|
A la Jack Kerouac Alley the art patrons milled, drank the white wine in the alley of smulty grime waiting for Tony to show. No show as the night wore on and we drank more Guinness, clustering in groups, trying to drum up a famous scene on the opening night at Jackworks sounding like a place from a Richard Brautigan book. The art director was a tall skinny guy named Richard with beady eyes, light reddish curls under a painter's cap, a t-shirt that said "Bomb Squad" on the front - with faded big black letters. There was a good turnout and people kept milling around the opening seeing the Italians who put up the money to turn the old Asian museum into a presentable gallery. Somehow the original visionater had been squeezed out and had probably washed up on shore somewhere. |
Different groups were out in full force - coming and going. Sara, Stevebeau, Greg, Dino, Darryl, Jim, Howard, Sasha, Vince and Fanny were present, carrying on while under the influence of Guinnesses. Dino who is Ronald was charismatic while Sara stole the attention of all without having to say much, being so utterly charming and deeply reminiscent of an angel and then at a moment's sniggle realizing the image of the white blond angel ideal adorning the Christmas tree and just like the Black Madonna converting the White Madonna gestalt and all surrealist, Andy Warhol, cat daddies. Sasha being a goddess, utterly talented, gifted, and the blackness of night with all the lights lighting up orange and bright and couples standing and dancing up in the windows of Vesuvio's and asking Darryl with his long dreads and Jim who guides the Chinese funerals on his motorcycle what happened to Tony Santiago's vision and from whence did go Michael Bowlen this other artist who was supposed to be hanging his art in the Santiago vision so that it seemed like Bowlen was the source of the bread. Tony sure never mentioned Antonio as the source of the bread. Joan of North Beach sitting on the Palazzo de Jack Kerouac Alley was shouting now holding her Guinness high. "Reclaim the Beach! Keep North Beach Italian!" One of the Italians, Pasqualie was holding forth, a very charming beast, the alley was crawling with Italians. A little yellow sports car with the top down, keeps coming and going. Now the car rushed to the space and Antonio's whole family jumps out, 2 or 3 kids and women dressed up looking like wives, the kids a bunch of little girls are nearly hysterical and are running allover the premises of Jackworks and up and down Palazzo de Jack Kerouac alley. There's a big picture of Kerouac in the window of City Lights Bookstore and a huge mural of Baudelaire, Kaufman and Rimbaud on the god dammed three story building and the diagonal yellow sign with the black letters saying City Lights Bookstore and so we are in this famous place having this famous scene and being rompletely famous and wondering what happened toTony Santiago and Pasqualie singing Volare and Splendie and Joan, Cantare, oh! Oh! Oh! -2- |
And then Antonio has a yellow rose in his hand and Joan |
copyright 2010 |