2 NEW FAVORITE MEMES

 

OMCE UPON A TIME (THE 1930S)

 
This slightly damaged 1930s photo of my father ("Jimmy" with receding hairline) and one of his younger brothers ("Lydie" ne Michael Lydon Lally) evokes the "Peaky Blinders" style to me (also my father "made book" and this uncle spent time in a juvenile reformatory and both were grammar school dropouts). I once ran into Johnny "Rotten" Lydon at a party in LA and we discussed our families and discovered the Lydons and Lallys came from nearby in County Galway and that we were probably related. 

HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S DAY

I took this photo of my Irish cousin Paddy around 1992 standing in front of the home my paternal grandfather (and Paddy's grand uncle?), also Michael Lally, grew up in (though back then (the later 1800s) the house was smaller, ending between the two windows on Paddy's right, and had a dirt floor). Paddy's gone now and so is most of the house.

TURN OF THE CENTURY

 
Never saw this photo til now. That's me standing and my brother-the-cop (as I used to refer to him to distinguish him from my brother-the-priest and my brother-the-musician/teacher and my brother-who-died-as-an-infant). He's long gone now but it's a delight to see him in this shot at a New Year's Eve party as 1999 turned to 2000 months after I moved back to Jersey from LA. We were estranged for many years but that was beginning to heal, and I loved the guy.

JOHN YAU'S JOE BRAINARD THE ART OF THE PERSONAL

 
In this beautiful book poet and art critic (and friend) John Yau has put together a wide selection of Joe Brainard's artwork and written a great argument for why Brainard should be seen as a major and seminal artist (full disclosure: Joe and I were periodic lovers for several years), and not marginalized as too "gay" or "decorative" or "not serious" or "comic" or "pornographic" etc. As Yau writes: "What shines through in everything  that Brainard did is a melding of genius and generosity that has rarely if ever been seen in art before or since." Find out why Joe's work is so beloved by so many discerning creators of art and poetry, buy  this book.

BIRTHDAY

 

My first born child, Caitlin, turned 55 yesterday. Here we are when she was little and living in a radical feminist commune in DC in the 1970s after I moved out and was visiting. A few years later she joined me and her brother in NYC. I am grateful that she lives nearby my new home upstate.