Charles Nolte (1923-2010)

it happens often. I'm searching something online & find something else which sidetracks me. today it was the famous 1951 photograph Carl Van Vechten took of this actor in costume for his greatest role -- Billy Budd.

I was first aware of Nolte via Daniel Blum who lovingly included him in Great Stars of the American Stage. it was odd because I never saw Nolte on stage & have no memory of his few film & tv appearances. but his image in the Billy Budd photos is indelible.

many years ago I saw him sitting alone in a Broadway theater before curtain time. to this day I regret not having spoken to him. I don't recall why I didn't. it might have been that I hadn't actually seem him act & simply was in love with how he lookd.

he appears to have had a long & full life. his partner for more than half a century was former child star Terence Kilburn (who made his film debut in "No Greater Glory" which featured my friend Lois Wilson).

I'd like to find that handful of Nolte performances that survive. I especially wonder if there exists a copy of the 1952 tv adaptation of his famous Billy Budd.

on the rocks

Mount San Jacinto State Park

my beautiful neighbor Estee

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

the only time I saw him he rode thru Elyria in an open car. I was near the photographer who I believe took this picture for the student paper.

at a time when the presidency has been reduced to a joke it's heartbreaking to remember when intelligence & beauty were alive in the White House. 

every morning

I wake hoping the president is dead. instead we get another embarrassing tweet.

anniversary

one year ago today & just a month after burying Mom I signd closing papers on my Santa Fe house of 22 years & flew to Palm Springs.

I put everything I ownd into storage while I searched for a new home. in abt 6 weeks I found a condo to which I brought those possessions. there was a grueling period of renovations which took place while I was making friends & becoming familiar with my new city.

one year of a new life playing out while the country struggles with the most disastrous presidency of modern times. one year already.

Anna Sophie Kovach Hause (1916-2000)

last year I was so busy getting ready to move that I forgot it was the centennial of my godmother.

I had quite the complicated relationship with Aunt Sophie. as a child I adored her. she seemd to be my Auntie Mame. always cracking jokes. & she liked the newest gadgets. she was the first to pop corn on the stove in one of those foil pans. & I recall she bought a sheet of multi-color plastic to tape over the tv screen so she cd claim to have a color tv. she was generous in her way but also boastd abt her giving. she gave me some money for college but I've forgotten how much. however she was fond of telling people she helpd me thru school. & when I was clearing up & cleaning up before the move I cashd in a small savings bond she'd given me decades before for a birthday.

it wasn't til much later that I had to deal with her prejudices & dishonesty. there was a period when I found her embarrassing.

in many ways I'm still trying to balance the many aspects of her life. she remains a colorful figure in our family. I feel she knew I had issues with her but of course we never spoke of them.

however today is her birthday & I'm focusing on the Aunt Sophie of my boyhood where my memories are fondest.

Mom with her sisters Sophie & Mary

Aunt Sophie with me & Regina

Aunt Sophie with a cake she brought to the party for my high school graduation

A-Z West

Andrea Zittel runs an arts community in Joshua Tree. I joind a small group of fascinating people for a tour.

on the rocks

Joshua Tree National Park

& on a wall

A-Z West

art opening

behind Bruce Bibby's back:
Stefano Rosso & Eric Schwabel

"Men in Love"

as antiquity laps at my toes I find change a daily occurrence. a new case of solar lentigo is visible. an attitude shift can arrive without trumpets.

one activity age seems to have discouraged is rereading. Ned Rorem told me he read Nightwood every 10 years. I never had that sort of romance. but I remember returning to favorite passages. now not so much.

however last nite something jumpd into my mind. it was a simple message: John Perreault's "Men in Love."

all the way back in the fall of 1974 I edited the Perreault issue of The Serif.  I askd John for some new poetry to include in the issue. he gave me a sequence of 26 sonnets. I was thrilld. 

one of the intentions of the author issues of that bibliographical journal was to spur academic attention on contemporary writers. I've been out of that scene for so long I don't know what has or hasn't been done. however I don't think Perreault -- who died less than 2 years ago -- is receiving the sort of review for which all writers aspire.

