Monterey’s Legendary “Queen of Cannery Row”
A celebration of life!
Remembrances of Kalisa Moore
(January 31st 1926 – October 14th 2009)
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Welcome!
This is a place for all of us to share our stories and experiences with Kalisa.
Add your entries in the new comment field below; let us know who you are and when your recollections took place. Be sure to “click” on the “submit comment” button when you are finished.
An icon of Cannery Row has graduated but the memories of her life and spirit live on in our hearts.
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48 comments
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April 10, 2018 at 4:24 pm
david powerman (@davidepowerman)
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May 28, 2017 at 9:42 am
judi banteng online
I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this blog. I’m hoping to check out the same high-grade blog posts by you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my very own blog now ;)
May 20, 2017 at 4:48 pm
adu banteng
Everything is very open with a precise explanation of the challenges. It was truly informative. Your site is very useful. Thanks for sharing!
March 30, 2017 at 5:51 pm
David Hill
Kalisa was the biggest ripoff artist I have ever met. She was notorious for not paying her employees. Wake up people! David Hill
March 8, 2015 at 3:36 am
Carl Smith
Thank God Almighty that led me to Dr Peter who with his humanitarian heart helped my Daughter that had cancer of the breast with his Hemp Oil. I am so grateful that my 21 years old daughter is back alive and healthy and can do all the things she like without any hindrance in her life. Dr Peter, your medication is the only cure for cancer,tumor and from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely say you are the best and i will always give thanks to God for you to have long life so you can help many more people on earth with your medical service to humanity.with you i now believe that the hemp Oil is real and True,for all those who have problem relating to cancer and other diseases should contact Dr Peter on:ricksimpsonmedicalservices@gmail.com
January 9, 2015 at 2:42 pm
sindy
Appreciating Rick Simpson is what i will do through out my life time.
i want to use this oppurtunity to tell everyone reading my testimony about what God had used Rick Simpson to do in husband’s life
My husband was suffering from cancer of the brain and after using so much money on hospital and surgery a friend gave us the mail address which she ordered for her mother’s medication ;rickcannabisoil02@gmail.com
and after contacting rick simpson’s representative and i ordered for his medication which was safely delivered to us which we applied on my husband’s brain cancer and after three months treatment my husband is well and sound like a new born baby i thank rick simpson and his faithful representative for making my husband live.
contact rick at ; Rickcannabisoil02@gmail
mobile: +1 312 835 3384
November 14, 2014 at 7:56 pm
Cheryl Hill Thomas
I worked at Kalisa’s in the mid 1970’s and I regret that I can’t join the chorus of fans. I had to sue Kalisa to finally get paid and a variety of other employees shared similar experiences. Kalisa was not an honest woman. Doesn’t matter to those of you who enjoyed the restaurant? I was a single parent working my way through college at MPC! Cheryl
October 24, 2014 at 12:35 am
Ellen Bates
My Dear brothers and sisters , this testimony is all about Dr Brown Nelson that the herbal doctor that just save my life by helping me in curing my cancer disease after i have spend all my life savings looking from cure from fake spell casters who claimed to be real and they scammed away my money without helping. I Also tried medications from different hospital and clinic but all seems to be in vain until the day I went to Dr Brown Nelson as my last hope, He assured me that he is going to help me and i am glad to say today i am cured due to the help of the herbal cure that was being prepared by Dr Brown Nelson, if you know you are reading this and you needs cure to any type of illness and also who has also been scammed by other fake spell casters, worry no more, here is the ultimate solution to your problem, contact him now through his email: brownnelson07@aol.com
October 10, 2014 at 4:55 am
lawson bruce
I want to use this medium to applause Rick Simpson for curing my Fiance cancer with his
cannabis oil, my fiance has been suffering from colorectal cancer for
the pass three years now, but ever since we started using the Rick
Simpson Cannabis oil for the past 3 months and instruction on how to
use it, my fiance has fully recovered from her colorectal cancer. The
Rick Simpson cannabis oil has proven a great success on cure for
cancer with his cannabis oil and I give him a lot of credits, because
my fiance cancer was cured within 4 months of successful treatment,
am getting married to my fiance as her colorectal cancer has been
totally cured with Rick Simpson cannabis oil which we
purchase:bef, It has been 4 months now
of the successful cure of my fiance colorectal cancer and ever since
my fiance stop treatment and her health has been perfect and
marvelous. as I am writing this testimony to notify you that my fiance
has been completely cured of her cancer. any one out there who need
help, please feel free to get in touch with
Rick at:rickcannabisoil@gmail.com
October 4, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Dante Amato
My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV cervical cancer, then i wasted a lot of money for years for treatment,until i saw in the phoenix tear.ca in the internet that cannabis oil can cure all cancer,i tried to look for a way to get the Rick Simpson Oil and finally a friend of mine helped via email:ricksimpsoncancercure01@gmail.com told me how to reach him and get the oil,i was able to email him and bought the oil,my mother started taking it on 12th January and glory be to God she was healed in April after her last scan,i would want to thank Rick for the time he spent in getting this oil to save lives his email is :ricksimpsoncancercure01@gmail.com the oil works for all type of cancer and it is worth it.
September 18, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Julie
Warm appreciation to Dr. rick simpson for curing my Breast cancer with cannabis oil. I really appreciate your help in bring back my lost life with the help of his high quality Cannabis Oil, i am so grateful to you Dr for all the love and concern that you showed me and i would keep on giving my testimony about your Cannabis oil and how is cures Cancer within 90 days of treatment. it just like a Miracle that has happened to me with full recovery from cancer and i am free from Cancer. Thanks be to God Almighty for sending you my way Dr, i hope and know that you would keep on putting smiles on world at large with this great medication. email:rickcancercure@gmail.com for all solution to cancer and other diseases. Those facing health challenges should go for cannabis oil to ensure the absolute cure of all kinds of cancerous diseases. For hopes and help, kindly contact Dr.rick simpson for full knowledge about the medication and Services to you. Dr. email:rickcancercure@gmail.com for all solution to cancer and other diseases.
