Even When I Look Back I Still Don’t Get It…

Looking too good…. I’m not sure when it happened. I think they slipped them into a five pack. I’m talking about my polka dot bikini briefs. I don’t think I was brought up to accept things like this. I do remember when men’s fine clothing consisted of such things as: gabardine, linen, silk, and merino […]

Classic Street Theater

I studied Shakespeare. I was a ballet dancer. I started out working in theater. I was trained in the classics, at least to the extent that my brain would permit prior to my stomach starting to bellyache about it. Aristotle, Plato, and later Cervantes I discovered had discovered most of what I was discovering. I […]

Third Act…Enter the Fool

If one third of life is sleep what is the rest of the time for? Oh, I get to use it for making things. I have spent much of these past years making shows. I have made a lot of little things too. I’ve made songs. I’ve fixed sailboats, and overhauled engines. I made a […]

Deep Background on an Earl Warren Supporter

Back in ’64 when cigarette smoking remained a virtuous activity for an aspiring up and coming young man San Jose was a place where one of the largest stone fruit crops in the world was still grown. Apricots, peaches, and nectarine orchards were still a defining feature. The Jesuits were still growing wine at the […]

Before We Leave this Earth

I was at the Roberto Cruz Branch Library inSan Joselast night. It is out onAlum Rock RdinEast San Jose. This side of town is the other side of town. The library was a newer facility. Next door was an independent gas station. It had the dilapidated look nailed. I wouldn’t change a thing if this […]

I Feel So Sorry for Billionaires

Banque Populaire is currently blasting south in the Atlantic towardCape Hornin an attempt to set a new non-stop circumnavigation record for a sailboat. The skipper is with Team Energy the French America’s Cup boat. I don’t often deal with a realm that is described by numbers. The sailboat Banque Populaire is 131 feet in length […]

The End is Near and Dear

Refurbishing a wooden sloop for the first time is an act of faith. So, first off forget about having things go according to plan. It is like the rest of life things don’t usually go that way. Life goes its way and you try to ride the wave or get the hell out of the […]

The Land Yacht… When Dreams were Big and Fuel was Still Cheap

I found my Streamliner in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the ultimate. I mean it was the full fantasy. In 1974 I was on the back lot at Circus Vargas. We had jumped over from St. Louisto see the show in Springfield, Missouri. They’d come off a mud lot and the trucks and trailers that […]

You’ve Got to See it With Your Own Eyes

I went once for a look at the Race for the Pole at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Whatever it is I was supposed to see I saw. Whatever I expected the experience to be like turned out to be true. The pig barn at the county fair stinks. The top fuel dragsters in Fremont smoked […]

Cast Your Fate to the Wind

PHOTOGRAPH BY SHELIA LAVERY Must have been that some of the worlds greatest sailors listened to Vince Guaraldi’s hit song, Cast Your Fate to the Wind. I’m no expert. What do I know? I’m looking at the same thing everyone else is looking at. I see a mark on the water and imagine how I […]