Jefe's House

How a Bogle, St. Mary and their Mysterious Human Operative Saved the Day

Yesterday morning I hop off the train from Philly at NY Penn and head toward the A train to zoom down to NYU to teach when I realize my wallet is gone. Had I been pickpocketed or had it fallen out in my train seat? Argh! I make a mad dash back but then realize in the packed rush hour station that I have absolutely no clue which of the 21 tracks we’ve just come up from onto the main floor. Who pays attention to what track number they came in on? Besides, all of the escalators leading down to the platforms are still set to “up” so I have no immediate way down to any newly arrived train.

I run and find a uniformed employee hanging around a back corridor who tells me I have to check with customer service, on the far end of the building, naturally, and that they can tell me exactly which track my train had come in on. By that time my train and my wallet would be long gone anyway but I have no choice.

So I sprint through a million wrong turns and find the customer service office. They’re helpful but can only tell me they’re “pretty sure” my train would have arrived on track 1. I run down to track 1 and a train (my train?) is still sitting there but — Murphy’s Law — it’s locked. Coincidentally a motorman comes along at that time and unlocks the train. I hop on, explain my situation and he tells me to have a blast and look all I want because the train isn’t leaving anytime soon. I walk through the entire train to be safe, looking in the seats, under the seats, in the aisles, nothing. I have to face the fact that my wallet is gone. (continue reading…)

Looking for the Pope in Philadelphia

On this overcast, blustery fall day I made a lone pilgrimage on foot two miles from my South Philly home to Center City for a chance at glimpsing Pope Francis, “the people’s Pope,” in person.  All the way up Broad Street, Army or National Guard soldiers — I’m not sure which — in green fatigues hung out casually in pairs on every other street corner. They’d been there since last night but I’m not sure why as no Papal events are planned this far south and barely a soul was out. The city seems apocalyptically deserted.

Click to enlarge photos.

Eventually I came to barricades personed by police and military at every intersection to keep out vehicles but as a pedestrian I could pass freely. Finally, just south of City Hall, I reached one of the security entrances to the main event.  The lines were much shorter than I anticipated, and much friendlier.  Soon I was inside the secure zone.

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Although I’m not Catholic and have serious disagreements with the Catholic Church and its checkered history, the Pope is a major historical figure and he’s right here in my town so naturally I wanted to be a part of the event.  Like all these visitors from around the world I was one more gawking pilgrim eager to see “the people’s Pope” in the flesh.

Crossing Love Park I got my first glimpse of one of the Jumbotrons, on which the Pope was just starting (continue reading…)

According to an automated Facebook message I received this morning I posted this picture 4 years ago today on 4/12/11. I decided to check my blog for that date as well and yep, this was about to happen:

Amtrak Residency
Day 12
3/24/15

This morning while hurtling across western Pennsylvania I enjoyed my final Amtrak breakfast.  I sat next to a uniformed Amtrak police officer en route to a meeting at our final stop on the Capitol Limited, Washington, DC. From there I’ll take a two-hour ride  to Philadelphia on the Amtrak Acela Express and be home in time for dinner.

Across from us sat two elderly women from Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The officer had spent 26 years on the Chicago police force before retiring into a much less stressful “second career” working for Amtrak.

Old round house; Martinsburg, WV station

After a few minutes of instinctively probing their names, destinations, life stories, I sprung it on them that I’m a (continue reading…)

Amtrak Residency
Day 10
3/22/15
Got up with the rooster crow — or in Amtrakspeak the ear-blasting 6am breakfast call — to see off the Warren-Powells who hopped off in Osceola, IA at 7:40am. I then wrote until an early lunchtime (the last meal aboard my beloved California Zephyr before it concluded its run in Chicago) during which I met a pair of retired micro-brewers, Wendy and Don Littlefield. The better half is completing her first novel, a murder mystery that I look forward to reading.  They also hipped me to Philly Inquirer food writer Craig LaBan, whom I should have known about as I’m now a Philadelphian, but I didn’t. Now I do. We also talked about our shared appreciation for August Wilson and the fact that they’ll be seeing Two Trains Running in Chicago soon. This was the second time on this trip that August Wilson came up.

The train station in Galesburg, IL, historically an important railroad town, boasts and antique Pullman car…

I spent my final few hours aboard the Zephyr (continue reading…)

The thinking man’s Thing 1.

The full effect. My better half and  I are but bookends to the main attraction. Costumes (besides the wigs) are entirely homemade by said better half.

Zeppelin Mooring at Philly Skyscraper

Thrilled that my Philadelphia “zeppelin” snapshot posted here yesterday is today’s Photo of the Day at Coast to Coast AM.

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9″ to 10″ footprints with three claws. Note the apparent blood droplets at top left.

The last time this happened to me it caused quite an uproar.

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* A lot can and did happen in 60 seconds. Last weekend’s One-Minute Play Festival at the Interact Theatre has come and gone and the video is now online at howlround.tv. I urge you to watch all 60 of these charming 60-second plays or skim to any place and watch a few flavorful tidbits to brighten your day. They are funny, tragic, political, topical, you name it.  If you’d like to see mine, “Foreign Policy,” written just for this festival, you can drop in at 42:45. It was directed by David O’Connor and features actors Isaiah Ellis, Ashley Fisher-Tannenbaum and Joseph Smithey. *

My short play “Foreign Policy,” written just for Dominic D’Andrea‘s nationally acclaimed One-Minute Play Festival & Philly’s InterAct Theatre Company, and directed by David O’Connor, will premiere this weekend at the One-Minute Play Festival:

Sunday, August 3rd @ 8PM
Monday, August 4th @ 8PM
Tuesday, August 5th @ 8PM

On the main stage at the Adrienne
2030 Sansom Street
Philadelphia

This year’s fest features 60+ rapid fire miniature plays by established and emerging Philadelphia playwrights.

In the meantime, please enjoy a Boneyard cocktail.

InterAct Theatre Company and the Philadelphia New Play Initiative are presenting a Playwrights Showcase this Friday 6/27/14 at 8pm at the Adrienne Theatre on 20th and Sansom Streets featuring excerpts of works from Emily Acker, Alisha Adams, Joy Cutler, Chris Davis, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Sam Henderson, Bruce Walsh, Douglas Williams and yours truly (from my play UFOs Over Brooklyn).

This event is FREE but (continue reading…)