tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post3448194090364873375..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Pops' TourUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-77010291414589216082010-06-25T08:56:16.860-07:002010-06-25T08:56:16.860-07:00Curtis,
Squirrel discouragement is not easy for a...Curtis,<br /><br />Squirrel discouragement is not easy for a kind soul. <br /><br />Joe was proverbially generous with his work. After one show I recall, he gave away the unsold work to friends. In fact that was more of less his practice, in those early years.<br /><br />In a spectacular crash on the Ohio Turnpike some of the works Joe had given me were badly damaged. We have a few small ones still, however.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-46169078664876707532010-06-24T18:18:23.036-07:002010-06-24T18:18:23.036-07:00We have a squirrel in the attic now who's tapp...We have a squirrel in the attic now who's tapping out what Jane describes as Morse Code in the attic above her bed. I love squirrels, but I hope he/she leaves soon on his/her own volition. I've hired "humane" squirrel trappers before (they hang out at your house for days armed with jars of peanut butter), but am hoping for a little financial and mood relief in these straitened times. But I love squirrels and respect squirrels and am crazy about Joe Brainard's work. In the mid-1970s, when I was still a student I bought a very small Brainard called No Soap from his Fischbach Gallery (as I recall) exhibition in NYC where all works were priced at $25.00 for my parents for Christmas. I chose it carefully then, own and treasure it now, and wish I'd asked someone to lend me more money so that I could have purchased other pieces. It was a very fine show.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-90830591518472401652010-06-24T10:42:22.431-07:002010-06-24T10:42:22.431-07:00(And that last bit goes for both of you. Though in...(And that last bit goes for both of you. Though instead I'll settle for some Safeway Superglued Instant Crystals, I believe.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-40745960777555579432010-06-24T10:40:12.181-07:002010-06-24T10:40:12.181-07:00I am awash, on this gloomy morning on Earth after ...I am awash, on this gloomy morning on Earth after a long night spent pathetically failing to repair a broken kitchen overhead light fixture, in the Joy of Curtis.<br /><br />Curtis R, yes, it's their seeming ability to remember that makes me envious. I realize at the same time that their seeming could be all show, their display of enthusiasm in a given section merely evidence of a short memory. But in my abject dereliction of attention I see their appearance of attention as having the virtues of boldness and confidence, at least.<br /><br />Curtis F, thanks for the (speaking of) memories. Yes, that was a Joe Brainard design. Joe did not only the wonderful covers for that book but multiple series of great interior drawings. Those were the days; I gaze upon my sole copy now in silent awe (wobbling only slightly, still clutching the fruitless pliers).<br /><br />But that was then and this is now, where "Pops" is actually what I was called on Tuesday night by a pleasant black gay masseur I have known for some years in passing. Took a moment to figure out who he was addressing. But no more than a moment, it must be admitted. (All this seems to be happening much too fast, lately; but I suppose that's a common lament.)<br /><br />At any rate that salutation gave pause and the pause then produced the Tour; just before the light fixture broke, latest of the systems to fail in the general collapse comedy. <br /><br />I do remember Aram calling his dad Pop. Actually, once, back in the period when he'd just been screentested for the Hoffman role in The Graduate (family connection there, through his mother), he and I went to visit Pop at Pop's hotel in London. (I got the impression Pop was made a bit anxious by the encroachments of postmodernism but also that he must have known this, too, would pass.)<br /><br />And speaking of the occasional drop of watered down Eighteenth Century coffee house tone in the piece, aged all these centuries, Curtis -- I want your coffee!TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-3550314772402282772010-06-24T10:03:19.557-07:002010-06-24T10:03:19.557-07:00Tom:
This reminds me a little of your Coach House...Tom:<br /><br />This reminds me a little of your Coach House book.<br /><br />The yellow cover.<br /><br />Was that a Brainard design?<br /><br />No one remembers it--almost no one ever saw it. <br /><br />Who wrote the "Pops" paragraph?<br /><br />Aram always referred to his dad as "Pop"--<br /><br />My coffee this morning is especially good--I put a double dose of Peet's Garuda in the French Press, liberally dosed with Stornetta's heavy cream. Yum.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-66589199436436312582010-06-24T04:37:12.241-07:002010-06-24T04:37:12.241-07:00What says it all for me (this morning) is "th...What says it all for me (this morning) is "their seeming ability". Activity can indeed be overdone. The television that is currently on in the background while I catch up on some correspondence provides incontrovertible proof. I woke up this morning feeling much, much better than I did when I went to sleep last night and now I'm deep into misanthrope territory. Clearly it's time to take a walk. The coffee's delicious, though.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.com