Julie Fred
U.S.A
September 18, 2014 at 4:45 pm
sonia gregory
Warm appreciation to Dr. rick simpson for curing my Breast cancer with
cannabis oil. I really appreciate your help in bring back my lost life with
the help of his high quality Cannabis Oil, i am so grateful to you Dr for
all the love and concern that you showed me and i would keep on giving my
testimony about your Cannabis oil and how is cures Cancer within 90 days of
treatment. it just like a Miracle that has happened to me with full
recovery from cancer and i am free from Cancer. Thanks be to God Almighty
for sending you my way Dr, i hope and know that you would keep on putting
smiles on world at large with this great medication.
email:ricksimpsonoil@outlook.com for all solution to cancer and other
diseases. Those facing health challenges should go for cannabis oil to
ensure the absolute cure of all kinds of cancerous diseases. For hopes and
help, kindly contact Dr.rick simpson for full knowledge about the
medication and Services to you. Dr. email:ricksimpsonoil@outlook.com for
all solution to cancer and other diseases. sonia gregory.
September 18, 2014 at 2:11 pm
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August 19, 2014 at 3:01 am
Rita
This is so great am alive to testify the good work of hemp oil and its miracle healing.
In April 10th 2012 i was diagnosed of breast cancer and bone cancer when the doctor told me it was already too late for me, that i have only ten months on earth to live. I shared tears and all hope was gone thinking that i will just sleep and go just like that.
My mom came to visit me in Serbia two months later and bought me some hemp oil product saying that it works well on cancer, ever since she told me about the benefits and encourage me to use the medication. I have been on treatment for the past 4 months now which was the required treatment plan for me.
Last week, I went to hospital to do my test and to God be the glory my cancer was not found there anymore. I have been cured with Rick Simpson hemp oil which my mother had bought for me.
My family in forever grateful to Rick Simpson Cannabis Oil.
Last week my mom gave me his email and phone number which i contacted him in person and thank him for the life saving.you can contact him with this email drsimonmedicalservices@yandex.com
June 27, 2014 at 12:36 am
Tracy
My name is Mrs Tracy Brown from Canada,I never believe My husband will see 2014 It is with pleasure that i thank Rick Simpson for saving my dying husband with his cannabis oil.
We already lost hope for a better life when the report came that my husband cannot go for more Chemo anymore. But after so many research online, I gained a lot about the cannabis oil that i bought from the Rick Simpson whose contact I got online on reading a testimony about his past works and glory, The medication was delivered to me within 24 hours by the UPS delivery service after procurement. My husband has completed his treatment, unquenchable joy to all as my husband is cured of his stage 4 lungs cancer within 90 days of treatment. Thanks to all, today i acknowledge the greatness of cannabis oil and to those that wish to purchase the medication contact Rick Simpson at: rickcancercure@gmail.com for help.
Cannabis Oil is the a medication for cancerous disease.
June 26, 2014 at 9:13 pm
Banda Brown
WARNING!
Be careful here. Nobody that can provide you with cannabis or hemp oil or advice you on how to get any other cancer treatment therapy here. They are all scams. Real scams. Unfortunately i was a victim and they took away all my money. Any advice or suggestion from any of them, you must ignore. If not for the help a very good friend of my who later directed me to a very genuine source where he got cannabis oil that cured his mothers cancer, i would have been dead by now. I won’t provide all his contact information for fear of impersonation by this heartless scams. I can only provide his email. His email is(ricksimpsonoilfoundation@gmail.com). I will advice that you Contact him directly and free yourself from all these scams who are trying to take advantage of peoples predicament. Banda Browns
June 4, 2014 at 8:06 am
Alice Miller
My name is Mrs.Alice Miller from Canada,I never believe My husband will see
2014 It is with pleasure that i thank Rick Simpson for saving my dying
husband with his hemp oil.
We already lost hope for a better life when the report came that my husband
cannot go for more Chemo anymore. But after so many research online, I
gained a lot about the hemp oil that i bought from the Rick Simpson whose
contact I got online on reading a testimony about his past works and glory,
The medication was delivered to me within 24 hours by the UPS delivery
service after procurement. My husband has completed his treatment,
unquenchable joy to all as my husband is cured of his stage 4 lungs cancer
within 90 days of treatment. Thanks to all, today i acknowledge the
greatness of hemp oil and to those that wish to purchase the medication
contact Rick Simpson at: rickcancercure02@gmail.com for help.
hemp Oil is the a medication for cancerous disease.
May 22, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Miller
My name is Mrs.Christiana Miller from Canada,I never believe My husband will see 2014 It is with pleasure that i thank Rick Simpson for saving my dying husband with his cannabis oil.
We already lost hope for a better life when the report came that my husband cannot go for more Chemo anymore. But after so many research online, I gained a lot about the cannabis oil that i bought from the Rick Simpson whose contact I got online on reading a testimony about his past works and glory, The medication was delivered to me within 24 hours by the UPS delivery service after procurement. My husband has completed his treatment, unquenchable joy to all as my husband is cured of his stage 4 lungs cancer within 90 days of treatment. Thanks to all, today i acknowledge the greatness of cannabis oil and to those that wish to purchase the medication contact Rick Simpson at: rickcancercure@gmail.com for help.
Cannabis Oil is the a medication for cancerous disease.
May 21, 2014 at 1:04 pm
valentine robert
My partner and I have been trying for a baby for over two years now, We were going to a fertility clinic for about 5 months before somebody told us to contact this spell caster who is so powerful, We contacted him at this email;fertilitysolutiontemple@live.com , for him to help us, then we told him our problem, he told us that she we either conceive in January 2013 or February 2013,but after two years of trying we were at a point where we were willing to try anything. And I’m glad we came to Dr.BABA Because he predictions put us at ease, and I honestly believe him, and his gods really helped us as well, I am thankful for all he has done. contact him via email: ;fertilitysolutiontemple@live.com or mobile on:+2347069299796, if you are trying to get a baby or want your lover back. he has powers to do it, he has done mine.
