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February 22, 2003 I had a dream last night about Mark Shaiman. He is a old friend from New York City. We would see each other from time to time. He and his partner Scott Whitman were producers of campy musical in the beginning. Mark was extremely good at the piano and accompany to singers. Scott was the quintessential arranger and stager. They left New York City for awhile to write music scores in LA but returned in time and finally produced the smash hit "Hairspray." Mark looked puckish and handsome at the same time. I joked with him that I could always recognize him from the back. I had previously recognized him at a airport hanging onto a bus strap on the way to the tarmac. This is where the dream begins. The weather was super in New York City. Either spring or fall I could not tell. I was in the village wandering about as I tended to do taking walks about the village in the evening. I had a little something to eat at a local watering hole and on the way home. I see Mark living or working in what seemed to be the smallest apartment in the village. The apartment was like a garage that had been converted into a apartment. The whole front of it was open and it looked like a space just large enough for a car. I did not see a piano but I am sure there was one there. I said hello and Mark greeted me cheerfully like old friends. He was going about his business and his seemed to be a old car. Now I never knew Mark to be mechanical but there was no reason not to think so. As he went about his worked I complemented him on his super lyrics and melody in "Hairspray." The musical had single-handedly eclipsed all musicals. The book was so modern that almost every high school would produce it as soon as the rights were released. I kind of assume he was working on another musical and sure enough he was and that was why he was living in what seemed to be a isolated miniature home in the village. He needed the space. I expressed the desire to see the musical as soon as possible for I was leaving in a few days. Mark expressed the wish for me to see a rehearsal because the previews were quite a way away.
October 20th, 2003 I have had this dream before. It seems that Nantucket and New York City are connected by a short distance not the six hours drive and ferry ride. This time Helen was with me and I left her at the animal petting farm for a afternoon tour. But as you would have it I ended up in New York City where I met Jimmy Barker. We were in the lobby of a large fancy hotel. Later Jimmy was in the petting farm handling a pig in a slop. Everyone was helping and it was all great fun like going to the barn and saddling up the horses. Helen was there and she did not seem to be concerned it had been the better part of a day since I left her off. The petting farm was always in the same spot, a secluded field near a wooded area. Many of the young people helping were bunked in the same compound. Getting to Nantucket always involved sailing to a remote little island and making a landing in a Popeye type of town. Large stately homes bordered the common and everyone knew everyone.
Word Warrior This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take and unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas.
Dreams of the River with Captain Beatty My first job was working with Captain Beatty on the Ohio River since then I have had reoccuring dreams about those days. About My Days On The River When it came time to get a job I took the bus down the river and went looking for Captain Beatty the owner of two floating restaurants along the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers in the Cincinnati River Basin. Captain Beatty was at that time for the most part a salvage operator, rasing things from the bottom of the river and doing other more dangerous and complicated salvage operations along the river. Occasionally he worked for the Corps of Engineers. My father got to know Captain from keeping the family boat tied up along some barges Captain attached to his converted towboat restaurant "Captain Hooks." Captain Hooks was moored at Cincinnati Landing. At the time Captain had just complete another converted sternwheeler restaurant called the Mike Fink and it was moored at Covington Landing. I made it to Mike Finks and went looking for Captain. They told me that he was across the river at Captain Hooks. I walked the mile or so across the Suspension Bridge and over to Captain Hooks. There I found Captain with Mr. Weber the manager at the bar talking with the bartender Vince Ellis. I asked Captain for a job and her was so impressed that I took the inactive to cross the river that I was signed up. I also asked for a job for my identical brother and from then on we were know as "Pete and Repete" or "Handy and Dandy." Our job consisted of cleaning the outside decks, changing light bulbs, the restaurant had several hundred small light bulbs strung along the upper decks, taking out the trash and tending to the diesel electric engines that supplied the power for the restaurant. Later when we got older I was allowed to go out of short salvage jobs with Captain.
Reoccurring Dream I One of the reoccurring dreams I have almost in repetition takes place along the waterfront of Cincinnati, Covington and Newport. I start in Newport walking along the city streets in the evening looking for a good time and being fancy free. I score a dope deal in a park and we find a lot of stuff in a empty home. We know something is going on along the waterfront and there even may be a secret passage way around somewhere. There are many people around and the whole feeling is one of bygone days. We spend time in a park in Newport and under a railway track are some home I am familiar with. I used to live in Newport. We, meaning myself and maybe one or two guys I really do not know end up along the waterfront under the piling for the Suspension Bridge. We are swimming and it looks like we may swim across the river. The water is quite clear and cool on the hot night it is but i still do not drink the water. In Cincinnati there are many tall buildings and they connect with the suspension bridge with walkways. They spiral up and down and are winding. We find ourselves on these walkways and in some place they are broken. When work lets out the walkways fill up quickly and it is a mess. When we finally make it into the city it is just like going through the old Dixie Bus Terminal. The interior is old and sooty with the passageways a lot like a big city. Along the side of the passageways are vendors selling newspapers, candy, fruits, vegetables, bread and umbrellas.
