sad news. just learned my friend, the painter vic selinsky, died early morning 4/25/06. never asked how old he was, he served in the pacific theater in wwii, and would regale me with stories on the illusions of fame by bringing up a once very famous child actor who was a boyhood friend every so often, and begin by saying everybody remembers dicky ____. he did tell me that he was distantly related, i can't remember how, to osip mandelstam. mandelstam was his original family name from the steppes of russia.

a man of great humor, and no bullshit sensibilities. he loved painting, but would make fun of artistes who thought they were god's gift to art. his favorite 20th century artist was duschamp. once, when i was visiting his wife, another good friend, the poet pearl stein selinsky, i was sitting in their kitchen when vic came home from a life-drawing class. he told me about the beauty of the model he was using to draw from, said, she is what is known as a cupcake.

another evening pearl convinced vic to show me his sketches made when he was in the navy during wwii. he was stationed on an island in the pacific that supplied the ships and troops. every evening and every morning, you could set yr watch by it, japanese zeros would bomb and strafe the base. many of the sketches were made of the attacks. told me how you would see an explosion before you could hear it. i asked, weren't you ever afraid? no, he said, i was 19. i wasn't the one who would get it. you were, the other guys were. i had a great time.

he was what is known as a character.

peace be upon you.

amen.