FROZEN BORSCHT SALON

ByGary De Mattei February 9, 2013July 12, 2015

Yesterday I heard a man say something in Russian to his children. I imagine he was referencing the storm we were walking through as compared to winters in his native cheery Siberi-a. Probably went something like, “Why, when I was young we didn’t have clothes, we had to wear the snow to keep us warm!” How do they push their strollers filled with plastic bags through a blizzard? Plastic bags and kids. Walk. Trudge. Drag. I’ve never seen anyone so pale. Dark circles on his dark circles. Oh, wait, that’s me I’m looking at in the stylist’s mirror. Pale. Drawn. Gray. Until she finishes cutting my hair and then…she must step on a button or something because all of a sudden when she’s through I look new. Tan, even. Like when the butcher switches on the pink light in his refrigerated display case so the old rotting flesh he can’t move looks fresh and new again. You know what sounds fun? Vitamin D. And a train bound for the sun.

Stories

To The Love Of My Life On Easter

ByGary De Mattei March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

It was one of those March days Dickens wrote about, “when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” There were lots of Easter Bonnets being blown about. Smiling Manhattanites in boaters and bowties mixing in with the sad-faced men and women…

Stories | Writing

HAPPY SAINT GENESIUS DAY

ByGary De Mattei August 23, 2011September 1, 2016

THERE ARE BIG TALL TERRIBLE AWESOME SCARY WONDERFUL GIANTS ON THE STAGE “I, Rooster John Byron, hereby place a curse Upon the Kennet and Avon Council, May they wander the land for ever, Never sleep twice in the same bed, Never drink water from the same well, And never cross the same river twice in…

Nuts And Chews | Writing

MEET THE MESS

Bygdemattei August 23, 2012July 12, 2015

“Meet The Mess!” It’s all starting to sound like the opening number from ‘Music Man’. Next time you’re watching one of these Punditry Parades, try turning off the sound and replacing it with ‘Rock Island’. It’s better than two martini’s in Disneyland: David Gregory: Ever meet a fellow by the name of…

Stories

Commedia Divina

ByGary De Mattei May 2, 2020May 3, 2020

When rereading and reciting the 14,000 line poem of Dante’s very sad comedy in quarantine, I am having this strange daydream about palm trees, the clearest of azure blue waters, and a little shack on the sandiest of white beaches that rents scuba diving masks to tourists. Banishment is a theme with a great many…

Stories

Life With Guido

ByGary De Mattei October 2, 2020October 8, 2020

LIFE WITH GUIDO A short film written by Gary De Mattei (Sound and Guido monologue begin) FADE IN: Old photograph of Guido’s Italian family; 1960s. FADE OUT: photograph FADE IN: Abrupt medium close-up of Guido holding and looking at the photograph. He is wearing a crumpled sports jacket and tieless shirt; the background is the…

Stories

January 5, 2013 at 5:49 PM

ByGary De Mattei January 5, 2013January 5, 2020

Got back to NYC safely. Always difficult to leave San Jose. It’s where I’m from. It’s where my people live. It’s where I learned, loved, lost, laughed and cried…a lot. Took a redeye with a crying baby at my back. It cried and cried and cried so I didn’t have to. The only thing that…

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