MOVIES I LOVED
SON OF NO ONE
DETACHMENT
THE LEGEND OF LYLAH MARS
OLD MAN & THE SEA
DUST AT MY HEELS
WAGES OF FEAR
GLORIOUS 39
GANGSTER
THE TUNNEL
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
ANYTHING WITH YVES MONTAND
CINEMA FAVORITES
Category: ENTERTAINMENT
CLASSIC, FOREIGN, INDEPENDENT AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS
LEAPING OVER YOURSELF TO ENTERTAIN SOMEONE ELSE
THEATRE
JAZZ MODERN AND POP DANCE
MUSIC – SWING, SALSA, FRENCH, WORLD, JAZZ, BLUE NOTE
We Knowa Guyradio 10/17 by Inside Lenz Network | Blog Talk Radio
THEN… THE PHONE RANG
All photos: Waldemar Kalinowski
David Manzanares on the set of Sweetwater: Noah and Logan Miller.
The first time I met David Manzanares was when I rented my home to the Brothers film crew. He eased me through the process, which was a big deal that cold winter when I was living alone. I had Sam Shepard, Jake Gyllenhall, Toby McGuire and Natalie Portman all in the house.
Iโm not sitting in a hotel lobby or a restaurant scribbling notes about the clothes my interview subject is wearing or how he acts in a natural setting because the interview wasnโt planned. It just happened one morning in August, while I was having coffee and watching the wild birds on the back porch, when the phone rang.
โHello.โ
โLouLou, its David Manzanares.โ
โDavid! How are you?โ
โIโm doing greatโฆ.yea, very busy.โ Davidโs sleepy slow tone beckoned the beginning of an effortless conversation.
โHowโbout you?โ
He listened attentively, only interjecting the flip side of my struggles to interweave what course his life had taken.
โIโve not seen you since the Brothers shooting.โ I said.
โWhat was that? Two years ago?โ
โYea, time is racing, but I love every minute. I wake up and look out the window, and thank God for my good fortuneโฆ the happiness.โ
โI think of you as one of the most fulfilled men in Santa Fe.โ
He chuckled, โThatโs what everyone thinks.โ
โItโs true isnโt it?โ I shot back.
โIโve been to hell and back.โ
โYou?โ
โOh yea. But very few know. It was a year ago.”
“Afterwards, everything became clearer; how to live in both worlds with my family and a film career.โ
While I wandered from the kitchen to the back porch, David confided in me. I listened to the private life of a notoriously loved and admired local boy who climbed the tricky trail to Hollywood.ย David began a career in music in 1997 at the Santa Fe Bandstand playing his new Latin music on his guitar. In 2006 he hit the Billboard in the Latin Genre and went on to producing music for television and film. His song โRocky Mountain Manโ was in the film Brothers.ย David supplemented his music with a job as a location scout, a natural for a boy raised in Abiquiu. He walked the line of family tradition and modernism during his teens.
โWhat are you doing now?โ
โWhich day? I go to Abiquiu Tuesday, no Wednesday, then to scout some locations, then the following week I start shooting.โ
โDavid, are you happy?โ
โYes, very very happy. ย I mean that I love what Iโm doing, and everyday I wake up excited. Youโll get there with your passion for life.โ
โDavid, would you be interested in โฆ maybe a print interview?โ
โAbout what?โ
โYou silly.โ
A few days later I wrote up my questions, and sent them to him. He assured me he would make time, between studying his lines for the highly anticipated Miller Brothers Film, Sweetwater, and scouting a location for a reality show.
THE INTERVIEW
Q: โHow does it feel being inside the desired creative environment of film and acting?โ
A: โIt has been, and continues to be an incredible journey.ย Sometimes itโs surreal.ย I read a script โ jump into locations or acting and voila โ months later itโs on the big screen.ย Itโs very rewarding to be a part of a creative, collaborative effort.โ
Q:โHas it changed you?โ
A:Yes, it has given me the gift of doing something I truly love.ย I have always lived a creative life, whether itโs writing or performing music; acting or even reading a script and bringing a creative touch to the locations.ย I guess itโs changed me in my appreciation for things and it has opened up new and exciting opportunities.
