Word
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Charles Giuliano at the Mount on June 5
Launches Book of Gonzo Poetry Shards of a Life
By: - May 27th, 2015On June 5 at The Mount in Lenox, Mass. the publisher/ editor of Berkshire Fine Arts, Charles Giuliano, will launch Shards of a Life. From 5:30 to 7:30 PM on the porch there will be a reception and reading. In 1970 Giuliano coined and was the first to publish the now common word gonzo. The book of poems continues his development of the unique gonzo style.
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Pesto
Weekly Dinners with Sister Pip
By: - May 26th, 2015When we were bachelors Pip and I were best pals and neighbors in Cambridge. Mid week we met for dinner. Now and then the rarest of treats pesto from the freezer. Was it good I asked?
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Martin Mugar
Artist with Elegant Mind
By: - May 26th, 2015It was an offer I could not refuse. Invitation to dine with Martin Mugar at the elegant and exclusive Algonquin Club on Comm Ave. The conversation started that night continues to this day. He is passionate and opinionated about painting. We agree only on the eenui of most contempiorary art.
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Ornette Coleman
Shape of Jazz to Come
By: - May 26th, 2015A true polymath and visionary a dialogue with Ornette Coleman touched on everything from art and music to his innards. Beyond comprehension he took jazz to the next level.
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Philip Glass
Pictures Last Longer
By: - May 25th, 2015Long before he became mega famous I had lunch with composer Philip Glass. There was a soft mix of natural and artificial light as I photographed during an interview. The words that day are long forgotten but the images remain of an amazing encounter.
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Cake
Marie Antoinette at Cholmondeley's
By: - May 24th, 2015When I was in college the nine year difference in our age was huge. It was one of our first of many dates before my tenure as a jazz and rock critic. All went well until she ordered the cake.
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May
A Time to Plant and Sow
By: - May 24th, 2015Memorial Day weekend putting in gardens. Tricked by late frost always an issue in harsh New England.
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Geoffrey
Hula to Whodoo
By: - May 24th, 2015On the porch last summer recalling wild times as teenagers.. Geoffrey gave me his collected verse. Who knew a year later I will give him mine. With the secret grip we are members of the Live Poets Society.
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Reasonable
Platitudes of Daily Discourse
By: - May 23rd, 2015Our daily discourse with others from friends to strangers, clerks in the checkout line, waiters in cafes is conducted with boiler plate. We meet and greet but really don't want to know each other. The usual hi how are you lacks the weight of true inquiry.
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Charles Giuliano's Shards of a Life
Beyond Gonzo
By: - May 22nd, 2015The book of poetry Shards of a Life by Charles Giuliano will be launched with a reading and book signing at Edith Wharton's The Mount. The free reception will will occur on Friday, June 5 from 5:30 to 7:30. The critical essay "Beyond Gonzo" was written as the introduction for the book by J.M. Robert Henriquez
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Guido's
Pricey Heirloom Tomatoes
By: - May 20th, 2015Waiting too long each summer for our first ripe tomatoes. Usually mid to late August. Until them ridiclous prices at Guido's where the Berkshire royalty shops for super meats and produce.
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Chris Burden
Shot in the Arm as Art
By: - May 17th, 2015When performance/ conceptual artist, Chris Burden, passed away this week in recalled meeting him during his ICA exhibition 1989. I pulled the file and found the original notes and negatives. The resultant poem is extracted from discussion of his seminal 1971 piece Shoot.
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Pop
Tales of the Lower East Side
By: - May 17th, 2015In grim isolation the ancient super next door was terrified of Die Kinder. We surprised him on Thanksgiving.
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Spotty
Curse of the Mutt
By: - May 15th, 2015After years of hard work the Sullivans moved to upscale Belmont. Up the street from Aunt Catherine of the Rockoport Nugent clan. At first all went well. Then
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BB King
The Thrill is Gone
By: - May 15th, 2015More polished and assimilated into a range of styles than his peers Howlin Wolf or Muddy Waters like them up from the Delta BB King was a blues giant. Arguably, he was the greatest guitarist of his generation building on the original King of the Delta Blues, Robert Johnson. BB King was an inspiration to the British musicians of the 1960s, from John Mayall, to Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Jeff Beck who conflated Delta blues with rock 'n' roll. We celebrate his legacy at 89.
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Odors and Smells
A Pungent Tale of Woe & Joy
By: - May 14th, 2015Through time, space and daunting obstacles reaching back to recover the exotic perfume and flavors of a Caribbean heritage.
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Bloody Thursday
Papa Doc Duvalier Was Having a Bad Day
By: - May 14th, 2015Rebels who couldn't shoot straight failed to assassinate Haiti's dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. Decades later recalling the terror that prevailed that day.
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Sexual Healing
One of Final Performances of Marvin Gaye
By: - May 12th, 2015As past of a summer long series a stage was erected on Boston Common facing Boylston Street. In a stunning performance Marvin Gaye went almost Full Monty while crooning the anthem Sexual Healing/
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Smoki Bacon
Legendary Boston Socialite
By: - May 11th, 2015Smoki grew up Italian in Brookline Village and married Boston Brahmin Ed Bacon. Hence that amazingly catchy handle Smoki Bacon. She has long been one of the brightest lights in the social scene. She knows everyone and delights in making introductions often to excess.
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Texting
So It Is Written So Shall It Be
By: - May 04th, 2015Looking for answers. Lifetime of reading. Ultimately going it alone without a net.
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Lobster Thermidor
Annual Kentucky Derby Party
By: - May 03rd, 2015It's over in a couple of minutes after a log buildup. For the past six years Lisa Bklackmer and Michelle Jensen have hosted an annual Derby party as a benefit for breast cancer. This time the big screen and lawyer's office was not available. Lisa was in the dumps about it. I suggested the Eclipse Mill Gallery. She wavered. Then I offered to bring Lobster Thermidor. That clinched it. The party was awesome but everyone ragged on me when I copped out.
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The Pledge
A Poetic Pact
By: - May 03rd, 2015A declaration of commitment to a voyage upstream to explore the cave of dream and memory.
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God Is Dead
We're On Our Own
By: - May 03rd, 2015Faced with the unfathomable and irrational, fragile and fallible mankind invented God. That explained everything. Then as Nietzsch stated God died. We killed Him. Nothing new. But now what? Without sin and fear of punishment why do we do the right thing? Heaven and hell are here and now.
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Kiss Me Kate
Daughter Fourth in Line
By: - May 02nd, 2015It's good to have a backup plan. Prince Williams and Kate, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, have done it again. Doomed to a redundant and irrelevant career their infant girl is Fourth in line for the British Monarchy. She will spend a life tended to hand and footman showing up for Royal occasions looking as bored as we are.
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Lights Out
End Game of Creation
By: - Apr 30th, 2015The end is not near but inevitable. Eons from now the dark sky. Stars racing away too far to see. Or exhausted of radiant energy. Perceived infinity in fact finite. Not Armageddon rather a universe of dust and debris. No more big bang for the buck. The paradox of our egocentric speck of insignificance.
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