My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 24: Frank A.

 The other founder of the "Soon to be Famous" writers group was Frank Adkins.  In a ay, Frank was already a "famous" writer churning out a number of Do-It-Yourself boss on cars. especially Chryslers. but Frank wanted to progress as a fiction author, so he came to the writers' group that met regularly at Barnes & Nobles. 

That is where he met Tracey Landmann and myself. He and I sort of quickly bonded into a friendship, and even today I keep in touch with him. Wish we lived closer so we could get together physically, but he lives down in Lower Delaware.  

Frank was a mechanic when we met, but since then he has become a professor teaching automotive engineering at Delaware Tech. Here is what he writs about himself on Amazon: "I am a life-long Chrysler enthusiast. I began working on cars when I was fourteen, and by the time I was sixteen I had completed my first automatic to manual transmission conversion. I completed two more before graduating high school. After high school I attended Automotive Training Center in Exton, PA (graduated in 1985), Delaware Technical Community College (AAS Degree in Automotive Technology, 1997), and Wilmington University (B.S. Degree to be completed in 2016). I have been an ASE certified Master Technician since 1986 and spent many years working as an auto mechanic/technician and shop foreman. My first technical article appeared in the August 1992 issue of Classic Auto Restorer, and since then my work has appeared in half a dozen national publications. I published Chrysler Performance Upgrades in 1999, How To Build High Performance Chrysler Engines in 2001 (both CarTech books) and a novel, Jack Kramer's Journey in 2006. In 2003 I began teaching Automotive Technology at Delaware Technical Community College part-time, and I have taught there full-time since 2011. From 2006-2011 I also taught Automotive Technology at Caroline Career and Technology Center, a technical high school in Ridgely, MD. I competed twice in the Cannonball One Lap of America (1998 and 1999), I auto cross regularly with the Brandywine Motorsport Club, and I drag race a few times a year. My wife and I enjoy participating in activities with several car clubs. We have two grown children and three grandchildren."

     When I first met him he had thick and curly red hair. Since then the hair has thinned and is more grey than red.  Of course, I met him almost 20 years ago, nd we do age.Although he has put out more automotive books, he has also succeeded as a fiction author. You can find and purchase his novel, Jack Kramer's Journey on Amazon.

I had the privilege of reading his novel in manuscript form and was lucky enough to get a first printing autographed by him. The cover shown here was the revised printing of the book.

      Since I knew him when, back in our "Soon to be Famous" days I had an in. We did socialize outside the group and he attended the Edgar Allan Poe presentation at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair with my wife and daughter on year. This picture was taken o Frank by me at one o those meetings.

Here is the original edition cover of his novel and his inscription to me in it. he dedication in the book is to Krissie, who is his wife. She's a car enthusiast, too.

  

Mt Artistic Friends ver the Years Part 23; Tracey L.

There were three of us who created th, writers' group called "Soon to be Famous".  Thee was myself, Frank Adkins and Tracey Landmann.

Tracey had become the facilitator of the writers group at Barnes & Nobles, succeeding me. and many of our "Soon to be Famous" group meetings were held in her home.

Tracey was not only a talented writer, but was also a painter of some Delaware note.  The painting that opens thus Post was done by her.

Tracey' story is a amazing one.

She is on the Brain Injure Association of Delaware" board. And for good reason, As a teenager she suffered  severe brain trauma when a tfree fell on her head. Fortunately she was in a swimming pool when it happened and that cushioned the blow; otherwise she would have been killed.  As it was, she had t learn to talk and to walk all over again.

     Despite this, she went and graduated college, held some important positions and has had her art work displayed around.

That is Tracey of the left meeting with another at the Brain Injury Association.

On the right is Tracey at one of our "Soon to be Famous" group[ get-togethers.

The painting of boats at anchor was done by her.

My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 21: Julianna B.

 

I met Julianna Baggott back in 2002. I was then facilitating the writer's group at Barnes and Noble. Julianne had just had a best selling novel called "Girl Talk' She had also published a book called "The Miss America Family" and a book of poems, "This Country of Mothers". which I also have.

She has since then written several books and garnered a few awards. The is an Associate professor at Florida State's College of Motion Picture arts.

"Girl Talk" was her first novel, published when she was 22 and had just become a best seller when she visited our group. 

She is now about 41 and has twenty or so published books. She also writes under the names Bridget Asher and N. E. Bode.