Q: โWhat have been the life lessons from your work that youโve used in your own life?โ
A:Ah, the life of living on the hot seat.ย I have acquired the ability to go with the flow and be ready to shift in a momentโs notice.ย ย There is no prediction.ย It changes in a heartbeat. ย Itโs taught me humility, patience and most importantly, appreciation.ย Both music and production are a constantly changing life force.ย I find myself grounded by my family.ย They are my anchor.ย My ship tends to sail all over the ocean and my family is a safe harbor from where I draw strength and support.
Q:What do you want our readers to know about Santa Fe, that they may not know?
A:Santa Fe is a multi-cultural, very accepting and unique place.ย It truly is the City Different on so many levels.ย There are people and places that constantly add to the texture of Santa Fe and to my life, personally. Itโs great to see your city through the eyes of the world, the very creative world, and thatโs a gift in itself.
Q:Who in the film business inspires you?
A:Thatโs a tough question. From an actorโs standpoint, I would say Alan Rickman.ย He truly is a most inspiring actor.ย I watched him portray a terrorist in Die Hard to Professor Snape in Harry Potter to the Colonel in Sense & Sensibility.ย Talk about range.ย He is one of the most outstanding, subtle and profound actors in the industry.
Q: What is it like to be on a team of accomplished creativeย people?
Aโ The past 25 years, I have worked with the most accomplished, directors, producers and actors. I get to work with the best crews, the best people in the best state.ย Each project brings a new inspiration, perspective and creativity.ย Right now, the project Iโm working on is โSweetwaterโ with the Miller brothers โ Noah & Logan.ย Wow โ their energy and creativity is awesome.ย I am always inspired โ musically โ creatively by all the departments from the Production Designer to Locations to Hair & Make Up & Wardrobe and everyone else.ย ย ย ย It is such a team effort to bring any project to the big screen.ย Itโs awe-inspiring!
I work in Locations and that alone is one of the most creative departments.ย I get a script or storyboard and have to match the scenes with locations in New Mexico.ย Talk about challenging.ย ย ย Sometimes the story line calls for a specific location and I get to interpret it and create it.ย I have been with Ghost Ranch as their production manager since 1988.ย The light alone can create something amazing.
Some days I feel like the most fortunate woman in the world to live in Santa Fe. Today is one of them. From my porch I can see a bubblegum pink sunset, filtering through the trees, and the leaves are warming up like dancers in a soft breeze. Iโm playing the dreamy music of Madeleine Peyroux when I notice my friend Pauline from La Posada Resort across the street. ย โMissy, youโre playing one of my favorites.โ I wave back and sink further into the bliss of this quirky, dawdling little village of inspiriting locals.
New life for Old Martรญnez Hall in Ranchos de Taos – The Taos News: News
LA POSADA is LA FAMILIA
LA POSADA is LA FAMILIA
The throw of the dice this week lands on the un-said and underscored vignettes that pass through us. Those moments which make us turn away from screens, cameras, and cell phones, to observe life around us. ย Writers do this habitually, like addicts. It is our drug to examine what we feel no one else is seeing, feeling or thinking. These were last weekโs vignettes.
I am outdoors on the patio of La Posada Resort.ย The cotton wood leaves on the trees, are dancing in setting sun light. At the far end of the dining patio, the lawn is staged, and the grass is covered with folding chairs. On stage, under a white billowing tent, teenage Flamenco dancersโ switchblade their black and coral skirts, as the pillow soft breeze brushes my face. Iโm smiling without envy, a massive leap, because for most of my life, when I see professional dancers, Iโm scolding myself, for not following through with my passion for dancing. Tonight, it is gone. My joy erupts to the surface. The dancers are the same age I was when I began training.
Their painted cheeks and darkened eyes are highlighted by the sunlight; they look like paintings that have come to life. The music is burning through centuries of Spanish history, through blood and battles, and the eruption of their passion for dance.
