Throwback Thursday: That One Time In New York

Winslow Homer

Long Branch, New Jersey by Winslow Homer, 1869
American painter and illustrator, Winslow Homer, was born on this day in 1836. (d. 1910)

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

American businessman, co-founded Apple Inc. and Pixar, Steve Jobs, was born on this day in 1955 (d. 2011)

Yesterday I should have said no to the ceremonial chasing of the wild goslings.

Work with me, one of my projects is rewriting a Fairy Tale.

You will note down below that today is Barry Bostwick’s birthday. I was all set to talk about how I saw him in the original, pre-movie, version of Grease on Broadway in 1977.

Except that I didn’t. In my mind I had seen Bostwick along with Adrienne Barbeau when I worked for the Salvation Army over Christmas my sophomore year at Asbury College (now Asbury University). They were in the original, 1974, cast. Not the show I saw.

I have held this memory for almost 50 years.

I have also been wrong.

Turns out I saw Bostwick’s replacement who could possibly have been Jeff Conaway or Patrick Swayze.

But I think it was Treat Williams.

Available at The Write Side Shop
(click the pic)

I know this all could have been solved if I’d just kept the Playbill.

But I was young…ever so much younger than twenty…okay…one year younger.

And at that point in my life I did not see myself pursuing a long term relationship in the theater. In fact, after graduation, it was nearly another twenty years before I was back on stage.

I do know for certain that, on that same trip, I saw Yul Brynner in The King and I. I am almost as certain that his co-star was Constance Towers. Angela Lansbury appeared as a replacement around that time, but I think only when Brynner and Towers weren’t there together.

Why is this important? In the grand scheme of things, it’s not really. But I am working on a series of short stories about Southwest Virginia that require digging back into the memories. Just not the memories of my time in New York.

So, what you’re saying is that it’s not really helping me with my short story project or the above mentioned fairy tale.

That’s rather harsh of you, don’t you think?

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Barry.


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

‘What A Mess’: Trump Weighs In On Ukraine Conflict Ahead Of Biden Speech
Daily Caller
“If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all.” Read More.

Becoming Picasso
Steven Pressfield on Writing Wednesdays
It’s not aping or slavish emulation to immerse ourselves in the works of the masters to the point of copying them line-for-line. The masters did it themselves, studying earlier masters. Read More.

Love Ukraine as You Would the Sun: 10 Ukrainian Books Worth Reading in English
Literary Hub
Kate Tsurkan Recommends Andriy Lyubka, Olesya Yaremchuk,
and More. Read More.

How Much Was WWI About… Bread?
Literary Hub
Stories about the Great War of 1914 to 1918 often begin with an account of German aggression. But the war’s cause also had roots in the cheap grain cast upon the waters every spring and summer to feed Europe’s working classes. Read More.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1921 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (d. 2016)
1942 – Joe Lieberman, American lawyer and politician
1945 – Barry Bostwick, American actor and singer

WHAT I’M READING


 

BENEDICTION

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21

 

Ronald Wilson Reagan
February 2, 1911 – June 5, 2004

Oooh…Shiny…

“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it’s always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.”

Neil Gaiman

The first four posts after a three-day weekend are always the hardest.

It happened again. I got distracted by a new project and I think I’m going for it.

But I’m also trying to keep up with the projects already on the list.

Fortunately, or not, I don’t currently have any theater projects…although one, at least, is coming this summer.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook, you know that I’m doing The 100 Day Project. A loosely organized challenge to create something every day for 100 days and to then share it via social media.

I’m working with words and markers.

Words because I’m a writer who likes to draw.

Markers because since high school, that’s been my best medium when it comes to artistic expression.

Available in The Write Side Shop (click the pic).

I honed those skills making campaign posters and it just sort of seems like a life theme, now doesn’t it?

But the problem is, I also have writing projects that need my attention.

And yesterday, my wife informed me of an opportunity to join a new project. I think it’s because she knows I have so much free time.

This one comes with a deadline for the pitch. So, if I don’t make that, or if I’m not selected, it will end rather abruptly.

But it means yet another sheet of blank paper, or another empty screen.

Even though I picked a juggler for the cover photo, paper doesn’t juggle all that well.

Of course this would all be much easier to handle if I could just retire from the day job. A place, I might add, where the phrase “too many cooks” might currently apply.

But let’s leave that there in the rare event that someone I work with might actually know that I’m a writer and read this post.

There’s a retirement date. But it’s still too far away because the maths aren’t working.

It may or may not be true that I spent more time in school making campaign posters with markers than I did in studying the maths.

What’s your point?

Besides even though Publisher’s Clearinghouse keeps confirming directions to my house, there’s been no big check.

So, I keep writing, and drawing.

One blank page at a time.

German-English organist and composer, George Frideric Handel, was born on this day in 1685 (d. 1759)


 

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

The C.D.C. Isn’t Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It Collects
The New York Times
Two full years into the pandemic, the agency leading the country’s response to the public health emergency has published only a tiny fraction of the data it has collected, several people familiar with the data said. Read More.

Enthusiasm to join Trump’s Truth Social platform causes waitlists, registration delays
Just the News
The enthusiasm to join former President Trump’s new new social media platform – Truth Social – on its official launch day appears to have overwhelmed the site. Read More.

BREAKING: Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich denied bail
The Post Millennial
Freedom Convoy leader and organizer Tamara Lich was denied bail by an Ottawa judge this morning. According to Marieke Walsh of The Globe and Mail and David Akin of Global News, Lich wanted to be released on $5,000. Read More.

Meghan McCain Calls Biden Administration ‘Jimmy Carter On Acid’
The Daily Caller
Meghan McCain called President Joe Biden’s administration “Jimmy Carter on acid” ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizing separatist Ukrainian territories as independent. Read More.

Why We Need More of Seven of Nine’s Story in Picard (and Everywhere Else)
Lacy Baugher at StarTrek.com
Her appearance also builds upon and expands her previously existing story in a truly creative and meaningful way, one that leaves us with an entirely new and necessary understanding of the character. Read More.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (d. 1963)
1889 – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 1949)
1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)

WHAT I’M READING


 

BENEDICTION

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21

 

Ronald Wilson Reagan
February 2, 1911 – June 5, 2004