Sunday, March 27, 2011

Semi: Self: Portrait


















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7 comments:

  1. notasetanimalMarch 27, 2011 at 6:28 PM

    I liked this very much. M'amenez-y indeed. But where is that boy? How shall we go there?

    Finally finished "Portrait of a Failure". I had been reading a bit each night for months. Something wonderful about his company, especially his letters, even if he might have been a challenge in life. But the end, my God!

    Hope you are happy in L.A.

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  2. roddyMarch 28, 2011 at 10:10 AM

    I recognize that picture, naturally, from the 1971 Red and Gray. It's good. But in that publication it was accompanied by another quote from Picabia: "J'aime les pederastes car ils ne font pas de soldats." I've never been sure whether that meant they do not become soldiers versus thay do not (make the boys they like into) soldiers.

    Was this one in your other yearbook? What does m'amenez-y mean, beyond punning on amnesia? And were the Staples Singers responding to you the next year with "I'll take you there"?

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  3. ACravanMarch 28, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    Yes, this was from my "other" yearbook. My "other" classmates are planning a reunion and one of them (a good friend, actually) scanned the whole yearbook into the computer. Hence, the source material of an earlier partial me. M'amenez-y was a pun, of course, on l'amnesie and was intended to suggest, "take me there". The Staples Singers connection is one I hadn't considered before. I understood the Picabia quote in the sense you have and also that homosexuals are unlikely to want to be soldiers, which shows how naive I was then and Picabia, who was older than I when he made the remark, was also. But I think his heart was in the right place and I hope mine was also. The Brian Howard story is ever on my mind, especially now with some of the awful stuff that's afoot. Greetings to you both from LA (West Hollywood, specifically) where the weather is sensational and we're having fun. Jane's been quickly seduced by local sights, sounds, flora and fauna. Curtis

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  4. roddyMarch 28, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    I spent a week an arbitrating in Santa Monica earlier this month and experienced the "And what again was the reason I do not choose to live here?" reaction that Southern California produces. Jane's senses, so much fresher than mine, must be in overload.

    It just occurred to me that your "3/4" standing portrait has something in common with Henry Royer's. He is a scuplture, I mean sculptor, you know.

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  5. ACravanMarch 28, 2011 at 10:47 PM

    I would love to see Henry's work. I'll try to look him up. Jane met some very old friends of ours from Scotland tonight over a splendid evening at The Ivy. I think she's hooked. Today she toured the Fox studio lot. Tomorrow's Disney. She'll spend Friday in Santa Monica with a friend. I suppose I'll find a way to get her to join us on the plane home. Curtis

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  6. AnonymousJune 22, 2012 at 10:53 PM

    I'm sure I am committing some digital transgression via your blog communique but I reside in southern Wisconsin and so what the hell is a blog anyway at least that's the way we Wisconsinites might be perceived these days, at least politically. Whatever, I came across your blog via some odd website or rather totally predictable website which had a collection of random references to Royer or Henry Royer. While somewhat bemused as scrolling down the disconnected images , I was immediately struck by your unmistakable image from Gunnery . For a myriad of reasons I have not had any contact with people from school other than Peter Day who emailed out of the blue a year ago at the behest of Harry Golgar . While out on business in LA, I went up to visit Peter who resides in Santa Monica , the so called paradisiacal retreat of southern Cal. Without passing unwarranted judgement , the ravages of alcohol have taken their toll on Peter, fortunately more physically than mentally but none the less the damage is pervasive. So it goes. I hope you are doing well. Henry

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  7. ACravanJune 23, 2012 at 3:24 AM

    Hi Henry: It's a wonderful surprise to hear from you. Web pathways and connections really are weird; I can't pretend to understand them, but I'm really happy when they occur. My own Gunnery ties are probably at least as frayed as yours. Roger Netzer and I reconnected (as I recall) when I decided to send him a Christmas card at his office around 10 or 12 years ago, I think. I'd like to see him more often, but it's nice to occasionally see him anyway. Mostly, he communicates with me through this blog; sometimes by email. Other than that, I'm only in touch with John Jeffords, who lives in India. Again, there was an interval of many years, but I'm glad that's passed. We (my wife Caroline, daughter Jane, I, 10 cats, 2 dogs, 2 birds and 2 fish) live in Berwyn, PA (near Philly) and Tuxedo Park, NY (where I'm typing this). I'm a lawyer. Currently I'm in private practice; I'd like to find a corporate gig again, if that's possible, but things are fine. Jane's almost 15. Mostly I've worked around the entertainment industry, with a heavy dose of manufacturing and distribution that used to find me in Pleasant Prairie, WI a lot. Email is ccjroberts@gmail.com. I did check out your work on the web back around the time I wrote this and was both impressed with your ideas and execution and happy to see that it was YOU. The Peter Day story is news to me, but not that surprising. I'd like to think, by the way, that you might find other entries here kind of interesting. Writing this blog is my main "hobby." I've learned a lot doing it and I'm happy to say that it's put me back in touch with people like you. Curtis

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