May 21, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Amanda Ross
I am so grateful to Rick for providing me with Hemp oil here in the United State of America. I was diagnose with breast cancer 3 years ago, and ever since i have done a lot of Chemo and Radiation that have not helped me, but only damaged my immune system and render it weak and helpless. I came across the Phoenix Tears and i have read about the Rick Simpson Hemp oil a lot and saw that he could provide me with Hemp Oil here in the State, i contact him on:ricksimpsonoilcancercure1@gmail.com for the procurement of this medication, to my surprise the medication was procured and delivered within 48 hours and i have been on treatment for the past 3 months. Am now here to testify that am no more a cancer patient, I have experience a total transformation in my health sector with Rick Simpson Hemp oil service. for all cancer patient that live in the America and Canada region, get your Hemp oil from ricksimpsonoilcancercure1@gmail.com
May 18, 2014 at 3:20 pm
SHANTY
Hi, It nice to inform you all that I have done Chemo and Radiation 2 times for my Breasts. My battle with Breast cancer started 5 years ago, after so many Chemo, Radiation and other natural therapy treatment that i took just to cure my Breast cancer, it all didn’t work for my condition. I have been treating this disease for the past 5 years, but today i am here telling the world about my final victory over Breast cancer with the help of Rick Simpson Hemp and cannabis Oil that I bought from Dr.Rick.This is a breakthrough in my family with so much Joy in our life today, i do really appreciate all the help and contribution from every member of my family for all they did for me and much love to my caring and loving husband. My love, you gave me the strengthen. Let Stop Breast Cancer, Go for your test and save your life, but if you have any cancerous diseases, there is no need to waste money on Chemo or Radiation, go get your Rick Simpson medication today,this is a medication that should be legalize worldwide, for those who wish to purchase the medication, just contact Dr.Rick on:Ricksimpsoncancercure@outlook.com and you will also be told on how to apply it.
What a wonderful living with Cannabis Oil.
Shanty Locker
USA(Arizona)
May 6, 2014 at 4:28 pm
RICK SIMPSON
I am so grateful to Rick for providing me with Hemp oil here is the United State of America. I was diagnose with brain cancer 3 years ago, and ever since then i have done a lot of Chemo and Radiation that have not help me, but only damaged my immune system and render it weak and helpless. I came across the Phoenix Tears and i have read about the Hemp oil a lot and saw that I could provide me with Hemp Oil here is the State, i contact him on:{{ricksimpsoncancercure@outlook.com}} for the procurement of this medication, to my surprise the medication was procured and delivered within 48 hours and i have been on treatment for the past 3 months. Am now here to testify that am no more a cancer patient, I have experience a total transformation in my health sector with Rick Simpson Hemp oil service. for all cancer patient that live in the America and Canada region, get your Hemp oil from {{ricksimpsoncancercure@outlook.com}}
pedro smith.
Am Antonio Benard i reside in Italy, my wife was suffering from Breast Cancer and the doctor told me that there was nothing that he could do to save my beloved wife. Then a friend told me about the Rick Simpson hemp oil that can cure cancer, i told him that my wife’s breast cancer was in the last stage that i don’t think the hemp oil would cure it and he persuaded me to try it, for the love of my wife, i decided to give it a try.
I did some research and i found a doctor who helped me with the cannabis oil to cure my wife’s breast cancer and he assured me that after 4 months the cancer would be gone.{{ricksimpsoncancercure@outlook.com}}
I bought it and she used it,it worked exactly as the doctor prescribed it. Thanks to doctor Thomas for taking away sorrow in my life. can you all imagine, that my wife have a 6 years old daughter and a 3 years old son, what would i have done.. God will bless Rick Simpson and Dr. RICK for helping me with cannabis oil and for his support and care.
contact:{{ricksimpsoncancercure@outlook.com}} what can i say unto my LORD, all i have to say is THANK YOU LORD.
#
#
Shanty Locker
Hi, It nice to inform you all that I have done Chemo and Radiation 2 times for my Breasts. My battle with Breast cancer started 5 years ago, after so many Chemo, Radiation and other natural therapy treatment that i took just to cure my Breast cancer, it all didn’t work for my condition. I have been treating this disease for the past 5 years, but today i am here telling the world about my final victory over Breast cancer with the help of Rick Simpson Hemp Oil or cannabis Oil that I bought from Dr. Rick at:{{Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}} This is a breakthrough in my family with so much Joy in our life today, i do really appreciate all the help and contribution from every member of my family for all they did for me and much love to my caring and loving husband. My love, you gave me the strengthen. Let Stop Breast Cancer, Go for your test and save your life, but if you have any cancerous diseases, there is no need to waster money on Chemo or Radiation, go get your Rick Simpson medication from Dr. Kelvin at: this is a medication that should be legalize worldwide, for those who wish to purchase the medication, just contact Dr. Rick on: at:{{Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}} for purchase of medication.
what a wonderful living with Cannabis Oil.
Shanty Locker
Hi, It nice to inform you all that I have done Chemo and Radiation 2 times for my Breasts. My battle with Breast cancer started 5 years ago, after so many Chemo, Radiation and other natural therapy treatment that i took just to cure my Breast cancer, it all didn’t work for my condition. I have been treating this disease for the past 5 years, but today i am here telling the world about my final victory over Breast cancer with the help of Rick Simpson Hemp Oil or cannabis Oil that I bought from Dr.rick at:at:{{Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}},This is a breakthrough in my family with so much Joy in our life today, i do really appreciate all the help and contribution from every member of my family for all they did for me and much love to my caring and loving husband. My love, you gave me the strengthen. Let Stop Breast Cancer, Go for your test and save your life, but if you have any cancerous diseases, there is no need to waster money on Chemo or Radiation, go get your Rick Simpson medication from Dr. Rick at:Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}},this is a medication that should be legalize worldwide, for those who wish to purchase the medication, just contact Dr. Rick on:at:Ricksimpson102@gmail.com,for purchase of medication.
what a wonderful living with Cannabis Oil.
My Wife Stage IV breast cancer and MS has just been cured with the cannabis oil gotten from ricksimpson@hotoutlook.com,cannabis oil is great medication. To hell with the government and their insane policy, we have a medication that is hundred percent assured to cure cancer and you don’t need to spend so much money on anymore on chemo, radiation or surgeries that wouldn’t work.
Where to purchase, contact via{{ricksimpson@hotoutlook.com}}
My family is now a brand new one, so stop your worries and go get your medication and set the family free of the deadly disease that hold no respect to family harmony.
Make your health a better one by using cannabis oil in your everyday life.
contact Dr Thomas for all type of cancer
thanks to Rick Simpson
My wife is a serious cancer patient, she been wracked with skin
cancers for decades, having them frozen, cut, scraped and poisoned out
of her as the only treatments. We saw a program on CNBC about the
THC/CBD oil of Dr.RICK and my son has a caregiver license in NM for
his girlfriend, he got us some Dr. Bobby Hemp oil via email:
{{Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}},and we applied it as directed by Dr. Rick
The newer lesions literally peeled off with the band-aid in a day or
two, the more advanced ones took a week to go away. No pain for her, I
am so amazed at the power of Rick Simpson oil to kill these terrible
cancers. Given, there are worse cancers to have but the last time she
went to the skin doctor a few weeks ago, he cut and burned dozens off
her body, each leaving a gaping hole that was painful, and required
constant attention to avoid infection, some of the same ones needed
several treatments to fully eliminate the tumor. The oil not only
kills the bad cells, it numbs the sore completely! She has a bad one
on her lip, was told she needs radiation to cure it. The oil in 2
short weeks has reduced the size by 70%, part of the tumor is an open
sore on her top lip as well, we all know how much a little cold sore
hurts there, imagine one that never heals, it is almost gone and we
are SO happy that she did not need to be poisoned, or need major
facial repair surgery.
