RICK CASTRO BY MATTHEW STEELE

OSCAR WILDE WAS DEAD

~OSCAR WILDE DEATH DAY SALON~

@ THE TOM OF FINLAND HOUSE~ 

PRODUCED BY THE PURPLE CIRCUIT

NOVEMBER 29TH~ 5PM

HOSTED BY RICK CASTRO 

I SERVED HAND~BLENDED EARL GREY TEA WITH  BABY ROSE BUDS 

& LAVENDER BITS, ACCOMPANIED BY AN ASSORTMENT OF GRAPES 

IN VARIOUS SIZE & COLOR.

IN ATTENDANCE WERE ADMIRERS & MOURNERS, 

AND THE GHOSTS OF 

OSCAR WILDE, (PORTRAYED BY KEVIN DULUDE)

DORIAN GRAY, (PORTRAYED BY MATTHEW STEELE

LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS AKA BOSIE, (PORTRAYED BY ALEX SMITH)

FOR OUR OBSERVANCE OF OSCAR WILDE’S DEATH DAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 1900~

AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH 117 YEARS AGO, OSCAR WILDE WAS A BROKEN MAN 

PHYSICALLY & FINANCIALLY, BUT FREED FROM SEXUAL RESTRAINT. 

HE HAD LOST HIS FAMILY,  HIS REPUTATION AND HIS INCOME, 

AND IT SEEMED HIS LITERARY WORKS WOULD BE FORGOTTEN. 

OVER 100 YEARS LATER THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED. 

OSCAR’S PLAYS ARE PREFORMED REGULARLY, 

OSCAR’S BON MOTS ARE QUOTED CONSTANTLY

~( I CAN RESIST EVERYTHING, EXCEPT TEMPTATION )~.

~OSCAR WILDE IS A LITERARY & GAY ICON~

ON NOVEMBER 30TH,1900 IN PARIS~ 

OSCAR’S FEW  REMAINING FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS MOURNED HIS DEATH.

 LONGTIME FRIEND~ ROBBIE ROSS PLACED A WREATH OF LAURELS 

INSCRIBED WITH A TRIBUTE TO HIS LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS.

 PLAYWRIGHT GEORGE BERNARD SHAW STATED~

“ I AM SURE OSCAR HAS NOT FOUND THE GATES OF HEAVEN SHUT AGAINST HIM, 

HE IS TOO GOOD COMPANY TO BE EXCLUDED.”

~WRITTEN BY BILL KAISER~ LOS ANGELES WILDEN SOCIETY PRESIDENT

UPON HIS DEATH BED OSCAR WILDE SAID~ 

“EITHER THIS WALLPAPER GOES OR I DO”.

(A MODERN  DAY WILDEAN POEM WRITTEN & RECITED BY MATTHEW STEEL AS DORIAN GRAY)

~FOR A SATYR I MET AT THE OLIVE MOTEL~ 

STAIN OF SUN FRESH ON HIS CHEEK CUTS A FINE SERENITY. 

THIS ROOM, MINE,THIS HIS, BUT ALL OF THEM FLEET

 WITH ROSEMARY, WOUNDS AND TIME.

O, TIME, WHAT A DESOLATE FIEND.TO THINK HOW IT CARES NOT WHAT IT EATS.

NOT WHAT IT FUCKS, BUT CLINGS TO ALL OUR  GENERAL STREETS.

WERE I BUT A STAINLESS NIGHT, OR A SATIN EVE OF SATURNIAN GLOW,

I WOULD THE VIOLET SPECTRUM BITE AND ALL ETERNITY MY MOUTH WOULD KNOW.

 

PHOTOS BY RICK CASTRO

FOR INFO ABOUT FUTURE TEA SALONS~ antebellum@earthlink.net

RIMBAUD TEA SALON @ TOM HOUSE- NOVEMBER 8TH

PRESENTS

RIMBAUD TEA SALON

NOVEMBER 8TH

5PM

SALON ENDS PROMPTLY @7PM

$10 COVER

PREPAY RESERVATION GAURANTEES SEAT

PREPAY- antebellum@earthlink.net

-ENJOY-

HAND-BLENDED TEA

CAKES & DAINTIES

VIEW EROTIC ART

ENGAGING JOVIAL CHATS

RELAX & HAVE A NICE CUPPA

HOSTED BY RICK CASTRO

TOM OF FINLAND HOUSE

1421 LAVETA TERRACE

ECHO PARK, CA 90026

INFO-ANTEBELLUM@EARTHLINK.NET

 Arthur Rimbaud 

 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891)

 French poet  known for his influence on modern literature and arts, 

which prefigured surrealism. 

Born in Charleville-Mézières, he started writing at a very young age and was a prodigious student, 

but abandoned his formal education in his teenage years to run away from

 home amidst the Franco-Prussian War.

During his late adolescence and early adulthood he began the bulk of his literary output, but completely stopped writing at the age of 21, after assembling one of his major works, Illuminations.

Rimbaud was known to have been a libertine and for being a restless soul, 

having engaged in an at times violent romantic relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine,

 which lasted nearly two years. 

 As a poet, Rimbaud is well known for his contributions

 to Symbolism and, among other works, 

A Season in Hell, which was a significant precursor to modernist literature.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO AS RIMBAUD

SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA

AS IT GETS DARKER

as it gets darker & colder

BY ALEX GLIDZEN

I have less inclination to spring from bed in morning. during summer jumping up at 5:30 & starting my day is sublime. but on a morning like this it seems a challenge.

today I got up at 5:20. but I had a pee & went back to bed. it wasn't to sleep but to cogitate. I did close my eyes & soon I found myself on that sidewalk on Norton Ave in LA.

the pieces of Elizabeth Short were beside me. at first I didn't know what to make of it. so I allowd my body to rest on the sidewalk & my mind to be open. what I began to feel was the fear she must have felt in her final moments. it was overwhelming. then I began to wonder why Beth wd want me to share that. there was no clear answer but the fear began to subside.  I cd see her beside me but I wasn't afraid.

eventually I opend my eyes. I got out of bed & threw on some clothes. went outside to feed Kiddo.

I still don't understand this visitation of Elizabeth Short. but it was part of the realm of dreams. when I remember a dream I try not to dissect it. I'm not of the school which attempts to interpret dreams. I take them in the way I do visitations of the muse. to those of us meant to have such visitations that blessing is to be acceptd not understood.

& so this morning that faild to begin with a leap has already been rich. now I'll prepare bacon & eggs with Bolivian coffee.  when the sun comes out I'll finish the process of bringing in plants for the winter. abt a half dozen remain outdoors. there are plants which began as cuttings I brought back from LA & Fort Lauderdale & Palm Springs. inside they'll help me breathe thru the cold months.

repost courtesy~ alex gildzen~ santa fe/antebellum correspondent

"DEATH COMES TO HOLLYWOOD"

"Death Comes to Hollywood"

for Rick Castro

Lou Tellegen plungd scissors
into his heart
Clara Blandick slid a plastic bag
over her head

Florence Lawrence   ant paste
Pete Duel   gun
John Belushi   speedball

& the fliers
Irene from Knickerbocker Hotel
Peg Entwistle from Hollywood sign

wannabes & hasbeens
all took death
into their own hands
while other hands
gave death as a gift
to William Desmond Taylor & Elizabeth Short
Ramon Novarro & Sal Mineo

& in her quiet room

Carla Laemmle watchd it all go by
finally slipping into sleep at 104

Alex gildzen~ friday the 13th june~ 2014

ANTEBELLUM SAYS..... THE BLACK DAHLIA

ANTEBELLUM SAYS.....
Rick Castro interviews poet and author ALEX GLIDZEN about The Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short.
ANTEBELLUM SAYS....
produced~ rick castro
camera & editing~ heath daniels
artists
alex gildzen
dan lacey
billy berger
eddie jelinet
cristiano burlacchini
$ex artiste!

DJUNA BARNES 120TH BDAY

the first time I wrote to Djuna Barnes was to inform her that
 I'd put together a handout for my students.  it was titled
 "How Djuna Barnes Starts Stories."  it was a list of the
 first lines of her delicious short stories.


I took her flowers once but she didn't answer her door. 
however I did see her one time on the street.
 she was elegant in a suit. I didn't bother her.


my major encounter with the celebratd author of Nightwood 
was when I edited a festschrift for her 80th birthday. 
(I told the story of that publication in Mary Lynn Broe's 
Silence and Power.) here's the cover:

it surprises me that today wd be her 120th birthday. 
all those years gone by. to honor her I just read 
"A Night among the Horses" with its images of whips & sequins.

Djuna Barnes (June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American writer
 who played an important part in the development of 20th century
 English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures 
in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the
 Greenwich Village of the teens. Her novel Nightwood became 
a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction by
 T. S. Eliot. It stands out today for its portrayal of lesbian themes 
and its distinctive writing style. As a roman à clef, the novel features
 a thinly veiled portrait of Barnes in the character of Nora Flood, 
whereas Nora’s lover Robin Vote is a composite of Thelma Wood
 and the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Since Barnes's death, 
interest in her work has grown and many of her books are back in print.

Although Barnes had other female lovers, in her later years she was
 known to claim, "I am not a lesbian; I just loved Thelma Wood."

Barnes was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961.
 She was the last surviving member of the first generation of 
English-language modernists when she died in New York in 1982.

repost courtesy~ alex gildzen~ santa fe/antebellum correspondent

THE DESERT

 the desert -it's dry - 
it's hot, it's got me in a knot, cause i can't take the heat, feeling like a piece of meat 
( oh wait that was a britney spears song)
 i love the desert with a cup of frozen yogurt, 
and seeing all the stars glinting in their invisible blanket of night
 oh oh what ! pure delight.


repost courtesy~ scarlett rouge~ santa monica/antebellum correspondent

BETH

Beth by Alex Gildzen 

RICHARD CARLSON GIVES

ELIZABETH SHORT A CHARM BRACELET

Vine St clings to her

like the dahlia in her hair

his convertible cruises toward

that intersection of dreams

it seems this nite

will go on forever

& in a way it does

because I remember it

just as I won’t forget

the glitter on her faraway grave

nothing in the horror movies

he had yet to make

wd shake our ground

like those rotogravures

of that empty lot

full of her parts

UNFINISHD PLAY 

set:
a '40s ice cream parlor (stolen booth for booth from the late C.C. Brown's)

time:
a moment of the imagination
floating somewhere between the mid '40s & mid '50s

characters:
Beth   (who looks like Elizabeth Short)
Jimmy   (who looks like James Dean)
soda jerk   (who looks like Percy Helton)

Beth sits alone. it's a summer afternoon but she's wearing a black dress & a hat. even tho the place is empty she looks around. seeing no one she brings a finger to her mouth & fusses with a tooth. she hears a noise & snaps the finger out of her mouth.

Jimmy lopes into the place. when Beth sees him she smiles. he moves his right hand in a small semi-circle then slowly approaches the booth & settles in. Beth continues to smile. Jimmy looks sullen.

________________________________________________

over the years I've written a few speeches for this play but I've lost them all. of course the woman known as the Black Dahlia was murderd in LA 2 & a half years before Dean moved to LA. but for decades these faces have been LA to me. so in the play I bring them face to face to discuss the urge for fame & the premonition of early death.

it's a 2-character play except for a brief moment when my favorite character actor appears to ask their order. Percy is Hollywood of that period. he adds layers to the play as once again he is Everyman.

________________________________________________

the play that won't finish itself came back to me this afternoon when I read Todd Moore's new essay. in his mind Dillinger lets Todd touch his gun. in my mind Beth keeps asking me to put her pieces back together.

I've spent at least a half century considering Short & Dean & Helton. each means something different to me. yet it seems natural that I shd bring the trio together in one piece. if I ever complete it I'll dedicate it to Todd whose staccato lines slap the dictionary out of my hands.

Todd & I have had many desserts together over the years but we've not been to Hollywood at the same time. C. C. Brown's is gone. but we cd walk past what's left of the Florentine Gardens. the smell of the dahlia wafts down from its neon sign. & if we wear the shoes without holes we cd keep walking all the way to Griffith Observatory where Dean & a knife made movie history.

"dreaming the dream." Beth & Jimmy both did. & their halting dialog keeps playing in my head. so I dream their dreams & they become mine.

9 june 08:SF

exact location where the black dahlia's body was found- 1/15/ 2011

exact location where the black dahlia's body was found- 1/15/1947

LOOKING FOR THE BLOOD

OF ELIZABETH SHORT

for Todd Moore

the walk

from Florentine Gardens

to Boardner's

is quick

on a quake afternoon

the pavement

she walkd

is gone

now names of stars

she never knew

are buried

in a dazzle

like the glitter

on her grave

her name

isn't there

but her shadow

prowls Hollywood Blvd

forever

there is blood

& then

there is blood

her blood

one of the great

vanishing acts

of the 20th century

her pieces

the first step

toward stardom

tour guides tell

busloads

which buildings

she may have

lived in

more buildings

than suspects

in her killing

each new book

finds her blood

in another place

all that blood

vanishd

but her pieces

still there

immaculate

on Hollywood Blvd

between Florentine Gardens

& Boardner's

29 july 08:SF

“Richard Carlson Gives Elizabeth Short a Charm Bracelet” is from the work-in-progress The Arrow That is Hollywood Pierces the Soul That is Me.

“Unfinishd Play” first appeard online in Arroyo Chamisa & “Looking for the Blood of Elizabeth Short” in Outlaw Poetry.

posting courtesy~ alex gildzen~ santa fe/antebellum correspodent