J'ai Quarante!!! RJ's Adventures in France

Burgundy -Bourgogne

As folks might know I turned 40 on September 30 (yeah you probably do know cuz I talked about it incessantly). I had visualized an extended vacation oversees for many many years. At some time I read the short story, A Month by the Lake by E. H. Bates and envisioned a sojourn as described in the book at Lake Como, Italy. When places weren't materializing that I liked, I recalled my friend Gail's daughter had a home in France. Fortunately after calls and emails, we secured the 15th century 11-bedroom Chateau in Bourgogne France (Burgundy) about 2.5 hours outside of Paris. The tiny village of Saint Andeux (population reportedly of 128) west of Dijon welcomed us:

Chateau St. Andeux, built in 1478
Guardian at the Gate of Chateau St. Andeux
"Hang in there Jesus" was irreverently called to him each morning.

And to answer the question, yes we had the entire Le Maison to ourselves. It had 11-bedrooms with bathrooms, a billiard room and antechamber office that I used for writing, formal living room, sitting room, dining room, large kitchen and TV room. So much happened during our very low-key, relaxing sojourn in the heart of France. We toured various villages including where they filmed the movie Chocolat in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, the heart of the mustard craze-Dijon, a center of vines--Beaune, plus small medieval villages including our 'cyber' stop in Semur-en-Axois where I spotted a home that i'd love to own! It leads to a medieval bridge and the fortress in Semur and to the boulangerie (bread bread bread!), the cyber cafe and the spa!

We even took a day trip to Versailles outside Paris.


Versailles garden at left
Hall in the Grand Trianon at right











In all these travels were were aided by a device I recommend to everyone and anyone traveling in a foreign country--a GPS unit in the car! We named ours Geraldine (after Geraldine McEwan an English actress who starred in a BBC show called Mulberry that I now enjoy way too much, I actually bought the two DVDs--see photo at right). It was so enjoyable to be told in a nice British accent to 'bear left at the fork' or 'at the circle, take the third exit' or when a mishap occurred, 'if its convenient, make a U-turn' . . .So rather than anyone having to chart driving/mapping, constant calls of "where the hell are we?" accompanied by meltdowns, Geraldine guided us to each destination with elan. And just to note, if your gonna get one, apparently Geraldine is much more pleasant than the female American GPS unit, so make sure to ask for the British female voice, she was quite nice and rather supportive.

The Left Bank of Paris

After 2 1/2 weeks in the countryside where I accomplished a great deal of writing, my pals Gail and Chen accompanied me to Paris for my last three nights. Chen took off for the Chunnel and London, Gail and I stayed at the Hotel De Louisiane. From the chateau we graduated to a small hotel room that IS smaller than my New York apartment but it was on the Left Bank at the intersection of the Rue de Seine and Buci--very convenient to all the major sight seeing items.

A stormy sky above the entrance to the Louvre

We could walk to the Louvre, Notre Dam, the Ille de la Cite (where Marie Antoinette spent her last days), wonderful patisseries, boulangeries and restaurants, etc. On the first full day, Gail and I decided we needed to recharge our supply of reading materials and decided to head out to the legendary English language bookstore, Shakespeare and Co. En route to the bookstore we approached a visage...I saw two eyes on a building that rang familiar. . Andy Warhol? No. .we inched closer to the building to see the following (below):

The bar Polly Maggoo, named after the 1965 William Klein film, Qui etes-vous Polly Maggoo
which co-stared Grayson Hall.RJ points to Grayson's name on the movie poster.

Polly Maggoo was a French film Grayson Hall made in the mid-1960s. She portrayed a thinly veiled Diana Vreeland-type (legendary fashion editor) named Miss Maxwell. Gail and I ventured inside, had a drink and spoke with a manager about the film-based bar. After we got across that I'd written a book about one of the films stars he told us to take as many photos as we liked (no free wine though?) What a trip! I had no idea the place existed.

The last few days went quickly with good food and friendly people all about us. We did a lot of cafe gazing on the streets of Paris. Our smatterings of French got us all by and all incoming and outgoing flights/trains etc worked amazingly well. I returned to New York on October 17 and collapsed for that night then was up at 7:00 a.m. scrubbing my bathroom floor... ahh to return home. But i do already miss the place and will certainly return again.

Photos Photos Photos

Below are lots of photos. Brent's are quite good, but he went to Turkey first, so hit the link and go to photo 103 to start France. Robin's also are artistically inclined. Nancy's is a thorough documentation of our trip. Mine, well, my eye ain't so great but I tried.

