point that they become an object."

"They’re something that I’m modeling or shaping or sculpting, but I’m very aware that even though I make them physically beautiful, their soul & personality & character is somewhat detached from that. It’s great when you have a combination of the two- that’s what makes a true beauty. Some people are physically beautiful but yet they’re completely uninteresting, & thus they’re not beautiful. I detach the two. ... That’s why I think gay men make better designers."

Today is Tom Ford's 50th birthday. I would be very pleased to be snowed-in at a mountain cabin for a few days with Tom Ford. I would try my best to leave him inspired. He is Daniel Craig's designer of choice, & that is all the endorsement I need. I love you, Tom Ford.... but alas, he has has been with journalist Richard Buckley (14 years his senior) for 25 years. At least he is into a daddy types.

Buckley was the former Editor in Chief of Vogue Hommes International. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 & after his recovery the couple moved from NYC to Italy.

The couple have smooth fox terriers. Their first dog- John, lived 14 years with Ford & Buckley, & appeared on the runway & in photo shoots. Currently, they have Angus & India, who are 6 & 4 years old. These terriers appeared in Ford's film A Single Man. I am grateful to Mr. Ford for his 1st film- A Single Man. It was, for me, a masterful directorial debut & a deeply moving film.

Happy Birthday, Thomas Carlyle Ford, have your people call my people.

Born On This Day- August 26th... Writer Christopher Isherwood.

It is the summer of 1971 & I am doing summer stock in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho. Lucky me, at 17 years old, I am doing my 1st professional theatre & I am doted on & delighting in my first hot affair with a male, a fellow actor who was much older than me. Ron was 24 years old & was an actual college graduate! I had a hard time wrapping my mind around someone being finished with college & being interested in me. Ron lived in San Fransisco (I would visit several times in the next few years)!

The movie of Cabaret was to open that fall, & loving the Broadway Cast Album, I was preoccupied with how the film version would turn out. My summer lover was well aware of my anticipation for the film & he gave me a gift of the source material- The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood. He promised that we would see the film together & he kept his promise. I flew to San Fransisco for a weekend & saw Cabaret in the first week of release.

I delighted in the divine decadence of my new gay life. I listened to music, went to clubs, drank, drugged & Homosexuelle erfahrungen genossen.

Through the decades, I would read many books by & about Isherwood, including his diaries & my favorites- A Single Man & Christopher & His Kind. I recently purchased a new annotated re-issue of Berlin Stories. I have always been in awe of & fascinated by Isherwood's long life together with artist Don Bachardy, whom he met on the beach in Santa Monica in 1953, when Don was just a teenager. They were together until Isherwood's death in 1986. The story is told in a first rate documentary- Chris & Don: A Love Story. Today marks the 107th birthday of Christopher Isherwood.

Summer Song #37... Cool

Boy, boy, crazy boy,

Get cool, boy!

Got a rocket in your pocket,

Keep coolly cool, boy!

Don't get hot,

'Cause man, you got

Some high times ahead.

Take it slow & Daddy-O,

You can live it up & die in bed!

Boy, boy, crazy boy!

Stay loose, boy!

Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it.

Turn off the juice, boy!

Go man, go,

But not like a yo-yo schoolboy.

Just play it cool, boy,

Real cool!

Sondheim/Bernstein

1957

Born On This Day- August 25th... Leonard Bernstein

In the beautiful New England spring of 1972, I appeared as the Street Singer in a production of The Three Penny Opera produced by a friend at Adam's House at Harvard. At the same time Leonard Bernstein was giving a series of lectures at his Alama Mater – The Unanswered Question. Always absorbing & frequently brilliant, Leonard Bernstein's The Unanswered Question were comprehensible & persuasive discussions of music's history & forms, with particular emphasis modern music. He addressed the average intelligent listener who is not musically trained but wants to know what makes music work & what is meant, for example, by "tonal" & "atonal."

It required some concentration, but Bernstein, a superb teacher, kept technical terms to a minimum, illustrating what he meant with musical examples. I was lucky enough to go to 3 of the 6 lectures, being invited by the maestro after he thrillingly talked to me & gave me advice about singing Kurt Weill’s songs in TheThree Penny Opera when he attended a dress rehearsal of our production.

I already understood his place in music history, especially for his music for West Side Story, On The Town, Wonderful Town & Candide. I didn’t expect to find him so totally sexy & hot, but then, I often find men who are supremely talented to be sexy. I love Jewish men, especially charismatic, one of a kind major 20th century talents, with a flowing mane of hair & the ability to look me in the eye & touch my hand while telling me what he thought I was getting right & what I was missing in my performance. I went home that night simply swooning & with dreams of being the lover of one of history’s most important musical figures.

He may well be more famous among the general public than any other conductor before or since. He wrote 3 symphonies, 2 operas, 5 musicals, a mass, & numerous other pieces. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s & 1980s, Leonard Bernstein was undoubtedly the most visible proponent of classical music in American culture. Through his outgoing personality & resourceful uses of the media, particularly TV, Bernstein introduced 'highbrow' culture into the homes of middle America, while also defending rock & roll as 'real' music & supporting radical causes.

