Hasta La Gadget!

“Friend” is a word I value. I don’t use it lightly. As in “Facebook friend.” The word has more respect about it than that. At its core, it resonates with words like trust, loyalty and longevity. Because it also has substance about it, something Facebook and merely “acquaintance” simply don’t have.

And there is a beautiful song about friendship that I love. It’s called “He Was a Friend of Mine.” My favorite version was sung by Dave Van Ronk, the salty, crusty folksinger with the raspy voice who was sort of the Mayor of Greenwich Village back in the early bohemian 1960s. Van Ronk was also sort of a mentor and godfather to Bob Dylan when he first arrived on the scene in 1961, still wet behind the ears, fresh from the barren red iron ore mines of Hibbing, Minnesota. You should listen to the song. After you’ve read this post. Or maybe even while reading it. I’m sure you can find it. But Dave Van Ronk, please.

My friend, Jack Slater, passed away over nine years ago, in 2006, having undergone a heroic liver transplant to overcome his long battle with Hep C; a battle which he ultimately lost. Jack penned a Pulitzer Prize-nominated newspaper series about his medical ordeal for the Seattle Times, where he characteristically wrote “The answer is there is no answer. Just suffering and, if you’re lucky, meaningful work, good friends, a few opportunities to love, and time to plant tomatoes.”

Jack is pictured here in a LA production of Sam Shepard’s “Mad Dog Blues,” posted by director, Darrell Larson, and created by his good friend, artist, Margaret von Biesen.

Jack had a lot of friends, all of whom loved him madly. He always gave us a good time, whether it was in the theater doing a show with him, at Chavez Ravine, where he brought us to see his beloved Dodgers, or just about anywhere else. Jack had that gift. A joie de vivre, a passion for life, a moral compass for injustice, an enthusiasm for play, a voice to stand up and be heard.

Jack was from Florida and Michigan, and I first met him in Chicago in the early 1970s. He had signed up for a clown class I taught at our modern dance center, and he ended up joining the MoMing Bozo Ensemble as one of our most enthusiastic clowns. His clown name was “Alf”, and Alf, like Jack, was raucous, ridiculous, and risk-taking. There was no holding Alf back on the streets of the Windy City, where the troupe created a comic mayhem called “Free Public Laughs”.

I next saw Jack, almost a decade later, at his apartment on 15th Street in Santa Monica. I was visiting LA for my first time, and I was his guest, sleeping on the same couch that he had generously offered to Ed Harris, early in Ed’s career. Jack was making a good living back then, employing his rugged, red-haired good looks to make lots of commercials.

And what did he do with his good fortune? Of course, he produced plays. Several Sam Shepards with Ed Harris. Several early John Stepplings. Risk-taking, cutting-edge theater. Jack had an eye for talent and originality, and he was always generous, committed, and passionate about theater. About art. And politics. And ideas. That’s also what we loved about him.

He asked me to direct his play, THE SLATER BROTHERS, which he co-wrote with Mr. Harris, and we created a dark, comic two-handed romp with Vincent Pandoliano playing a dumbed down Art Carney to Jack’s dumber-downed Jackie Gleason. We ran it at 2 theaters simultaneously, at the Olio in Silverlake, and at the Powerhouse in Venice, where I was introduced to my earliest LA theater friends like Gilbert Johnquest, our set designer, along with The Mums, Rob Sullivan, Jan Munroe, and many, many others.

As he starting aging and his rugged good looks turned craggy, Jack had to suffer the indignities of our heartless Hollywood. He turned to house painting and various odd jobs to make a living, still doing theater when he could. But this is when he met Deborah Swets, who became his life partner, and when they moved to Ballard, Washington, where Jack became a notorious and well-loved school teacher. And where he got into fine art painting & sculpture, as well as growing his tomatoes.

When Darrell recently posted Margaret’s picture on Facebook, all these memories came flooding back to me. And I’m sure…. to many more of his many friends. Because perhaps that’s what Jack did best…. be our friend.

We all miss you and love you, Jack.
R.I.P.

We know you are. Along with probably creating some rabble-rousing trouble… and laughs…. wherever you’re now growing your tomatoes……

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Please visit Trules’ personal WordPress blog, “trules rules” at: www.erictrules.com/blog/

And his WordPress travel blog, “e-travels with e. trules”, at: www.etravelswithetrules.com/blog/

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YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. will have vehicles packed with autonomous driving technology by 2020 but whether people will be able to drive them on roads is up to government regulators, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Monday.

Many of the world’s automakers, and companies outside the auto industry such as Google, are working on technologies that allow cars to navigate without human intervention. Ghosn said good progress is being made toward the Japanese automaker’s goal of delivering that technology by 2020.

“Our cars will be ready,” he said.

The bigger hurdle for such vehicles becoming readily available to consumers is approval from regulators around the world, he told reporters at Yokohama headquarters.

Ghosn said autonomous driving was sure to be part of the cars of the future because market studies with consumers, especially younger drivers, who will determine future cars, show that is what they want, along with connectivity and zero, or very low, emissions.

Connectivity means accessing the Internet, seeing movies and duplicating in the vehicle the other experiences a person has at home or in the office, Ghosn said.

On zero emissions, he reiterated that Nissan is banking on electric cars, rather than other zero-emissions technologies, for the near-term future. Nissan makes the Leaf electric car.

Ghosn said Nissan sees autonomous vehicles as adding to driving pleasure, and a totally driver-less car is not at the center of the automaker’s plans.

The autonomous driving Nissan foresees will assist or enhance driving, he said. Nissan may end up with a driverless car, but that was not the automaker’s goal, he said.

“That is the car of the future,” he said. “But the consumer is more conservative,” he said. “That makes us cautious.”

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Follow Yuri Kageyama: http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Concrete is one of the most common building materials in the world. The foundation for the home you live in right now is probably made from concrete. Many of the huge buildings in downtown areas around the world are also made from the material. Even the Romans used concrete as a building material. Researchers are looking into away to make … Continue reading

Well, Fujifilm isn’t the only camera maker with an announcement today. Now it’s Panasonic’s turn. The Lumix series manufacturer is introducing the G7, a Micro Four Thirds body with a 16-megapixel Digital Live MOS sensor, ISO range of up to 25,600 and…

If you are a huge fan of the Back to the Future series on the silver screen, and have watched it numerous times to realize that your dream car is a DeLorean, then you would do well to check out the different wares that are connected to the movie itself. Why not go all out this time around with the $399.99 Mr. Fusion Replica? This is a unique purchase since it comes with an actual fusion sound, where you can then make use of your extremely active imagination to figure out that this device will be able to convert ordinary household waste into energy.

Of course it does not do such a thing, otherwise it would sell like hot cakes – and be a whole lot more universal than the iPhone. Do bear in mind that this is but a prop replica, but then again, it also holds the distinction of being an officially-licensed Back to the Future Part II merchandise. It will be powered by a quartet of AA batteries however, and tips the scales at 5 lbs., which means the little children out there are not advised to have a go at it. In fact, only those aged 14 and above should be playing with this toy.
[ Back to the Future Mr. Fusion Replica rolls back the years copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]