Blue GhostGhost's Blog, page 107
October 30, 2012
Having an intense email conversation with an author about the conceptual merits of the art exhibitions I am curating about their book is one of the most challenging/exciting things I've had to do in awhile.
It reminds me of the time I did a riff on Zak Smith’s Gravity’s Rainbow series. (I was still a visual artist then) It took me about a year and then when I was almost done Zak showed up at my school unannounced, came to my studio and critiqued it. I could not make this shit up. He kept saying “well when I was working on Gravity’s Rainbow I was concerned with X…” All I could think was I’ve passed out in a ditch somewhere and this is one hell of a hallucination.
October 29, 2012
"It takes a while watching TWC before you realize that they are such weather nerds that they..."
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via How to know when your epic storm weather news comes from nerds
Also best slash tie in EVAR: Helix by Jesse Hajicek (WiP)
the love song of saint sebastian
“We should go to Miami,” Jaime said thoughtfully. He was stretched out on the bed in nothing but one of Johnny’s shirts with a cigarette in his hand as he stared at the ceiling.
“You keep laying around like that I’m going to fuck you again and we’re never going to even leave the house.” Johnny’s hair was wet from the shower as he pulled on an under shirt and then his gun holster.
“No seriously,” Jaime sat up. “That’s where the action is. We should get into yeyo. Do you know how much those cocaine kings are pulling in down there?”
Johnny looked amused. “No, but apparently you do?”
“No se meten conmigo!” Jaime said in mock offense. “I just have a curiosity is all.”
“Yeah a curiosity for night clubs, fruity drinks and beaches. Nice try kiddo.”
“Ay Jefe! See if I try to help you anymore.” Jaime lobbed a pillow in his direction and Johnny narrowly dodged it.
“Oh that’s it. You’re going to get it now.” Jaime scrambled back but Johnny had him pinned to the mattress a second later, using his weight to hold him in place. “You’re a pain in the ass you know that?”
“I could say the same. A big pain in my ass is what you are Johnny Hollywood.” Johnny snorted and took the cigarette from his hand and put it out in the bedside ashtray.
“It’s fucking dangerous, you know? We could very likely end up dead in a ditch one of these days.”
Jaime grinned. “Nah. We’re too smart and pretty for that. We’re fuera de la ley. It’s muy sexy.”
###
There was the sound of the door and Johnny was up from the table immediately. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked clearly pissed. Jaime took one look at Nick and switched to Spanish.
“Con unos amigos. no te preocupes.” Nick suspected he did that when he wanted to talk to Johnny privately and it annoyed him—more so because Johnny’s comprehension seemed damn near fluent these days.
“Doing what? It’s past eleven.”
“I went to a movie. I left a message for you at the Cherry.” Jaime rolled his eyes and pushed past Johnny. “Ay Dios mio, I’m going to take a shower.”
Johnny swore under his breath and poured both he and Nick a shot of whiskey. “What’s with you, man?” Nick asked. “You have been in a bad mood all night and now you’re taking it out on the kid?” Jaime had been living with Johnny since shortly after he’d dropped out of high school—something about not getting along at home. Jaime was an odd duck as far as Nick was concerned but Johnny seemed to like the company.
“You tell the girls the next person that doesn’t give me my messages is fired.”
###
“I don’t know why you gotta pick a fight with me in front of Nick,” Jaime complained when Johnny came into the bedroom. “It’s humiliating.”
“Baby.” Johnny wrapped his arms around Jaime from behind, lips finding bare shoulders. “I just spent the last five hours wondering what the hell might have happened to you.”
“I’m not a child,” Jaime told him angrily. “I can go to a goddamn movie without a babysitter.” He tried to pull away but Johnny held him to his chest.
“Shh. Don’t. This game we’re in makes me paranoid.” He said softly. ”What if someone did something to you to get to me? I think I should get you a gun.”
“Oh hell no.” Jaime actually laughed. “I’m a lover not a fighter. Why can’t you just take me dancing instead?”
