America's iconic brew

Last night I went as a guest to the weekly Budweiser Happy Hour.

Adolphus Busch, one of the founders of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company was a great brewing and marketing innovator.  Over 120 years ago he used new ideas such as pasteurizing beer and refrigerated rail cars for transport that made his brew the first national beer.  While touring Europe in the 1870's he studied the changes taking place in brewing and was impressed by the success of pilsner.  A new method using bottom-fermenting yeasts which improved clarity and shelf life.  On his return to St. Louis, Missouri in 1876 he introduced Budweiser beer and in 1896 they began producing Michelob.
In 2008 InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch and added Beck's, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Bass, Labatt, and Brahma.  Anheuser-Busch InBev was now number one in the world and are now known as AB InBev.
They continue innovating with brews such as Margarita, a malt brew very similar to the cocktail.  A very nice alternative to hard liquor and my favorite.
And with innovative marketing:

The famous Warhol self-portraits used as labels.

And on the street or more exactly 'tar beach', someone who would love one of those Margaritas:

     

Prada and Schiaparelli

Went to the Metropolitan Museum to see this exhibit and was able to take some photos.

 

Walked to the museum and was pretty tired.  So I was lucky to find a comfortable couch.  That's Goya behind the couch and a Rembrandt and 2 El Grecko's around the fireplace.

 

West 10th

 One of my favorite streets in New York.

 

A famous resident.

What's been happening in my world?  This may explain:

Why should not old men be mad?
Some have known a likely lad
That had a sound fly-fisher's wrist
Turn to a drunken journalist;
A girl that knew all Dante once
Live to bear children to a dunce;
A Helen of social welfare dream,
Climb on a wagonette to scream.
Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good men and bad advance,
That if their neighbours figured plain,
As though upon a lighted screen,
No single story would they find
Of an unbroken happy mind,
A finish worthy of the start.
Young men know nothing of this sort,
Observant old men know it well;
And when they know what old books tell,
And that no better can be had,
Know why an old man should be mad.
W.B. Yeats

Lives of the Artist

I became interested in Frank O'Hara through his poetry.  I read that he and Larry Rivers, the abstract painter, had an affair.  So I picked up Larry Rivers autobiography "What did I Do?"  One of the most irritating books to read.  I imagine he thought he was abstracting his life in words.  What a life: a wife, step-child, biological child and mother-in-law all left behind while he plays his saxophone on the road and explores sex and drugs to the point of addiction. 
He met Frank O'Hara at a party of John Ashbery's in 1950.  They had an affair and Larry Rivers goes on for almost a chapter on whether his affair with O'Hara was because he was gay or ambitious.  Frank O'Hara knew a lot of people.  He was very personable.  He also worked at MOMA.  Rivers concludes that the affair came out of his "need for attention".

The major relationship in Frank O'Hara's life was Joe LeSueur.  They lived together for ten years  and split up one year before Frank's death.

Joe LeSeeur

His book, and from the book:
"Grace, Frank and I had left a party that was going nowhere and were walking across Eighth Street, heading for the Cedar, when Grace suddenly decided she'd had enough of the wimpy little guy who was tagging along. ... he was an abstract painter with a pathetically small red mustache and dim little eyes, and like a number of downtown artists and would-be artists, he never had a one-man show-in short, he was a loser. ...   He was staggering, slobbering, slurring his speech from having drunk more than he could hold.  Do you think Grace felt sorry for him?  No way.  Without warning, she hauled off and hit him so hard on the side of the head that he landed in the gutter.  "Hey Grace why did you do that?" I asked.  "I can't stand a man who doesn't act like a man."  She said.  I complained about Grace's behavior though I was more amused than appalled.  "What are you talking about?"  Frank said.  "The guy was asking for it." 
I'll stick to the poetry.  Familiarity breeds contempt.

Basketball

In New York there are a number of sports groups.  There is the New York Urban Professionals Athletic League with 2500 teams in basketball and men's, women's, and co-ed volleyball.  But this isn't that group.  There's the NYC Basketball League which the founders Ben and Josh say is the best.  Nope not them.  Also the New York Knicks Corporate league, which has basketball, volleyball, softball, indoor soccer, and dodge-ball.  On opening day of the Corporate basketball league they had 32 teams playing.  Not them either.  Now there are others leagues but they all play in gyms with refs and probably some gator aid.