We have a convention of insurance salesman, dressed in Eddie Bauer, and the ladies in Jones of New York, seated like birds with their wings clipped. The men are standing in huddles, roaring laughter at inside jokes. Three dancers break from tradition and are now dancing to Billy Jean, striking their poses and facing our table. the leader, whom the others bashfully imitate, plays to us, and I want to tell her, donโt stop dancing, donโt give it up.
ย Seated in front of me is a couple in their late sixties. ย Transparent by dress and manner, they look farm-bred Midwestern. He wears a hard-working no fluff or formality expression, and his wife, probably is his high-school sweetheart. She appears painfully restrained-but she covers this up with a contented smile. The husband is staring at me, his lips are scornful, his eyes like that of a disbelieving police officer, or judge. Iโm behind sunglasses, absorbing them through my mental lens, as if we were having a conversation. I imagine him on a tractor, and his wife behind a white worn picket fence picking fruits and vegetables. Weโre separated by the cultural divide, but I want to ask the farmer how his life has changed, how the economy impacted his crops, his dreams. What did he dream about when he was a boy? Maybe dreams were a luxury he could not afford.
Beneath a black lake of stars, the breeze whips my hair, Rudy smiles at me, without a word I know what heโs thinking. The evening volumnized when the band kicked into sixties soul, and the insurance salesman are now dancing with the insurance saleswoman, and their wings are unclipped.
We left, crossing through the festivities to our porch, where the music resonated. Rudy turned on the blue lights.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โDonโt turn them on; they attract the moths.โ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โI tell you what Iโll do and what I wonโt do.โ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โTheyโll eat your eyeballs when youโre sleeping.โ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โWhat!ย Where did you come up with that?โ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โDonโt know. Look whose coming out to complain about the music?โย Then we see our neighbor, stomping across the lawn in his red T-Shirt and Beret. Professor J, demands to voice his rights at every opportunity. Iโve seen him argue with a Police Officer in the middle of the street, at one in the morning. โYou have an obligation to police Santa Fe that is your job!โ He shouted at the officer for thirty minutes.
ย The night closes, like a play from the summer of 2012. Doesnโt sound like the summer of 1971, when we met on the streets, and just hung out, listening to radios, and watching people.ย I think living next to a hotel, has kept me closer to street life.ย I could do without the delivery trucks at six in the morning and the crashing bottles in the dumpster. Itโs not unbearable any longer because La Posada is nowLa Familia.
HOT ON HOTEL INDIGO DEL MAR, CA
Even though I lived in Del Mar, California and have traveled back several times a year, my May trip was transformed into a Hotel Indigo vacation.
Imagine, an unsmiling, tense, anxious guest arriving for her first stay at Hotel Indigo, a bit wrung out from a two day desert crawl in the Van.ย ย 
Then, I looked around the lobby, and I felt like I was in Tangiers. The Moroccan blues and reds poked at my sleeping senses, and the gentleman, who checked me in, was as well mannered as Cary Grant. The sun-light that flecked the lobby beckoned me to the adjoining deck, where comfortable sofas, and tables formed a circle around a fire- pit.ย The ocean fills the gap between an expansive deck and the horizon. I imagined Iโd be there later, when the sun drops down.
Still pestered with a needle of tension, about the room, as rooms booked online may be virtually enticing, but in reality, end up cheating us. My room theme, as all the rooms have themes reflecting the neighborhood story, was a sea-shell. Every room is dressed in a mural, with matching fixtures, and coordinated bedding.ย The furnishings are new, unmarked, and the bedding stacked with pillows. I flopped on the bed and stared into the tunnel of a white shell. I closed my eyes, and just as suddenly sat up and called the Spa.
The whole concept of Spa is so luxuriating, and indulgent, some of us feel uncomfortable. This spa has the vibe of a nurturing and harmonious enclave. While waiting for the therapist I drank Tea, nibbled on trail mix, and read Travel & Leisure.ย Danielle, a woman with a childlike smile and rosy cheeks escorted me into a spa room, and while she prepared me, I was already feeling the drainage of tension.ย Eighty minutes later,(and only $125.00)I lay there like seaweed; boneless, semi-conscious, and grateful. I floated by the pool, and decided to walk into town and have lunch at the Secret Garden since the hotel restaurant wasnโt open for lunch yet. (one more week)
Secret Garden sidewalk Peruvian bistro serves the best Ceviche this side of Spain.ย Afterwards I vacillated between senseless shopping or going back to the hotel, and the hotel won. ย It takes fifteen minutes to walk to the village; and you can take the beach route, the bluff route or Camino del Mar.
With a few hours before dinner, I followed my instincts and took a day nap, at a time one can be interrupted by guest noise, but I heard nothing. It was when I woke up, that
the transformation came full circle.ย My fatigue was subdued, and my head empty of annoying chatter. As I passed through the hotel lobby, the conversation from the dining room, was joyful, and inviting.
We chose to dine in the village, at IL Fornaio, where we have spent so many festive evenings over the years I lived in Del Mar. ย After a day of decompressing, the evening
was like being in an out of focus movie. The restaurant was crowded, a lot of pretense and showiness, but it wasnโt annoying. My body and mind were at peace.
The next morning, I rose to birds singing, and sun splashed curtains.ย After a dip in the very deep and powerful spa, I strolled into the dining room for breakfast. Now, deeply committed to spa weekend, I passed on the Breakfast Panini and Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict and ordered the Fruit Plate, ($12), deliciously fresh and large enough for two persons.ย Once again I took notice of the authentic and bountiful attitude of the staff; they are obviously professionals in a business that has moved civility to the back burner.
Propelled by the excellence I hunted down the manager to
Pass on my Spa Experience. Susan Knapp, is the answer, she is vivacious, warm, and a gentle person, who took me by the hand and explained the coming attractions.
- Poolside cabanas with massage.
- Race Track Events
- Live Music
I asked Susan how she managed to employ such a brilliant group of people. โI hire people with personality. You can train them on all the other facets, but you canโt educate someone on personality.โ
Hotel Features:
State of the art gym with steam
Two Pools and full service Spa
Completed $7,000,000 renovation in 2012.
94 Units with 26 suites, (kitchenettes)
Rates: $119-$350
Conference Room
Boutique in the Spa
Dining Room and Full Bar
MOTHER’S DIARY
The diary my mother never wrote is from what I read in theย FBI surveillance reports,ย newspaper articles and what my father told me.ย My motherโs emotionโs and thoughts erupt from years of research, intuition and imagination.ย When I was eleven she gave me a diary. I’ve been writing ever since. I wanted my daughter or son to understand who I was, in case I died young like her. Instead I became dedicated to writing not childbearing.
I think every mother should keep a diary for her children.
Manhattan, December 1944
I am dancing at the Copacabana Night club for the next few weeks. This tiny smoky club is filled with many interesting people. Itโs different from any modeling job.
Iโm tired after working all day and night, and then taking the train back home to West Orange. Some of the girls are staying at the Barbizon Hotel, so I may also if itโs not too expensive.
Last night, a group of men were seated in the front row. I didnโt know who they were, but this one stared at me all through the show. He sent a bouquet of long-stemmed roses backstage and asked me to meet him for a drink.
When I declined, he was very insistent, and so persuasive I gave in. Later on, I found out he was seated with Frank Costello, the gangster. His name is Allen, and he asked me to dine with him the following night. I hesitated again, and Iโm not sure why. He made me laugh and entertained everyone at the table.
January 1944
A talent agent from Hollywood came to the Copa to see all of us dance. Mum is so excited she is already telling everyone in town, I hate when she does this.
Allen called and I agreed to dine with him. We went to El Morocco. He knows so many people. He says heโs in the film business, but thereโs talk amongst the girls that heโs a gangster.
March 1944
Iโm going to Hollywood for an audition. Swifty Lazar, the one that came to the Copa to see our show, said MGM is signing musical actors. They liked my photos. Allen lives in Hollywood, and is handling all the details. Heโs become very interested in my career. Itโs all so sudden. There isnโt time to think.
April 1944
I spent a week in Hollywood. Allen drove me all over the city, took me to Santa Monica to see the ocean, to the nightclubs on Sunset Boulevard, and Beverly Hills.
