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It’s been over a month...
...since our last posting, and there are many developments to be discussed. Sadly, not all those developments are happy ones. Nevertheless, we feel its our duty to report them, as they impact—sometimes directly, sometimes not—on the nebulous Shpotzir community.
In Memory...
First and foremost, we note with sorrow the sudden passing of Milt Liebman, of Riverside Drive. The father of sometime Shpotzirist Kate Liebman, and father-in-law to founding member “Bones” Moskowitz, Milt was as fine a fellow as you could hope to meet, almost universally applauded for his dry wit and affable manner. Though never a Shpotzirist himself, Milt had the sort of passions that any of us would applaud—he liked horse racing, smoked salmon and travel; his wine collection was widely admired, he made potato pancakes every Christmas-eve, and he never passed up a good spy novel. And--praise of praise—he brewed the finest cup of coffee some members of our community have ever tasted. In the words of J.H Moskowitz: “His pots of joe got me through many a morning made wretched by his wine from the night before.” It’s a pity he came on the scene after our regular meals had ceased, because he would have been a star attraction.
This guy belongs at the Shpotzir...
Greenville Hot!
Though a trivial loss in comparison, another sad and shocking event impacts more directly on the Shpotzir community. That is the fire that lately engulfed the Ehrlich ancestral estate in Greenville, NY. This catastrophe was witnessed by T. Newman, who, warned by the barking of a dog he was taking care of, barely escaped a good crisping by the rapacacious flames. Stumbling out into the snow covered yard in nothing but a bathrobe, Theo watched in horror as the conflagration shot through the building, ultimately burning out the entire upstairs and much of the livingroom area. Lost in the blaze were such irreplaceables as the antique Victrola with which we willed away so many delightful hours, a box of artifacts from a branch of the Ehrlich dynasty wiped out in the Holocaust, and many knick-knacks and momentos that called to mind the farm’s heyday in the mid-to-late 1960s. As these few photos show, the damage was intense. No word yet on the Ehrlich clan’s plans to rebuild or replace the house.
Exposed beams.
The view from outside...
The view from inside.
Not good. Not good at all.
Fender, Stat!
Descending several more magnitudes of significance, we turn to the fiasco of Bones Moskowitz and the Kisch/Wolochow Subaru Outback. While the New Jersey based couple were in California with their angelic son Lucien, Moskowitz borrowed their car for several days—during which he managed to avoid any fender benders, tire slashings or break-ins, all of which might be expected in a thriving metropolis like New York City. Ironically, as soon as he took the car to beaucolic Leonia, he smashed the fender pulling out of the Ehrlich family driveway.
Perhaps appropriately, this notoriously tricky stretch of black top was the scene of the last accident that Moskowitz can remember being involved in. It was nearly 20 years ago, Kisch was in the passenger seat, and Moskowitz was drunk on Pepsi and licorice sticks. He swung out of the driveway in his father’s K-Car (the fabled “silver fox”) and backed into a quite expensive looking Toyota on the far side of the street. There was a sickening thud, and he saw that he had put a good size dent in the back passanger seat door. As it was 2:30 in the morning, he felt duty bound to flee the scene without leaving a note. Alas, this time he had to pay the piper, as the car was owned by a friend and honor dictated that he replace the damaged part. Fortunately, the relatively small dent had only damaged the bumper cover. Unforunately, the bumped cover costs several hundred dollars to replace. Chastened, Moskowitz has sworn to take public transportation from now on.
Recent Shpotzirs
December did see its share of actual Shpotzirs (as opposed to the virtual kind we attempt to create on this site). On Friday, December 18, D. Ehrlich sent out the following e-mail:
graf, greor and i are having a Conqueror's Breakfast and Schptoz of the Victorious Ones tomorrow (Friday) at 8:30AM at MY FAVORITE BISTRO (west 72nd & Columbus, surprisingly good food & coffee.) PLAYA HATAS NEED NOT APPLY.
This was followed the next morning by an real, honest-to-God breakfast, which was attended by Hurdles Grebin, Egon Graf, The Ehrlich Brain Boys (Gregor in from San Francisco), Moskowitz and some special quests, including G. Ehrlich’s wife The Wadenius. My Favorite Bistro served a fairly good cup of coffee, and some entirely acceptable omlettes, but any question of it becoming a regular gathering place is complicated by its proximity to the Large Charles residence, as questions of favoritism might be raised.
Said residence was the site of another Shpotzir, this time on New Year’s Eve. A quiet dinner of salmon, swordfish and shrimp cocktails, the delightfully adult event was attended by Graf and his pregnant wife Annie Sanford-Hewitt, Bobby Sloan and his pregnant wife Sadie (actually, we’ve forgotten her real name, no offense meant to Mrs. Sloan) as well as Moskowitz, who was sans wife and child, and The Wadenius, who was sans husband. At various points, the soundtrack included Frank Sinatra, old blues records, R. Kelly remixes and Andre 3000’s “The Love Below.” The company ascended to the roof deck (which is currently—and terrifyingly—unpossessed of side rails, making a plunge to the street below a distinct possibility) and watched the fireworks over Central Park. Traditionally set off to mark the beginning of the midnight run around the park, this year’s display was unusually long and quite spectacular. The only fly in the ointment was the vague uneasiness occassionaed by the hightened terrorism alerts of that week, an uneasiness which translated itself in this case to some furtive glances south in the direction of Times Square in the fear (and perhaps secret hope) of seeing some spectacular explosion rock the city. Fortunately, the only explosions were above Central Park West.
And finally...
...we’d like to close this post by directing you to some websites we have found amusing and/or informative in the past few weeks. As always, Arts & Letters Daily is an essential starting point for any number of interesting articles, though we’d recommend you stear clear of the one that begins “The detonation of a nuclear bomb…” We’re still getting the night sweats after reading that two weeks ago. There’s a highly amusing piece from an Australian newspaper about the personals section in the New York Review Of Books (the last few paragraphs have some fine writing) and, as always, we direct you to Greg Ehrlich and Moth Productions, Greg Graf’s Groupshow and the photography and journal entries from our Asian correspondent D. Friendly (who, if a recent email is to be believed, is at this writing vacationing in the repressive police state of Myanmar).
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