So my great advise is for you all to procure the Rick Simpson cannabis
Oil medication to cure all kinds of cancerous disease within 3 months
from Dr.RICK, my family is now a weakness to this miracle and I want
every citizen of the world to also experience this miracle. contact
on:{{Ricksimpson102@gmail.com}}
Mr Johnson
February 7, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Harriet Beecher
I am Harriet Beecher, I live in San Francisco USA, I want to say a big thank you to Dr. Rick Simpson for saving my son’s life with his miracle oil on the 10th of January 2014 from his terrible brain tumor.
My son Ben was diagnosed of brain tumor last year October 5th 2013, the doctor told me there was nothing that could be done for my son and I was so scared to lose him because he is the only one I got, I lost his dad May 2011 and I was not ready to lose my only son. My co-worker told me about Dr. Rick Simpson cannabis oil and how it helped her dad so I collected his contact ricksimpsoncannabisoil_phoenix@outlook.com and wrote him, purchase the oil and used it on my son, last week we went for checkup and the doctor who told me that my son had few months to live confirmed that my son no longer has brain tumor.
I am so over whelmed and full of joy, I feel like shouting to the whole world, I just got my joy back. Am so grateful Sir, thank you so much. God will bless you Sir.
March 27, 2013 at 1:41 am
pg2109
Warning:
There is no Dr. Nathan Kisper, Dr. Mike Henderson, Dr. Smith Williams, Dr. Sedney Carey, Dr. Mac Donnald etc.. Only the big scammers hiding behind these names. Unfortunately I am the one of their victims. Be careful and don’t trust them and in any of their “stories”!!!
March 27, 2013 at 1:40 am
pg2109
Warning:
There is no Dr. Nathan Kisper, Dr. Mike Henderson, Dr. Smith Williams, Dr. Sedney Carey, Dr. Mac Donnald, Dr. Bryan Vance etc.. Only the big scammers hiding behind these names. Unfortunately I am the one of their victims. Be careful and don’t trust them and in any of their “stories”!!!
March 14, 2013 at 1:11 am
CURE FOR CANCER
I am grateful to Doctor smith for saving my life with his source of getting the Hemp Oil medical service am so happy that i am no more a cancer patient anymore and i will ansure you that your Cancer problem will be cured by his source contact him on his email: drsmithwilliams2013@gmail.com or call the Dr smith phone number for more help +2348158618150
From Lura Zane
USA
CURE FOR CANCER
January 24, 2013 at 11:20 am
miami
Thank God Almighty that lead me to Doctor Mac Donnald who with his humanitarian heart help my son that had cancer of the brain with his Hemp Oil. I am so grateful that my 17 years old boy is back alive and healthy and can do all this thing he like without any hindrance in his life.
Doctor Mac Donnald you are the best and i will always give thanks to God for you to have long life so you can help many more people on earth with your medical service to humanity. with you i now believe that the Hemp Oil is real and True, for all those who have problem relating to cancer and other diseases should contact Dr. Mac Donnald for his medical service at: drmacdonnald@gmail.com,
Ruth,
Miami, USA
January 11, 2013 at 11:07 am
http://tinyurl.com/primlacy45734
This is really the 3rd blog post, of your website I checked
out. Still I personally love this one, “blog topic” the most.
Regards -Lemuel
January 11, 2013 at 1:05 am
Mrs Rhoda
Thank God Almighty that lead me to Doctor Mac Donnald who with his humanitarian heart help my son that had cancer of the brain with his Hemp Oil. I am so grateful that my 17 years old boy is back alive and healthy and can do all this thing he like without any hindrance in his life.
Doctor Mac Donnald you are the best and i will always give thanks to God for you to have long life so you can help many more people on earth with your medical service to humanity. with you i now believe that the Hemp Oil is real and True, for all those who have problem relating to cancer and other diseases should contact Dr. Mac Donnald for his medical service at: drmacdonnald@gmail.com,
Ruth,
Rhoda, USA
December 16, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Doctorhenderson
I suffer from Breast Cancer, which for me, is basically a Death Sentence on my life, the thoughts of having Breast Cancer burns and itches simultaneously in my heart that i was dead alive (and looks hideous). I heard that Hemp Oil could help, and for the price i was willing to try anything that would save my My Life. What I found out was astonishing! It was instantly getting better and better and most of the virus are gone and just little medication left for me. It’s also a light, i am very grateful to Doctor Henderson for Selling the Hemp Oil for me and his Medical Advises, for all those that have problems with Cancer Please Please Kindly let the Doctor Know at:hendersonmedicalservice@gmail.com,
He saved my Life that is why i will keep on giving his testimonies.
Angela
United State of America
December 16, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Doctorhenderson
My Husband that was highly infected with cancer of the lungs, he was even given days that he would live is now as healthy as a new born chicken with the help of Doctor Henderson with his Hemp.
Thanks to Doctor Henderson that sold the Hemp oil for us that we used in curing my Husband.
Once again i want to thank Doctor Henderson his wonderful Hemp Oil we are now happy family with my Husband back alive ,strong and healthy. you can contact Dr. Henderson on every medical issue on his email:hendersonmedicalservice@gmail.com for more help.
Mrs Sarah Packer
From Canada
April 23, 2012 at 7:36 am
rhymewriter@hotmail.com
OTHER SIDE RIVER: OWED TO A DEAD POET
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
I don’t make it a point generally to keep up with the musings of
counter-culture hack-writers such as yourself, Pat Nolan. But as fate
would have it, I came across your mid-life-crisis-diatribe
“Monterey:Exile’s Return” that you wrote almost twenty years ago. A
Little brief in your depiction of the Monterey Peninsula…were’nt
you?: Not to worry; I filled in the blanks between the lines myself.