The Various Individual Dreams Since I started working on a portrait of Captain Beatty I began to think it would be insightful to write down the dreams I have. 1994 I remember a dream. I was on the Mike Fink and we were taking the boat in because of the high water. It was night time and it was almost like the boat was under its own power and adrift. Captain had his towboat the Clare pull up along side of it but it seemed like there were portions of the Mike Fink, a side ramp was in the water and I had to clear some drift away from the side of the boat, it was a big mess of logs piled upfront of the Mike Finks causing tremendous pressure to the holding cables. There was a party going on upstairs. It was business as usual on board. Although it was almost like the boat was able to leave the dock and come back under it's own power. I remember walking through the restaurant and Tony Bennett was there and near the rear of the restaurant Mel Torme was at a table. Then I walked through the rear door and under the pattle wheel. I then walked upstarts on the top deck and started chatting with one of the bartenders that was serving to a private party upstairs. It was peculiar because of having to deal with the massiveness of the boat and the wandering of it on its cables. It was not a easy task and it was very dangerous because of the rushing water and being night. 1995 I remember another dream where I was going down river from Cincinnati harbor in a yawl. It had a small outboard on it and occasionally I would see someone I knew going down or upstream. There was a occasional harbor workboat come by with barges attached. I went on down river and tied up at this mooring that I had had another dream about. It was on the Kentucky side and it was a kind of marina operation. There was some possible mariwana growing going on. Fall 1995 There was another dream where we got aboard on the Kentucky side and went upriver towards Cincinnati and they were doing some big construction on Cincinnati Harbor. There were a lot of cranes around and lots of activity. Huge facades were being placed right along the river with high enough sides before the windows that it could handle the largest flood. The whole buildings were right in the water. Almost flush with the waters edge. We continued to travel in and out of the goings on finally going ashore just down river from the center of town. I remember walking along the docks watching all the hustle and bustle of a fully operating harbor.
1996 I remember a dream where Captain Beatty and a crew was pushing a load of equipment down a small river. It was like the Charleston River. There was a time when I did just such a job with him. We were taking some road equipment to a new site. Well on this job we were just traveling down and came upon a lock. It was like any other lock, large expanses of tan colored concrete that you could see was formed by using wheelbarrows. That meant that it was made back in the 20's or 30's. There was a small town attached to this lock and the weather was a cool Spring day. Most of the tree still had not leaves on them and you could get a could view of the ground all the way up the steep banks of the river. March 1st, 1997 I was in the Cincinnati basin and i got the call to meet Captain Beatty down river, I spent the better part of the trip calibrating a angle gauge on the sing barge that was hooked to the towboat. we lazily went down river as i laid on my side looking at this strange device that slowly moved as we went down rive. It was anchored in one place and side underneath the top surface the barge. measuring what I do not know. Bu I did get a good long look at it. and it seemed to be working perfectly. The river narrowed and I could see both side of the river branched, It was long about hundred feet across and the trees overhung and the air was coll and he dau was about dusk. I ha a feeling that we were about there. Hem up I heard I saw a him and a wharf on th left. The side which made it a island. Captain Beatty was standing at the doorway as if he had been talking to the pilot. I went back and up to the pilot house and wedged in between the door and he storm door was a I suppose Mrs. Beatty. She was sleeping there in between the door and the storm door quite swashed. Quickly she woke up and we jump off the boat like it was going on. Capt greeted us missed that show put as we walked down the ramp and towards the left left I could see Captains new toys. A pair of seaplanes. One was red and the other was yellow. They were he cats meow of cute. Both were floating in a little pond that ran off the river branch. A large home was staring at up from down the river way and it seemed to be one of the new 5500 square foot home. The picture needed quickly and he immediately made mention of how beautiful the place was. I had my camera and quickly brought it up to my face as a beautiful scene laid out in front of me. A small yawl was coming up river. He colors were greens, cool green dark green but all variegated so to make a interesting pattern. The light was if it was heaven sent thorough the heavy overhanging river growth. a little framing as I walked over to my left with the camera up to my face. Whereas I looked and went inside where the whole gang was. Captains daughter Bev and her e daughter Bev and her husband along with their son Todd. I happened to have a beautiful model of a bi plane an was letting he boy gingerly handle it as I had spent may hours working on it. But as it would be some of the boys handle the little plane quite rough and the small lines, antenna, gauge pipes came off. I put them into my pocket to replace later. We all joked at how little boys could not handle anything carefully. Captain had a model airplane too and I knew that later I could use his cement to fix them. We all settled in and prepared of TV movie or special that was going to be on TV. It was a nature show or adventure bit everyone quieted down and took there place in front of the TV. This did not interest me and I went just outside the front door where looking down to the dock which was rather close I saw Captain small towboat. It was the one he had when I first meet him. It was up and running g and it was the same towboat that had brought us here. I felt that they had dropped off the barge it pushed and turned around to laid up here. I walked down a short way within hearing distance of the wheelhouse. which was rather open. From my vantage