Rookie mistakes

Somehow the Blue Hills production became a disaster. In the pouring rain I apparently turned the camera off when he said action and back on when he said cut. This would've been clear had we reviewed even a minute of the footage but it was pouring and we all fled the area before the police discovered our blood smeared prop clothing. Reshoots are scheduled for today if it rains.

But I don't feels so bad because I've been called up to Lebanon again for more nude photos because he thinks he missed some shots in the series. Since I shaved my beard since the last session I don't know what kind of effect that's going to have.

I have been having motorcycle dreams and piano nightmares.

It is late April and the sun has been out for two days since December.

Letters from Oggy

In my latest attempt to recreate the frame of mind I need to be in to write the Santa Cruz book I went into the forest near Jones ave and built a plastic tarp lean to and with the flies and mosquitoes buzzing in my ear wrote the following letter home from Oggy in Santa Cruz to his mother. I think I'm onto something. I have to transcribe it because no one will be able to read the handwriting. The difficult part is holding back the pessimism that was not present for most of my time in Santa Cruz. We were changing the world and it felt right to have a team of people defending individual liberties and talking about the constitution and civil rights. So, Oggy has to be optomistic, which is forcing me to be optimistic to capture the same voice I want Oggy to have. While at the same time keeping the farce just to the edge of believability. Did it work? I forgot to use trash as the piece of paper since I only used recycled writing material. If anyone has letters from me during this 1993-1995 period it would help if you could scan them. And send them to me. I know I wrote some priceless descriptions from the woods. The trouble was that I was in a Hunter Thompson phase and started to exaggerate everything so they aren't historically accurate but the original letters will help me remember what key moments stand out. The Tweaker invasion is sort of true. I love that my handwriting perfectly fits this style of letter. This looks 100% authentic to me but it's more like 5% true. Still, it's a relief to find some outlet that works and I find entertaining. Any dull moments in the book can be rescued with letters like this. To the mayor, to friends, to presidents, dead people, parents, wolves. The variations are endless as well as the...AH! A whole series of conversations back and forth between the mayor and Oggy. That's a winning idea and actually happened. I have the mayor's blunt response to philosophical lectures on ecology. So funny. Signed by the city attorney, who also responded to my 40 page motion to dismiss an infraction ticket. "Mr. Bleacher's argument is devoid of substance." Perfect.
"Dear Mayor. What do you mean humanity is better off with inventions like the steam engine? Are you crazy? Look around! The Ohlone Indian tribes probably wouldn't agree with you, if any had survived the genocide enabled by the steam engine. They lived in perfect harmony on this same coast for thousands of years and we have..."

oh, so funny. That's really the kind of juggling act I'm aiming for. A letter to the mayor written on used bakery wrapping paper.


Dear mom- Hi! How are you? How are the cats? Do you remember that one stuffed mouse that Lois used to play with? What happened to that mouse? I remember I had it in my treasure chest after Lois died and it smelled like her. I loved Lois. Where is she buried? I think if I have time one day I will find that stuffed mouse and put it with Lois, if we can remember where she is buried. Was it the forest? Probably the back yard. I may have a map in an old journal that will tell the exact location of her grave. If you could look for that journal I would appreciate it.

You remember the girl I told you I met? Well, we're in love! She really understands the importance of ecology and natural habitat preservation. So we built a cabin in the forest just like I always talked about doing. I'm planting beans and we've already grown some tomatoes but the foxes or wild rabbits and woodchucks ate them before we could make a salad. Oh well! All animals have to eat. Isabelle knits in the evening using the candles for light while I guard the area. There are these roving bands of drug addicts called the Tweakers living out here too and they have invaded and stolen our furniture before so I have built a perimeter alarm system. Ha ha!

