Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,
I hope you had a nice day. Mine was a Thursday Hair Salon Day, and so it's kinda like clockwork these days. We are having beautiful weather though, and I hope to get back to afternoon hikes soon. Tomorrow I have to take the Koberman Pinscher to see his heart doctor. I am hopeful he will get a good report, or at least a passing grade, as he seems to be doing well considering his age, though he is a bit "leaky" because of his kidney medication.
But I have just gotta say : "Man, do I love that guy". It's a man/dog love affair, I'm tellin' ya. :)
So anyhow, no chance of a hike or photos till Saturday at the earliest. It was posted today on FB that a man named Mario Maglieri passed away at the age of 93. He was the owner of three of the most famous nightclubs in Hollywood : The Whiskey A Go-Go, The Roxy and the Rainbow Bar and Grill (which wasn't technically a nightclub because it didn't have live music, but all the rockstars hung out there). I mention Mario because he was part of my rock n' roll history, as he no doubt was for thousands of other people. But for me, I was a week shy of 14 when I began going to concerts in 1974. I had been to four shows that year, including one at The Whiskey (to see Camel) but then in 1975 I went to my first shows at The Roxy. And that's when I met Mario. I didn't know him, he was just a man I met briefly, but he left an impression because he was such a gentleman and such a cool guy. He met patrons at the door, and because Grimsley would always stop to say hello (Grim is a notorious talker) Mario would shake our hands and tell us to have a great time. We saw The Tubes and Captain Beefheart in the Spring and Summer of '75. The Roxy had two shows per night in those days, one at 8pm and one at 11pm, and Mario would always let us stay for the second show for free. But he'd order us not to tell anybody. :)
He was a real original : a rock n' roll kingpin from the WW2 Generation, looking sharp in an expensive suit with silver hair. And physically fit. He certainly stood out amongst all the long haired young people in jeans and t-shirts, but then he owned the joint. And he wanted everybody to have a good time. Those early shows at The Roxy are some of my greatest rock n' roll memories, and so tonight I remember Mario, who was also a WW2 Veteran like my Dad, and a very nice man.
Tonight's movie at CSUN was "Gloria" (1980), written and directed by John Cassavetes and starring Gena Rowlands in a butt-kicking role as an ex-Mobstress who knows how to handle a gun and is tougher than any tough guy. Rowlands has become one of my favorite actresses as a result of this Cassavetes retrospective, and she is at her best in "Gloria", where she gets to really go for it. The movie was one of Cassavetes few studio pictures, and so it looks and feels like a real Hollywood movie, with about 90% of the difficult Cassavetes aspects removed from the finished product. There is normal paced editing, no long running scenes, no in-and-out-of-focus camerawork, no ad libbing. It's as commercial as Cassavetes can get, which just shows that he can make a professional picture. And it's a lot of fun and a very good movie in it's own right, although having seen the Cassavetes oeuvre (man I hate that word but I used it because I had to, not to be hip) I am now more attuned to and interested in his personal films like "Faces" and "Husbands" and "Chinese Bookie", even though they are much more difficult to sit through.
But "Gloria" is great just for Rowlands' performance alone. She is protecting a young boy from Mafia types who believe he has witnessed a murder. That's all I can say without giving spoilers. I also remembered that we did the prints for "Gloria" when I worked at MGM, and sure enough, that was in the credits : "Prints by MGM (should've said Metrocolor but what the heck....).
And that was all the news for today. I saw a post about your friend Tyler whose designs are now being worn by Lady Gaga. That is super cool! And James is gonna cover Ed Sheeran. Cool again!
Everybody is doing their thing, and everybody is succeeding.
See you in the morn, SB. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment