my getaway

 travel has lost its appeal. with age I have less patience. while I may still desire being other places the getting there increases my anxiety levels.

but this past weekend I did my first overnite since the Big Birthday Road Trip. I visitd the Dana Point home of dear friend Estee. & we were really busy.

I'll highlight a trio of adventures.

walking the beach of an ocean is both intense & calming. the feel of the water on bare feet & the fresh smell are intoxicating.

Archive for New Poetry at UC San Diego is one of the world's preeminent collections. it's an honor for me to be part of it. Estee drove me to La Jolla so we cd go to the famous Geisel Library to see where ANP is housed. special collections director Lynda Claassen gave us a tour. I gave her 2 more pieces to add to my collection there. it made me feel proud.

on my final nite there we were lucky to get last minute seats for Festival of Arts' gala to support Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. special guest was actor Jason Ritter. we arr'd as he was being photographd on the red carpet. afterward a girl askd for his autograph. I observd & when he was finishd I calld his name. he lookd at me & I told him that I'd met his grandfather (singing cowboy & actor Tex Ritter) when I was a boy. he came close as I spoke & seemd delightd to hear my story of his grandfather's appearance in Lorain OH 70 years ago. later I learnd that the fellow in the background of this photo is his brother Tyler who is also an actor. I love the looks on their faces.

Terence Stamp (1938-2025)

I was staying at one of the bungalows beside the pool at Chateau Marmont in the fall of 1998.  that famous pool where Garbo did laps. where legend claims Tab met Tony.  I slippd on a speedo & walkd the few steps from my front door to the pool. there was someone else there.  I cautiously got in trying not to get too close to the other guest. but I got close enuf to discover that it was Terence Stamp.  I sd "good morning" & allowd him to do his thing. after a bit he nodded "bye" as he got out. he walkd to where his towel was & removed his suit to dry off.  I tried to remain calm & not stare but kept thinking "my god.... I've just seen Billy Budd naked."

I took this at a Hollywood festival of his films

 

I love how my pieces spill over each other. 

my work has always been abt connections.

sometimes it's a whisper. 

sometimes a shout.

"kiss today goodbye"

 all weekend the internet was taken over by the 50th anniversary of "A Chorus Line" opening on Broadway. I was one of the lucky ones. I first saw that great musical in its original staging at the Public Theater. from almost the beginning it was sold out. but I got in because one of its creators -- James Kirkwood Jr. -- gave me one of his house seats. & there I was sitting next to him while theater history was being made.

Jimmy was the son of silent screen stars Lila Lee & James Kirkwood. lovely Lila had her share of troubles. so her son came to my home town to live with his aunt for a few years. he graduatd from Elyria High School 19 years before I did. (one of his classmates lived next door to my parents.) 

I was in high school when Jimmy came to town to visit his aunt. of course I met him. he signd my copy of Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of Television -- just as his mother had signd by copies of Blum's volumes on the silents & the talkies.

his Aunt Peg gave me some of her theater books (she had appeard on Broadway opposite Al Jolson) as well as photos from her brief time in Hollywood. one was a striking photo of Nita Naldi who playd the other woman in "Blood and Sand" in which Lila was Valentino's wife. it had a sweet inscription to Jimmy.  I had it on my walls for years. when I went to Buffalo for the try-out of his play "P.S. Your Cat is Dead" I brought it as a gift. I felt he really shd have it again.

here is a detail from the poster of that show. the pen he was using faild & he finishd signing in another. the ink from the first has faded so badly it's nearly gone. but it says "Alex -- with appreciation -- I mean coming to Buffalo is beyond THE CALL OF DUTY."  seeing that always reminds me of the Buffalo line he put in the other show he was working on then -- "A Chous Line."

I'm sure he wd've been so excitd to know so many people still care abt "ACL."

a little play abt writing a play

 from Wanderbuch :

                                                                                                10 aug 86: Charlemont

Scene: The kitchen & adjoining study in the Berkshires farmhouse of a playwright.

Time: Morning.

Jean-Claude (seatd in front of a word processor in his study): Give me an Italian name.

Alex (pouring hot water into an ironstone cup): Marcello.

Jean-Claude: No. People wd think Mastroianni.

Alex: Giuseppe.

Jean-Claude: Too long.

Alex: Paolo.

Jean-Claude: Hmmmmmmmm. Short & soft. (He types the name on the machine.)

Alex: (Dunks an Earl Grey teabag in the cup.)

                                                    *.    *.    *

after J-C leads David & I in yoga exercises   followed by a watermelon feast   he reads the newest version of the opening of "The Traveller." this time the traveller addresses the audience directly which he didn't last nite.  I smile when the Joe Chaikin character talking on the phone to an Italian reporter addresses him as Paolo.

                                                        

                       

                               (Jean-Claude's cats cuddle beside my Wanderbuch 2)

full circle

 in the fall of 1965 I was enrolled in the masters program at Kent State's English Department. one of the classes I had was with a fellow by the name of Bob Carothers fresh from getting his bachelor's degree from Edinboro University. we became study buddies & then friends.

a year later he & his wife joind me & my partner along with Jacob & Mary Leed   Linda Lyke & her husband   & Jerrald & Pat Ranta to form a collective which we calld Standing Rock Press. together we actually bought a huge heavy press which we stored in the basement of a bar in town.  my memory is that very little got printd on the press & we eventually sold it. later in its life the press became a part of Kent lore when it was used by various activist groups (I think even SDS).

as young poets Bob & I were involved in the thriving literary scene in northern Ohio at that time. we read together & publishd both locally & nationally. I no longer remember which of us decided to start our own magazine. but together we co-editd the first issue of Toucan which came out in may of 1967.

along the way I got tired of studying & left the Ph. D. program. Bob got his. & we each went abt our lives.

along the way Bob became president of University of Rhode Island from 1991-2009 -- longer than anyone else at that institution. & when that university built a new library they named it the R. L. Carothers Library.

if you're one of my regular readers here you know I've been working on what I call my Legacy Project -- finding appropriate homes for the last remaining copies I have of my publications. I only had one complete run of Toucan & it already had Bob's name on it. I think we co-editd the first 2 issues together. so I wrote to the director of Special Collections at the R. L. Carothers Library to see if they had the magazine.  they didn't. I offered to send my set. they were happy. & having it safely there makes me happy.

(photo by Hannah Charron)

in circles

 the flooding in Texas hit hard. one of the reasons is the reporting on Camp Mystic. that brought memories of boyhood summers at Camp Iss See Kes -- the YMCA camp in Amherst. so I got out  my earliest photo album & there were my photos. then I did an online search & discoverd that the main building there was calld Rotary Lodge. here's the photo I took of my cabin mates & counselors in front of it in 1951.

I also learnd that it was the idea of Ralph Murbach (1888-1987) -- a founding member of Elyria's chapter of the Rotary Club.  he was the local coal dealer who added building supplies to his store whose customers included my father.

I met Ralph's grandson John years later. in the 1990s I became part of a group of gay men interested in "Music / Art / Books" who met online & calld ourselves the MABsters. after a quarter century I remain friends with some of them. actually 2 of them were/are among the best friends of my life.

in conversations I mentiond being from Elyria & one of the members told me that that was his roommate's hometown as well.  the next time I went to Chicago where they lived I met them. that was the only time I met John -- a prominent set designer who workd with Wisdom Bridge & Center Theatre. 

but the story goes deeper. it turns out a cousin of John's was a high school classmate of mine. but even more significantly he had been a lover of an actor with whom I had an important connection. he shared details of our mutual friend's death that I didn't know.  

people & events overlap. I understand that & try to capture those reverberations in my work.