To work the art incessantly and to exhaustion or drift and daydream (usually about which deserted beach in Mexico or Southern Spain I will just up and dissapear to, and where all day long I will write poems in the sand and watch as the tide carries them off to sea), naps with music playing and my dog Rubia snoring peacefully and contentedly next to me, self expression, purity, redemption, truth, trust, the tender hearted, My Patron Saints Jude & Mary of Guadalupe, ennui, surrendering to nostalgia, My Hamlet fixation, Shiva, The Beautiful Game, cebiche in mexico, tramadol (at least two at a time but preferably three or four), all that Charlie Laughton taught me that resonates more and more as the years go bye, sad sad music, all of my friends who work overtime to keep me sane, Sally Mann, Monica Vitti, Luchino Visconti, the sound and feel of the sea, purity in desire, spirit, and action, the colour blue, Garrincha, Jack Pierson, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, all dogs everywhere, Elizabeth Peyton, Dominique Sanda, the idea of Sylvia Plath, Egon Scheile, Monet & Manet, sleeping in movie theaters during art films, Henry Darger, Anna Karina, crossing the Rubicon metaphorically and literally, Degas, Francoise Dorleac, Auguste Renoir. Jean Renoir, the words "elegiac" "epiphany" "ethereal" and "ephemeral", Victor Erice, warm weather and as little clothing as possible, Pierre Bonnard, remembering my opium days and those clouds we drifted on so happily back then, Silvana Mangano, Delphine Seyrig, Total Football, Johan Cruyff, the lights reflected on the Seine at night, Matisse, old paint peeling from the walls in desered country houses, Gena Rowlands, the sound of cicadas in summer fields, Emmanuelle Beart, Lillian Thuram, Deco (the footballer not the style), Terrence Malick, Chris Marker, smoking cigarettes late at night on a porch in the countryside listening to Neil Young and just drifting away, sand in my shoes,cenotes, Paul Gaugin, Carles Puyol, Stefania Sandrelli, Clarksdale, Holly Springs & Oxford Mississippi, Anselm Kiefer, any patron saint of a lost cause, Diane Arbus, Montgomery Clift, thunderstorms and lightning and the scent of rain, Ingmar Bergman, Alain Resnais, wandering the streets of Barcelona alone in the middle of the night listening to "Sketches of Spain", Antoine Doinel, Fields of Lavender, Maurice Pialat, Marcello Mastroianni, La Comedie Humaine, dreams containing people I've sadly lost touch with in the world that somehow magically reappear for even a few moments in my sleeping state and make me happy as I gently remember those times that are briefly upon me once again, Nan Goldin, Isbelle Adjani, Vermont in the Summer, Tulum anytime, Willem de Kooning, Le Petit Prince, Provence, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Tuscany, my necklace of good luck charms and medals of Saints, Werner Herzog, staring at the turqoise waters, watching the Fireman sing songs of the French Revolution at Les Noctambules in Pigalle, Mark Morrisroe, The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard, The Morrocco of Paul Bowles' words and imagination, Hans Castorp, fevered states physically and mentally, Jessica's Paintings and taste in candy, Veronica Lake, Robert Bresson, Eva Marie Saint, Vermeer, Velazquez, Jerry Garcia, magic hour, Federica walking barefoot in the streets of Rome at 4:00 a.m on New Year's Eve and then later smiling and and laughing and jumping up and down on my bed until it broke, William Eggleston, sweet tea in Wilmington N.C., Charlotte Rampling, Claire Denis, praying to be granted more faith and then receiving it just when I really need it, Coney Island in Wintertime, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Yoknapatawpha County, Andrew Wyeth, FC Barcelona, Frank Rijkaard, devouring new music & film & images & paintings & ideas & books, Edward Hopper, wanting to make lomg distance phone calls late at night when I can't sleep (which is always), remembering playing baseball with my grandpa, the softness and the feel and the taste and the warmth of the one I love, and always and obsessively trying to capture that haunted feeling that is always in my heart with words, and images...
the ghosts of all of my childhood doggies,
and those who work with a purity from the heart.....
