tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post3673031132857308231..comments2024-03-21T21:03:04.197-04:00Comments on NO PLACE FOR NORMAL: NEW YORK: 128. Village Eccentrics: Joe Gould and the BaronessClifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-56396423333808740192017-03-08T23:14:21.111-05:002017-03-08T23:14:21.111-05:00I've become rather fond of Joe Gould, so I enj...I've become rather fond of Joe Gould, so I enjoyed reading this post immensely. I think he was a much better writer than most people (especially academics) give him credit for. Perhaps he never did write/finish the "Oral History" he was forever bragging about to the world. But his poetry (albeit too few poems for comfort) is quite original and clever: I wish he'd written more.<br /><br />Also, I think of Joe Gould as a survivor. Despite decades of being homeless, and the victim of a mental health system which did more harm than good (have you read Jill Lepore's excellent JOE GOULD'S TEETH?), he died at the age of 68. And that's not too shabby. <br /><br />Joe Gould's unmarked grave speaks volumes about how unkind most people are when it comes to having compassion and empathy for the mentally ill. New York was lucky to have him.<br /><br />MY RELIGION<br /><br />In winter I'm a Buddhist,<br />And in summer I'm a nudist.<br /><br />- Joe GouldDylan Mitchellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759482060384749407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-5336280671658082932015-04-15T12:59:25.643-04:002015-04-15T12:59:25.643-04:00I'll have to read this post very carefully! So...I'll have to read this post very carefully! So much wonderful information!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05855768372455981753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-15361103195035255092014-06-02T00:58:36.476-04:002014-06-02T00:58:36.476-04:00Thank you for the extensive information! As a pers...Thank you for the extensive information! As a person who came to New York a decade ago, I already feel that the Big Apple has always been my home and the ethnic palette is just a part of this city's charm, like the cheap pizza slices or the a few-hundred meter high hotels in Manhattan.<br /><br />Best regards,<br /><a href="http://new-york.hotelscheap.org/" rel="nofollow">Cheap hotels in NYC</a>LilKittiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17195936002001865901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-24244979322811170852014-05-27T18:19:49.692-04:002014-05-27T18:19:49.692-04:00Of course.Of course.Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-37785327574333354542014-05-26T17:03:48.254-04:002014-05-26T17:03:48.254-04:00Wonderful info. Can I use it in a postscript to t...Wonderful info. Can I use it in a postscript to the post?Clifford Browderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-16106532715636685552014-05-26T10:39:34.874-04:002014-05-26T10:39:34.874-04:00Thank you for another delightful and informative e...Thank you for another delightful and informative edition. I hope you dig up (so to speak) more colorful, largely forgotten characters who once graced those now gentrified streets.<br /><br />In the mid-Sixties, I experienced an interesting period at WBAI that began when my secretary handed me an old-fashioned calling card introducing an imposing, smartly dressed septuagenarian who called himself Lord Rosti, and claimed to be the Grand Maître de la Cour for his Serene Highness, Prince Robert de Rohan Courtenay, Grand Duke Sebassto of the Byzantines. WBAI attracted many memorable people in those early years, but these two gentlemen—who played their roles to the fullest and had apparently been doing so since the 1920s—were the most interesting of the self-generated variety.<br /><br />They came to me in 1966 for help in meeting certain requirements for a seriously overdue coronation. These included fifty Vestal Virgins and a rather large number of rare flamingoes from Japan's Imperial Gardens. We were unable to help meet those specific needs, but we did the next best thing by staging a coronation at Cheetah, New York's first discotheque. The year was 1966 and the actual crowning was performed by Andy Warhol, with incidental music by an obscure Tiny Tim, writhing by a barely clad lady and her boa constrictor, and the title ape from "Gorilla Queen: swinging from the rafters. I wish we had thought of taking photos, but we were a radio station and we didn't even broadcast it..<br /><br />Have you ever encountered or heard of Lord Rosti or the Prince? Highly intelligent men, they were.<br /><br />On another note, I was pleased to see Marguerita d'Alvarez make it into your pages. She sang an aria at a rather eventful party in Carl Van Vechten's apartment. According to Langston Hughes, this prompted an inebriated Bessie Smith to give her a slap on the back and some advice: "Honey, don't let nobody tell you that you can't sing!"Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.com