Brent's photos (start at 103)__Click here
Robin's 75 photos can be viewed by clicking here
My 100+ photos can be viewed by clicking here
Nancy's 157 photos can be viewed by clicking here

C'est Moi, Rebecca

May 29, 2007--RJ has Arrived

I've talked, detailed, written how i've been mistaken for someone else since I moved here in 2003. Well, here is the latest adventure:

May 29, 2007, 5:45 p.m.
RJ exits the NYC subway by Bloomingdales headed west toward the French Alliance for a Level 1 French class. iPod playing some innocuous tune in an effort to keep RJ's attitude upbeat (learning a new language at 39 ain't easy folks!)

A man waves as I cross the street mid-block. I turn off the iPod, he says, "may i ask you a question?"
Wary, wondering (is he gonna ask for change, directions or something wildly weird?), with a drawn out sigh, I reply "Yeees~~".
"Are you the author of the Grayson Hall biography? Are you RJ Jamison?"
Stunned but pleased I replied, "Why, yes."

So .. I've arrived and after realizing the man who approached me wasn't deranged or needing my money, I spoke briefly to the gentleman before running off to my French class.

Visual Map of wars

I thought this was a very interesting visual of major armed conflicts throughout history in the world--click this link

Kivi's experience of NYC

This summer I've been fortunate to have many visitors, Kivi has left the BBQ capital of North Carolina twice to visit, my college pal Carol venture up for a whirlwind 20 hours to take in a play with Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes (I can't believe Angela Lansbury said the "c" word--okay it was part of play but still!) and my pal David Duncan (aka D2) of Portland, Maine came down for a birthday soiree in early August.

Kivi wrote a bit in a local NC paper where she is a featured columnist, read Kivi's column, click here

Carol in NYC

I think my pal Carol had a good time, I walked her all over New York. Now Carol is immenently athletic. She remembers the days in Kansas when walking 5 blocks made me whine incessantly, so she was surprised to see me recommending walks uptown, crosstown, downtown. On one excursion near Columbus Circle, we ran into my favorite eccentric, Sylvia Miles (chronicled earlier in my adventures). Sylvia called out to me, we stopped, chatted, talked about her new movie filmed in Italy with Wilem Dafoe. After 10 minutes we walked away and Carol in a deadpan fashion said, "you set that up didn't you?"

Girl no I didn't. .that's just New York! There are millions here but you always run into someone you know. Link to Photo of Sylvia (you gotta check her out!)

Johnny Depp to star in new Dark Shadows Movie

It was announced in Variety that Johnny Depp will star in a new DS movie. Hopefully this will help with sales of the Grayson bio . . . folks will be interested in the old show, watch it, google search its actors. . and whala! Ironically, Grayson's husband, Sam, the head writer for Dark Shadows wanted Johnny Depp for the 1991 revival series on NBC, the lead went to Ben Cross who was rather rigid and unappealing IMO. Link to Variety Article

YouTube Junky

I love finding stuff on YouTube, like this classic moment that can still make me all teary -- from 1981 when one of my first heroes, Ruby Catherine Stevens (oh yeah! that WAS her real name) of Brooklyn, NY finally got her Oscar:

Stanwyck and Holden in Golden Boy (1939)

Running with Pencils

Since my last posting I've been fortunate to be revisited by old .. old friends.. one I've known since i was 4, a SF pal and another a college pal whom I hadn't seen in 15 years.

Out of the Past. . .

L to R: Dee is the gypsy blond .. .and can anyone guess which child is moi?

DeeDee (now monosyllabic Dee) and I were best friends as toddlers in California. She bossed me around (yes, it is true) and I did whatever I could to remain in her select group of pals. She had blue eyes and platinum blond hair. . I had eyes everyone called hazel which at 35 I realized was the wrong description (hazel=brown/green and my eyes are green-blue) and stringy yellow hair (see photographic evidence above and YES I am the yellow blond, the brunette is NOT me but rather my sister Kerry. The Easter dresses were made by Dee's mother, Sharon.) So Dee and I hadn't seen one another since I was about 13--we met up in Morganton, North Carolina. I awaited her arrival sitting beside a Confederate statute (the irony). Why we haven't' seen one another is a long story that may one day end up in a novel but suffice it to say, we met up, fell into hours of conversation over wine (which for some reason folks in NC thought we shouldn't be ordering after 1:00 pm? Were we supposed to wait until 5:00?). I was due for dinner elsewhere but couldn't part from Dee, we just keep talking. I finally hit the Interstate back to Lexington around 6:00. What a magnificent day it was, one I'll always remember, wine, chocolate and a childhood friend with whom I still had an easy rapport. Photographic evidence of this reunion is stuck in Dee's camera . ..

