HAPPY HOLIDAAYS

 

A LONGTIME FAVORITE QUOTE

"While looking for the light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness and find the true light."  —Jack Kerouac (from The Scripture of the Golden Eternity)

NEW YEAR

 HAPPY SAMHAIN

(pronounced SOW-IN)

AKA CELTIC NEW YEAR

AKA IRISH NEW YEAR

YES

 
[don't know the source, assume it's legit, but either way it's righteous]

PERSONAL SAINTS

Woke up this morning to a text from a fiend with a photo of Father Mike Judge, the Franciscan chaplain to a NYC fire brigade who died at Ground Zero on 9/11 and who we knew. I replied with the single word SAINT. Which then led my mind to generate an alphabetical list of dead folk who are personal saints in any world, or heaven, I have a say over (i.e. in my heart):

SAINT ANNE FRANK

SAINT ANTHONY (DINOVI)

SAINT AUNT MARY (LALLY)

SAINT BASQUIAT (JEAN-MICHEL)

SAINT BERRY (BERENSON)

SAINT BILLIE (HOLIDAY)

SAINT BIRD (CHARLIE PARKER)

SAINT CAL (JOHNSON)

SAINT CANDY (DARLING)

SAINT CAMPION "TOMMY" LALLY

SAINT  CLIFFORD ("CLYDE" HEARD)

SAINT COOKIE (MUELLER)

SAINT DIANE (DI PRIMA)

SAINT DOLPHY (ERIC)

SAINT DOROTHY (DAY)

SAINT DOUG (LANG)

SAINT DOUGIE (STEINDORFF)

SAINT ED (COX)

SAINT ELIO (SCHNEEMAN)

SAINT EMILY (DICKINSON)

SAINT EVA (HESSE)

SAINT FANNIE (LOU HAMER)

SAINT FRANK (O'HARA)

SAINT FRED (HAMPTON)

SAINT GRACIE (ALLEN)

SAINT HARPO (MARX)

SAINT IRENE (DEMPSEY LALLY)

SAINT JACK (KEROUAC)

SAINT JIMMI (HENDRIX)

SAINT JIMMY (SCHUYLER)

SAINT JOAN B. (BARIBEAULT) 

SAINT JOAN G. (LALLY GLOSHINSKI)

SAINT JOAN R. ("BAMBI" ROBINSON)

SAINT JOE (BRAINARD)

SAINT KENNY (GRAHAM)

SAINT LEE (FISHER LALLY)

SAINT LEWIS (WARSH)

SAIINT LOUIS (ARMSTRONG)

SAINT MALCOLM (X)

SAINT MARILYN (MONROE)

SAINT MARSHA (P. JOHNSON)

SAINT MARTIN (LUTHER KING)

SAINT MCCARTHY (JOHN)

SAINT MEL (JOHNSON)

SAINT MIKE (JUDGE)

SAINT NATALIE (WOOD)

SAINT NORMAN (LEAR)

SAINT OTIS (REDDING)

SAINT "PRES" (LESTER YOUNG)

SAINT ROSE (MCBRIDE LALLY)

SAINT SELBY (HUBERT JR.)

SAINT SIMONE (SIGNORET)

SAINT SISSY (JOHNSON)

SAINT TED (BERRIGAN)

SAINT TIM (DLUGOS)

SAINT 'TRANE (JOHN COLTRANE)

SAINT UNCLE JOHN (LALLY)

SAINT VERONICA (LAKE)

SAINT WALT (WHITMAN)

SAINT WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

SAINT WILLY (FARRELL)

SAINT YVONNE (DE LA VEGA)

There are more in my head but I can't get them out. How 'bout yours?

HAPPY CELTIC NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

STILL OBVIOUS

LONGTIME FAVORITE QUOTE

"While looking for the light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness and find the true light."

—Jack Kerouac (from The Scripture of The Golden Eternity)

GOOD QUOTE

 

NOWADAYS

 

Almost 81-year-old (in a week) eating a slice of pizza with arthritic-Parkinson's hand, i.e. very slowly, savoring every bite and grateful for every moment. Photo taken by my son Miles. [That's my sister Irene and me in the framed photo behind me.]

THREE FAVORITE MEMES FROM 2022

 

ANOTHER LIST!

In the  mid-1970s, I was a single parent living with my first son (later his sister joined us) on the third floor of a three story federal building on Sullivan Street in what was beginning to become Soho when my second floor neighbor and friend, Denise Bratton, moved out and left me this already antique Art Deco kitchen table (and four matching chairs that long ago fell apart) and it's been with me ever since.