"Men in Love" is juicy. the poems poke & tickle. there are flares of language & flames of lust. I can't explain how the notion of them appeard last nite. but I quite adore the hour I've spent fondling them.

I wish some publisher wd reprint the sequence as a chapbook. I wish some grad student wd write a chapter in a dissertation on John Perreault abt "Men in Love." I wish that whatever will drop another title on me some nite soon.

I can't do anything abt liver spots. but I can still get frisky with a poem.

Lucille Garfield (1926-2015)

searching abt the internet I found a death notice which seems to match the sculptor I knew decades ago in Santa Fe. I no longer have contact with anyone from that time who also knew Lucille to verify her death but the few facts presentd make it highly unlikely that 2 women share them.

back to the beach

at a party with Donna Loren  

AmDocs

American Documentary Film Festival

on the red carpet with Jennifer Tennican (director of "Far Afield")

Sally Kemp (1933-2017)

I met Sally in the summer of 1994. my friend James Broughton was visiting Santa Fe. one nite another friend threw a big party for him at which "The Bed" was screend. Sally was there with her housemates at the time -- John & Karen Ericson. I took this picture of her with James.

she had a long career both on stage as well as in film & tv. one of my favorite roles of hers was in Tony Richardson's "A Death in Canaan."  it was such a small part that all of it is in this You Tube clip. but as you can see she makes such an impression you remember her thru the whole film -- & even after.

when she left Santa Fe to reboot her career in NYC she had a yard sale. I helpd. & for that she gave me some items that didn't sell -- including a large pot & a throw given to the crew of "Cagney & Lacy." every time I use them I think fondly of her.

in addition to the spark she always brought with her I'll also never forget that she was the one who introduced me to Bernique Longley. I've written abt that before but it deserves retelling. she knew both me & Bernique well enuf to know we'd adore each other.  it says so much abt Sally that she was able to share friends in such a lovely way.

protesting

last nite I went to the gathering of One Million LGBTQ in Action. this Palm Springs contribution to the nation-wide protest against the "president" was feeble bbut heart-felt.

then this morning Judith Gollust King sent me another of her remarkable photographs documenting the history of Kent State University.

I must say I look all too dapper for a protest march. but there I am -- flanked by Patrick Cullie & Peggy Freemon. Judith thinks this was taken on 21 apr 1969. the crowd looks robust.

the first time I was in a protest was as a child when I joind my striking father to picket General Industries.

"Rolling Stone"

hard to believe it'll celebrate its half century mark this year.

& harder still to know that I had a poem in its pages 47 years ago.

return to Borrego

continuing the X journey

Sherin Guirguis
"One I Call"
Whitewater

Glenn Kaino
"Hollow Earth"
Indio

Armando Lerma
mural
Coachella

Will Boone
"Monument"
Rancho Mirage

p. s.

at Hedy Lamarr's house

a story instead of a shimmy

I know someone in town who lives in the house that once belongd to Hedy Lamarr. we may be doing something together tomorrow. so he was on my mind. & as my mind is it weaves hither & yon with comfort & ease.

& a tale returnd to me. I had a redneck uncle who had a sister who smoked. I disliked her. once she was visiting Winckles St & in the course of her rambles she lookd me in the eyes & utterd in a slightly desultory manner "I remember when you were a boy & dressd up like Hedy Lamarr."

I was startld because I have zero memory of doing drag as a child (except at Halloween). but I was not to be one-uppd by a hillbilly. so I quickly responded: "you're wrong. it was Betty Grable." then I stood up   turnd my back to her   put my hands on my hips & lookd over my shoulder with a glower for the ages.

wild flowers

everyone is talking abt the "super bloom" brought on by all our winter rain. so some of us went to Borrego Springs today to see what it's all abt.

welllllll... it's just beginning. I suspect it'll be in fuller glory in another week. but I was happy to be introduced to the desert lily.

also the Ricardo Breceda sculptures are fun.  here I am with a section of his "Sand Serpent" (2011).

more X

Doug Aitken
"Mirage"

actor Udo Kier

Dennis DeGroot photographing me

Desert X

Claudia Comte
"Curves and Zigzags"

Phillip K. Smith III
"Circle of Land and Sky"

Lita Albuquerque
"hEARTH"