welsh rarebit

i first heard of bob cobbing sometime in 1983, and wrote to him at his home in london. inkblot magazine had just begun and i was looking for material for the 2nd issue. sometime that spring cobbing wrote and sent words & pictures. he also mentioned he would be in oakland in july and could he and clive crash at my flat. no problem, as small as it was.  i picked them up at the train station probably in july. they had several performances in san francisco. good stuff! and nice folks! that same week i took them up to kpfa at 4.30 on saturday morning where they performed several sound works. i still have a tape of this. course i didnt sleep much as bob was quite a snoring machine. where did i take them to drink? i just dont recall tho the obvious choice would have been bertolas. we kept in touch and i hit london october 1984, where bob and his wife hosted me at their north london house. each nite we would go to the pub. ostensibly bob had cut down on drinking and was allowed just 2 pints, plus a shot of american whiskey. if his wife was involved in the snooker he would sneak himself a third pint or a 2nd shot. when we returned to the petherton road house bob always cooked something. 'spoiled egg, spoiled fruit or spoiled welsh rarebit' would be his question. i think i often opted for the rarebit, which to my delight is broiled cheese on toast!

those days*

i realise i dont have any pictures of bertolas, outside or inside. they must exist. somewhere! but where? i visited often in the 80s. by october 1990 it was gone. i hadnt gone the last month or 2. certainly it had changed. but in those glorious days of the early and mid 80s i was there often. i miss it to this day. not just the food and drink but the atmosphere. there was a sign out front that must have amused passerby:  'HOW CAN YOU LOSE' with the drink prices which were 50 cents for a single, 75 cents for a double and $1 for a triple!! as mentioned i usually went for a double gin/tonic. by the third one ron is pouring you a triple. this was cash on the bar, no credit card or bar code. this was the real thing. it could be tough to get a slot at the bar on a busy friday or saturday, and thus i would usually avoid those nites. black & white movie posters of bogart and others on the wall. a bar entrance and a family entrance. but on one of those glorious friday or saturday nites, 23 years ago this weekend, i went to bertolas for a few drinks, and then on to the OMNI club on shattuck, which was in the old ligurian club building.....to see jack bruce play, even ginger baker was with him on drums! the mad drummer himself....oakland was a lot of fun then. it probably is now, but it isnt what it used to be, not even my beloved temescal!

bertolas

in november 1980 i moved back to north oakland after being away some 15 years. the apartment was #26 in the canadian arms, 439 49th st, 2 blocks east of telegraph. 49th street was to be home, off and on for the next 23 years. tho of course, it is still home. no one else called the building the canadian arms, but that was and is the name of the building. now i think it is even named on the directory. there was a great restaurant right down the street at 45th & telegraph called bertolas. it probably opened in the 1930s. ed jennings told me about it, tho i later found out some relatives used to eat there. but i had never been until i moved to 49th st. most people would call it an old fashioned italian restaurant: those red & white checked tablecloths, the movie posters, the bar in the middle, and the dim lights. i loved it. a typical meal would start with minestrone soup and then some salad. the salad was just iceberg lettuce with one (1) piece of salami. no tomato or onion. always a lot of bread.  then the spaghetti, which may have been served with the veal. i used to order the veal regularly. if one wanted more bread, they would bring it to you. there were always waitresses. no waiters. of course  there was also a gin & tonic at the beginning, and then cheap burgundy with the meal. later of course i used to frequent the bar, and ron would be pouring the perfect double gin/tonic when he would see me coming in. sometimes i would get a meal to go after the 2nd gin & tonic. if i got the to go meal it would be the soup and spaghetti, not the veal. bertolas may have been the only bar where i was practically a regular, tho i didnt talk to most of the other drinkers. i would eat or drink at bertolas as much alone as with friends.  and one could stumble back to the building in 5 minutes or less, always with a smile and some leftovers.....