point on the hill I could see and hear almost everything in the wheelhouse. Captain was talking on a radio asking a guy how much a barge was worth. I was worth a hell of a lot like a quarter of million. I gathered that it was sunken and about that time that I hear Captain say he wanted to raise it and you could see his mind working out the calculations. all the spaces in the barge had to be accounted for if you wanted a realistic estimate of what it would take in the way of pumps, wires, harnesses and what not. It was then that I realized why I had been brought down here. It looked like a simple job that would bring in big money. But the fact remained that he reason the barge had not been raised was because there were thing about it that nobody could do and it was Captain who had figured out the problem and was prepared to tackle the job. He stood leaning against the side of he wheelhouse This was a towboat that had the whole back in open. The engine was down below and a series of stairs and platforms in front made up to the pilot house. It all meant that by standing off to one side of the wheelhouse you could look straight down into the engine room it made you look like you were perched high above a mass of machinery. It was here that Captain stood. Plaid shirt
March 6th, 1997 The family was having a party on top of the hill in Devou Park. We grew up just on the edge of Devou Park and about a mile from the house you could see all of Cincinnati. The family was having a regular picnic like so many of the families had when I was growing up. Watermelon, hot dogs and the like were being served and the cars were all parked about like they had drifted in from no roads at all. Some of the gang was sitting in the cars because there were not enough chairs. The picnic table was full and it was standing room only. As it got dark you could see the excitement on the river more clearly. From the advantage point of the cliff you stood about a half a mile from the river. It was a wide panoramic view of all of Ohio and Kentucky. The water was up and there was something going on along the waterfront. On the Cincinnati side there was a high crane that set up a huge platform about a hundred feet square. It was getting near dark and a huge spot light was shrinking on the red painted platform making it look like it was a festival for the Cincinnati Reds the base ball team. but on the other side of the rive were two big tow boats both painted in red parked along the waterfront on Covington, were the old antebellum home sit right next to the w3ater. From up where we were the whole sight was something to see. The light shone on the water making it into a blue green fresh water like of the kind that cam only be seen on a river that has just a little more water that it wants. The spot that was illuminated was two hundred feet round and took in the red platform and the water, nearly shining on the two red and white panted towboat across the river. The residual light quickly lit up the old homes turning the whole thing in to fair. But I did not see anybody on the platforms and the more I looked at it the more I though the water was a flood and those boats were trying to say what was left of the landing. Up on the hill I said what I could and made my way to the waterfront. I was standing within site of the workboat, Clare E Beatty. She was a magnificent boat but everything I saw her I knew I was going to be working hard and long. She was a little chipped and one color, red was faded and rusted like it was not part of the boar. I could see the outside windows of the crews quarters but they were rectangle not round portholes like the real towboat had. My identical twin Chuck was there and he had a long train of trailers attached to his truck that heading was going to get on board some how. Two other roustabouts were with us and I took notice of there extreme filth. They were soot infested from head to toe. I was dirty but they had surface soot all over. It reminded me of the abominabot smells in the crews quarters from men that were mostly sweated and dirty and not into cleaning. Later when Captain arrived we se off and landed just opposite of the large platform on the Kentucky side of the river. We were in in the stern walking forward when I saw Chuck coming towards the biadt driving his truck. It was somehow attached to a platform n and the engine from the truck was powereding the makeshift tow. The various small platform trailed behind him. I was standing the foot and half water and he slipped by me and pulled along side. I quickly got on board and started unloading the stuff. It was at that time that I noticed that the two young boys had slept. They always seemed to be gone when there was work to do, I remember the front of the towboat looking more like the Delta Queen that the Clare. It had a overhang that covered the deck for the weather.
April 26th, 1997 My family and I were cruising in a very large ship. It seemed as though it was as big as the Delta Queen but was not the Delta Queen. I was in my teens and the whole family was along for a cruise on a river. The boat was very well appointed and along with your family was the family of our houseboats partner. Our family had a houseboat that we shared with another family. That family was on board this cruise boat. I remember being in the kitchen that was so much like the kitchen on the Mike Fink. Food was everywhere but it seemed well ordered and not much waste. Always there was a window you could look out on the river through. The state rooms were very large and everyone was lounging around. We came to a halt and I wondered what the problem was. Looking up ahead you could see the backup at a river lock and there was a towboat waiting to go through. I suggested to the captain that we could drop back a bit and pull into a small stream where it entered the river and have a swim. Well the idea went well over with the crew and passengers and soon we were splashing around in a very clear, healthy green casted water. You could see down about fifteen feet if there was a light colored objects to focus on. Afterwards everyone had to take a shower and all the boys were joking about seeing the girls naked. We did not see any but some of the men were pretty funny in there swim suits. Captain Beatty was at that time for the most part a salvage operator,
raising things from the bottom of the river.
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