“I don’t dance.”
Jaime shakes his head. “When I’m done with you Jefe, you will.”
###
“That tie with that shirt isn’t doing you any favors.” Jaime was sitting on the bar of the Cherry swinging his legs and drinking an OJ and vodka. It’s an hour before open and the lights are still up.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Johnny asked fingering the fabric of his tie uncertainly.
“It looks cheap.”
“It wasn’t”
“Well you’re not going to wear the price tag, so I don’t see how that matters.” Jaime eyes are laughing as he sips his glass, the perturbed look on Johnny’s face exactly the response he was looking for.
Nick stopped restocking the bottles behind the bar and gave Jaime a look. “What the hell would you know about it? Why don’t you make yourself useful and go get some more tomato juice and green olives from the storage closet?”
Jaime hopped down from the bar and gave a deep bow. “Con mucho gusto senior. Johnny can I borrow your keys?” He caught the tossed keys easily, smirking over his shoulder when he saw that Johnny was watching him saunter down the hall.
Nick scowled. “Something is wrong with that boy.”
“Mmm.” Johnny leaned against the bar and Nick poured him a whiskey. He lit a cigarette and waved a dismissive hand. “No te preoc—don’t worry about it.”
“That’s what I’m talking about right there. He’s got you speaking Spanish all the time and he’s talking shit about how you dress now? Your little fan club needs to learn some manners.”
“He doesn’t mean any harm and I think he’s funny. Besides it’s not like you keep part-time company with Trish for her manners.” Johnny raised an eyebrow and Nick’s face went real blank for a second as he worked that one out.
“Hey,” Johnny said snapping his finger to get Nick’s attention. “Don’t over think it.”
“But there has always been so many girls,” Nick shook his head in bewilderment, almost awe. “Your whole life you’ve always had your pick…”
Johnny’s jaw was set a little tight when spoke next. “We just made a hundred thou this week alone. I think I’ll go ahead and do whatever the fuck I want on my time and make anyone that has shit to say about it real sorry.” The challenge in his statement was hard to miss.
There had always been a crazy side to Johnny, something that felt barely kept in check, honestly dangerous, but this was beyond anything Nick had even contemplated about the man. He’d never been much of the settling down type but why should he be?
Nick watched Jaime approach the bar doing an impromptu shimmy dance with the cans. No, that Johnny—his fierce madman Johnny Hollywood—was shacking up with this skinny Latino kid was about as alien a concept as he had ever tried to wrap his mind around.
“What’s wrong?” Jaime asked, his eyes darting from Johnny to Nick.
“Nothing you need to worry about, kid,” Nick said. “If that was you auditioning for a job here you got a long way to go. Give those things over here before you drop them.”
October 28, 2012
the love song of saint sebastian
Nick was surprised to see some Hispanic kid on Johnny’s couch when he came over to the apartment. He looked vaguely familiar—someone he’d seen around here or there, but no one Nick had ever paid much attention to.
“Oh.” Johnny said like it’s an after thought. “Do you know Jaime? He’s Gil and Mio’s cousin. Jaime this is Nick.”
“Hey,” the kid said looking over his shoulder. “Mucho gusto.” He was wearing a pair of Adidas track shorts, a short sleeved t-shirt and no shoes, his feet half tucked up under him. He’s watching some kind of Mexican soap opera—a woman in a lot of eye make-up was crying as the camera captures her in a warm soft focus.
Nick frowned and followed Johnny, who is already halfway to the kitchen. Johnny opened two beers and sits at the kitchen table. “So what did your contractor friend say?” he asked. “Can we put the new counters in now or is it a fucking fortune? I’d say if we can even remotely swing it we should. I don’t want to run some shit hole nasty strip joint you know? Appearances set the tone for everything. I mean a nice looking place and good girls and we can charge like a third more for drinks.”
