THE LIFE THAT I HAVE

Chelsea Clinton and her now husband Marc Mezvinsky are said to have read this poem, The Life That I Have by Leo Marks, during their recent nuptuals. I enjoy poetry but have never read this poem before, and think it’s worth sharing:


The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours.

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause

For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours
And yours.


ABOUT LEO MARKS:

Leo Marks, the son of a Jewish bookseller, was born in London on September 24, 1920. He was first introduced to cryptography when his father showed him a copy of Edgar Allan Poe's story, The Gold-Bug. From this early interest, he demonstrated his skill at codebreaking at an early age by deciphering his father's secret price codes that he wrote inside the covers of books. Marks joined the British Army in January 1942. Trained as a cryptographer he was assigned to the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Marks became an expert in cryptanalysis (making and breaking codes and ciphers) and eventually became head of SOE's codes and ciphers with a staff of 400 people. It was Marks's responsibility to provide agents with the ciphers with which to send information to London by radio. These ciphers were often based on famous poems or brief passages of memorable prose such as the Lord's Prayer. Marks argued that the enemy might know the poem or the prose passage and would then be able to break the cipher. To overcome this problem Marks provided unknown poems for his agents. This included the poem The Life That I Have, that had originally been written for his girlfriend, Ruth Hambro who had been killed in an air crash in Canada. He later gave the poem as a cipher to the SOE agent Violette Szabo (whose story is tragic and admirable) when she was sent to France during the war. Leo Marks died on January 15, 2001 in new York City.

I WANT

TODAY

Go for a long walk.

Indulge in a hot bath.

Question your assumptions.

Be kind to yourself.

Live for the moment.

Loosen up.

Scream.

Curse the world.

Count your blessings.

Let go.

Just be.

KINGS OF LEON: SEX APPEAL IS ON FIRE

Those Followill brothers certainly are good looking, and the band they comprise is not bad either. Caleb, Nathan, Jared and their cousin Matthew (also Followill), aka Kings of Leon, rocked the legendary Hollywood Bowl on Monday night with songs old and new. They started off with “Crawl” from the hit album Only by the Night, followed by some songs I have never heard before like their new song “Mary,” as well as “Knocked Up,” and “On Call,” from Because of the Times, which are now some of my favorites. But of course the most awaited moments came with performance of “Sex is on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” which had everyone on their feet and singing along with Caleb, even overpowering his sexy baritone voice during the chorus; the energy of thousands of people singing in unison was palpable.

The KOL were heartwarmingly humble and seemed in awe of performing at a venue where so many greats had performed before them. Their mom was in attendance that night which seemed to touch them and make the experience all the more memorable for them. And, as with any Tinseltown event, there were plenty of celebs in attendance including Jessica Biel, Kevin Dillon, Zoe Seldana, Hilary Duff with fiancé Mike Comrie, True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard with girlfriend Kate Bosworth, and reality star Lauren Conrad.

It has been several years since I’ve been at the Hollywood Bowl; all the previous times I was there with Hef for the renowned Playboy Jazz Festival. Gone was the front row center table, personal waiters, private bathroom, and champagne. But I wouldn’t trade my night of KOL, $25 giant plastic cup of sangria, and my cute date, for “all that jazz” (pun intended). If you haven’t been to the Hollywood Bowl yet, you should check it out. Nothing says summertime in LA like enjoying some beautiful music under the stars with a warm breeze brushing against your skin. My only regret, they didn’t play my favorite song, the melancholic “Cold Desert” or the vulnerably regretful “Revelry” which would have made a perfect ending to an epic night.

"What a night for a dance, you know I'm a dancing machine,

With the fire in my bones and the sweet taste of kerosene

I get lost in the night so high don't wanna come down …"

BELLA DOES WHO?

I know the blog title is slightly risqué, but fans of my titillating book BUNNY TALES: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION expect nothing less. It is because of them after all, that I am starting this blog. Since BUNNY TALES’ debut in 2006 I have been barraged by requests for a book sequel as well as requests to start a blog documenting my “bunny” adventures in the City of Fallen Angels. Writing the memoir had so drained me emotionally that I felt I had nothing left to say; maybe ever. But time heals and renews the spirit, and nothing restarts your brain like a good bout of concussion (to be elaborated upon another time).

I haven’t decided the scope of “coverage” for this blog but I think it goes without saying that the “does” in the blog title means “documents” and other such wanna-be journalistic sentiments, and does not refer to my love life (albeit that might make for a far more comical blog).

This blog is dedicated to life, love and lust in Los Angeles; to the people, events, and objets d’art that flourish in this unique hotbed of culture and scandal.

Gossip and random meandering about my obsession(s)-du-jour might also be included. After all I did mention the concussion right? Let’s treat that as a little disclaimer.