I’ve walked the same streets, beaches, tracks, and sat within the
“lichened granite rocks” at Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove. I also
lived above the former Wing Chong Market (of Steinbeck Novels Reknown)
that you inhabited not long before I did….amidst the poets,
novelists, junkies, and drunks—all of us there seemingly by way of
self-imposed exile…more turned-on that we were tuned-in, and, like
Dylan, creating our own Depression. “Good Ol’ Roy” (known by you as
“King”) was certainly a landlord of distinction, not unrivaled by the
Proprietor of the La Ida Cafe, Kalisa Moore. The stench of sardines had
already been replaced by the odors of incense and sandalwood oil. Good
Ol’ Roy wallowed in self-absorption, not unlike yourself during your
sojourn to to the Monterey Peninsula…a middle-aged drunk who always
thought that America’s very survival fully depended upon General
McCarthur’s aborted mandate to bomb Manchuria. As regards
Kalisa….well, that’s another story.
I also filled in the blanks for the Bull’s Eye Tavern, The Bitter Seeds
Rock Band, and John Smithback–failed author of a dead novel: The
Lonely Dark. I was a bartender at that infamous watering hole, the
Bull’s Eye Tavern during and after the Monterey Pop Festival of ’67. I
remember you as a patron of said bar, mingling with the rock musicians
and the underground artists/literati. You usually came in with your
first wife, Fiona….Remember Fiona…of course you do! You won the
contest according to Ken Beach…i.e. the one between you, Ken, and
John Heshmati ( the Iranian whore-monger…recently dead from AIDS in
Bisbee, AZ [good riddance!!]..he couldn’t stay away from the whores in
Naco and Aqua Prieta, it seems). Yes, Pat…you won the “right of the
senior”…the first rights to ruin a fifteen year old
Woodstock-bohemian teeny-bopper. Congratulations….You the Man! And
just what is Fiona for you now? Just so much “fodder for the literary
machine.” I would that you had rather ended up with Regina Fletcher,
her sister….that Gorgon-Hyena would have chewed you up and spit you
out in a New York Second! That would have been poetic justice, to say
the least.
You are one helluva self-absorbed, egotistic sonofabitch, Pat……and
a lousy poet to boot. I saw you as a sycophant always trying to claw
you way up the bohemian social ladder. You were rejected by Dan Hulfers
and his merry band of artsy-craftsy dope dealing acid-heads, though,
weren’t you? Musta hurt! Finally reached a point, however, where you
could “name-drop” in many of your scripts. You mentioned Diane Di Palma
in your “Bolinas sketch.” You are not unlike her in that regard…she
once boasted (off the subject ) at a Poetry Slam that she had f*cked
Jack Kerouac the same day that she had met him. You’re all wannabe
“starfuckers”…….more fodder for the literary machine, I suppose.
For the most part, Monterey rejected you and a truck-load of other
hacks. Your ill-fated journey to New York by thumb…with Fiona and
your baby Brian sick with colic, in tow must have been a major defeat
in your early beginnings. So, what did you do? Got yourself another
hippie nymph, another kid, a welfare check, and a HUD house near the
Russian River. Monte Rio must have been the smaller pond to your bigger
frog. The Lower Russian River communities are perfect for the likes of
you. Kindly give my regards to all the burned-out hippies,
crop-growers, and the white-powder crowd of immigrants who, like you,
came here to cash-in on the Great American social service abundance.
Your neck of the Redwoods was Richard Brautigan’s undoing. Richard
Brautigan…..your mentor in poetic license! Let him be your mentor in
solutions to a life of pain as well. Buy yourself a .44 magnum…save
on ammunition….you’ll only need one bullet! By the By, what ever
happened to the prototype for Brautigan’s “Confederate General From Big
Sur?” And his girl friend, Kathy Testa, the one that could have played
the role of the beach gypsy in Felinni’s “8 1/2?” This all makes me
recall Ray Pearson, Tom Burleson, and the night Dan Hulfers and Tom
kicked in the door to an 8th street house in Pacific Grove where Ken
Beach and Diane Buby were spending the night….proceeding to date rape
Junkie- Janice and her roomate. It wasn’t long thereafter that Ken lost
his wife to Jack Hulfers who ruined her with too many kids and a bad
heroin habit….tsk, tsk. This revolution was never televised! Just
another forgotten soap opera of minor proportions….write a poem about
it!
What will you be to your children, Pat? Diane Di Prima’s daughter
(after a self-imposed exile in a chickencoop in Mendocino) once
commented to a Rolling Stone Magazine interviewer that the real heroes
at her family house were the drug dealers…they, at least bought
Christmas presents for the kids…and who were the poets for her? They
were “those icky guys in the corner with foam at the edge of their
mouths!” Looked in the mirror lately, Pat? Alan Ginsberg was once
furious at his former friend, Norman Podheretz and taunted him: “We’ll
get you through your children, Norman!” Norman had the last laugh in
that regard but Alan did get you, Pat. And Me? I’m the guy you warned
your children about………..not for any reason other than to slander
one you envied and despised. Thus you caused me some anguish when I
lived for the better part of a year along the Russian River. I’m more
resilent than you must have taken me to be. And all those older
faces…left over from their previous low-life existence in the
Monterey Peninsula (Michelle Alling comes to mind for one)…seeking
new salvation in the Redwoods….how pathetic they seemed. Same old
vindictive ploys….Sally Higgins surely must have been their mentor.
As you must know at this point, I am a firm believer in “la revancha.”
This response is my attempt to give you a taste of your own shit.
Perhaps you’ve already changed by now….after all, you were “so much
older then…you’re younger than that now.” I understand, Pat….I was
a victim of Bob Dylan’s music as well……no more, no less than
Richard Farina was a victim of Willy Hines’ Motorcycle mania—-write a
poem about that for the late Mimi Baez Farina….use the Tanka
format…collaborate with a better poet than yourself…Leza Lowitz.
Better still, get an enema from her sister, Dr. Robin
Lowitz-Hoffman-Edwards, et al at the Southwest Health Clinic in Santa
Rosa. Tell her I sent you…for a discount and free genital exam
included.
As for the women who loved you and who ( you think ) still do: What
your wife, Gail, confided to Bob Divale would blow your ass away ( you
might not need that .44 after all ). “Don’t tell Pat what I told you,”
said Bob…….so I guess I won’t. As for Fiona….did I mention
Fiona?? ask Michael Leibert, ask the Irish Guy with the big dick, ask
me….hell, ask the entire 7th Fleet….you remember those sailors in
S. F., docha, Pat? Fiona said you did. But, then again, I never
believed even half of what she said about you…or Sally Higgins for
that matter. If it helps, her father ruined her long before you did.