In spite of Bernstein's speaking out for unpopular causes, he was outspoken on civil rights & Vietnam, he was, for much of his career, unwilling to risk exposure of his homosexuality. Indeed, the social mores of the 1950s & 1960s meant that revealing his homosexuality would undoubtedly have destroyed the celebrity & influence he had attained. Later in life & after the death of his wife in 1978, Bernstein became quite open about his being gay.

He left behind an unprecedented amount of recordings & videos, leaving us with a legacy to be experienced for generations to come, & the memory of one 19 year old boy who melted at having been in his presence. My crush on him never diminished. He was born 93 years ago today.

Born On This Day- August 25th... Rob Halford

I have received comments on this little spot on the Internet from readers noting my egalitarian music collection. Even I have been amused by my music choices as I re-alphabetized a stack of CDs.

The D section includes: D’Angelo, Dan Fogelberg, Damian Rice, Dave Matthews, David Bowie, David Gray, Dean Martin, Depeche Mode, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Donna Summer, Doobie Brothers, Doors, Doris Day, Duke Ellington, Dwight Yokum, & Dusty Springfield. My music is heavy on Pop, R&B & Rock, but there are sufficient sprinklings of Dance, Hip-Hop, Classical, Opera, Bluegrass, Blues, Jazz, Latin, Gospel, Alternative & World Beat. Genres that are under-represented include: Polka, New Age, Choral, Christian, Arena Rock & absolutely zero Metal bands.

I was abashed & astonished while researching this post to find that there are actually gay Metal-Heads. Apparently it is not all about GaGa with the gays.

Robert John Arthur Halford, the British sexy, butch lead singer of the seminal Metal Band- Judas Priest has spoken about how he believes his decision to come out publicly as gay helped destroy the myth that metal fans & bands could not accept homosexuality.

Rob Halford: "There are areas of music that are more compassionate, more tolerant, more open, more accepting and more aware. What I think I have done is destroy the myth that heavy metal bands don’t have that capacity. The vast majority of fans did receive me well after he came out. "Those that didn't were the ones that have difficulty accepting people's sexual orientation in general. I think I made some people confront issues they were not ready to deal with."

Halford also said that, although he believed progress had been made in the metal community, there was still a way to go. Halford: "Heavy Metal now is a completely different world compared to Heavy Metal in 1980. The gay & lesbian world is very different now to what it was in 1980. We have all grown to some extent. There is still a long way to go. There are still a lot of issues that need to be addressed, but I think slowly but surely our lives are getting better."

Hiding in plain sight for 2 decades, the closeted Halford modeled his look on the gay leather scene, a drag then adopted by many other metal bands. Heavy Metal concerts & videos don’t appear to me to be much different than look & ambiance of a Saturday night at The Eagle, my neighborhood leather bar.
Halford was lead singer with Judas Priest from 1974-1992, electrifying fans & critics with his 4 octave voice & operatic style. In his personal life, he struggled with alcohol, drugs, & bad relationships. Halford hit bottom when after a terrible row, he caught a taxi, & his boyfriend then shot himself & died in front of him.

Halford cleaned up his life. He played with Pansy Division at gay pride parties in the late 1990s. He came out on MTV in 1998. In 2003, he reunited with Judas Priest. In 2008 the band released a reunion album- Nostradamus, & played on the Masters of Metal Tour. Halford has homes in Phoenix, San Diego, Amsterdam, & his native Walsall, England, also Boy George's hometown. Halford claims that after coming out, the support of the metal community has been "tremendous." Halford has stated that he is a huge Lady GaGa fan. I remain unimpressed by the metal genre, but I am intrigued & a more than a little turned on by him. He turns 60 years old today.

If I owned a Judas Priest CD it would be sitting next to Judy Garland in my collection. This Joan Baez cover is quite moving:

Summer Song #37... The Summer Knows

Summer is my favorite season & August, my favorite month. August: 31 days, no holidays, vacation. I am my most content in late summer & I always a bit bittersweet to say goodbye to the season. The summer smiles.

  

The summer smiles

The summer knows

& unashamed

She sheds her clothes

The summer smoothes

The restless sky

& lovingly

She warms the sand

On which you lie

The summer knows

The summer’s wise

She sees the doubts

Within your eyes

& so she takes

Her summertime

Tells the moon to wait

& the sun to linger

Twist the world

Round her summer finger

Lets you see

The wonder of it all

& if you’ve learned

Your lesson well

There’s little more

For her to tell

One last caress

It’s time to dress

For fall...

Marilyn & Alan Bergman

1971

Born On This Day- August 24th... Stephen Fry

Comedian, successful novelist, star of the silver screen, raconteur & wit are all part of the dazzling resume of Stephen Fry.