Itโs like a dream. I love the city, and MGM has offered me a contract. Again, Allen is helping me make decisions and understand the film business. I donโt know what he does, but he carries a lot of cash. He gets very disturbed when I question him. I met his friend Benjamin Siegel. They are both so handsome and get anything they want.
Summer 1944
We are moving out to California next month. Allen found an apartment in Beverly Hills for us, near where sister Pat can go to High School. Sheโs so excited. One of the models told me Ben Siegel is a gangster. I wish Allen would open up to me more.
When we moved, our new apartment was on a beautiful street. The apartment is smaller than home, and Mum misses her garden, but she seems happy. She found a Church she likes. She is going to learn to drive.
I have already learned to drive and am saving for a car. Allen knows someone who sells cars, and said he can get me a very good deal. Sometimes, I donโt hear from him for a week, and then he shows up on the studio set with presents.
Allen, Ben and George Raft were arrested for bookmaking. George called and said it wasnโt like the papers wrote, and that Allen would call me when he could.
Iโm not to discuss this with anyone. I hid the paper from Mum.
George took me out to dinner. He wants me to be in a movie with him called Nocturne. Heโs very fond of Allen and said not to believe what I read in the papers.
Next week we begin filming โZiegfeld Follies.โ Fred Astaire is magnificent to watch. Life is spinning. There is no time to read, or even think. Everyone in Hollywood wants to be a star. I still daydream of going to college one day.
November 1944
I am in love with Allen. There is no turning back. He is Jewish, and his family lives in Winnipeg, Canada. He wonโt talk of them, but said he loved his mother.
I wonder so often about his life, but I cannot ask questions. Maybe one day heโll trust me more. Heโs suspicious of everyone. He said heโs going to marry me when his life settles down.
LEVON HELM DIED… DID ANYONE KNOW THAT
I have this greatest love for The Band.. brought on by a listen when I was about seventeen.
My two best friends, Lizzie and Billy. Billy played the guitar, from Tulsa, so he got it, and his sister Lizzie sang.
I sat crossed legged in her English boudoir bedroom in Bel Air, and knew they were the musical advisories.ย I never may have known the Band if it wasn’t for them.
How come no one has spoken about Levon? Are we too obsessed with mediocrity? How did our tastes vanish into
CNN.
Now it’s the Kardasian, whatever her name is.ย Who cares. Why? What happened to us?
I loved you Levon. I love you The Band. It breaks my heart.
Movie recommendations:Bread & Tuplips, Angel Face, Head in the Clouds,Late Marriage, Water for Elephant’s, Sarah’s Key,Pierrot Le Fou, No Where in Africa, The Lives of Others, Gangster, A Love Story, The Counterfeiters, Senso, Croupier, El Grido, The Wide Blue Road, Deja Vu, The Whistle Blower, The Young Adult, John Rabe.
Our nest, is something we build on our own to give us permission to explore, and then question, and we go back to our little nest, and add a bit more certainty because the dinner was great, and the party lasted longer than we thought, and someone smiled at you in a special way, and then you saw a rainbow.
Some things happened last week; that liquefied into a mirage, ofย an opinion I inhabited. Iย directed this opinion with outdated information, and second hand narratives by writers in print.ย I believed whatย I’dย always believed;ย that actors arenโt like you and me. ย I was wrong! Some actors are like you and me.ย They have open hearts, and inquisitive minds, they drink beer, and dress without designer labels, they like to hang out, and not talk about the movie business, they have interests beyond their Imdb ย star rating, and they answer questions, if you ask them. ย Unless we infiltrate what we criticize, weโre adding to the hypocrisy of theย human condition.
PATHS TO DOORS
The signals were all there, but I kept going in the opposite direction, on the road away from the new door, because I’d gotten used to the door I had.
Today the road is closing, it’s going to be shut before too long, hardly long enough to pack it all up, the newly purchased furnishings, drapes, lighting, towels———-and going in the boxes, into storage. The fifth renovate, refurbish, and move play. Three acts-repeating themselves.
Where the new door will open is uncertain, more of these adventurous in livingness tests that I write about.
ADVENTURERS IN LIVINGNESS 