Why was I near Morganton, North Carolina? I was visiting old SF pal, now NC resident, Kivi Leroux-Miller. I hadn't yet met her 2nd daughter, Jianna for whom I came to feel a great deal of affection for (particularly one night when I mistakenly took her off the sleeping regime and tried to rock her back to sleep for over an hour. . at 3 or 4:00 a.m. I put her back to bed. . .) Jia's older sister bewitched me two years ago on a similar visit to NC. I love the little girls but still don't want my own. . okay Ma?!

Kivi, Robin and I shop for Pottery in Seagrove, NC and sip chardonnay

at the Childress Winery

15 years since our last rendezvous in NYC

Etsuko Shimabakuro and I knew each other in the late 1980s at McPherson College. She traveled from Okinawa to attend school. . i ventured oh ..a 100 miles from my parents front door. The last time we saw one another was when I lived in Washington, D. C. and Etsuko flew into Dulles for a visit. She and I took the train to New York City. We were joined by fellow pal, Laura Shelton (now Dr. Shelton!) who jumped onto the train in Philadelphia. We spent a few exciting (err creeped out actually) nights at the Chelsea YMCA in New York. That was before the neighborhood was gentrified and gay-ghettoized. The Y was right across the street form the Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols knifed his girlfriend and apparently Janice Joplin did adult sexual things to Leonard Cohen (hey I'm only going by his song...).

Etsuko returned to a very different New York. .and apparently I look the same r so she kept saying at brunch~~ flattery will get you the best tour of NYC folks!

What am I reading?

Various folks ask me for book recommendations .. .a pal sent me this link to a website called GoodReads .. so I've easily populated the site with books I've enjoyed (and some I've NOT)
RJ's GoodReads recommendations

Call/Email the White House

I have this on my speed dial and call routinely . . . I will NOT resign my belief that this IS a democracy and say my actions wont result in any change. . .that's capitulation. . call 212-456-1111 and voice your opinion and VOTE!

Florence Foster Jenkins--take a listen

Last year there was a great little musical on Broadway called Souvenir about a New York society lady who in the 1940s held little fund raiser concerts each year. Invites to these soirees were highly sought after as Mrs. Jenkins believed she had a voice of an angel. She sold out a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944. She died a few months after the concert. Unfortunately Flo did not honestly hear her own singing-- but you can and then you'll understand why people flocked to hear her. Stories of people falling out of their seats laughing are legendary in NYC--click on the link: Flo

Emmy buzz for my Dobbleganger:

TV Guide A & A with MM

My Lunch with Andre'

Okay in 1980 this talkfest movie came out directed by Candice Bergen's French husband to be, Louis Malle. It was called "My Dinner with Andre'" In it a New York writer agrees to have dinner with his pretentious New York theatrical director friend, Andre Gregory. They both venture out on a blustery New York evening for a 2-hour dinner dominated by Andre's pretentious self-realizations. I saw this film about 5 months ago at the Museum of Modern Art. . . it was a double feature with Shaft! I can't figure out WhY the 2 films were doubled billed but they were. Okay so 'Dinner' was a bore and I only liked the last 10 minutes when Wallace Shawn yells at Andre Gregory how much he liked his hum drum little life with the electric blanket, "I love my electric blanket!" and didn't need all the sophomoric self-revelatory insights Andre went on and on about.

Sunday I'm in the West Village having lunch with Matt and Cecelia and their two kids. We are imbibing on a complete American meal (the 1950s style soda shop I had suggested nearby is now no longer!) Sitting there, Cecelia says "there goes Andre Gregory". ..and so he did, walking along, greyer, a bit craggier but tall and erect. And we watched him walk on towards greater self realizations. YouTube clip of Andre' click here

What's Next. .

In Sept-Oct, I'll be with a few friends turning 40 at the 15th century, 13-bedroom Chateau St. Andeux outside Dijon. Stay tuned for the RJ's adventures in France!

RJ Book Highlighted in TV Guide

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Before we get to the miscellaneous obscura. . please note to the right (if you're on the blog webpage), you can sign up for notification anytime this is updated (FSS Feed). The update will be delivered directly to your email box with the photos and fonts. Maybe its simpler for you? It's simpler for me, I don't send out a mass email--And given that this had 300 hits from the last update, I guess some folks are reading it. . .
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What's up with the Book?