He recently played The Cheshire Cat in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. I have really enjoyed the work of funny actor/writer Stephen Fry since I first spotted him in the very agreeable & amusing BBC series Jeeves & Wooster with Hugh Laurie (he has appeared on Laurie’s series- Bones), based on the books by P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves books, which I had read in early college. At the time, I felt that I would make a very good Jeeves, who is an improbably well informed & talented valet in 1920s England. Mr. Fry was fabulous in this role. I have been following & enjoying his work since this series stopped airing in the early 1990s. The openly gay actor has stated, when asked about his coming out: "I suppose it all began when I came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother & thought to myself, 'That's the last time I'm going up one of those.'”

I thought he was hysterical as King Charles l in Black Adder. He is good personal friends with Prince Charles & his horsey 2nd wife, even though his performance in Black Adder was a parody of Elizabeth 2’s son. Other favorite performances: Oscar Wilde in Wilde with Jude Law (“a role that I was fated to play”) & 2 of my all time favorite films- Gosford Park & Cold Comfort Farm. I understand that he appears in something refered to as The Harry Potter Series of films.

I have also enjoyed his books- The Liar, Making History, The Hippopotamus & The Star’s Tennis Balls. Fry lives in London with his husband- Daniel Cohen. He famously drives a black TX4 London cab. Mr. Fry has & maintains a nifty blog- The New Adventures Of Mr. Stephen Fry.

Born On This Day- August 23rd... Gene Kelly

I am a Fred Astaire guy & the Husband comes down in the Gene Kelly camp. It doesn’t really matter. Gene Kelly’s dance artistry, masculinity & his taut, supple buttocks are perfection, & he could tap dance on roller skates. Really. I have seen it… tap dancing on roller skates! Where do you come down on the Kelly/Astaire conundrum? Today is the 99th anniversary of his birth.

Born On This Day- August 23rd... American Artist Louise Nevelson

Nevelson by Avedon

Nevelson is known for her abstract expressionist “crates” grouped together to form a new creation. She used found objects or everyday discarded things in her assemblages, one of which was 3 stories high: "When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created."

She was born Leah Berliawsky in Kiev in 1899, & was raised in Rockland, Maine From early childhood Nevelson wanted to be a sculptor, with wood as her medium. It took her more than 6+ decades to make her mark in the art world. Nevelson had one unhappy marriage when she was 18 years old. The union with business man-Charles Nevelson lasted for a decade, & produced one child, a son-Myron. Nevelson left her marriage in 1931 & devoted herself to her art. She would go an entire decade before her 1st exhibit, which was failure. Nevelson had a 2nd show in 1943 & sold nothing. She took the entire show back to her studio & destroyed every piece. After changing direction, & after years of creating small scale pieces, Nevelson's breakthrough large works in wood were critically hailed in the late 1950s. She infused abstract art with her personal story: the epic Jewish migration to the United States between the 1880s & the 1920s, her life as a woman artist, & her involvement in American modernism functioned as the source for her vast body of work.

I have a keen interest in American 20th century art, but I know more than even a dilettante like me should about Louise Nevelson. I had a good friend in the 1980s, who wrote a one woman show about Louise Nevelson, & I was present for most of her research & preparation.

Nevelson was the entrée for the USA at the Venice Biennale in 1963, but was still not able to make a living from the sale of her work Around this time she met the young artist-Diana MacKown. They soon moved in together. A new period of success & a more concentrated, engaged work followed. Most biographies & Nevelson’s NY Time obituary fail to mention their 26 year relationship. Nevelson’s son & heir had a metal door installed at the apartment the women shared above their studios. He had been estranged from his mother most of his life, but Nevelson had made no provisions for MacKown in her will. MacKown was supported by Jasper Johns, Edward Able, John Cage, & Merce Cunningham when she filed a lawsuit.

I met her once, at her opening of an exhibit at the Pace Gallery. She was there in her trademark scarf & gypsy garb. I was there with a contingency of friends of the actor- Michael Higgins with whom Nevelson was acquainted. She sat in the back room, & received selected visitors who came to pay her court. Tammy Grimes was next in line to pay her respects. Nevelson looked at her blankly. Grimes seemed to have blushed: “I’m Tammy Grimes, I am an actress.” Louise still looked puzzled, but she was polite & rather regal: “How nice to see you”.

“You see, I think that we have measurements in our bodies. Measurements in our eyes. Look, dear, we walk on 2 feet. So we're vertical. That doesn't mean the work has to be vertical, but it means there is a weight within ourselves, or this flight. All these things are within the being: weight, measure & color. If the work is good work, it is built on these laws & principles that we have within ourselves. So when you use a vertical line or a horizontal line, or a texture or the way the shadow falls or a thinner piece or a heavier piece, it all kind of satisfies something in the soul - or, I don't like the word soul, satisfies something within the deed.You add or subtract until you feel. . . the form, the principle, that something that makes the house stand, that makes you stand."