This is the West Fourth Street "Streetball" amateur basketball tournament.  Founded by Kenny Graham, a limousine driver, it has carved its own place in asphalt history.  Among the "graduates" are Dr. J. Walter Berry, Jayson Williams, Anthony Mason, and Smush Parker.  West 4th street's talent is big but the court is too small to contain all the flying elbows.  Hence, its other name.

The Cage.
 

Annie Ross

Of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.  Saw her at the Metropolitan Room.

With my friend Sandra:

Annie Ross was born on 7/25/30 in England.  At an early age  her family visited the US and Annie appeared on the Paul Whiteman radio show at which she won a "token" contract with MGM.  At age 8 she sang " The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond" in "Our Gang Follies of 1938" and played Judy garland's sister in "Presenting Lily Mars".
In 1952 she wrote the lyrics to "Twisted" and recorded her first album with The Modern Jazz Quartet.  With  Lambert Hendricks and Ross she recorded 7 albums.  By 1960 she was addicted to heroin and when the group performed in London in 1962 she left the group to kick the habit.  There, in London, she opened her own Jazz Club.  She has been in many movies, notably Robert Altman's "Short Cuts", and many shows, notably "The Threepenny Opera" with Vanessa Redgrave.
Tonight she was accompanied by Tardo Hammer, piano [Sandra's favorite], Neal Miner, Bass, Tony Jefferson, drums, and Warren Vache, [my favorite] on flugelhorn.  The evening was a most welcome diversion. 

Second Street

Located on the corners of 2nd street and 2nd Avenues are 2 buildings.  One is our neighborhood Catholic High School, La Salle Academy.  In 1856, Bishop Hughes invited 4 De La Salle Christian Brothers from France to open a High School In New York City.  161 years later it is still in operation.  The faculty now is 95% lay teachers.

The 2nd Ave. entrance

The property was purchased from the novelist Washington Irving and, interestingly, Eugene O'Neill was a student at the school.  He didn't graduate but one of their famous graduates was Patrick Hayes, class of 1886.  He became Cardinal Hayes, and Cardinal Hayes is the name of my High School.  I like being connected to Washington Irving and Eugene O'Neill.  In 2000 La Salle Academy received recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.  Well there's no connection there between me and the school.   

 
This is directly across from La Salle Academy.  

The Anthology Film Archives. 
Initially the building was Manhattan's Second Avenue Courthouse.  Anthology was founded in 1969 by Jonas Mekas, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage.  It is the first museum devoted to film as an art form.  They have over 900 programs a year, and  have preserved over 800 films.  Today as a part of their Women's Filmmakers series they are screening "Wonder", described as: "one script, seven directors".
The founders wrote: "Fueled by the conviction that the index of a cultures health and vibrancy lies largely in its margins ... Anthology strives to advance the cause and protect the heritage of a kind of cinema that is in particular danger of being lost, overlooked, or ignored."  "The Margins" ... at one time that would have been the perfect description of the East Village.   Protect and preserve "The Margins".

Man and Superman

Another great production by the Irish Rep.

And another great cast of which I was only familiar with one, namely, Brian Murray.  The lead actor Max Gordon Moore is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Janie Brookshire is the female lead.  Both are exceptional.
The public in Victorian England opted for a light hearted  evening at the theater.  They are infamous for changing the ending of  'Romeo and Juliet' to something more uplifting.  The star crossed lovers live.  The artistic taste of empire is towards the sacchariferous.
So Shaw did not expect his plays to be performed and he wrote them as short stories.  To perform Man and Superman as written would take 5 hours.  This performance was 2 and a quarter hours.

Around the house:
I've painted the bedroom and hall and bought some new furniture and gotten rid of some of the old.
The heavy Danish modern pieces have been removed.  The living room looks so much bigger.

And the new for the  bedroom:

I've always liked Art deco and when I saw these it was love at first sight.
I call her Gypsy Rose Dee.

Can a cat explode?

At least now that he's off his diet I can sleep through the night without being scratched all over my legs.

Busy

I've had a request for a photo from my friend Chuck and have realized with all the photos I've been taking of the city I'm not in any of them.  I found one of Peter Thomas and me from Thanksgiving 2008 at his then home in Rhode Island.

I'm in the middle of redoing the apartment,and I've finally found the art-deco chifferobe I've been looking for.  So today we're painting.  This is what it looked like yesterday.

                                       Come back in a couple of months and it might be completed.