.

My Artistic Friends Over Past Years Part 20: Scott N.

 

Scott Neeley has had a pretty successful career in th art, although probably few of you have heard of him. For over 10 years he has been doing the Scooby Doo children books and comics.

Scott acme into our creative writing group nd became the second person to advise me to peddle my work by moving to New York City, the first having been Jane Waiters back in the late 1960's. I did not do it then for her, nor did I do it at the advice of Scott.  He belied in schmoozing an I never felt comfortable doing that. He insisted to make it as a writer today one must go to the bars near the publishing house of New York and hang out with the house editors who frequented theses place.

     Buy them a drink, talk with them, get them to consider you a buddy and then pitch a book idea or two to them. They may even deem to read a story or so and then take your manuscripts to their bosses. Maybe he was right, but it wasn't my style. I'd just continue mailing o the magazines and perhaps get myself an agent.

     Besides being an artist, Scott was also a writer, which is why he came to our group in the first place. As an editor he did take some articles for the magazine he edited, which had a rather large circulation. It was 
"Dining & Entertainment Magazine"  

  

I wrote several articles for this publication, mainly about holidays such as St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day. 

Scott eventually went back to his art and left our group. I assume he is still at it.

Steve Koelsch My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 19: Stave K.

 

On March 8, 2003, I was invited to be Featured Poet at Cathleen Rooney's Pub on Trolley Square in Wilmington. I was invited a second time to be the Featured Poet on March 13, 2004 at Franco's Bar on West Market Street in Wilmington. The second time it was just me taking the stage for th evening, but the first time I had to share the spotlight with a second Featured Poet.  His name was Stephen P. Koelsch.

      I knew Steve from both the poetry group at Barnes and Noble snd at Second Saturday Poets.  It was Second Saturday the sponsored the events. You got to read your work for an hour and they were an appreciative crowd. Steve and I became good friends.  In 2002, Steve had a book published by Trafford Publishing, a Canadian Firm.. It was entitled "Dancing Bare!" It was described as a  "Densely packet journey into adult reality". No, it wasn't pornography, but it was about relationships. The
opening Poem was "The Sadness of Women". There were 42 poems contained between the covers.

We shared our work as friends, though his style and content varied from my own.  I assume he is still writing lines and perhaps has had another book or two since we last saw each other.

 

Don't you think

that most of us

are drawn to

what we're not?

Don't we spend 

our lives trying

to fill absences?

Breath deeply

of the magic.

in your everyday world,

For in that dead world

waiting patiently for us

on the back side of life

we may wander

hopelessly forever

wishing for a glimpse

of the other.

       "The Other" by Stephen P. Koelsch (2002)

My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 18; Jack H. and Eduardo L.

 On the left is the front of the 4W5 Cafe, one in Wilmington. It is where the Second Saturday poets met each note for a while. Second Saturday moved locations several times. We also met just up the street from here at Franco's Bar. 

Although Eduardo and Jack were part of the crown at Second Saturday, the is not where I first got their acquaintance. That was at Barnes and Nobles when the weekly poetry group movers from Borders where we used to meet until the young lady that facilitated tragically died. Then Dallas Kirk Gantt took over the leadership.

     when I first went to the Poetry group it was with some tripidation.  Despite having begun writing verse in Grade School and have some poems published, I was far from confident in myself, and especially so when I showed up with a small group of accomplished poets. The fellows who greeted me were older, already moving into the eights, with the except of Dallas. I took my wife along for moral support and had printed and folded about six of my poems I had stuffed in my pocket. But much to me surprise they like my stuff, especially one called "Library Spider". They found deep meaning in it, I guess; any rate, they hd m read it several times.

     Jack Hardy, pictured here on the right, had published a small volume. Is poems tend to be ver formal and historic, and he always read them in a boring voice.

     Eduardo LaCerata was from Portugal and had written many poems in his native language. He was always celebrated when he went back to his native country, an had honors from there.  He had written several books in Portuguese, but what he rote and read in our group were in English, usually in triple lines, often ironic and often political. He had a weakness for straying into political topics. We are there to read our poetry, no to espouse some cause. I do not discuss politics with others, so I always tried to get us back on course. But he was a delightful man; both were. 

    It has been a year since I was able to go to any such meetings, so I do not know if they both still survive. I hope they so.

My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 17: Dallas, Beverly and Amanda

    There was a poetry group, which met at Borders, every week. I copied dow a couple go my poems and went to one of there meetings.  There was a young woman, college age, facilitating it at the time I first went. went She sadly died and the group was taken over by and the grip was taken over by Dallas Kirk Gantt.  He drove a Dart bus, but certain days of the week he took poetry to the prison inmates.  He later wrote a box about his adventured driving city bus. 

      

         He was a respected and colorful Wilmington Poet and became the editor of Poetry Vortex, which took a loot of my poems over the last twenty years.

        Here is an excerpt from an article he wrote in Dreamstreets Magazine a  number of years ago.

        

For years, Herbie the paperboy wandered the streets of Wilmington hawking his papers. He was a little, white-haired, leprechaun kind of fellow. His distinct nasal cry of: “Paper! Paper!” preceded him as he shambled through the downtown business district with a News Journal held aloft. (He’d sell old batteries, lighters, a bent screwdriver here, a well-worn pair of pliers there, and other castoff things that he’d find in the street in his wanderings.) He was an anachronism, holding to an old trade, in the face of news-stands, home delivery and coin-operated paper boxes.

He never bothered anyone, but he had a fearful worried look about him. He wore the same, disheveled clothes, with his worn pants perpetually tucked into his socks. Urban Legend’s undying rumor had it that he carried his life savings around with him because he didn’t believe in banks.
He kept it in his socks. He was mugged often enough, so some of the ugly souls obviously believed it. Everyone knew him. He was a fixture on the streets for years . . . and then he was gone.

     At our meetings we would read our works.  In the photo at the beginning of this he is with Beverly Romain, a poet who came to Second Saturday.  I loved to hear her read her work since she had this Jamaican accent that sounded so cool when she did a poem.

     Another young poet I became friends with and tried to encourage was Amanda Kimball. She was very shy about reading her work, but she was very good. I don't know what has happened to her since those early days of 2001, but she did readings with me and she became fairly well-known, appearing in an Article in "Delaware Today".      

      Dallas remained a friend, but my affliction has presented me from going to those meetings for a couple years now.  I thank him for his devotion to the gourd, even after we moved to Barnes 7 Noble, I wish him well with his book and hole someday to see him again.

    

         

My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 16: New Start

By the mid-90s I had been away from publishing to the world. I had still been writing, because I have always viewed it as a curse more than a blessing; that is, once writing has you there is no escape from it. You have to write. It is like a powerful drug that I tried to walk away from. 

Yes, I had published a number of books for both my work at Wilmington Trust and as a Youth Minister and all at Laurel Hill Bible Church, but I had the itch to publish elsewhere again.

Oh, sure I had seen some of my poems make it into print, but where were my stores, essays and plays?  My close artistic friends were gone.

      In 1995 I read online the a theater company in Florida was looking for some new plays for their repertory company. I decided there was nothing to lose, so I sent them a play called, "Leslie in the Lyons Den". It dealt with the conflict of bringing our Christian values and views into the modern business world.  Mr Lyons was a demanding boss, and Leslie was our modern day Daniel, who was caught between pleasing their Boss or pleasing God. I named the main character Leslie so the part could be filled by a man or a woman.

     Much to my surprise the bought my play and added it to the program for Hearts of Tampa Acting, even contacting me to write their radio advertising. 

     Spurred by this success, I joined some local writing groups. First think I knew I had new artistic friends.

     

 

My Artistic Friends Over the Years Part 13: Randy V.

 

I sold an article to Animal Lover's Magazine in 1974 and moved n from the Philadelphia Group and being something of a Hippie and a Hedonist. I had found Jesus in that period and except for some poems, most of my writing was done either as business publications or Christian one.  I became a Youth Pastor and wrote some little plays for the youth.

Lois and I also moved to Ski Mountain in New Jersey. That ski resort is no longer in existence. As it was, after we left the area, Donald Trump bought Ski Mountain and turned it into one of his golf clubs.

I teamed up with Randy Van Der Veer, who was the son of Pastor Van Der Veer and his wife then running the Cedar Land Missionary Homes. These were cottages where Missionaries could stay when they came out of the field.  (Beth and Randy Van Der Veer pictured .

Some what ironically, the Van Der Veers started a church in Claymont, Delaware, in a former movie
theater called Bible Baptist.  It later moved to a spot on Darley Road and went through some name changes: Northlife Community Church and now Iron Faith Fellowship, which is where I now am a member.

