ted sorensen

ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU- ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRYted sorensen, john kennedy's great speech writer, friend and adviser, died today. i was acquainted with his niece through friends, and i saw him give a long eloquent funny toast at her wedding- in verse! a year or so ago i saw him at ted kennedy's wake at the kennedy library. i was one of the 60 thousand average people who spontaneously appeared to pay respects, and i recognized ted sorensen among the many close family friends who were there. i think this is he to the left of the ballerina? on the right is bobby kennedy junior.

mfa boston

the international center of photography organized a richard avidon show which is now on display at the mfa boston. we went to see it yesterday. mike helps out with the icp's lecture series wednesday nights in manhattan

nomad. dia de los muertos. day of the dead.

nomad, cambridge massachusetts. dia de los muertos! folk art, books, papel picados, tissue paper marigolds and everything you need to observe the holiday. i do store windows and displays here. these are some day of the dead windows from several different years.

the clothing (also sold at this eclectic influential shop) is by plenty, filly, gary graham, neesh, free people and burning torch. cydwoq boots.

interesting copious bloody marys.

cabrito west village. these are made with sangrita, a mexican tomato/fruit based chaser/mixer. they are very hot. you get 3 (yes- three!) for $9.00 with brunch plates. if you just get one it's still $9.00. and the food is terrific.

flea market loot

cute little tiny working locks and keys i got at the 25th st flea market last week.

3 am saturday night harlem.

woke up at 2(am) sunday morning and decided to take the A one stop up to saint nick's pub. neighborhood jazz bar. old style- no cover pass the hat can't tell the musicians from the audience. half the people in the (packed) place are on stage performing at some point, people off stage are playing instruments, and most of the rest are dancing. saturday is africa night. african jazz and pop mostly from senegal and mali. house band is stellar.

most nights someone makes pot luck style food and offers it around for a small, sometimes optional contribution. the great drummer dennis davis (with david bowie on young americans and through the 80s) hangs out and plays here, and once we were here on his birthday when he made a giant pot of gumbo for everyone in the house.

the sound is bad on the video unfortunately, but one can get the vibe of the place.

poppy

marc's car.

honk

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minor mishap marching band.

the honk festival last weekend in somerville massachusetts. activist marching bands and street theater from all over america. like: mad max, threepenny opera, latcho drom, noam chomsky. balkan burlesque mummers. gypsypunk john philip sousa.

fanelli at dawn

lucy greeley introduced me to fanelli's. i knew her in boston before her bestselling memoir was published and i came down to stay with her when she got her loft on mercer st. she lived there with her cats, stinky and tripod (three legged cat, of course.)

her writing- pithy, terse. a woman writer in the tradition of emily dickinson, beryl markham, joan didion. NOT oprah book club. because she had more observations than needy questions or preachy answers oprah didn't understand her; and terry gross could only ask (paraphrasing) "you're ugly- how does that make you feel?"

lucy was on a lot of medications due to frequent surgeries to improve her ravaged, barely existent jaw. drugs eventually got the better of her, but we'd lost touch some time before that. as her star rose she lived an adventurous life in new york and gradually she became harder to reach. she .was very very popular and, contrary to terry gross' s opinion, she was foxy and had both male and female lovers.

once, scanning a book review in the sunday times i started to feel that it was exceptionally beautifully written. on checking i was startled and charmed to find lucy had written it!

a couple/few years later a friend called to ask if i knew she'd died.

when i met lucy i was trying to make living as a painter, mostly selling paintings to friends and acquaintances. lucy bought one of my paintings and had it hanging in her loft 2 blocks down from fanelli. a nude in a very dark room. her head bent over and hidden by a deep red towel she's wrapping around her just washed hair.

family photo

on five mile road in michigan.