Business is slow at the Marin County Indian restaurant that Ram owns. In my opinion, he should take this time to do some cleaning in the back, but instead he leans on an elbow and tells me about his last visit to Delhi.
“A friend whose car I am borrowing is warning me if the [...]
Category Archives: Anecdotes
Fast Food Delhi
July 23, 2008 – 9:23 pm
Vive le Musée!
July 14, 2008 – 2:19 pm
Passersby were forced to walk in the street as the Tour de Healdsburg cycled (without forward movement) on the sidewalk outside Costeaux French Bakery in a vigorous and joyful celebration of Bastille Day.
Riding for the unheralded Le Musée Historique team (Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society) were
Looking Back at Filmmaking
July 3, 2008 – 10:53 pm
An elephant carries its baby for 22 months. I carried mine far longer. My baby was HEARTWOOD, a feature film.
I first came to Hollywood in 1975, where I starved writing four-minute radio dramas for Vincent Price ($86 each), then suddenly (it took four years!) I became extraordinarily successful at getting film projects produced: [...]
My Last Blizzard
April 18, 2008 – 10:21 pm
Winter, 1982-83, neck wrapped, leaning on the soft smells above the noonish counter in the cold gap between two multi-stories near Times Square, I ate sidewalk pizza as the flakes began to fall. They were whispers in the soft wind, but the weathermen waxed “much more, much more.”
By 3 p.m., the City was anticipating confusion [...]
Baseball: Recapturing Youth
April 12, 2008 – 11:37 pm
As a kid, baseball was my sport. I was too short to be effective in basketball, no one played soccer in the 50’s, and although I was fast and could catch, my lack of bulk marginalized me in football. I played Little League, made the All-Star team, and loved the game. I played softball [...]
Mom’s Cafe — Salina, Utah
April 4, 2008 – 5:07 pm
There are sage pronouncements that should never be ignored.
In his 1956 short story collection, A Walk on the Wild Side, Nelson Algren wrote: “Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s.” I have always avoided faux physicians at poker palaces, but once, after nearly two handfuls of [...]
Eggman — Part 6…The Next Generation
April 2, 2008 – 11:13 pm
After Doug and I returned home from that first afternoon of delivering eggs with Dad as our unexpected driver and co-deliveryman, we were completely unprepared for his next question: “How much bigger could we make this egg route if we really worked at it?
Doug and I looked at each other. Dad had said [...]
“Going Out of Business” Haggadah
March 28, 2008 – 1:29 pm
In the spring of 1961, my parents lost their clothing store. It was not a tragedy. It was the final breath of a pain-wracked patient, the welcome demise of Cotlers’ Men’s & Boys’ Wear. After 15 years of stress and challenge, the crushing uncertainty—will today’s receipts cover the checks written yesterday?—that often [...]
Eggman — Part 5…Mergers & Acquisitions
March 23, 2008 – 8:12 pm
egg route fortunes
When I left for college in 1961, I bequeathed the egg route, then at 160 dozen per week, to my younger brother Doug. He was almost 12. But when I came home for winter break, the route had declined to 100 dozen. It was too much for him to handle…not to mention the [...]
Eggman — Part 4…Dog and Egg Sandwich
March 21, 2008 – 2:10 pm
After many months of deliveries, most neighbors became accustomed to seeing the Cotler brothers on bicycles, towing their Radio Flyer egg wagon. A few unimaginative churls thought it insanely humorous to yell, “Hey, Eggman! Gimme two dozen!” every time we rode by, but the unpredictable wagon-chasing dog was our bête noir.
The worst crack-up [...]