This week I went to the Shaw Symposium with Frank at The Players Club.  It was a 2 hour discussion with the actors,  producers, & the director of  'Man and Superman' which is now at the Irish Rep.  There was also a biographer of Shaw and a writer who has critiqued the plays from a Freudian view point.  It's been so long since I've heard someone take Freud's theories seriously that it was hard to keep a straight face.
[In the second act the feet sticking out of the car is a sexual symbol.  Who knew?]
My favorite came from a member of the audience, also a writer of Shaw.
Shaw to Cedric Hardwick 'Where's the horse'.
Cedric: 'What horse?'.
Shaw: 'The horse that isn't dead'.
Cedric: 'The live horse?'.
Shaw: 'Pronunciation!  The line is "the life force".'

The players club, exterior and interior is one of the most handsome of brownstones.  It was Edwin Booth's home on Gramercy Park.  Done very much in the Victorian style.

 The theater audience is aging as quickly as the 'Highlights In Jazz' audience.  That's Frank [in the second photo] enjoying the buffet.  [all free: snacks and talk].  Behind Frank are paintings and sketches of former and current members, you can see Peter O'Toole and Christopher Plummer.  I've blogged about  the club before when Carole, who is a member, took me to lunch. 

Back to the painting: 'Busy hands are happy hands'  

Pride 2012

Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade.  Early in the day I took a walk around the neighborhood and this is what I saw.

Then I stopped off for some frozen Margaritas to toast all those proud men and women.

Check out you tube's "we all wear green carnations" it's from Noel Coward's 'Bitter Sweet' with Hugh Laurie of 'House', and 'Ain't no sweet man worth the salt of my tears' by Bix Beiderbecke and Bing Crosby.

Another blast

Noel Coward in the last three years of his life was very ill and in constant pain.  He was treated for a urinary infection but that brought no relief. 
From the biography:
"He decamped to Jamaica for the winter but his 'stomach bug' caused discomfort and he felt ill for hours on end.  By early November, he was back at Passevant, undergoing tests involving a degree of pain.  But he was determined to be well, 'if it kills me'.  It was widely suspected-but not by Coward- that he had cancer.  [When warned against his chain smoking he switched to menthol's.]  ... after the tests were done the doctors said, 'We've got marvelous news for you.  You've got a kidney stone.'"
The biography does not mention treatment for the stone and he continued in pain till his death in 1973.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
       William Shakespeare's Sonnet XXX


Friday will be my second lithotripsy in as many months and I hope the last.
                              At Madison Square Park

Noel

I'm finishing the second biography on Noel Coward [12/16/1899 - 3/26/1973 and it can get very gossipy.  A lot of talk about who was sleeping with who.  Noel had two important long term relationships: Jack Wilson, and Graham Payn.  [Payn wrote the first biography I read.]  Then there were the affairs with the famous: James Cagney, Louis Hayward, Michael Redgrave and others.  He had developed such a reputation of inviting young male actors in his plays back to his rooms for a 'cocktail' that when he invited Dirk Bogarde, Bogarde had such a look on his face, Noel said; " Don't worry.  I am just across the street from the police, and you can bring your whistle."  As he aged Noel became more and more difficult in a bitchy way.  He had always been very witty but it became more and more caustic.  Walking across the street with a friend he saw an advert for a new film starring Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde titled 'The Sea Shall Have Them'.  Noel said 'I don't see why not everyone else has.'

Quite for no reason
I'm here for the season
And high as a kite,
Living in error
With Maud at Cape Ferret
Which couldn't be right.
Everyone's here and frightfully gay,
Nobody cares what people say,
Though the Riviera
Seems really much queerer
Then Rome at it's height,
Yesterday night
I went to a marvelous party

With Nounou and Nada and Nell,
It was in the fresh air
And we went as we were
And we stayed as we were
Which was hell.
Poor Grace started singing at midnight
And didn't stop singing till four;
We knew the excitement was bound to begin
When Laura got blind on Dubonnet and gin
And scratched her veneer with a Cartier pin,
I couldn't have liked it more

I went to a marvelous party
I must say the fun was intense
We all had to do
What the people we knew
Would be doing a hundred years hence.
Dear Cecil arrived wearing armor,
Some shells and a black feather boa,
Poor Millicent wore a surrealist comb
Made of bits of mosaic from St. Peter's in Rome
I couldn't have liked it more.

