Listening to holiday music and doing that holiday thang. Thanks to @myappetite for the pecan sandies recipe (I think you gave it to me 5 years ago but I never really thanked you properly—it’s good!). The peanut butter chocolate blossoms are also very tasty. 😋
All politics is local. We’re out today to try to save Tony Dapolito rec center from demolition. It’s been closed 5 years but rather than repair it NYC wants to tear it down. It serves the local community as a low-cost city rec center (as opposed to $220/ month Equinox) with pools, handball, basketball, work out rooms, classes and more. Historically: this has the pool used in Raging Bull plus an iconic mural by Keith Haring. #reopentonydapolito @gvshp_nyc@petercarlaftes
For about the past 7+ years, I’ve been drying a couple pounds of stinging nettles every spring, then using them to make nettles tea all summer. Nettles are packed with vitamins c, a, and k, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, all essential amino acids, flavonoids, and a billion other good things that help reduce inflammation, effects of arthritis, and prostate issues in the fellows. Did I mention it also reduces hay fever, may lower blood pressure, aid blood sugar control, improve your liver health, and act as a natural diuretic? But who cares about all that—what does nettles tea taste like? Delicious—take it from me! Sweet and grassy, a little peppery, and an underlying buttery taste. Wow! This year it looked like we were going to miss out, but at the last minute the wonderful produce guy at Eataly came thru like a champ—with 2 pounds for just $12! Good to go for the whole summer. They’re pretty stingy at first so I use the tongs but once they dry a bit I can do the grooming with bare hands. On to nettle land!
Ooohhh!! Look what I got!! So overcome to receive this incredible portrait (matted & framed!) from the brilliant painter John S. Paul!! Imagine me—at a loss for words!! True!! Thank you to the forces of nature that made JP, and double thanks to JP himself. @john_spencer_paul #art #portrait #nyartists ❤️❤️❤️
Now it is real (almost). First proof of MAINTENANT 19 DADA JOURNAL in hand May 29, 2025. @threeroomspress@petercarlaftes@katgeorges #dada #dadaart #vispo #collage #collageartwork #counterculture #antiwar
Great to witnesss the NYC launch of the EVERGREEN REVIEW: Dispatches from the Literary Underground by counterculture chronicler @pat_thomas_author_reissues . Fellow counterculture historian Jonah Raskin says:
Pat Thomas has an excellent record of producing outstanding work. He has done it again. I admire his drive and his literary and political instincts. The Evergreen Review was a vital publication back in the day. It still is vital. Censorship by the Chinese government proves it, should anyone want proof. I look forward to diving into the magazine again and locating pearls, gems, and timely work. Bravo Pat. Keep at it. The timing of the re-publication could not be better. May Trump and Vance and Musk shake in their boots. May readers rally around this censored work. All power to the imagination!
And what an all-star lineup:
Steven Heller; graphic design maverick Evergreen Review publisher John Oakes
Joe Hagan Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone magazine biography
The book will be available widely soon but be sure to preorder this masterpiece, reproducing key writing by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Bryon Gysin and on and on. Here’s a few pix from the event. Good one. #counterculture #beatculture #literaryunderground