Marxism and molestation…..the ultimate mind and body f*ck! We pay a
handsome price for those “first rights” wrongfully obtained….perhaps
it’s our dowry payment. Mona should have told her “to stay away from
the train lines” ( but she was so much older then…she’s younger than
that now).
I once hoped that someone ( of your ilk ) would kick your ass down
River Road from Monte Rio all the way to the Coffee Bazaar on Old
Armstrong Woods Road in Guerneville….where you might spend your last
moments listening to the inane ( albeit boastful ) anecdotes of the
pin-head descendents of baby-boom-era hippies. I’ve lightened up since
then and would much prefer to ship you ( 4th Class Postage ) in a black
box back to Montreal ( you’re not as Irish as Fiona would have had us
believe, it seems ). Hey, why not make that decision for yourself! When
that French Canuk, Jack Kerouac, couldn’t get it up anymore and finally
realized that his life had been a futile venture in playing with his
own shit….what did he do???….He went back to his working class
roots….home to Mamma, who, it turns out, was right after all about
Alan Ginsberg, Neil Cassady, and the rest of the “dead-beat”
generation. Perhaps the most noteworthy writing that Alan Ginsberg
should be remembered for occured when he signed the necessary documents
required by the State of New York to perform a Lobotomy on his mother.
The best poem that YOU ever wrote was “Fiona.” I wrote one for Mona and
Regina….but the Federal Government forbids me to post it on the
internet or read it out loud in public….except in Santa Cruz….the
feds have given up on Santa Cruz! Betcha I could read it at Tillie
Gort’s Cafe or maybe even on KFOG radio in San Francisco….Rosalie
Howarth would love to wallow in “schadenfreude”……just like you and
yours do.
This hand, having writ, shall now move on. I close with a quote
(source=Sally Higgins, the reincarnation of Pacific Grove’s Elmarie
Dyke) from Leonard’s wife, Linda, to Sally just before she slammed the
phone: “GET A JOB!”
March 2, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Scott William Gergen
Kalisa was a big-hearted lady and what a character she was. It was a joy working for her in my youth
October 28, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Peter L. Steiner
I was so sad to hear of Kalisa’s passing. I had last seen her in 1999, bringing my young daughters and my wife to meet the legend. She said she was trying to collect letters and reminiscences for a possible book. On a wintry Minnesota day several years later, I composed a letter, but alas, I never sent it. RIP, Kalisa, laugh with God. Here are excerpts from the unsent letter…
During this 100th year after Steinbeck’s death, I am finally getting around to writing the letter I’d promised to send. I was one of the thousands who went through the Army Language School at the Presidio, and one of the many who occasionally sought refuge behind the pale gold walls of your restaurant. With the Vietnam War still raging, and our individual fates uncertain, Kalisa’s was a sheltering bohemian cocoon in the madness of those times.
When I returned to California in the summer of ’99 with my family to revisit old haunts, Monterey had changed so dramatically over three decades, and Cannery Row was now filled with condos and trinket shops, even a Steinbeck Plaza that I suspect he would have sneered at. The old funkiness, the palpable sense of history was mostly gone, having succumbed to the American propensity to convert every historical site into a theme park with no real connection to its roots.
I didn’t know what to expect as we meandered farther down toward the end of Cannery Row, where in my mind, that magical place called Kalisa’s still existed. Would it be a McDonald’s now? An Olive Garden?
But no, I was ecstatic to find it, just as I remembered it, the Spanish-style structure washed by the midmorning sun. As we ventured inside, it was a bit more ramshackle, not organized like the restaurant where Henry Miller or Clint Eastwood would hang out. There were still photographs of the famous hanging on the walls, but tables and chairs were arranged in somewhat random fashion, and the bar was gone. The windows had advertised the place as an ice cream parlour, and when I looked in the back, there you were, on the phone, still so very recognizable, as if you’d just stepped out of the pages of a novel. You served us ice cream, we all sat down and talked.
You were okay with all the development, you were in fact President of the Cannery Row Development Association. You said it had been a struggle to keep the restaurant going while you were caring for a son who eventually died of AIDS. You said you were hoping to gather letters from all the people who had loved you and your restaurant since you first arrived in 1957 at the age of 29.
I was first brought to Kalisa’s in 1970 by Rich — I don’t even remember his last name now. So often you simply lose track of people who temporarily light up your existence in the transient life of the military. But Rich, handsome and in love with poetry, moonlighted as one of your waiters. He told us about the famous ones you’d sometimes see there. And sure enough, one afternoon, when the restaurant was quite empty, alone in the front corner by the window, in an elegant black dress and wide-brimmed hat that covered most of her face in shadow, sat a mysterious but obviously beautiful woman. It was Kim Novak.
Of course, none of us had the cojones to approach the goddess. And then she was gone, and we would never again have the chance to encounter her. Other recollections are refracted in time, but I remember how we limited-budget servicemen loved the soup. There was the rumour, perhaps told to me by Rich, that once you got behind the curtain that separated the dining room from the kitchen, you would scrape the leftovers from all the plates into a great kettle of soup to simmer, and that’s why it was so good. I may or may not have doubted the story at the time, but I supposed you had learned frugality growing up impoverished in Russia, and why throw good food away?
You said Henry Miller considered you one of his favorite people, and why not? You always seemed to have stepped right out of the pages of someone’s novel! Thanks so much for offering us Kalisa’s, the place where a sheltered boy from the Midwest began to appreciate the charms of a bohemian life.
July 10, 2011 at 7:30 am
N. Wolansky
I worked at Kalisa’s restaurant in the 70’s, while attending the Monterey Institutue. What a great lady she was! We shared lots of laughs, and our hatred of Russians, as Kalisa was Latvian and I’m Ukrainian! She has had such a fantastic life living in Monterey all those years! The stories I heard!