Randy Van Der Veer wrote a Play called, "A Little Fuss" which we took the crucifixion of Jesus and put it in a contemporary setting.

I wrote some plays of my own during this time, such as a musical and gospel

review, "Words of Life", where the youth starred and we took it out to other churches and nursing homes to preform.

     I also started a magazine, which I edited. This was mainly for the youth to write in, although I did some essays in it. 

     

     We put it out weekly.

My Artistic Friends Over The Years: Part 11, Joe R.

 

No you are not seeing double. John and Joseph Rubio were twins. Joe on the right became one of my best friends.  We met at Atlantic Richfield, but our friendship continued even after I left that company. Joe was a regular member of our group that met in Jim Tweedy's basement and he was a writer in those days.

Joe and I became best friends over the next several years, getting together with the gang of artists and writers, bowling in a league, playing minister golf in Reading and Chip & Putt in West Chester. I came to look upon Joe as the younger brother I never had and he was looking at me as kind of a mentor.

In 1965, right after President Johnson lifted the exception on married men, I was drafted, but code 1-Y, only to be called up if everyone else was taken. It never reached that point, so I escaped Vietnam.

     Joe was not lucky. He was given a lottery number. He tried to get out of being drafted, even trying to join the Marine Reserves. His family contacted a Congressman, but that came to nought.  Both John and Joe were called up. John ended up in Kansas, I believe, but Joe was sent as an infantry soldier in the army to Vietnam.

    His Platoon leader had his head blown off directly in front of Joe. Joe became the communication guy, a prime target. He was not killed. He won several metals: bronze star with three oak leaf clusters, a battalion presidential citation, five air metals, a Vietnam national metal, and a Purple Heart.

     He was wounded when his platoon was trapped by the Viet Song and had to be rescued out by air. Joe exposed himself to enemy fire so the helicopter could land and pic them up.

     He didn't talk for a while after getting home.

      Joe don't turn to the arts later, but stayed with Atlantic Richfield and moved to Los Angeles when they moved their headquarters there. I haven't heard from him in years. He married a girl named Linda.  ( Joe came from a family who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba. Joe was one of nine children, him and he twin brother the only boys.)  Joe and Linda had at least two children, both girls. They named the eldest Meredith (Joe, Linda and Meredith pictured 1n 1973.

    Joe and I wrote several things together. such as "Death of a Salesman and Our Town: A Comparison" and "The Executive and the Federalist Paper"

     I started helping Joe write a speech for his class at St. Joseph's University. He wrote the speech, "Warning for Aid", which was on why the state should aid puroprial school. I added on the argument from the public school's viewpoint, how this was aid everyone.  The professor only gave him a C, saying is speech was prejudice against the public schools. How could that be, I asked?  I wrote the view and I'm not Catholic.  I told him I wanted to write his next speech, and I did. 

    I called in "Speech on Speaking" and told him if he gave it, he would either get an F or an A. He got an A. I wrote the rest of his speeches.  

The next one was "Bob Dylan -- Poet". 

 
    I was concerned about when the class would ask questions because I knew Joe didn't follow Dylan, He gave it and got another A. The professor said she agreed, Bob Dylan was a poet. Apparently the Nobel prize committee agreed, since they gave him the prize for literature the last year.

     The finally speech I wrote for him was called, "God Resurrected" where I resurrected the piece I did for the Communicator. He was uncomfortable with it, too, but he got another A and an A- for the class.

My Artistic Friends Over The Years: Part 10, Jane W..

Atlantic Richfield, where I was working, was at 360 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. The Art University was not far away at 320 South Broad. I befriended a student there named with whom I became close friends with and we would often meet to discuss our artistic dreams.  

I gave her several of my manuscript to read and afterward she had  a bit of advice for me.

"You wanna be a writer, then you should give up your day job and live on your talent"

    She suggested I move to New York.  That would be a big step and I doubted my wife would have taken kindly to the idea. Heck, she might not look kindly on my close friendship with Jane, as it was.

