The World of Nick Adams,..

"It was not his country but it was the middle of fall and all of this country was good to drive through and to see. The cotton was picked and in the clearings there were patches of corn, some cut with streaks of red sorghum, and, driving easily, his son asleep on the seat by his side,.." - Heminway: Fathers And Sons

On Monday evening my fiancee, Jill, and I went to see a production called The World of Nick Adams; A series of Hemingway semi-autobiographical short stories put into a script by A.H. Hotchner. It was at the beautiful Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The production was a combination of many art forms including music from the San Francisco Symphony, literature, and stage acting. A.H. Hotchner created this script for on stage performance by combining many of the famous Nick Adams stories many years ago while Ernest Hemingway was still alive and with his approval, Hotchner successfully created the script.
The World of Nick Adams was on Broadway in New York in 2002 for another benefit and was extremely successful. It was in San Francisco on Monday night to benefit an organization that the late Paul Newman put together called The Painted Turtle, it is said to have raised 1 million dollars.
Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco introduced the show along with his wife. The actors that contributed parts to the acting and reading of the script were: Jack Nicholson (as Hemingway and the narrator), Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis (as the main character in one of my favorite stories the Battler), Sean Penn, Warren Beatty, Danny Glover, Annette Bening, Billy Crystal, Joaquin Phoenix Danny DeVito, and finally an acoustic song at the end performed by Bonnie Raitt.
It was not only fascinating to see this talented group of actors live on stage, but it was great to see how dedicated everybody was to Paul Newman and all the incredible things that he did in his life and the cause that this supported. At the end of the show, all of the young ones who attend the Painted Turtle Camp came on stage and lined up to give thanks to the crowd.
It was a magical performance and the combination of music, live reading and acting, and the timeless words of a Hemingway made it an unforgettable experience.

Listening to Neil Halstead

Long time comin'...

I have been away from blogging for a while because I have been discouraged about the amount of people that would actually read my blog. My good friend Daren updates his blog often and he told me that no matter who reads it, blogging is a wonderful outlet and a great place to go to when the urge to write strikes you. View his blog here.
I understand that and with technology, we can blog from just about anywhere in the world. I decided against blogging when I was on my recent trip to Peru. I wanted to enjoy the people, below is a photograph of myself on the left, Falvio (an 80 year old waiter who lit our cigs) and my good friend Adam who I traveled Peru with in August.

I wanted to also enjoy the surroundings and not have to worry about when I would be at the next internet cafe. The serenity of the mountains in Peru, and the the technology that the Incas used to create Machu Picchu is much more creative and inventive than My Space and blogs and facebook. Not that these new technologies and programs are not creative, but Machu Picchu impresses me more and I know that long after the human race is gone, Machu Picchu will live on and My Space will be gone.


We have so many outlets through technology and I have grown exhausted of digital connections. It is more real to talk to somebody, through the phone, but even on the phone, we are so disconnected. To be with somebody, to celebrate the day, to look down on our lives after a long hike to the top of a mountain, from where we can see the world pass by. Or to spend all day walking around ancient ruins or even here at home, being at an outdoor concert listening to Greg Brown and Taj Mahal while camping, really getting to know our friends, dancing, drinking, eating good food, swimming, this is what i enjoy. This is what I think of as spending time with the important people in our lives, not typing what we are doing now or what we want to be doing, as people do on facebook.

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