plastichappy

promo shot for Two Men in a Box... opens September 9th at Planet Ant
that's me on the left and joe colosi on the right. photo by eric maher.
http://planetant.com

saw Broken Flowers last night
it was a good film... Bill Murray
continues to astound! not quite
everything that i wanted but
solid nonetheless. it is a gray
day today... i like that. on
saturday it rained hard and i
sat under a tent behind Planet
Ant and drank mate with the
rain. got to get some writing done
eventually "busy" is no excuse

listening to Warren Zevon:
Sentimental Hygene
what a giant!
what a loss!

well... things went off without a hitch at the livonia
zoo. for the most part... dogs might as well be kids.

hitting the rehearsal stretch for Two Men in a Box
which will officially open September 9th at Planet
Ant Theatre in Hamtramck.

also started meetings for a show which will open the last
weekend in Rocktober. The Dead Eye Boy through
BreatheArt theatre company at 1515 Broadway.
Believe me... my intent was and is never to act on Broadway.

world famous actor and folk singer Robert Grossman once said:
"The big time is for people who couldn't make it in the small time!"
(he's in New York now)
he also has been quoted as saying:
"I am a vegetarian but once a year I am seduced by ham."

to continue the leaps and bounds... steve swassey once blew up
a ham on Hickory Island. it was a glorious sight!

Good hot coffee on a friday... mid-morning. feeling a bit sluggish
in a stretch of 9 to 5 workdays then six o'clock rehearsals at the
Ant. so far so good in the rehearsal hall... having fun with mr. dan
roth's script and joe colosi is a joy to act with.
had a get-together on wed. night with the self proclaimed New Detroit
Fryers... El Aventurero, El Chivo, El Vikingo, and El Diablo. Markus was
in from the finger lakes of New York... what a tremendous man he is
he and rob smoked four ducks and i drank bloody marys all night while
jon strummed the guitar. Nora was able to attend for a while and she
played and sung like an angel. i started writing a song about Big Jim Swill.
i'll post it when it becomes available to my mind. Hawk has left for an
ireland trip... hope he brings back whiskey! i'm pretty sure i'll be heading
to camp livonia this weekend to tend the zoo... my brother and his fiance
now have five cats and a large dog named dakota... a rotweiler (if that is
indeed how one spells rotweiler) the dog has been a little sick so there is
a chance they won't leave for the weekend.
on a side note... reading a great book my brother gave me:
King of the Jews by Nick Tosches
a terrific writer... the book is essentially about Arnold Rothstein but it also
weaves a lot of biblical and language history into the picture.

Joel:

in this i have you
only
the earth is a tear factory
where ever feet pass
burning the souls
to again be made pure
only
the sky is laughter
where blue touches mountains
rolling down hills
to wash over me
only
these possessions are flowers
where time becomes work
to have and to have
all property: illusion
only
in this i have you

Robert:

my days
each morning waking
only one less
tear
and smile
crowded saline
over pearlessence

they talk of a stream underground
conveying the dead
reaching from their shoulders
love's architecture
pine tops
razoring the reserve

now
in double
in triple vision
until the dim
trails in charcoal lines
"pull" called when ready
on the trigger
scatter the diamonds
before they land

the fuse of the soul stretched from end to end
is used to hang the wardrobe turning to wrinkles

all the seas have names
the drowning remains the same

love lives in electricity passing overhead
strikes
with dirt in your hair

house of mud
heat
then porcelain
our shards
our sharpest edge

behind me
you have given me
behind me
by you
always in front

tell me
about
yourself
the same
as tomorrow

Hawk:

take courage in yourself
and in the sky
is full of love
wholly
like thunder
she came to my heart
as quiet as lightning
she drifted off to sleep
barely
in my arms
in the moonbeams
mixed with candlelight
broadway looking on
soley
the rivers running
along both sides of the single bed
children's books
on the window ledge
simply
here we are stranded up high
suspended by the fear
look down the wing of the bird
soaring beside you
utterly
is full of love
and in the sky
take courage in yourself

Nora:

what are we worth
our weight in wounds
strips of exposed flesh
from neck to heal
another day another lash.

while you sleep
i stand before broken down cardboard
and in each hand
i hold a thousand dollars worth
designer property
i do not want
i hope
i drop
not on purpose
and break to leak and
coat the gray dust floor with
the sweet stench of emptiness
and glass
and so prove the illusion of
this whip.

while i sleep
i dream i stand before a bony face
i look down into my pouch filled with the dollar
divided by six point seven and
i look up to find
a thousand bony faces before me
waiting for
what i cannot give.

what could i give
only
that which glows in
silver lining
aligning this hot august cloud
we swim through
together.

who has brought this joy
that i may lie dizzy
in dry fan air
and drowsily
i laugh

last wed. and thurs. took a trip to grand rapids with Hawk. he took me to the Springsteen show in gR. fantastic time. played a wonderful solo set on many guitars, a grand piano, and a rhodes organ. Cynthia, Promised Land, and the stuff fromt he new album highlighted the show.
(7th Row... it was brilliant)
the next day we hit the coast of Lake Michigan at Grand Haven. spent a good time in the waves... which came in pretty high and fast. did some body surfing close to shore then checked out some board surfers while getting hit by waves on the peir. it was gorgeous... i still feel the lake in my hair (and that's a good thing, not a pollution thing)

had a good weekend as well... minutes, hours, days, weeks, months can be lost at
3rd Street Saloon!!

well... i'm thirty-three today. a potent age i suppose (if i make the next ha!)
had a great time on saturday... rob lit the smoker and smoked some brisket
chicken and corn on the cob! delicious grilled eggplant as well. good times
reminiscent of the "glad you're out of the army farewell to europe" smoker
we had for rob two years ago. (not quite the grand scale) i am surrounded
by astounding people. rob spent the week prior looking for a car for me
he found one on friday and bought it. a 95 toyota tercel. i am blessed. then
at the party friends and relatives donated money to rob to curb the cost. did
i say i was blessed? thank you to the house that jackie built, my relatives and
of course the hilsberry kids (i can see you're not fight fans).
last night saw jason molina and the magnolia electric co. they crunched... nora,
hawk, and the palmer were in attendance. molina finished the show with Zevon's
Carmalita!!! glorious!! fantastic white boy rappers from pittsburgh opened the
show... Grand Buffet-- hilarious. hawk and i are off to springsteen tomorrow.
as i have said... through it all life is good
started rehearsals for Two Men in a Box... opens sept. 9 at the Planet Ant in
Hamtramck michigan.
barbaric yawps still make me weep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!