Almost a century old and half a century with me I felt inspired to list just some of the people who have gathered around it in my many homes then and since:

Caitlin Lally (now Hotaling)

Miles Lally

Ana Ross-Gongora

Lee Lally

Irene Lally Koch

Jimmy Lally

Cal Johnson

Sissie Johnson

Etheridge Knight

Tim Dlugos

Ray DiPalma

Elizabeth DiPalma

Jane DeLynn

Sylvia Schuster

Marty Brandel 

Bruce Andrews

Joe Brainard 

Johnn Ashbery

Kenward Elmslie

Edmund White

Terence Winch

Karen Allen

Ted Greenwald

John Godfrey

Jim Brodey

Harris Schiff

Annabel Lee

Rain Worthington

Bill Hellerman

Kiki Smith

Elaine Gill

Steve Levine

Steve Hamilton

Alfred Milanese

Kathy Acker

Jimmy Fouratt

Eileen Myles

Edie Baskin

John McCarthy

J. J. Mitchell

Beate Nielson

John Yau

Charles Bernstein

Paul Violi

Irma Towle

Susan Rothenberg

Udo Breger

Bill Sullivan

Richard Andersen

Simon Pettet

Nathan Whiting

Charles Walsh

Emil Schneeman

Elio Schneeman

Leslie Greene

Cookie Mueller

Max Blagg

Mac Wellman

Robert Slater

Fr. Campion (Tommy) Lally

Susan Wechsler

Elinor Nauen

Maggie Dubris 

Susan Seidelman

Penelope Milford

Aileen

Bobby Miller

Beverly D'Angelo

Diane Lawrence

Mary Waranov

Dennis Christopher

Don Johnson

Ralph Bakshi

Rutger Hauer

Rob Cohen

Dale Herd

Lewis MacAdams

Ed Begley Jr.

Brad Davis

Helen Shaver

Melanie Mayron

Michael O'Keefe

Mike Binder

Jamie Rose

Tom Wilson

Joan Baribeault

Blaine Lourde

Jim Keefe

Jimmy "Buddy" Lally 

Catherine Audia Lally

Nathan Stein

Albie Selznick

Winston Jones

Bill Mohr

Rhonda Talbot 

Kale Brown

Eric Trules

Zalman King

Alec Baldwin

Lycia Naff

Neith Hunter

Kim Williams

Terre Bridgham

Jerome Sala

Elaine Equi

Aram Saroyan

Eve Branstein

Susan Hayden

Bonnie Raitt

Sharon Stone

Jeff Kobar

Walter Koch

Russel Kesterton

Carl Koch

Ty Granderson Jones

Michael DesBarres

Pamela DesBarres

Patti D'Arbanville

Stephen "Rocky" Bauer 

Peter Case

Flo Lawrence

Yvonne de la Vega

Ramona Wilson

Nick Brown

Hubert Selby Jr.

Katy Sagal

Lyndall Hobbs

John Bailey

Carol Littleton

David Milch

Rita Stern Milch

Sarah Jessica Parker

Beth Grant

Paul Harryn

Michael Chieffo

Jenifer Baxandale

Crystal 

Jaina Flynn

Flynn Lally

Michael Harris

Meg Foster

Bill Lannigan

Katy Lannigan

Marshall Norstein

Elaine Durbach

Billy Lally

Robert Lally

Sis Fennesy Lally

Naomi Greene

Donovan Lally

Ed Hotaling

Deak Hotaling

Hannah Bracken

Janet Kirker

Jeff Coleman

Sue Brennan

Stephanie Hoeler

Jim Coleman

Stefan Wrembel

Jeanne Donohue

Will Robinson

Abi Teixteira

Gwyn Kruger 

Nela Hadzic

Odell

Mim Kohn

Nance Boylan

Steve Adams

Spenser Parker

Mick O'Malley

Suzanna Caperos

Lisa Dugan

Amber Daniel

Maria Serrano

Stella Keating

Josee Funes

Marilyn Mohr

Karen Hubbard

Pina Pipina

Susan Napack

Phillipa Scott

Maryann Seibert

Angela Lockhart Aranoff

Mindy Thompson Fullilove

Beth Boily

Laura Booker

Boo Trumble

Rachel Diken

Geoff Young

Perry Ostrin

Brendan O'Connell

[This is who came to mind as I went back over the places i lived in NYC, Santa Monica, Maplewood NJ, and now Hillsdale NY...I know I'm forgetting folks so please forgive my 80-year-old Parkinson's brain...I could have checked my mailing address thing or FB friend list, but I did my best without prompts...feel free to add to it if this table rings a bell for you...]

