Mysteries Abysmal

Factotum: thumbs up!

Only in Charles Bukowski's world can a sleazy bar rat seduce a pretty woman (Marissa Tomei) with Brahms' 3rd symphony. 

Factotum opens in theaters tonight, but don't take your grandparents. 

addendum: It's no secret Bukowski had a soft spot for Brahms and Bartok; a google search will reveal dozens of anecdotes about his fanaticism for classical music. Here's one of the pleasingly bullheaded variety: The poet who allowed so many who followed him to reject formalism is simply too complicated to be put into a box--even that of "the maverick." A girlfriend reports that he didn't like hippies, many of whom were fans of his. "Let them go work in a post office, they'll see what life is all about," he reportedly sneered. An interviewer driving with Bukowski points to the radio and asks, "Do you like this music, classical music?" He nods and says, "It's the only kind."

A Duty for Darrells Bullen

(Here's a super short story I wrote today in 29 minutes; I've been meaning to get it off my chest for quite some time now)

A young teenage boy—let’s call him Darrells—finished his last geometry problem and peeled back the sheets. Suddenly, his mom yelled up from the foyer: “Darrells! Phone!” The young lad picked up his cordless and muttered a quiet “hello?” into the receiver. Ringing back into his ears was that high-pitched, pre-pubescent and very self-assured voice: “Hey, it’s me, Nic.” Nick had dropped the “k” when he was 13. “Can you come over, it’s really important.”
“I don’t know man, it’s late and I was just about to go to bed,” rejoined a weary Darrells.
“Oh c’mon, I’ll owe you big time. I need you,” Nic pleaded.
“OK, I’ll get on my bike.”
Darrells was 14 and his bike was a Huffy. In the 6th grade, kids had mockingly chanted to him and always very slowly, “Huffy…Huffy...” whenever he began to unlock his bike from the rack before riding home.
And so Darrell pedaled his way to Nic’s, even though it was already 9 o’clock.
And he pedaled. He pedaled through dark country roads, patches of forest, and even through a wheat field when he finally arrived around 9:45.
As Darrells approached the house, Nic had opened the door from the garage trying to get his friend’s attention, “pssst…hey man…come in through here.”
Darrells quickly jerked back to his right and ducked under the half open garage door.
“Hey,” whispered Nic, “follow me.”
The two tip-toed down the corridor and entered Nic’s bedroom.
“What’s going on? You’re starting to worry me. You okay?” inquired Darrells.
“What I’m about to tell you can’t tell anyone else, alright?”
“Sure.”
“Listen man. I don’t know how to laugh. Will you teach me how to laugh?” asked Nic.
“What the hell are you talking about?” responded Darrells with impatience.
“I mean, I can laugh. But it doesn’t come out right. Will you teach me to laugh?”
“How do you laugh now?” asked Darrells with disbelief.
“Well….I don’t know. Kind of like this: uh……uh huh. Uh…..uh huh…”

And so a preposterous, mousy modulation filled the young boy’s room.

Boston/Fenway

Here are a few of my travel photos from Boston last week. I drove 1600 miles in 2 days with the worst cold of my life (I'm still recovering). I lost my original birth certificate, ran out of money, and saw my team lose 6-4. And yet I still managed to have a fun time. Photos enlarge if you click them.

This was my gracious and accomodating host Cody. It's nice to know there are other guys who compromise living space for cool environs. Cody's apt. rests in Harvard sq. in Cambridge.

That is the oldest bar in the U.S.: the Green Dragon Tavern.

That penile looking building in the background is one of the oldest in Boston.

This isn't your typical date on a tombstone in the U.S. In fact, many of the surrounding stones were written in middle English.

Old money

Sculpture of Socrates at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The highlight of my trip: Tigers @ Red Sox at Fenway. This is outside the park before the game; the stadium is to the right. If you're a baseball fan, there is no better place to be.

My favorite picture: this is from my seat about 45 minutes before the game. That is the most famous fence in all of sports, and two Tigers sailed a couple HR's over it. Man, dig that grass and blue sky!!!!

See Fisk?

The laziest left-fielder in the history of MLB.

A sincere thanks to all who helped make this trip possible.

Summer pause

I'll eventually return to posting, but for now I'm taking a break to push the radio program. Next week I'll be visiting Boston and the great Fenway Park. Gerry Fisher has started posting Cyber Classical playlists and his own personal recollections of recent shows here. Go Tigers!