Gabriel Garcia Marquez, March 6, 1927-April 17, 2014

…human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel Garcia Marquez passed away on Thursday, April 17, 2014 at age 87. We are forever grateful for his brilliance, inspiration, and influence. His novels, including his masterwork One Hundred Years of Solitude, are among the greatest works of art of all time. Thank you for your life and work, Señor Garcia Marquez! You will live on!

Remembering Elvis Presley

HEARTBREAK HOTEL

written by Mae Boren Axton, Thomas Durden & Elvis Presley

Well, since my baby left me
Well, I found a new place to dwell
Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street
At Heartbreak Hotel

Well, I’ll be
I’ll be so lonely baby
Well, I’m so lonely
I’ll be so lonely, I could die

Oh, although it’s always crowded
You still can find some room
For broken hearted lovers
To cry there in their gloom

They’ll be so
They’ll be so lonely, baby
Well, they’re so lonely
They’re so lonely, they could die

Now, the bell hop’s tears keep flowin’
And the desk clerk’s dressed in black
Well, they been so long on Lonely Street
They’ll never ever look back

And it’s so
Well, it’s so lonely baby
Well, they’re so lonely
Well, they’re so lonely, they could’ve die

Well, if your baby leaves you
You got a tale to tell
Well, just take a walk down Lonely Street
To Heartbreak Hotel

Where you will be
You’ll be so lonely, baby
Well you’ll be lonely
You’ll be so lonely you could die

Oh, although it’s always crowded
You still can find some room
For broken hearted lovers
To cry there in their gloom

They’ve been so
They’re be so lonely, baby
Well, they’re so lonely
They’ll be so lonely, they could die

Illustration: “Elvis,” street Art, Berne, Switzerland. (Photo by desatur8.) Elvis stars in street art all over the world. He is universally loved!

Thoughts: Elvis left the third rock from the sun on this day in 1977 — and embarked on an endless rock party across the universe. Blessed with talent, looks, charisma, a killer smile, and about the best voice ever, Elvis graced us with his presence for 42 beautiful years. My favorite Elvis tune is “Heartbreak Hotel,” originally recorded in 1956 — it was his first number-one hit and first million seller. What great lyrics! What a great melody! What a great beat! What great singing! What great guitar work!

Nearly a half century after it hit the airwaves, Rolling Stone magazine declared the tune one of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Keith Richards recalls hearing “Heartbreak Hotel” for the first time: “I’d never heard…anything like it. I’d never heard of Elvis before. It was almost as if I’d been waiting for it to happen. When I woke up the next day I was a different guy.”

Listen to Elvis sing this classic song here.

Remembering Patricia Neal (and Gort)

This Grey Goose Frame Shop window display featuring Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still reminded me of Patricia Neal, who starred in the 1951 movie. Today marks the two-year anniversary of Patricia Neal’s passing. I shot the photo through my passenger window while at a stoplight on LaBrea Avenue.

During a phone interview shortly before her death, Neal recalled working on the film and her admiration for director Robert Wise, even though he chided her for laughing during her rehearsals when saying the famous line: “Klaatu barada nikto.” Neal assured Wise she would deliver the line with solemnity during her performance — and managed to pull it off (though she burst out laughing as soon as the director called “cut”). What a great actress! What a great movie!

Honoring Patricia Neal

Today marks two years since the passing of Patricia Neal, an Oscar-winning actress I was fortunate to interview  about some of her Hollywood leading men (including Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan). The phone interview occurred just a few months before Neal’s death from lung cancer, but she was warm, witty, and wonderful — and I had no idea she was ill at the time. I feel honored to have been the last person to interview this amazing artist, a true original who will live forever in her brilliant work.

I thought of Patricia Neal yesterday when I drove past the Grey Goose Frame Shop on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, where the windows included a display featuring images and figures from The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 1951 film in which Neal starred early in her career.  We had a good laugh over her dialogue in the movie (“Klaatu barada nikto”), which she told me she had trouble saying with a straight face. We will always miss you, Patricia!