June 11, 2011 at 8:22 am
Christina Ivazes
Wow! As I research my own family history, I decided to look up Kalisa and have become entranced by her story. My own mother Roanne Lindquist was one of the “down of their luck” people that Kalisa helped way back in 1958 when she was pregnant with me. When I found this out, I visited Kalisa in Monterey and didn’t think I would find her, but did to my surprise, behind an ice cream counter at the original Kalisa’s location. She was gracious and shared a few things with me about that era. Evidently, my mother was back East at the time and pregnant. She probably wanted to return to California where her family was from but did not want to remove herself from the jazz scene she had become so enamored with. She talked a piano player into driving West to California to this place called Kalisa’s in Monterey. My mother hitched a ride, Kalisa let her live in the basement and Kalisa told me she (Kalisa) fell in love with the piano player. She said he ended up a heroin addict that moved up North (can’t remember if it was to Oregon or Washington). She said she had 5 children. I thought at the time that she had 5 children by the piano player, but obviously not by what I have read online this past day.
SO, the mystery of my own life that connects to Kalisa is that my mother died when she was 35 and I never found out who my real father is. I am tracing backwards and really want to find out the name of that piano player so I can find out who the musicians were back East in New York that he may have played with. I know my mother was hanging out in upstate New York around Stan Getz at the time as well, but I need some other names. I have a name of James Jordan (can’t be black because I am as white as they come along with my kids and grandkids). If anyone knows anything, please contact me at grannypants.wordpress.com and comment on a post.
It truly is amazing how far reaching Kalisa has been to so many. How ironic she helped to maintain Steinbeck’s legacy when her own seems to be even richer.
Thank you for the opportunity on this blog to honor Kalisa Moore!
Christina Ivazes
May 5, 2011 at 3:35 pm
R. Bailey
The Old Row is gone..But the memories will live forever.
Kalisa’s was a place of mystery and intrepid, exotic nostalgia. Growing up on the Monterey Peninsula as a young boy and being fascinated with the ‘lore’ on Cannery Row Kalisa’s added another dimension of intrigue, excitement and yearning. Cannery Rows was a hang out for all sorts and ages, at all times in its esoteric forever living history. It denied no one. It had something for everyone. It gave and it took at will. Never to be broken or destroyed, no matter what the new ages of entrepreneurial greed and hustle besieged it with. For the spirits of ‘The Row’ live through the spirits of long ago dead and the people of today who protect it and keep it dear in their hearts….
The smell of candy corn from the Carousel Edgewater Packing Co. to the (long gone) Kung Pow Prawns from Willie Lums China Row, to the beautiful reek of booze spilling out of Sly McFlys. The salty mist of thesea and the scent of decaying seaweed, to the faint bellows of the fog horn at Point Pinos Light House. ‘The Row’ was and is alive. Breathing the spirit that lives within us all.
I met Kalisa when I believe I was 12 years old in the early 80’s. My parents and my good friends parents (owner of the History Company, M. K. Hemp) used go and watch the Dancing Show while me and (D. Hemp) skate boarded around ‘The Row’ doing things most young kids of the day did. The door man at Kalisa’s would let us in the last half hour of the show to find our parents upstairs and have a soda. This was where I witnessed the exotic ladies of the dance and met Kalisa where she looked into my eyes with a gaze of a seer and told me I would go wonderful places and do good things for the world. It was a truly inspiring moment in my life for the memories still live with me to this very day.
There is a magic, and that magic was created by Kalisa. Who gave to ‘The Row’ her energy, art, inspiration, divinity and unconditional love……..
I am sorry to hear of her passing. But Heaven regained one of their Angels that they had let the earth experience even for a brief time…….
R. Bailey
April 28, 2011 at 10:02 am
Ann Smeal
I am very saddened to hear of Kalisa’s passing. My daughter Hannah is her granddaughter, I guess no one knew to inform us.
March 25, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Anonymous
The related videos of La Ida Cafe, Christmas with Kalisa and Kalisa’s Cabaret were video taped by Maya Mattar (amayavideoproduction@gmail.com)
March 25, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Anonymous
I remember kalisa was promised a plaque on the side of la Idas, where she spent fifty years of her life, at the time when her restaurant was sold. I watched that old lady, many times, hobble with her walker to see if had been put up yet. I watched her heart sink when the plaque that got put up there was about la Ida and not the plaque promised to her, but with her so famous optimism she said,”Well at least la Ida is on it.” The friends of Kalisa Committee and I would like to know what happened and when the promos will be kept? Thank you Michael for seeing this though, Kalisa’s friend, Maya
January 7, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Harriet Bird Berman
I found Kalisa’s at a time of crisis in my life. I needed a safe place to find out what my future might look like. At the age of 44, for the first time in my life, I was on my own. I had taken possession of my “self”, and I just wanted to sing my songs. I don’t remember the order of things. I just remember that Kalisa took me under her wing. When my singing partner, Ed Soren, and I came to her ready to perform, she encouraged us and gave us Tuesday evenings to entertain. We played our guitars and sang all the wonderful music of the 60’s. We drew a following. Our pay was food, drinks and tips. It was a magical time for me, and I remain deeply grateful for the care and protection offered to me by this gruff, eccentric woman with a heart of gold. Kalisa was, indeed the Queen… one of a kind… a treasure that will be missed by all who knew her.
August 22, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Leilani Jones
There was a boats work off of the water called Monterey Boat Works. I was also fortunate enough to be given a lot of the old, hand made tools that went into making a Monterey hull fishing boat. One of the boat makers also had a ton of stuff from Rickets lab and I ended up with all of that. I consider the old Cannery Row one of the best memories of my life. I am now writing another novel about a mystery located there.
August 22, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Leilani Jones
I met the queen when I was about 16 yrs. old. I had been kicked out of home and got a job packing squid at Hovden’s cannery. One of the old women there had been a young lady of the night and a good friend of Steinbecks. kalisa would let me eat free when I needed to and later on when I became a singer at Capone’s Warehouse owned by Dick O’Kane, I would go to her place and now pay to eat. She had the bed in the dining room at the time and one night I did my first acid trip and she had to put me on the bed until I came down a bit.
Got lucky and was given all these amazing letters to my squid packing friend from Steinbeck and Doc Ricketts. Pretty amazing letters and I think folks would be surprised to see how many ladies of Steinbecks time were working packing squid on the row in the sixties.
August 12, 2010 at 11:59 am
Lady Hull
Kalisa ia all around me every day in my studio…bits of ” this and that “…The wreath from our dancer’s memorial @ Paper Wing Theatre…Costume pieces she wore for events…Photos and fliers tacked up here and there…She is still an active part of Cannery Row life every day, if you knew her…you cannot pass the old white gates at the back of the ‘cafe’ on the bike path without a tug at the heart and a whispered “Thank you, Kalisa “!!! You gave us a time and a place to be the bohemians of Cannery Row…that we miss the most of all ! XOXOX Lady Hull
December 2, 2009 at 10:21 am
Rob Morgan
I am so sorry to learn of Kalisa’s passing.
