one of my favorite places: The Lantern. A Pittsfield landmark... have a cheeseburger and a beer.

Let the dead bake cakes for the dead. Or something like that.

We're working like demons on the new Death As A Salesman DVD. Trying to master, with an old dog's brain, ProTools and Final Cut Pro. We need crew - wanna help?

And don't forget to go over to my sister's blog. She's still pestering me something awful. help me out. Read, comment. Say nice things.

Self Portrait As An Old Dog.

You ever feel this way? Like there's a full moon and you just don't feel like howling, much as you'd like to, and as much as you feel it's your responsibility to howl at the moon. It's your job. But still, no enthusiasm. Even Sun Ra felt that way occasionally. I know I feel that way sometimes.

Have I told you about Dorothy's new blog? One of the reasons I feel like I do, maybe. I'm always depressed when I feel a competition coming on. I'd rather just declare myself winner. Anyway, it's her own blog and it's called Don't Surrender, Dorothy, and if she doesn't start getting some traffic soon I will get no rest.

We're going to be working together a bit later on the DVD version of Death As A Salesman. It will be fun. I'm looking for something along the lines of They Might Be Giants. The movie, not the group.

This is one of my sister Dorothy's favorite pictures. Obviously because it shows how much bigger and stronger she always was. I hate how I (on the right, of course) always look so tentative and worried. I must say though, that behind those looks, behind that genuine paranoia, came a plan, a master plan. One that I'm not quite ready to share yet. Anyway, I'm posting this pic as a gesture to my sister, who has HER OWN BLOG now, and can quit pestering me to use this one. One word, Dorothy: "MINE." Remember how that works? Anyway, best of luck on your new venture, and I really hope this doesn't cut into your responsibilities and stuff down at the cafeteria. You signed a contract.

Here's the link, and don't say I never did anything for you.

Don't Surrender, Dorothy

H co

O, so you weren't there, over at the Dreamaway Lodge in beautiful Becket, Mass? To see my sister Dorothy perform Death as a Salesman in progress, in progress, to be sure? In the same hallowed spaces where Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Alan Ginsberg once performed? Sorry. But it was a work in progress with plenty of bumps and dead spots and a lot, a lot, of forgotten lines. O, well. Here's the poster:



and here's a picture of our girl taken by and altered to make her look better by Joe Wheaton.



Opening down at the Outsiders Gallery next weekend. check the front page.

happy, happy. why not? someone said, sing, sing, ye creatures who live in the dust.

Didn´t make it over to Yobaim as planned, so enjoyed Carnaval here in the big city. Lotta people! Here´s a few pix. I climbed up on a chair, took me half and hour to get down, it was so crowded.







oops wrong parade

One of my favorite books is Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan by John Lloyd Stephens. It´s a great travel adventure book written in the 1850s; Stephens and his friend Catherwood had heard of mysterious ruined cities in the wilds of the Yucatan, and determined to find out if the stories were true. And they certainly did!



I was reading last night about their stay in Merida, not more than a few blocks from where I am sitting right now, and how they had found that the site of Merida was itself a huge ancient city that the Spaniards had torn down to build their own city. Apparently there had been a huge pyramid right at the site of what is now the plaza grande. and that further very large ruins had been destroyed both for building materials, and because they were in the way of the street layout... simply amazing. I find it less disturbing than the wholesale destruction of all of the Mayan holy books, tho. Because with those we lost the soul of their culture. The buildings were monuments, in the main, to conquering heroes and so forth, as usual.

Here´s some pics from the books; they´re woodcuts made from Catherwood´s drawings. Compare to the photos from Uxmal further down in the blog.

Thanks to an invitation from my friend Alex, I was able to escape the urban version of Carnaval for a more traditional one in a small pueblo called Yobaim, about 2 hours outside of Merida. What a difference - I have no love for the mostly corporate nature of the big city celebrations no matter the name, and as much as I love homo sapiens, in the aggregate I find them a bit difficult to take. So on the bus and off to Yobaim Alex and I went. First stop was the Loncheria Tio Abraham, where we were escorted to the back part of the place, under sheet iron and where a few ladies were cooking on wood fires. fresh tortillas and other things I can't remember the name of. My spanish isn't very good, and my hearing is worse, so once one of those 6 part conversations get going I'm kind of lost, but my hosts were extremely kind and I ended up with some delicious food without having to know how to ask for it. All I had to do was smile and nod. A tour of the pueblo's plaza with Rene and Alex, and then into the central bulding for the dance competition (pix below). We stayed in a traditional mayan house, a kind of oval shaped house made of rocks with a thatch roof. Too much Sol (local beer) and dancing for me. My friend said that I should stick to painting and leave singing and dancing to those who have a talent for it.

Next day were compasas, which takeplace in more traditional villages during Carnaval. It's where men dress as women and go touring around the city and in eahc house or business, do a routine of dance and raunchy songs. Each stop lasted for about 30 minutes. Traditional dances, all orchestrated by someone who looked like his name was Herman and like he fixed dishwashers. My goodness. From teenagers to an elderly fellow with gold-rimmed teeth who looked like he enjoyed the bikini top and wig no end. I certainly did! Now this goes on ALL DAY LONG. ALL NIGHT LONG. We had more beer and more botanas, then I took a long nap, and then we're waiting for the bus, the whole crew goes by again. Energizer bunny has met his match. Just as bouncy as ever. This culture exudes sanity and good humor; it was exhilarating and I felt blessed to be there. It would have been impossible without being taken by the hand by a friend who knew all the locals... so much more but the battery in my laptop is getting low. We are going to return to Yobaim tomorrow for the wrap up of Carnaval, and I'll try to get some pix but I feel like such a nerd when I get the camera out. Like I'm lucky enough to be there, I don't want to spoil the moment by being rude....



where I stayed:




from a trip to the ocean

something that I used to do, and have been urged to return to:
title: Hey, Are you in a Green Vase, too?

and here is one of the nice neighborhoods in Merida where I might buy a house:



all for now. Heard it was cold in Pittsfield.......

ah. Finally figured out how to upload pix from here in Merida. Wasn´t hard. Here we go:




Las Arecas front (and dining) room.



On the street:



A row of old towhouses - looks like they´re being renovated.



Some great colors on the street:



And then down at Uxmal:

old friends