Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Tuesday Afternoon

The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday)
Tuesday, afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see,
Now I'm on my way,
It doesn't matter to me,
Chasing the clouds away.

Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near,
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh.

I'm looking at myself,
Reflections of my mind,
It's just the kind of day
To leave myself behind,
So gently swaying thru
The fairy-land of love,
If you'll just come with me
And see the beauty of

Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday, afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see,
Now I'm on my way,
It doesn't matter to me,
Chasing the clouds away.

Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near,
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh.

The Moody Blues


The Saturday night of Pride weekend, the Reading at Skylight with Martin Hyatt and D. Travers Scott was a flashback to that late 80s/early 90s Cal Arts - Silver Lake feel of literature. Their books are not for the faint of heart. It was a great evening, though, with Bernard Cooper among others I haven't seen for a while all in attendance. The Q & A after the reading would have made most undergrads heads spin. Quite antithetical to the scene one might have expected crosstown in WeHo over the weekend.

That reminds me- A July 8 date has been set for Eduardo Santiago to read from his novel, "Tomorrow They Shall Kiss," at Skylight Books. I feel like putting some Rita Montaner on the stereo just thinking about it! Now that will be a literary highlight of the summer! Order your copy now from your favorite indie bookseller!

Back to Pride weekend: I saw a youngster walking down the street reading a new edition of Daniel A. Helminiak's "What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality." I had no idea the book was still in print. The scene was proof positive that celebrations of gay pride are still necessary for all those who so haughtily sniffed that they were "over" pride.

The crowd at WeHo City Hall was smaller than in year's past; Abbe Land received a rousing round of applause when she came in, perhaps in part out of sympathy over her recent election loss for the 42nd Assembly district race to Mike Feuer. Here, however, she was among friends. After the parade, I got a free tee shirt across the street at Basix from the shirtless hunk selling rainbow jello shots (did I mention this already?) while on my way to Book Soup. I must have spent as much time in Book Soup as I did at City Hall watching the parade. They had a marvelous window featuring the current issue of Bookforum magazine all about the first works of famous novelists. They have some of the cleverest windows, sometimes, I swear. If Simon Doonan gave awards for Literary window displays, they'd be hands-down winners every year.

The tee shirt --discreetly advertising Skyy Vodka as I later found out-- and a Zippo lighter were the only swag I got at Pride. So unlike the AIA Expo!
And I don't drink or smoke!

Monday was hot enough to for the beach, not that I'll get the chance to get anywhere near the ocean for a few days. The Cat in the Hat couldn't get the boulevard any cleaner after Pride than CSW. Everyone has their opinions about how well they do or don't run LA's festival and Gay Pride Parade, but when it comes down to cleaning every last trace of it's existence with lightening speed after it's all over, you'd think they were on a Mommie Dearest jag or a crystal run.




1 comment:

D. Travers Scott, News said...

hey thanks for coming to the reading and glad you liked it - I was happily blown away by the Q&A, too!