tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post4969754909171638173..comments2024-03-04T03:38:43.177-05:00Comments on Self-Absorbed Boomer: Riding the train with Fred Exley.Claude Scaleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13183579833702456213noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-26585532621710633452020-04-12T19:19:29.383-04:002020-04-12T19:19:29.383-04:00Exley is an English surname, from Yorkshire. Not s...Exley is an English surname, from Yorkshire. Not sure why Americans are so obsessed with things Irish to the extent they project it onto anyone who fits a certain stereotype that certainly doesn't include all Irish people. Exley was American, and one of the good ones at that. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-70029591381168649472013-04-19T23:48:15.073-04:002013-04-19T23:48:15.073-04:00I don't think Exley was at all aware that his ...I don't think Exley was at all aware that his central theme was the end of white male hegemony, and the [not entirely unjoyful] mourning of its death.robtmartinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17130453497486763271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-57052633776189572952010-11-07T22:11:38.287-05:002010-11-07T22:11:38.287-05:00Dear Claude, you are a piece of work! Thank you f...Dear Claude, you are a piece of work! Thank you for this soulful paean to Exley, to The Head, to life. Thank you for maintaining this blog. My Sunday thus far was blue until I came here. I owe you a beer or three.<br /><br />Best, MichaelMichael Simmonshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-simmons/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-61411105836117320172009-04-21T09:50:00.000-04:002009-04-21T09:50:00.000-04:00Fred Exley was more than one fellow. He was that f...Fred Exley was more than one fellow. He was that fellow who graced The Lion's Head -- in warm weather in baggy Burmuda shorts, winter a soiled jacket, smile a yard wide, drinks going down, available to all with his irreverent Irish wit. He was also a fellow who lounged on his mother's sofa in Watertown all day, waited upon, loved and indulged, away from the world. Then there is Florida, from where he could be counted upon to call chums back East at 3 a.m. with bar noises in the background. Throughout and underneath he was extremely well read, literate, discerning and had a well honed, build-in shit detector.<br /><br />Loved this piece on him. He doesn't disappear when such is written. Alas, if the author had met him that fabulist night at the Lion's Head he might have left disappointed, feeling insulted or mystified. Is this the guy who wrote "A Fan's Notes"? But having that one moment and remembering it is not small change.<br /><br />The Lion's Head, may it rest in peace, was some joint. Gone is the San Remo and the old Cedar Bar. The 55 Bar and Grill has been neutered. No more wild quasi literary joints left. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing the moment<br /><br />John BAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-6751519133721444502007-07-21T19:08:00.000-04:002007-07-21T19:08:00.000-04:00I really, really enjoyed reading this.It's temptin...I really, really enjoyed reading this.<BR/><BR/>It's tempting to separate the world into suffering poets and cheerful drones, isn't it? People glorify the geniuses that drown their muses in booze and sex, as if the ones who force themselves to just suck it up share a similar burden. (And maybe they do.) People identify suffering with suffering, and imagine (no doubt wrongly) that the suffering implies bigger capabilities...<BR/><BR/>I wish you managed to strike a conversation too. I'd have loved to hear what he'd said...<BR/><BR/>KKeifushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00287358319899471490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-2015291001568841692007-07-19T19:14:00.000-04:002007-07-19T19:14:00.000-04:00I really enjoyed the Exley piece. I couldn't help ...I really enjoyed the Exley piece. I couldn't help but think that he'd be disappointed in Singer Island as it is now - towering Condos and sprawling townhouse communities as far as the eye can see, one public beach, one fishing access park and one County park.<BR/><BR/>Then, this past weekend, I sat in with a blues band for a bassist I know who was going to be out of town. It was in a Club of 'questionable merit', connected to a motel that advertised "Hourly, Daily, Weekly Rates" in an area of Singer Island I hadn't seen before.<BR/><BR/>While sitting on the corner of the stage during a break (while the 'Lingerie Show' was happening and deals of some sort or another were going on outside the front door and the Riviera Beach Police made their 30 minute rounds) I thought that THIS was the closest I would come to what Exley experienced in his time here.<BR/><BR/>OT: Go Tigers! (Sorry Twif!)<BR/>JMB (the Fray)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16034332.post-18673242422285916042007-07-08T14:24:00.000-04:002007-07-08T14:24:00.000-04:00Well written! Perhaps sitting on the stool that Ex...Well written! Perhaps sitting on the stool that Exley occupied briefly rubbed off on you! :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16939152657551690867noreply@blogger.com