80 Years Of The Falcon
“For neither good nor evil can last for ever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.”--Miguel de Cervantes
I have been running around getting ready for two back-to-back kids class camping evenings. Getting ready to jump into nature….with 90 youngin’s. So this might be a shortened newsletter…and have a great weekend!
This was the opening weekend, 80 years ago today, of the film of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. One of the greatest film noirs of all time featuring the mighty triumvirate of Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet (making his screen debut) as well as the ultimate silver screen movie moll Mary Astor and a very young but mighty Elisha Cook Jr. The film set the pace for all the film noir that came after it. And in some ways, there never was a better one made.
It is incredible to think that this masterpiece of cinema was the debut film of director John Houston…or maybe it is not so incredible when you realize this was the person who went on to make masterpiece after masterpiece. He did bring a youthful exuberance to the filming set…and it is one of those movies I wish I could have been present to watch put together. Supposedly, the whole cast pranked each other constantly as well as anyone who dared visit all the time. They would call out numbers when deciding which practical joke to play on visitors which included Greenstreet and Bogart yelling profanities about one upstaging the other with Ford coming in later to add to the chaos. Astor and Lorre would often be seen leaving each other’s dressing rooms with smug smiles as an attempt to start illicit rumors about themselves (Astor was dating Houston at the time). The whole cast became close friends while filming, with Bogart commenting (especially about Greenstreet and Lorre) that “they met two criteria: they weren't boring and they could drink like fish.”
The old San Francisco steakhouse John’s Grill pays homage to the film, with it’s film noir decor and stills and posters of the film. It is a great place to end a Dashiell Hammett tour of the city (which always starts with a drink at the Tunnel Top which is next to the ally where Spade’s parter Archer is shot early in the film). The steakhouse boasts on having an original Maltese Falcon…the movie screens greatest MacGuffin (what the hell was it anyway) which they have behind glass in an upstairs cabinet. But given that the falcon props from the film are worth over a million a piece at this point…I do question the authenticity. But I guess it is “the stuff that dreams are made of.”
Carnival Of Souls: The Strange Story Behind the Greatest Horror Movie You’ve Never Seen
One of my favorite horror flicks of all time. So much so that I released its soundtrack years ago (with the help of my dear friend Larry Hardy) and was even (wrongly) taken to small claims court by lead actress/zombie Candace Hilligoss (which was one of the more trippy experience I have had) over using her likeness (which I had permission to do), especially because she looked the ghoulish part even in front of the judge. I thought the whole thing was going to devolve into a flesh eating episode….
It is super cool to read from the original manuscript of any great work. But for that kind of money I am happy with the digital version….
Laurie Anderson's Largest-Ever US Art Exhibition Opens at Hirshhorn in DC
“Laurie Anderson: The Weather will debut more than ten new artworks, interspersed with select key pieces from throughout her career, featuring her work in video, performance, installation, painting, and other media.”
An Artist Was Paid $84,000 By A Museum—And Delivered Two Blank Canvasses
Oh, the marvelous art world, where stories like this pop up and force us to rethink what art and the art world are all about. A few years ago it was Banksy’s painting that came with a shredding device that destroyed the painting as soon as it was purchased. And now artist Jens Haaning responds to what he thinks is a meager payment from a museum by handing them two blank canvas called “Take the Money and Run.” Is it art?
RON TURNER’S LAST GASP: WEIRD & WONDERFUL COMIX SINCE 1970
Thank you Josh Rosenthal for turning me on to the great interview with underground comix legend Ron Turner. People like him are not supposed to get old! Legs McNeil’s PLEASE KILL ME website always pleases.
WEEKEND LISTEN: DOWN ON FUNKY BROADWAY (Dyke and the Blazers)
I’ve talked about this release on this newsletter recently…and I really have not stopped listening to it since I got it in the mail. I had a Dyke and the Blazers comp CD from the 90s, which was my introduction to the funky funky little-known artist. But Alec Palao’s two recent compilations take his legacy to a whole new level..and they really are worth a stereo-up drink in hand experience. Especially on a weekend day when there is nothing to do but get fuhn-ky. Oh yeah.
For What Binds Us
By: Jane Hirshfield
There are names for what binds us:
strong forces, weak forces.
Look around, you can see them:
the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,
nails rusting into the places they join,
joints dovetailed on their own weight.
The way things stay so solidly
wherever they've been set down—
and gravity, scientists say, is weak.
And see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.
There's a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh,
as all flesh
is proud of its wounds, wears them
as honors given out after battle,
small triumphs pinned to the chest-
And when two people have loved each other
see how it is like a
scar between their bodies,
stronger, darker, and proud;
how the black cord makes of them a single fabric
that nothing can tear or mend.