blink & its wednesday or the aftermath of sandy

31 october 2012.
for the san francisco giants, adele parker & aleister crowley
confounding all thought remotely revealing common sense or could we possibly be there yet? saturday samarai & sushi to go. hit the p.o. early, or could it have been 11...no one really knows...but returned to the citadel for an early lunch with the circus remnants too chicken shit to leave town & i dont recall just where the fuck they were going...moldova, hoboken or niagara falls...& still havent heard. by sunday obscure gypsies & thieves were circulating in the back streets near the citadel & we found ourselves sharpening the bamboo poles we'd kept around since irene's visit some 14 months prior. back street decadence doesnt arrive until dusk...the pills had worn off as the ice clinked for the dregs of gin or was it vodka with a splash? no one can recall. a damp monday overeasy: drizzle drizzle drizzle & the kitchen window is closed for the first time in months...the usual shenanigans suspended as the rain intensifies...howlin' wind, the blues & a strongly herbed chicken. why werent you here homeboy!?! warm enough tuesday for soul searching, portofino persuasion & a casual porch conversation w/ anyone brave enough for a verbal version of what you are reading now. blink & wednesday rolls in calmly, all in all obscurely, with no demands but to kick out the jams, declare who you are (if you dare) quickly, don your true will & the hat of your choice! may the anrchist gypsy be with you

palimpsest

i met gore vidal in june 2007. uh, let me rephrase. gore came to providence to receive an award of some kind from rhode island school of design (RISD). a talk of some kind was happening, tho i think it was someone asking gore questions. he had allergies, and complained there was 'spring' in providence, which didnt occur in los angeles. he was a bit hoarse. did we need tickets? i dont recall. if we did there was no charge. what did he talk about. probably the state of the world at that time, and the horror that is good old usa. eventually, the audience asked a few questions. and like that it was all over. i have met many writers whose works i have admired. but i was trembling to speak with gore ever so briefly. we talked about brion gysin, whom he had known.. i gave him a book i had published of brion's stories in 1984. with trembling hand himself he signed my copy of 'palimpsest'.

more toast!

later, i went to live in london, april 1980 for several months. but the first trip was june of '77, a jubilee year. and today or was it yesterday, watching the boats on the thames and the queen and all made me think of that year. london was fun that year. i stayed in a small bed & breakfast out by kings cross station. 3 quid a nite. and dig this: as much toast and tea as one wanted with breakfast! the place was run by real english people. "more toast?" i loved it! and more tea! ha ha ha!! just to see all the streets that had been in stones songs. the brits were in a good mood that year, and the pound was weak against the dollar. the weather was good. the punk thing was happening but i didnt pay too much attention. "MORE TOAST?"

an odd cat: august 77

at the new york airport there was a booth where one could get help booking a hotel. the lady got on the phone. 'how much do you want to spend'. well...i dont think i said but she got me a room at the tudor hotel on east 42nd st for $20 per nite. i was pleased. i think the tudor has been remodeled now, but the rooms back then were very small. which was fine with me. new york still felt like the old days. breakfasts were 99 cents until 11 a m. eggs toast, juice etc. do these places still exist?? the 2nd nite i went to the yankees/white sox game. it was a see-saw affair. this may have been august 17th. i dont remember who won. back at the tudor the TV mentioned the news about presley. the next day i phoned a j weberman, the dylanologist. his name and phone number were at the back of the paperback edition of scaduto's dylan bio. he lived on bleecker st. near the bowery. 'i'm selling the masters' he said. it seems columbia was giving him some shit about selling copies of his unreleased dylan tapes. so i went over there. he was an odd cat. there was a big painting in his place of dylan shooting up. i think the lady who was there had made the painting. weberman seemed, uh.... well, he was nice enough but not particularly friendly. he sold me 50 reels of unreleased dylan for $100. thats right folks, $2 per tape. i must have dragged them back to the tudor. and they eventually flew back with me to california. they brought me much joy over the coming months. fortunately, several people i knew in the bay area made reel to reel copies of these tapes, which is fortunate, as my tape collection has gotten scattered over the years, as careful as i am with my archival materials. i called weberman 2 years later but he pretended he didnt remember me OR the tapes. an odd cat.