DYLAN, MARVIN GAYE, MILES, BOWIE, GAINSBOURG, VAN MORRISON, THE CURE, CHET BAKER, ROBERT JOHNSON, ELLIOTT SMITH, STEVIE WONDER, BRYAN FERRY/ROXY MUSIC, NEIL YOUNG, JOHN & YOKO, HENDRIX, ZEPPELIN, SKIP JAMES, THE LEFT BANKE, BARRETT/FLOYD, R.L. BURNSIDE, PRINCE, GEORGE HARRISON, BILLY PRESTON, JONI MITCHELL, SONIC YOUTH, CHOPIN, SATIE, DOLPHY, COLTRANE, KINKS, JERRY/THE DEAD, ORNETTE COLEMAN, PATTI SMITH, STEVE EARLE, MONK, NICO/LOU REED/VU, JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL, TELEVISION, ENO, IGGY, JAMES BROWN, JACQUES BREL, JUNIOR KIMBROUGH, JOBIM, LUCINDA WILLIAMS, CAETANO VELOSO, MARLEY, TOSH, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, BLACK UHURU, BLONDE REDHEAD, KLAUS NOMI, KAHIMI KARIE, BAD BRAINS, NINA SIMONE, THE SLITS, SPECIALS, JESUS AND MARYCHAIN, ASTRUD GILBERTO, ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO, YARDBIRDS, PATTI SMITH, SIGUR ROS, GRAM PARSONS, SPARKLEHORSE, BILL WITHERS, SPRINGSTEEN, GILLIAN WELCH,Almost any version of "Moon River" "Stardust" "My Funny Valentine" or "Almost Blue" as I tend to be a sentimental sap most times, SMOG, IRON & WINE, McCOY TYNER, ABDULLAH IBRAHIM, BADFINGER, EMMYLOU HARRIS, SCHUBERT, NY DOLLS, ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO, THE STONES (though they're really, really pushing it these days), WILLIE NELSON, EPIC SOUNDTRACKS, TWILIGHT SINGERS, OTIS REDDING, MINGUS, MISSION OF BURMA, BLUE CHEER, ELVIN JONES, TODD RUNDGREN, TALKING HEADS, SAM COOKE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, JOHNNY CASH, T. REX, TOM WAITS, GIANT SAND, REPLACEMENTS, VIC CHESNUTT, AL GREEN, ARVO PART, THE ZOMBIES, LOVE, HUSKER DU, PULP, HARRY NILSSON, BLUR, FELA, CALEXICO, CHRIS WHITLEY, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, THE JAM/STYLE COUNCIL/WELLER, THE CLASH, COCTEAU TWINS, THE WHO, JOY DIVISION/NEW ORDER, NEU!, PIXIES, ARAB STRAP, MOGWAI, GUN CLUB, BIG STAR, NICK DRAKE, PJ HARVEY, ROYAL TRUX, SAKAMOTO, BILL EVANS, THIS HEAT, NICK CAVE, ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, DEXTER GORDON, MAZZY STAR, X,
Visconti, Tarkovsky, Malick, Antonioni, Pasolini, Renoir, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Bunuel, Bergman,Bertolucci,Wang Kar Wai, Cassavetes, Denis, Sautet, Desica, Herzog,Truffaut, Denis, Welles, Pialat, Mizoguchi, Bresson, Huston, Techine, Rivette, Marker, Fellini, Leigh, Powell, Ray, Tsai Ming Liang etc etc etc etc or a few examples.......A Woman Under The Influence, I Can't Sleep, Five Easy Pieces, Badlands, The Beat My Heart Skipped, Fitzcarraldo, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud, Pierrot Le Fou, Spirit Of The Beehive, Contempt, Persona, The Conformist, Pola X, How I Got Into An Argument (My Sex Life), My Summer Of Love, Annie Hall, Irma Vep, Goodbye South Goodbye, L'eau Froide, Kings And Queen, The American Friend, Beau Travaille, Lightning Over Water, Last Tango In Paris, Flowers Of Shanghai, The Thin Red Line, Jules And Jim, Hong Kong Express, Grey Gardens, Fanny And Alexander, In The White City, La Notte, 8 1/2, Un Coeur en Hiver, Days Of Heaven, Masculin Feminin, The Soft Skin, Alice In The Cities, Manhattan, The Mother And The Whore, Down By Law, Mauvais Sang, Senso, Lost In Translation, 9 Songs, L'Intrus,The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, Love Streams, Chocolat (Claire Denis), Paris Texas, The Searchers, L'Aventura, King Of Marvin Gardens, The Innocent, The State of Things, L'America, Cafe Lumiere, La Dolce Vita, Cutter's Way, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Broadway Danny Rose, Night Of The Hunter, L'Eclisse, Secrets And Lies, Clean, Cyclo, Wonderland, In The Mood For Love, The Passenger, Nenette et Boni, 2046, The Wild Reeds, My Favorite Season, The Dreamlife Of Angels, Vive L'Amour, Stranger Than Paradise, Days Of Being Wild, Fat City, La Belle Noiseuse, Late August Early September, Touch Of Evil, The Insider, Millenium Mambo, What Time Is It There, The Vertical Ray Of The Sun, Conversation Piece etc etc etc
"Marquee Moon"
HAMLET, MAGIC MOUNTAIN/DEATH IN VENICE/MANN, any FAULKNER, CHEKHOV, TOLSTOY especially ANNA KARENINA, Hemmingway's dialogue...ok HEMMINGWAY without a caveat, F Scott Fitz; Parts of "Tender is the Night" and all of "Babylon Revisited", WISE BLOOD, Camus at times, Used to love Ainais Ninn and still think she's eons better than Henry Miller but neither really does that much for me since I departed my teenage years way back in that other lifetime, actually I'm wrong I still like Ainais Nin, Murakami, Carson McCullers, Zola, Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil and also I love to death the poem "Moon Sadness" or "The Sadness of the Moon" depending on the translation, Used to love Fante and Celine but now I've sort of grown bored of them and the same for Bukowski except for that one poem about his cat "One Tough Motherfucker" that one always makes me cry, PROUST especially if I have the flu and I am in a fevered state, Richard Yates, Lorca, RILKE especially "The Lay of the Love and Death of Christopher Cornet Rilke" when he speaks of the rose petal next to his heart it always gets me deeply, CARVER, Nabokov, Brecht especially Brecht on Brecht or more specifically "Poor BB" and many others as well, MICHAEL ONDAATJE. PUSHKIN, Turgenev, Shepherd in bits and spurts but nothing at all of his in recent times, THE MOVIEGOER, DURAS (at least the lover & sea wall), KUNDERA, Jean Giono, Strindberg & Ibsen, Salinger for a clever moment here and there and a guilty pleasure when needed, Sentimental Education, Stendahl, Balzac, One RIMBAUD Poem I Love to Death is "Royalty" it always gets me, Far Tortuga, a touch of Wharton and James at times but not very often to be honest, O'NEILL/LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT/The Iceman Cometh/ Hughie etc, Richard Ford, PAUL BOWLES
My dog Rubia who has somehow remained unscathed, unjaded, and loving and trusting in spirit despite the horrific abuses she suffered before she was rescued, and never fails to make any moment spent with her a happy one for me. And anyone and everyone who persist despite anonymity and adversity and all the other countless obstacles and hindrances that life is can throw your way, not driven by monetary rewards, nor glory but for the purity of their expression whatever form it may take......