      I wrote about Jane in my story, "Why There Will Never Be Peace".  This instance I included wen Jane and I rode the Broad Street Subway north one day. She lived in North Philly and I was going to Temple University Evening Collage.  That afternoon we walked to the stop together. We got a lot of stares and frowns from people, including the traffic cops. The stares and frowns continued aboard the train, lot of White People didn't seem to approve of us being together like some couple. What I noticed was as the passengers had less Whites after a few stops, we were getting the same disapproving looks from the Black Folks. It bothered me, but Jane ignored it. I was learning prejudice was a two-way street.

       

     Same type of thing happened with Ronald, who is Gay by the way, one time. We went to lunch together and we were warmly welcomed in this Deli. It was such a nice time and the food was good I suggested to Lois we would go there sometime, and we did. Not such a warm greeting this time. The Host ignored us for a long time and then seated us by the kitchen door. No one was friendly at all. I said to Lois I didn't understand and she told me to look around. I then realized this was a Gay hangout and straight couples weren't wanted. Yes, prejudice is a two-way street! I wrote this in my story as well.

   

 Jane was an activist. So was her boyfriend, a photographer, but he had left the USA and went to Cuba. Jane was talking about joining him there. She introduced me to a publisher in the underground press. Her boyfriend had published photo for him. This led to me writing for the underground under the name "Eugene Lawrence".  I used a pseudonym because what was being published underground was pretty raw and very anti-government.

My maiden material appeared In Psychedelphia Period with a fairly graphic anti-war story titled, "To the Boys on the Flat".

Frank Rizzo was the police commissioner at that time and would become Philadelphia's Republican mayor. I was living in University City in West Philadelphia when he ran for that office and an attempt was made to take my vote away, along with many other's who's vote they tried to suppress.

     Jane was a good friend, and eventually I did live my day job to write. I didn't move to New York, though.  Of our group of wannabes, I was probably the only one who actually became a professional writer; which means I not only got into print, I got paid for it.

     I don't know what happened to Jane. Perhaps she did go to cuba. Like so many of my youthful friends she disappeared from my life.

My Artistic Friends Over The Years: Part 9, Jim T.

 

Jim lived somewhere on Upland Street in South Philadelphia. I don't remember the exact address.  I do recall there were sensed in Basketball courts  behind hid place.  

I also can't dredge up how I first met Jim, but he became a close friend. We both had day jobs at Atlantic and minds elsewhere. Like me he went to college at night; in his case, LaSalle University.  He was also a writer; not just a writer, but he was the editor of a magazine at school called, "Der Spiegel". It means, "The Mirror", but that is about all I know, even though a have a copy of it here somewhere. I ich spreche nicht. Jim did understand German obviously.

     He also wrote English. I wrote a piece under his name for him, "On I, James Thurber". It is included under the ghostwriting section of my collected essays, "Making an Essay of Myself".

II   GHOSTING

Movie Review: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 39

(as Girard Neville)

On “I, James Thurber”

(as James Tweedy) 42

Death of a Salesman and Our Town: A Comparison

(with Joseph S. Rubio) 44

Executive and The Federalist Papers

(with Joseph S. Rubio) 53

Lois and me in early 1968. Our hair would grow. 

Jim became the host of our meetings in the finish basement of his home on Upland Street. Our other
big hang out into the we hours was Rittenhouse Square. As the evening turned to dark, more and more of what I would call the eclectic folk of the street would gather about the fountains. There would be philosophical dicussions in the air to backgrounds of folk music. Sometimes it would seem a giant costume party. Sometimes it would become erotic.

   

 We shopped the Hippie section between South Street and Lombard, buying our non-work outfits from the second and stores. This was an area of music stores, head shops and occult purveyors. We also went to the Coffee Shops hoping up here and there at the time for live entertainment, some poetry, but mostly music, a lot of psychedelic stuff.  We spend a lot of nights at The Trauma, Kaleidoscope The Main Point and others. 

 

    While I was peddling myself as a writer, Jim was more interested in breaking into the music scene. He was a composer and we decided to form our own group. We called in "Ethereal".   We saw our songs as too delicate and beautiful for this world, although we did write some protest songs ala Dylan. In the photo, Jim is playing the bongo drums, but his main instrument was piano. I did my best on the guitar. Lois was our frontman, or more our sexy frontman. Lois could sing well, but she looked good and dressed in fairly diaphanous gown that were somewhat see through.

     Our band never caught on, but my writing was beginning to sell.

 Jim Tweety 

 Kalidescope

 Main Point

 The Trauma Poster

 Tim Buckley and his band