As way of introduction, here is a personal 'top ten' list, directly relating to my life.
1) I am a genuine 'Summer of Love' baby - born in '67. To further my connection to that era, I have two relatives who got engaged at Woodstock. Whether they stayed away from the notorious 'brown acid', only they know. Whether they went skinny-dipping in that big-ass lake that they had up there, I don't want to know. lol
2) I have a life-long love for - bordering on obsession - with the arts. In rough order of preference, they include: the visual arts (cinema, TV series, comic art, and painting); musical (mainly classic rock, with some alt. rock and new wave to balance it out; I also like selected classical and folk artists, and some show tunes as well); live performance (excluding opera, for some reasons); and literary (I mostly read fiction from the 20th century by US and English authors; any non-fiction I read is usually about the arts). My personal contributions to (or crimes against, depending on one's standards) to the arts include a play ("Irrational Dreams", a comedy soap opera script about the movie industry in LA; this was produced in an off-off-Broadway workshop in the early 2000s; script available on www.lulu.com), a novel (Golden Strings, originally published in 2017; see elsewhere on this blog for more info about it), and a few short stories (which will soon be published in anthology format). I also have free-lance journalism credits, mostly in NY-based periodicals (such as Our Town, The West Side Spirit, and The New York Planet). I am currently (as of July 2020) working on a new novel, about a rock star who think that he is immortal. The working title is Icarus Rising.
3) I have been as far north as Canada (Ottowa), as far west as California (San Francisco), as far east as Maine (the coastline), and as far south as Georgia (Atlanta). And no, I have never been to Europe, but I would love to go there one day.
4) I am fewer than six degrees separated from Kevin Bacon, in line with that famous 'game'. To wit: a) I was in an improv troupe with one Artie Lange, who later became a famous comic and Howard Stern's sidekick; b) Artie had a bit part in the movie called "The Bachelor", with Renee Zellwegger; c) Renee and Tom Cruise were in "Jerry Maguire"; d) Tommy Boy and Kevin B. in "A Few Good Men". To only go by movie roles, it still applies to me. To wit, again: a) I was an extra in "Get Him to the Greek", with Jonah Hill; b) Jonah and Leo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street"; c) Leo and Robert DeNiro in "This Boy's Life"; d) DeNiro and Kevin B. in "Sleepers".
5) I once made a member of Monty Python laugh out loud. The full story: I met John Cleese at a book signing c. 2016, and when it was my turn to meet him, I had money in my hand; I presented it to him, and said "I'd like to buy an argument, please!" He 'got' the joke, and I got my celebrity autograph. I also met the late Terry Jones in a similar fashion, but I didn't try and be 'clever' in that scenario; I didn't make him, laugh, but I did get his autograph. RIP, Terry.
6) A list of other celebs whom I have encountered or spotted in real life, from time to time: Woody Allen, Al Pacino, Paul Simon (got his autograph!), Ed Koch (ditto), Robert Redford (in his limo), JFK Jr., John Lydon (who actually claimed to be David Bowie!), Liza Minelli, Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins (trying to look 'incognito'), Bette Midler, Amy Poehler, George Stephanapolous, Jodie Foster, Lorne Michaels, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Costner, Adam Sandler, Kenan Thompson, Mike Myers (doing a surprise appearance at The Upright Citizens Brigade theatre), Chevy Chase (ditto), Cicely Strong, Chris Parnell, Sigourney Weaver, Eliot Spitzer, Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Fallon, and even 'The Donald' (who thankfully didn't try and grab any body parts).
7) I play Saint George every year in a Mummer's play; if you are unfamiliar with this, it's a very old English play (dating at least as far back as the 1800s) with Medieval themes, often about Christmas themes. I do this every year (in December) with a few relatives, and whomever they can round up to play the various roles. I originally played this role in an off-Broadway musical called "The Christmas Revels", which played at the Symphony Space Theatre. There is a youtube clip of a small-scale production we did at a local restaurant, c. 2016: www.youtube.com/HudsonValleyMummers
8) I am big on 'open-mike' shows, and have been both audience and participant in these. It led to my being a contestant in a mock 'beauty' pageant called "The Mister Lower East Side Contest". The first time I entered this contest, I won a special award ('Mister Congenality'); my routine was a monologue from "Henry V", with dialogue slightly altered for the occasion.
9) I have never been married, but have had a few relationships that - if they had lasted longer - might have led to matrimony, down the line. Hope does spring eternal, though. I am talking about a cure for COVID, here, not marriage!
10) When I got expelled from the Pencey school in New England, I had to take the train back home to New York City, where I live. I couldn't go home right away, though, because then my folks and my younger sister Phoebe would have known something was up, as I was returning home before school vacation officially began. Er, wait... That was supposed to be part of Holden Caulfield's personal 'top ten list', not mine. Sorry about that!