“Yeah, yeah I know.” Nick took a swig of his beer. Johnny always worried about appearances—a fundamental belief that it doesn’t really matter what’s in the book if it’s got a legit looking cover. Most people aren’t that into reading anyway. “We can put in the counters but you won’t be upgrading your MG anytime soon.”
“Maybe maybe,” Johnny flashed one of his signature smiles. “I had a little talk with Alejandro Santiago. He says he’ll work with us.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah we still need to all sit down and work out the details but with a soldier like that on the street we are easily going to need to double our supply line.”
“Mmm.” They both knew getting that much dope was going to be one hell of a challenge.
Johnny smiled around the lip of his beer bottle. “I already bought my tickets. I’ll be in Baja by next Tuesday. Relax my friend, I got this.”
“Just don’t be fucking reckless,” Nick said pointing an accusing finger. “I know you, Johnny. Don’t get cocky. When you start taking off is exactly when people start taking shots. We are in a state of vulnerability right now. Don’t ever forget that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Johnny takes out a fresh pack of cigarettes and taps it on the table. “You know for a man that has a fiancé and two girlfriends you sure are uptight.”
Nick laughed. “You try to keep all that straight and tell me how relaxed you are at the end of the day. Wait ‘till some chick gets you by the balls.”
“Mmm.”
“Hey what’s with the kid anyway?”
“What do you mean?” Johnny’s had a cigarette perched on his lip and Nick pulled out the lighter from his front pocket and held the flame out for him.
“I mean does he work for us or something? Isn’t he a little young? ”
Johnny let the smoke curl out of his nose, eyes thoughtful. “Nah. He’s plenty old enough. Sixteen going on forty-five. I wasn’t going to put him on payroll or anything. Don’t worry about it.”
Nick shrugged. “It’s your free time. If you want to collect strays it’s your business.”
###
Johnny tasted like tequila and cigarettes , his fingers almost bruising as they moved up Jaime’s inner thighs, sliding under the hem of his shorts. “Fuck you’re beautiful,” Johnny said because it made Jaime flush hot and squirm, arching off the couch cushions as Johnny bit down on his Adam’s apple.
The first time he’d let Johnny fuck him it had been too fast and drunk clumsy and it’d hurt some. But Jaime had been nervous and not complained because he wanted Johnny badly and he’d half expected the guy to turn on him afterwards—to grow cruel or even violent. Shame did weird things to people and just because someone was sweet in order to get into your pants didn’t mean they were sweet when the job was done.
But when Johnny had wanted more the next morning he’d seen Jaime wince and he’d stopped and apologized. And if Jaime knew the particulars of sex they were nothing like the intimacy of Johnny’s hands and mouth, the feel of his breath on his neck, down his belly, tickling the hairs between his legs.
“Baby,” Johnny said against his throat. “Tell me what you need.” And Jaime didn’t have a language for that sort of thing so he used his body to do the talking instead.
October 27, 2012
pretty random question, but have you seen the video 'San Francisco Time Lapse' (Empty America) yet? what do u think of it?
It’s really beautiful as a film but I think it feels sort of blank. The thing I love most about San Francisco is having someone tell a story about the city. It blows my mind that Vertigo and Dharma Bums are set in the same year in San Francisco. It’s hard to imagine Howl being read by Ginsberg for the first time in the time in the same city Kim Novak was wearing her famous charcoal grey suit. They are both so San Francisco for me and yet worlds apart. Crazy.
Allen Ginsberg, Robert LaVigne (naked) and friend in tree, Berkeley, 1958 taken by Harry Redl
It's been too long since I've left a review for you, but I'm just here to let you know that I still love you, and I'm still reading every chapter of every story you post. Don't even care how creepy that may sound.
Aw Tex you are the best! I had a really good writing day yesterday so there may be a new Treasure chapter coming soon.
October 26, 2012
That Christmas in Colorado when I got the toy plane stuck in a...
That Christmas in Colorado when I got the toy plane stuck in a tree.
