THEY HAD CAMERAS THEN? MORTY'S LONG, LOST SLIDES

On July 11, "The Committee" met in Deedle's meticulously kept and always spotless dining room, to plan for the next reunion based in large part on the responses (23) to the Reunion Survey. Morty looks and sounds great as you can see in this candid, unposed, and casual photo taken by Tom. [click on the photos to enlarge]

Morty brought with him a moldy box of slides. Unfortunately, they were not dated. But we had them scanned, and they now reside in a Picasa web album. To see the slide show, click on "View Morty's Album" under the sample photo, and you should be taken to album page. (Don't know if you'll have to first sign in with your google account). The click on "slideshow". Hint - if you click on the F11 key, you'll see all the photos in full screen. Please, please help identify everybody (and dating the shots) by clicking on the word "comments(s) " at the end of this post. And keep watching your e-mail and this page for more details about the reunion. Enjoy!

ON THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL OF GEOFF OUTLAW

Geoff was one of the corral counselors in 1963 (the other was Rusty-anyone remember Rusty's last name?)

[click on any photo to enlarge]

Sometime in 1968 or so, Neil went to see Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant and recognized Geoff as the actor who played Arlo's sidekick, Roger. It turns out that Geoff and Arlo were friends since their early days in Brooklyn, and later attended the Stockbridge School together, where they formed a band.

Steve Elliot, Geoff, Jeff Boverman, and Arlo (dig Arlo!!) performing at the Stockbridge School gym in 1963

Anyway, in my attempt to find Geoff, I came across some great photos of him over the years, and some great multimedia-type stuff which I thought would be fun to share with you. By the way, I heard from Niles Fuller, who took the 2004 photo of Geoff, that as far as he knew Geoff was still living in Austin.

Geoff as "Roger" in the Stockbridge jail with Arlo, from Alice's Restaurant, 1968

Arlo and Geoff, Austin, Texas, 1988

Geoff, 2004 [photo by niles j. fuller © 2004]

On the 40th anniversary of his "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", Arlo tells the story behind "Alice's Restaurant" to Debbie Elliott of NPR's "All Things Considered". To listen to the entire interview, click [here] to open the NPR page, and then on the button.
Finally, Geoff appears in the original 3 1/2 minute trailer. Just click on the Play img="" style="border-width: 0px; width: 2px; height: 2px;" 0="" /> Button in the middle of the image below, and see how many times you can spot him.

[Hint-if your computer is relatively new, try watching in full screen mode by clicking on the little rectangle below the word "YOU" in YOU TUBE]

Info

INFO

I've starting doing some rummaging around the NY Times archives - they go back into the 1850s - and have been absolutely amazed at the infinite amount of material waiting to be rediscovered. I thought I'd share a couple of my early Chic-a-Lac related finds. First, I came across the 1953 obituary notice for Rachel Meltzer, mother of Elaine Rattner, Carl, and Faye Posner, and of course Rocky and Ronni's grandmother. Click on the thumbnail image below to view it in its original form. As Roy knows, one of my favorite activities is poking around the internet to see what dirt I can find on him. Seriously, Roy is an easy subject because he has left so many historical "footprints" during his incredibly lustrous, lengthy and varied career. What I found was a quote in an obituary of a friend of his, a gentleman named Henry Laskau, who died in May, 2000. While I'm always happy to see Roy's name in print, I found the details of Mr. Laskaus' life fascinating, and I thought I'd share them with you. Again, click on the thumbnail below to read the full article. Speaking of "finds". I am putting together a post based on a discovery I made that will surprise and delight everyone. Check back in a few days.......