I want to thank everyone who asks about the book. A few things have happened since it's release. I always knew this would be a small event (even with the 600+ people at my launch), given the 'niche-cult' aspect of Grayson's fandom but it has been a pleasure and a joy. And below, a few tidbits on what's happening~~

TV Guide comes a callin'

In January, I was contacted by a columnist from TV Guide to highlight my book in his soaps column, Mike Logan on Soaps-Logan RAVE segment. For those in the dark (oh wait who would that be?) Grayson's biggest "pop culture" gig was on the daytime soap, Dark Shadows--hence the interest and placement of the blurb. Now this is full of some nostalgia for me as I was a big TV Guide addict back in the early 80s. Every week I'd save my 35 cents, walk across Vine Street and get my TV Guide! I had stacks in my closet (I am over being ashamed of my little collection!) That habit formed the basis for my head full of useless pop culture for which I am still known to this day. The Mike Logan RAVE column will be in the March 5th (goes on sale Wednesday, March 1st). TV Guide's circulation, is "20 million plus" with a "net paid circulation of 4.5 million. Still one of the largest weekly circulations in the USA. [quotes- interview- publisher Scott Crystal, MediaVillage.com, 10-14-2005]. Logan said "Jamison portrays the late actress as a smoking, drinking ass-pincher who swore like a Teamster yet was deeply sensitive. . . A Hard Act is as sharp and campy as Hall herself, and a terrific way to celebrate the soap's 40th anniversary."

Forgetting my own Ad!

With my publisher, I arranged for an ad for the book to appear in the prestigious New York Review of Books. I signed the release, etc. back in October or November. Then there was the Holidaze (Thanksgiving, Christmas, MLK day). I got a call on January 26th or 27th from a friend. An aquaintance of his had seen the NYRB ad and favorably commented. Let's hope other "eyes" saw it and ordered it!

The House of Grayson Hall

It was brought to my attention that a cd was being sold on ebay that had a song entitled, "The House of Grayson Hall". Curiosity got the best of me and by using an intermediary I acquired the cd by Dementia Procox, a 1980s New Wave band. Together with her son and grandchildren, we listened to the cd, specifically the "GH" song in the house (make that apartment) of Grayson Hall. The cd was very interesting, it reminded Matthew Hall of the Wall of Voodoo which we then subsequently listened to as well. I never quite got the artistic connection to Grayson (and barely heard her voice in another song on the album), it was a weird and fun way to spend a Saturday night in Manhattan.

Okay I've posted about this before: RJ being mistaken for who?

In December at a Borders bookstore on Park Avenue I was mistaken for again for someone--at least this time I knew who! It went something like this

Nice but mistaken lady: "I'm sorry I don't normally do this, sorry to disturb you but I just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed your new show --I don't normally watch SciFi but it is so much better than the 70s version."

Me (opening my mouth ruined the whole illusion as I don't sound thing like who she believes I am): "Thank you but I'm not Mary McDonnell, though I also think the new Battlestar Galactica is a great show."

Who did she think I was? Do you know Mary McDonnell , Stands with Fist, Donnie Darko's mother, Robert Redford's girlfriend in Sneakers, Carter's mom in ER . . .a very distinguished career. (see earlier Adventures entry-- my friend Chen suggested that I was being mistaken for MM 2 years ago and i pooh poohed it!)

I look at it this way--I finally fulfilled my high school destiny of being Madam President! (MM plays President Laura Roslin on Battlestar Galactica. And my high school graduating class voted me most likely to be President--see photgraphic evidence below.) Yeah yeah yeah I hear my sister and others saying why am I not in politics? My mouth is too big that's why. But I have made overatures here in New York city but man, am I tough enough?

Mistaken Identity #2:

I had lunch with Richard Seff in January in my neighborhood. At a nearby table, a gentleman with little subtlety eaves dropped on our conversation. At some point he asked if I was Tracy Chevalier, the author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring? okay--a least i was mistaken for another author. But here's a photo of her--Tracey Chevalier photo. I don't really see it.

I look forward to the day when someone in 5-10 years is mistaken for me! and writes about it in a stupid blog.

Miscellaneous tidbits - not about me but fun all the same

Let it snow, let it snow. .STOP!!!!!

Photos of Oswego County, New York. The massive "lake effect" snowfall made the national news. .but here are some great photos taken by a friend's nephew in northern New York:

Plowing through the snow and a car bravely comes forth

My Favorite In Living Color Clip

I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan but this clip is a riot-The Wrath of Farrakhan When I originally decided to include this clip, over a week ago, it was before Farrakhan's last public speech: