Trooper York: Whose that author?

Friday, February 17, 2012

Whose that author?

"Think how you love me," she whispered. "I don’t ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember. Somewhere inside me there’ll always be the person I am to-night."

24 comments:

The Dude said...: The food here is not that bad!

I looked up that quote - have never read a single work written by that author.; February 17, 2012 at 4:55 PM
Trooper York said...: He has two good books. This is one of them. In my humble opinion.; February 17, 2012 at 4:58 PM
MamaM said...: ...a feat not to be disparaged, and in addition he possessed a gift for softening and debasing what he borrowed, so that many readers were charmed by the ease with which they could follow him. Success had improved him and humbled him. He was no fool about his capacities — he realized that he possessed more vitality than many men of superior talent, and he was resolved to enjoy the success he had earned. “I’ve done nothing yet,” he would say. “I don’t think I’ve got any real genius. But if I keep trying I may write a good book.” Fine dives have been made from flimsier spring-boards.; February 17, 2012 at 5:20 PM
ricpic said...: He did something really insane when he took Neal Cassiday as a model (for how to live). Kicks is a deadend. Maybe not for someone like Cassiday, who had energy to burn but not much else. But for a sensitive type like Kesey it was disastrous.; February 17, 2012 at 7:30 PM
chickelit said...: She got a rumbly in her tumbly.

That verse is Kesey?; February 17, 2012 at 7:38 PM
ricpic said...: They fooled me, chick. It's F. Scott Fitzgerald. Yes, impossible to believe but I was wrong. When Troop said he has two good books I figured One Flew Over and Sometimes A Great Notion, cause those were the only two books Kesey wrote. And Mama M's quote could come right out of Kesey's life. He wrote the books and then decided to be a full time hippie.; February 17, 2012 at 8:12 PM
The Dude said...: I have read some Kesey, and I read Electric Koolaid Acid Test written by my close personal friend Tom Wolfe.

Neal Cassidy hung around with Kerouac, then Kesey, then was found dead next to some train tracks in Mexico. He burned his candle at both ends.

Those were the days, that's for sure. I am kind of glad I came along well after that mess had died down a bit. That lifestyle took a mighty toll on those who lived it.; February 17, 2012 at 8:18 PM
The Dude said...: Sometimes A Great Notion - we lumberjacks still talk in hushed reverent tones about that book.

And even with all the time I spent in Oregon I never made it over to Coos Bay. More's the pity.; February 17, 2012 at 8:21 PM
ricpic said...: Best thing Fitzgerald ever wrote was The Crack-Up. It was written for Esquire and is all of 3 pages long. You can access it by googling crack up fitzgerald or just crack up.

Of course Hemingway thought it was awful. I don't.; February 17, 2012 at 8:29 PM
chickelit said...: We used to drive by Kesey's old place up in the Santa Cruz mountains. Of course somebody told us it was there because this was long after the "Acid Tests." But there is still this cool outdoor bar called Zott's closer in down the mountains towards Palo Alto. Lots of old "Keezers" still hung there in the 90s.; February 17, 2012 at 8:58 PM
The Dude said...: I used to ride my bicycle up Old La Honda road, then down to coast, right past Kesey's place, but this was in the 80s, so I don't think I met any of the left overs.

A good friend of mine grew up in Woodside which is just down the hill from La Honda, and he told me many stories about that crew. They had a nasty rep.

I was glad I had the chance to ride all over the coastal range - that is a very beautiful area. Steep hills covered with redwoods - seriously beautiful.; February 17, 2012 at 9:33 PM
chickelit said...: I just made that word "keezers" up.

Pretty cool, huh?; February 17, 2012 at 9:51 PM
chickelit said...: We befriended someone at Zotts who grew up around Woodside/Portola Valley. I'm sure he went to Woodside HS. in the 70s.; February 17, 2012 at 9:54 PM
The Dude said...: That is an excellent word. It accurately evokes what those hippies became.

