Specs Bar in North Beach, San Francisco, September 1975 — It was because I was dating a writer named Barbara Austin, whom I’d picked up at San Francisco State using a fancy pick-up women technique.
And Barbara had a pal named Suzie.
A Ritzy Hideaway in the Woods
At that time there was a fancy fellowship to a woodsy place all scenic as hell back east, perhaps Connecticut. And if you applied, and if they accepted you as a proper artiste, then they’d put you up for several weeks in a cabin in the scenic woods and while you worked on your art. Now Suzie was a painter who specialized in pictures of Navajo blankets draped on chairs, and Barbara wrote poignant novels. Since both of them were accepted at this ritzy fellowship this summer, worked on their respective art, and became friends.
Now it seems that Suzie and her boyfriend, Jules Pfeiffer, whose cartoons adorned the New Yorker, and newspapers, and Playboy magazine which me and my friends often read because we liked the articles so darn much.
And that’s how it was that [Read more…]
North Texas University, Denton, Texas, 1965. Heartbroken, after running off my high-school sweetheart, envious met her new flame, a boisterous trumpet player driving a red MGB.
Beverly Hills, California, 1969: As the 
Ralph D. was a well-to-do guy in the real estate business, short and squatty, nicely groomed with nice suits, from La Jolla. Often, he stayed overnight at the Beverly Rodeo Hyatt House. He liked dinner in the Chez Voltaire room, and he liked the bar pretty well, too.
On Facebook, circa March 4, 2018 — Cathy Gentry posts: Some people have been a bit offended that the actor, Lee Marvin, is buried in a grave alongside 3 and 4-star generals at Arlington National Cemetery. His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here’s a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys?
Shady Shores community, near Dallas Texas, 1964: Paul H. was the largest roommate, and visiting his girlfriend in Fort Worth, he drove that highway often. A large and quiet guy, when he returned that day, all excited, we knew something was up.
In one of the last scenes in the fun movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the heroine makes a statement about the leading man. She says, lovingly, “He’s a pirate.”
MB Corral, Wichita Falls, 1959 — Well, the way it was, was that Fats Domino was real popular when he was still touring around after his big 1956 hit (“Blueberry Hill”) which had done so well, and so he was coming to the MB Corral in Wichita Falls on Friday night..