People's behavior
Away from Belgravia
Would make you aghast
So much variety
Watching society
Scampering past,
If you have any mind at all
Gibbon's divine Decline and Fall
Seems pretty flimsy,
No more than a whimsy,
By way of contrast
On Saturday last
I went to a marvelous party

We didn't start dinner till ten
And young Bobbie Carr
Did a stunt at the bar
With a lot of extraordinary men;
Dear Baba arrived with a turtle
Which shattered us all to the core,
When suddenly Cyril screamed fiddledidee
And ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea.
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvelous party
Elise made an entrance with May
You'd never had guessed
From her fisherman's vest
That her breast had been whittled away.
Poor Lulu got fried on Chianti
And talked about esprit de corps.
Maurice made a couple of passes at Gus
And Freddie, who hates any kind of a fuss,
Did half of the Big Apple and twisted his truss,
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvelous party.
We played the marvelous game.
Maureen disappeared
And came back in a beard
And we all had to guess her name!
We talked about growing old gracefully
And Elsie who's seventy-four
Said A, it's a question of being sincere
And B, if you're supple you've nothing to fear.
Then she swung upside down from a glass chandelier.
I couldn't have liked it more.
                                   Noel Coward

 

Gay

Because of 'February House' and the Noel Coward biographies I have been ruminating on gay modern history and for me it begins with Oscar Wilde.  Gay men, of course have always existed, but the famous and talented were discreet. Then came Oscar and his love for Bosie.  It was Bosie's father, the Marquess of Queens-bury, who addressed Oscar as 'posing as a sodomite'.  Oscar would kiss young men in public and comment on their beauty.  Questionable public behavior and dangerous.  So dangerous that Noel Coward, forty years later, admonished Cecil Beaton: "Your sleeves are too tight, your voice is too high and too precise.  You mustn't do it.  It closes so many doors."
Famously, it closed the door of Reading Goal on Oscar in 1895 and it was a kiss that did him in.  Years later in 'The Ballad of Reading Goal' he wrote:

I only knew what haunted thought
Quickened his step, and why
He looked upon the garish day
With such a wistful eye;
The man had killed the thing he loved
And so he had to die.

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.

At his trial he was asked why he would often kiss young men in public.  He said it was a sign of affection.  When he was given a list of the young men there was one he said he didn't kiss.  When asked why, he said the young man was ugly.  His kisses were not a sign of affection but a sign of attraction.  The kiss that never happened did him in.


Oh Who Is That Young Sinner

Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?
And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists?
And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.

'tis a shame to human nature, such a head of hair as his;
In the good ole time 'twas hanging for the colour that it is;
Though hanging isn't bad enough and flaying would be fair
For the nameless and abominable colour of his hair.

Oh a deal of pains he's taken and a pretty price he's paid
To hide his poll or dye it of a mentionable shade;
But they've pulled the beggar's hat off for the world to see and stare,
And they're haling him to justice for the colour of his hair.

 Now it's oakum for his fingers and the treadmill for his feet
And the quarry-gang on Portland in the cold and in the heat,
And between his spells of labour in the time he has to spare
He can curse the God who made him for the colour of his hair.
                                                           A. E. Housman, 1895

According to 'February House', shortly after initiating a lesbian relationship with Erika Mann, Carson McCullers has a breakdown and takes to her bed for six weeks with a fever.  When she recovers she returns to her alcoholic and abusive husband.

Perversity

I figure if I have provocative titles I'll get more readers.
But also the stones have been a perverse pain in more ways than one.  They have altered my diet, my mood and my daily life.  I had the lithotripsy and it went well at the time but I've still had back pain.  Today is my first day without pain.  Friday I had the x-ray and I see the MD Tuesday June 5th.  I hope the stones are gone.

Got to get me one of those seats.  Spend too much time standing around waiting for people.
The photo was taken outside the met where I went to see the 'Steins Collect' exhibition.  I was very moved by Matisse's 'Woman with a Hat' and other pieces the Steins had collected.  [They are on view at the Met website]
I did not know that Gertrude and Leo's brother Michael and their sister-in-law Sarah were even more prolific collectors.  They were so admiring of artists that they had their home designed by Le Corbusier.

Where else have I been.  Went to the Public and saw 'February House'.  Excellent musical that I will write about another time.  Lots of movies from netflix, nothing special, basically reading and resting.


The farmers market at Union Square

 

And on the street:

The window display at Fisher's Eddy [silverware-silverwear?]

This is the 4th group of young people I saw asleep on the street within 10 blocks.