In the late 1950’s when I was an apprenticing architect
in Scottsdale, Arizona,. I had just decided not to work with FL Wright at
Taliesin West as I couldn't afford the $650 fee he asked for the privilege of
pouring concrete in the 120 degree heat. I was care-taking (freeloading) a
fabulous mansion in the center of Scottsdale designed by Shwieker & Elting
Architects from Chicago. The owner, Upton, a railroad magnate, didn't like the
house, once it was finished as it was too rustic for him, all rough concrete
walls and redwood inside and out. It fit
me perfectly.
Meanwhile, Paolo Solari
paid me $1 an hour to dig out his first underground house on Doubltree
Road, Then I was able to pay DK Taylor,
Architect, $1 an hour to work for him in the evenings & weekends. By this
time, I had already had my Degree in Architecture but needed to work in the
trades as well as with some really inspiring Architects.
One day Paolo told me he
had a call from a dancer who needed help setting up for a performance in Scottsdale. No one seemed to know who he was but his
organizational abilities were remarkable. I got a friend, Garrison, and DK to
assist and we helped this crazy man for a couple of days setting up a huge tent. He had sent flyers
all over Phoenix and had a good crowd for the one performance, which was pretty
amazing, given his performances were pretty far out for the Phoenix crowd. This guy was no amateur, but a seasoned
performer and promoter. None of us knew who he was but were all tremendously
impressed by his avant garde work. It was really a one man show, the far out
music pre-recorded. The next day we helped him take down the tent and pack up his sets and costumes. Then he
was gone. Who was that masked man? we all asked.
Over the years I had
forgotten his name but recently wondered if I could find out his identity. Fifty years later, I began searching for a
far out dancer traveling around in the fifties. Merce Cunningham's picture
really did it, as he was kind of a strange looking dude, but a total bundle of
energy at all times. Reading of him and
John Cage’s music, which he used, , it couldn't be anyone else.
Merce's dancing was as far out as John Cage's music. They made a terrific pair.
DR. FRANKENSTEINS' MONSTER
I recently saw the movie "Frankenstein" the original
1931 movie by the legendary horror master, James Whale. starring Boris Karloff.
It's in several short sections, and I was surprised to see how it deviated from
Mary Shellys' book. For instance, Mr. Monster doesn't get his made to order
bride until the second movie (Bride of Frankenstein). Even more
interesting, it's fun to see how Mel
Brooks version (Young Frankenstein) uses so much of the the original story plus
ideas from the movie. You may remember when the monster encounters the cute little
girl, but in the movie, the monster throws her in the lake and she drowns.
Also, the great scene with Gene Hackman, the blind hermit is pretty close but
hilarious.
GUILTY
Do you realize that the
TSA "screeners" assume you re 'guilty' until proven innocent (Strip
search!)? We have become the 'cowardly
Lion', own and police the whole world,
but we are scared shitless of our shadow.
Pretty soon we'll be searched when we enter the country.
WHAT AILS THE RAILS?
Everyone must know that a
high speed train from San Francisco to Los Angeles would be a tremendous boon
to travelers, don't they? But wait. There are a couple of caveats involved
here, like where is the station in SF & LA? Are they near the center of the
cities? How will riders get to and from the stations? Once those little details
are worked out, how many stops are involved. How long are the stops? European
fast trains stop for 5 minutes, period. Can we do that here? Are we able to
utilize any existing rail right of ways?
First of all, no state
can afford to fund something like this, it has to be a Federal deal. To build
only 29 miles in the middle is shear madness.
Secondly, Environmental Reports will kill any Mega structure here in
the US.
Lawyers are flocking to this project like flies on honey,(or fruit flies
in my wine). I can't believe Gov. Brown is
using the analogy of the 'Little train that could’. First of all, that train was pulling
freight cars. We can still do that with our current rail system, but we can
forget carrying passengers around, we just can't do it properly. Just try to ride a train from San Diego to
Seattle. You'll find yourself shunted off to a siding for hours, waiting for a
late freight. Why can't we keep projections
of costs somewhat in line with the estimates?.
A fast train should be
designed from Seattle to San Diego, then somehow get right of ways (Too bad we
sold so many of them). How about getting
out of our wars where we're killing thousands of innocent civilians, maybe even
cutting back on our manned missions to Mars, use the money to generate jobs
here in train construction in lieu of war materials. We could still sell arms
to both sides in a rebel societies, couldn't we?
Can't we do a little
research of other trains, like France ?
They somehow understood the problem from the beginning. For instance,
They have a train from Paris to Marsielle, NON-STOP. Or, catch a train in Lille, where the Chunnel
train from England stops, and it will stop at DeGaulle Airport, then on to
LeMons, not stopping at Paris. That's comparable to going from Sacramento,
stopping at SFO Airport only , then continuing down to Anaheim.
I haven't heard any
details related to this mega-project, like how long are the stops? The European
TGV stops for FIVE minutes, everyone has to get off and everyone on during that
time. Thru one door per two cars. But think about it , we have 24 new stations.
If we stop at them all, it will take two hours just for the stops! How do we
get to LA - SF in 2.5 hours if we're stopping all the time?
Which brings up another
issue. Our speed train shows giant new stations, all glass roofs for our stops.
Why do we have to have mega stations for micro trains?
Let's do a breakdown of
costs involved ;
1. Buy right of ways.
2. build infrastructure (tracks, bridges,
tunnels)
3. build 24 stations
4. have the Japanese build the trains. Are they
turbine or electric?
5. Set up funding to support it for life. Like
the Golden Gate Bridge. As soon as it was paid off, they burdened it with a
transit system that increases losses each year.
What to do?
You can't be all things to all people (contrary to the democratic
gridlock). The very fact that the EIR costs will be monumental, with the end
result that will hardly change anything. The Sierra Club lawyers are already
chewing round the ankles of the project.
It's already gone from 33 billion to 92 billion in a few years?
OOOps! I forgot to add the Design & Engineering costs. Sorry!
JAZZMAN GONE
He lived and blew a good,
long life. Jim Hall, a modern jazz guitarist left his body & his guitar recently. I met him two or three times in unusual
circumstances. We had dinner in a Sunset
Strip joint when his ex-wife and I were up from Laguna Beach to dig the jazz
scene for a night. I knew that he had been with Chico Hamilton's Chamber Jazz
Quartet prior to getting his own Trio together.
Previously, a few years earlier, I had met him and Chico when I was an
apprentice architect in Scottsdale Arizona, supplying the band with cannabis
and striving to beat Chico in chess matches long after midnight in a small
garage I had renovated for part of the rent. I was always surprised that Hall
was so complacent that I had is woman (to hipsters, she was his 'Old Lady'). I thought I would like to be like him
when I grew up. But later, I realized he was really glad I took her off his
hands.