+ John Restivo, Vivian Bresnitz, Anselm Hollo, Bob Holman, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, Jeff Wine, John Voight, Chris Coreshi, Raven Chaney, Mike Graham, Mello-Re Houston, Michael Andre, Kenneth Koch, Willie Farrell, Mark Ebner, Patrice Lally Pniewski, Michele Lally Doyle, Jennifer Lally Fondots, Kim Collins, Kevin McCollister, Magdalen Powers, Paul Abruzzo, Dick Lourie, Ron Schriber, Simon Schuchat, Don Yorty, Norman  Scriviner,  Matt Hauser, Grace Cavalieri, David Hilton, Joanne Hilton Dahlgren, Sandy Bull, Buddy Arnold, John Getz, Ingrid Bolting, Chloe Chandler, Luloo Flynn Mann, Evan Mann, Isabella DesPosito, Doug Milford, Theresa Burns, Jim Bracken, Kathy Bracken, Ate de Jong, Julian Neal, Sophie Charlip. 

DOUG STEINDORFF R.I.P.

Not sure who created this enhanced portrait of Doug, but it captures some of what made him special. Like him it's fierce, over-the-top, heroic, ridiculous (Rambo on a bicycle), movie-star handsome, rugged, intense, and iconic. What 's missing is the unconditional love that poured out of him. Since we first met in 1980s LA when, as he told it, our mutual friend Hubert Selby Jr. told me to "talk him" [Doug] "down" I've been trying to keep up with him and his loving spirit. 

Whenever we expressed our love for each other we used the word "adore" and it was, and still is, the way I feel about him. I adored the way he talked and wrote (pretty much every utterance was uniquely poetic, darkly hilarious, and totally original). and I adored the way he looked and carried himself, even when, maybe especially when, he was goofing. 

And damn was he supportive. You knew he had your back even when he was flat on his from heart problems and cancer and more. Unlike anyone I've ever known in my 80 years. We're all unique in our own ways, but Doug was the most unique, to me. When I gott the call that he had passed at 61, I had trouble accepting it, something I've otherwise grown good at. But the thought of no more almost daily posts and comments from Doug on my computer anymore, left me heartbroken in new ways.

Deepest condolences to his wife, Cynthia, and their children. Life is often unfair, and often what's most unfair about it for those left behind is death.

25

Some favorite photos of my son Flynn: as a toddler (while visiting friends in Martha's Vineyard, photo by Rita Stern Milch), and pre covid a few years ago clowning with me in a Jersey cafe, and staring into the camera while modeling for an ad campaign, also pre-covid, He turned 25 yesterday and my heart is full of gratitude for the great gift of his presence in my life. 

RESERVATION DOGS

 

RESERVATION DOGS is back for a second season. YAY! for a show that should get a mess of  Emmys but aren't nominated for any I hear. "Skoden" anyway.

FOR THOSE OF US WHO

 

AWARE

I read that today is "Transgender Awareness Day" and so I post this photo of one of my heroines, Janet Mock, as emblematic of all the transgender people I admire and love whether in person, or from afar—as in her case—and especially in heartbreaking but loving memory of those who have lost their lives just for being who they are.

TOM GIANNAKOUROS R.I.P.

 
This is the photo Tom used on Facebook, so I'm using it here. Even though he was 78 when he passed several days ago, that face and smile and look in his eyes remained the same throughout his life. We met in LA in the last century through a mutual friend, Hubert Selby, and stayed in touch, He moved back East after I did and for a few months lived in the basement of my half of a duplex I rented. He was a chef, so his contribution was cooking amazing meals for me and my youngest child Flynn.

You can read his obituary on his FB page, but they left out the two life changing experiences he often talked about. His time in a little village in Latin America where he had an epiphany about how happiness did not depend on worldly possessions, and his stint (a year and a half, or more?) in prison during The Vietnam War because he refused to take part in any way. I was always impressed with that commitment. I had been an anti-war activist back then and received death threats and was arrested but don't know if I would have gone to prison willingly as Tom did.

He moved to Vermont to be near his daughter years ago, but he and I spoke on the phone often. In recent  months he was definitely tiring from the physical challenges of aging, so I'm grateful he's free of that now. Condolences to his daughter and extended family and many friends.

HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S (from March 17, 2019)

Something I heard today that I wanted to pass on (and I'm sure I'm not getting the wording as well as the speaker but you'll get the idea). A woman referred to that line in the typical "Irish blessing" where it says "May the wind be always at your back" then she added, "but if it isn't may you know how to adjust your sails." 

ANOTHER OLD FAVORITE QUOTE

"Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines,

but inside there is no music,

then what?"

—Kabir (from The Kabir Book, version by Robert Bly)