What an odd trip and what a curious experiment. I was glad I could experience all of that at one remove, all while working at a mainframe manufacturer in Silicon valley.

Good times.; February 17, 2012 at 10:02 PM
BJM said...: @60

Looking back, the real trip was the Valley in the 70's & 80's. That was some seriously twisted shit.; February 18, 2012 at 12:47 AM
BJM said...: I read that Baz Luhrmann's making a modern adaptation of Gatsby with Leo-fucking-DiCaprio in the lead.; February 18, 2012 at 1:03 AM
The Dude said...: If life in the valley was twisted, well I missed that part. Kept my head down, worked, went to school, saved my money and left. Did get to do a lot of excellent bike riding, so that was good.

Come to think of it - there were some real twisted, well, the word fuckers seems useful here, that one would encounter. I guess I have forgotten about them on purpose - once I moved away there was no reason to dwell on their twistedness.

Now I am watching the sun rise in North Carolina and Silicon valley is far away, both geographically and in time. Glad I was there, and now I am glad I am here.; February 18, 2012 at 7:28 AM
chickelit said...: @Sixty: You really know Tom Wolfe?; February 18, 2012 at 1:30 PM
chickelit said...: I remembered a blog post I wrote about Zott's. Rereading it I see that I never finished a story I started there.

Anybody here remember the Chowchilla kidnappings?

"Dirty Harry" inspiration?; February 18, 2012 at 1:36 PM
Chip S. said...: @60G--Wouldn't Tom Wolfe enjoy hanging out here?

Or is he already here, posting as chickenlittle? Was "keezers" a coy dropping of the mask?; February 18, 2012 at 2:15 PM
chickelit said...: I'm no dandy!; February 18, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Chip S. said...: James Cagney wants to know what's wrong with that?; February 18, 2012 at 2:23 PM
The Dude said...: I remember the Chowchilla kidnapping - that was a terrible crime. The bus driver saved the day. The spoiled rich boys who did the crime are still in prison, but one might be released. He should die before that occurs.

I remember the Chowchilla quake in May of '84 - magnitude 6.7. I was far enough away from the epicenter that it was just kind of a rolling motion. No damage in SV.

I think Tom Wolfe would find this blog interesting, or perhaps curious. He might read it like a case study of an aberrant social dislocation, like an anthropologist looking at a primitive tribe or the ramblings of disaffected citizens in the 21st century. But he's a busy guy. No time for such silliness.

And yes, he is my close personal friend. His daughter attended Duke and when she graduated he came to town to speak. I attended an event he did for the public, and afterwards I got in line with my copy of "From Bauhaus to Our House" and after getting him to sign it, spent 90 seconds talking to him. Based on that I consider him my BFF. He has no idea who I am.; February 18, 2012 at 3:38 PM
chickelit said...: I remember the Chowchilla kidnapping - that was a terrible crime. The bus driver saved the day. The spoiled rich boys who did the crime are still in prison, but one might be released. He should die before that occurs.

One of the guys we met at Zott's was sort of permanent house sitter for one of those guys in prison. He lived in an apartment above the garage/converted stables detached from the old main house on several prime acres of Portola Valley real estate. The name of the guy in prison is in the public record but I don't know if the story of the house/estate is. Apparently all the heirs but him are now dead. So there it sits, empty. Power and lights long shut off. This was back in the mid 90s.
One halloween (must have been '96 or '97) we got invited to a party up at the caretaker's. After much consumption of alcohol he took us on a flashlight tour of the old house which was amazing because it had been abandoned completely furnished. This apparently had long been an annual thing--a guided flashlight tour of the "haunted house." So just imagine a scaled down "Downton Abbey" with cobwebs. Coolest thing I remember was a bedroom upstairs--again completely furnished--on the wall was a pennant from the 1936 Berlin Olympics showing all the nation's flags--including the Nazi flag. The place was like a time capsule. I'm also pretty sure that that's were the arrests occurred for the kidnappings.; February 18, 2012 at 3:56 PM

Friday, February 17, 2012

Whose that author?

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