February 29th, the bonus day we get once every four years. It’s also when a strange little village in the Highland’s of Scotland comes to life for the day and four guys in plaid jackets give the concert they never had a chance to give in the 1950’s because their plane crashed with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson on board (aka, the day the music died) and one of them (Jinx) gets married to Heather on a hill and Van Johnson is the best man.
Middle-aged heavyweight woman with five o’clock shadow pushing a loaded babushka cart and wearing some kind of schmatta on her head spit at me and then mumbled something in Russian as I jogged by her. Sources tell me it was either an ancient curse or a killer recipe for borscht. Not to be outdone, an…
This is about Rio, the dog on the left. While in California I ran five miles every day. I didn’t bring enough running socks so I bought several new pair at Marshall’s; they come in a bag in a variety of colors; they go up to your ankles; ankle socks; Puma. I am very fond…
I know now never to underestimate the power of a half bottle of chianti and a blow dryer— they were the gateway to an evening with Caryn styling my hair like Danny Partridge from Hell. The evening concluded with a coma-like sleep and a dream of driving a wheelchair to my deceased parents’ house for…
Julian Bond At the public schools I attended in Northern California we studied the Civil Rights movement at a very early age, which meant we studied Julian Bond at a very early age. Anti Vietnam War protests would occur on the campuses where I attended school. The Revolution wasn’t happening around us, it was happening…
(Photo: Biography from “Fiddler” Program – May 1981) My friend, Hal Grant, called me today and said, “Nehemiah Persoff passed away, he was 102.” And then Hal went back to work directing a television show in Southern California. Nehemiah used to talk about ‘The Actors Studio’, and his teachers Stella Adler and Elia Kazan. And…
My sister Deb saved a box of memorabilia for me to go through while out here in San Jose for the summer. So, I’ve been scanning old family photos into my computer and reliving some of my life. This is an incredibly self indulgent, painful, cathartic, joyful, sad, happy, and depressing process…kind of like life…