So we're safe + happy. I haven't spent any money in three months which I feel is important because it's going to help slow the environmental destruction that the United States is causing to wolf habitat. Isabelle also feels strongly about protecting the wolf.
The only thing I need is the location of that stuffed mouse that Lois loved so much. It's in my journal (the location) and I think that is where I usually keep it in my old tree house out by the river. We're all going into town next week for a big rally and socialist solidarity rally for imprisoned political prisoners. Should be important and revolutionary! Say hello to the cats. Love Oggy!
P.S. Don't send me any money because it's really hurting the wolves.

Cafe Bella ........ Opening Soon!

Opening soon... a neighborhood cafe on the balcony overlooking beautiful Portsmouth Neighborhood. Your romantic getaway dinner for two hot spot.

The Cafe Bella Menu:

Ice Cold Purified Water with Lemon sprig: $4.50
Apple and banana orange slices in yogurt with turbinado sugar: $9.95
Couscous Salad with almonds and raisins: $11.50
Organic Bison "Bella" Burger on fresh baked bread: $19.95 (Goat Cheese and Avocado $2 extra)
Rum (Sailor Jerry) milkshake: $7.50
Spinach salad with ham and hard boiled egg: $9.95
Matzo Pizza: $5
Hard Boiled Farm Fresh Egg: $2.25
Two Egg Omelet A'la Oggy with bacon avocado and asparagus: $9.95
Nachos with or without beans: $8.50
Vodka Sauce and Spaghetti: $11.95
Croissant with ham and avocado: 9.95
Granola and soymilk: $4.95
Chef's special: Quatro Frommage with Fettuccine: $19.95

For desert: Pot Brownies with Ben and Jerry Ice Cream. $7.25
Apple Pie with Rum ice cream. $7.25
Chocolate chip crepe: $5.25

Here's a happy customer's meal...



Chef Oggy Bleacher invites you to dine by candlelight among the treetops
Reservations are being accepted. Special meal requests will be considered.
Music provided by Nat King Cole or request live music by Oggy himself.

Interest in Coin Collecting Inversely Related to Interest in Playboy Magazine

I got some detritus from my youth back and aside from some useless nickles from the '50s I can see that things started to fade in 1985. I was 14 years old and coin collecting didn't have the same importance, and not nearly the excitement level of a stolen copy of Penthouse's Pillow Talk magazine.
Funny. There's one book in which a missing hole for a 1971 quarter has scrawled on it in my unmistakable chicken scratch, "I HAVE THIS ONE BUT IT DOESN'T FIT" in bright red ink. I even tried to draw an approximation of the quarter inside the slot, which leads me to believe I was delusional even at eleven years old. It was written in 1982 when I thought all these things had to be organized and if a slot were empty then the world was not completely organized. But since I had the coin but it didn't fit I had to make a note to myself and maybe God that there was a reason the slot was empty. When you can't be bothered to find a penny from 1986 and put it in then that's the end of the collecting bug. Hell, I've probably got one in my pocket right now and I still can't be bothered.

I should point out that the hand written numbers actually stopped at 1981 and just today I wrote 82, 83, 84, 85 because it wasn't exactly clear what was going on. But that means I stopped even caring enough to write two numbers under the penny I had just put in the slot. Or did it mean I had accepted that the date was on the coin and it was redundant to write it also? I'm not sure. For a picture I thought it should be clear the exact year I had stopped and not that there were 4 coins after 1981 that had no date. Of course now that I see this I'm not completely cured because I have a strong urge to write in all the missing dates. It's creepy to see time stop in 1985.

Farther On by Jackson Browne

It's hard to resist the desire to learn the entire Late For the Sky album by JB.
Aside from For A Dancer, which is an amazing song, it's got this tune. Farther On. It makes me think I've got more than dark hair in common with this guy,

"In my early years I hid my tears and passed my days alone
adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
to catch the love that I'd heard of in books and films and songs
now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
in the place where reality belongs
Still I look for the beauty in the songs
to fill my head and lead me on
though my dreams have come up torn and empty
as many times as love has come and gone"

It sounds so easy to write and sing until I sit down and try and the words don't come together like this.