We visited Kalisa’s in 2005 when we were touring California and Arizona and while in Cannery Row we visited.
I am a long-time admirer of John Steinbeck and his writing and while it was great to see Cannery Row much had obviously changed since Steinbeck’s days – the one thing that really kept him alive to some extent was Kalisa and talking to her about him and of the occasion she had met him.
A wonderful woman with a nice line in amiable eccentricity, she really was one of the highlights of our trip.
Rob – Cockenzie, Scotland
November 26, 2009 at 10:29 am
Jean Stallings
For a while Kalisa didn’t have a car, so she invited me to drive her to some events. I met many exciting people through Kalisa. She joined Spirit of Speech, International Training in Communication, and always was a high bidder for many of the auction items at our annual holiday party. Several of us celebrated birthday parties upstairs at Kalisa’s. The entire Monterey area will certainly miss this marvelous legend!
November 16, 2009 at 2:23 pm
William ("Bill") Minor
Remembrances of Kalisa Moore
My name is Bill Minor. I became an habitué at Kalisa’s from the time I arrived to teach at MPC in 1971 on. I shared piano chores with other fine practitioners (Alan Berman among them), and even accompanied Michael Parks (of “Then Came Bronson” fame) one night when he dropped in and sang. I published a short story called “The Duke and the Dauphin” in the Kansas Quarterly in 1987—a story about two con artist musicians who showed up to play, pretending to be Harry James and Charlie Spivak. I wasn’t sure what Kalisa would think of the piece, so I changed the name of her place to “Boryana’s Café.” She loved the story, and portions of it were included in a very fine article that Steve Turner wrote about Kalisa, called “The Last Character on Cannery Row,” published in West magazine in 1989.
Richard Mayer, who played flute at Kalisa’s in the 60s (while studying Russian at DLI) and I were privileged—honored—to be a part of the Wave Street Studios/Livenetworks.tv “Memories of Cannery Row with Kalsa Moore” series, sharing reminiscence with her on the February 19th, 2009 program. I would like now, by way of written homage, to post the first two pages of “The Duke and the Dauphin,” for I think (I hope!) they catch the flavor of what it was like to enter the magic “space” of Kalisa’s in those days, or what I described as parting “the glass beads that admit one to this Casablanca close-to-home,” never knowing quite what to expect or what you might find on any given night.
The color of Boryana’s Cafe in Cannery Row is outrageous, like the place itself. It’s canary on a bender, mustard gone riotous, ocher seeking revenge. It’s the moldy pewter yolk of a very old egg. And that’s just the outside.
The inside is catalyst for a Victorian wet dream.
The walls are stained mauve bed sheets. Dripped glass chandeliers, over-sized mirrors, bulbous rosewood framing assault one everywhere. The ceiling–a collage of gold leaf, filigree cherubs and old newspapers–is about to collapse, and the clientele–carnival primped or tourist posh–sometimes (mostly about three in the morning) look that way too. The owner?
She’s an institution, larger than the place itself, commanding. sometimes even accommodating. If she likes you you’re treated like a long-lost son or lover. If she doesn’t, the reception is as dour as dour can be. I have been received both ways, and on the same evening.
Boryana has, or had, an open piano. She attracts some fine practitioners, and some not so fine. I may fall into that last category but, after several years of deserved silence (I used to play professionally) and much discontent with my current job (I won’t go into that but, believe me, it’s discontent), I found myself nibbling away at her ivories one night, to the applause of some Japanese tourists whose delight either spoke of their state of intoxication or their lack of familiarity with jazz–America’s one art. But I was having fun, and fun is mostly what people have at Boryana’s, an institution run on principles as close to anarchy as any paying operation can be.
I played a couple more times after that night. I used up what songs I could remember from dance band days–“These Foolish Things,” “You Are Too Beautiful,” “I Can’t Get Started”–but the attempts must not have displeased the Cafe’s matron. She kept inviting me back and even once (while arguing with a dishwasher who claimed he hadn’t been paid in three months) gave me a free fish salad. It was an elaborate thing in which, among the green stuff, selected herbs and delicious dressing, secret pieces of ling cod and squid were lodged. I closed the place up with a friend that night. Plus a fresh aggregate of Japanese tourists, a guitar player named Sam (who did all the old Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie stuff I love) and Boryana’s daughter, an unsmiling but stately female apparition.
Stumbling out into the California Pacific dawn, across the street from the sullen wood lab where Doc once wooed Suzy in Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday–and resisting the urge to pee beside the parked orange hearse that Boryana drives to garage sales–I felt I’d just found a welcome home away from home. I looked forward to returning, and the opportunity came sooner than expected. Two days later I received an urgent phone call. It was Boryana.
“Harry James and Charlie Spivak are living in Sand City,” she said. “Right behind K-Mart.”
“You’re kidding,” I said. “The Harry James? The Charlie Spivak?”
“Nobody else but,” she said. “And they’re coming to my place Saturday night, to play.”
“I’ll be there,” I said.
“You better be,” she said. “Or you’ll miss it.”
I’d come to expect such tough logic from the matriarch so, when she hung up, I scrawled the date down on my calendar. Harry James? Charlie Spivak? They were two of my favorite big band greats. But what the hell were they doing in Monterey? And behind K-Mart no less! However, Boryana’s not the sort of person you doubt for a second. She’s an odd magic sort who runs an odd magic sort of place that makes you want to believe, again, in just about anything. People came to Boryana’s for some of the same reasons that others go to church: to credit what you would not credit elsewhere–such as the appearance of two legendary musicians. The cafe itself, its wild decor, made this possible, but so did the proprietor. She was a substantial gypsy with the glint of many night fires in her eyes–eyes that, when they fixed you, as they often did, commanded allegiance. They suggested that she’d seen her share of magic and that, if you hung around long enough, you would too. Maybe it’s the thick Bulgarian accent, maybe it’s just her size, but when she told me that James and Spivak were living behind K-Mart, I accepted it. Besides, I’d known too many up-and-down, here-today-and-gone-tomorrow, on-the-skids and quick-to-recover musicians. It came with the territory. It was part of the trade–a trade in which, whatever the catalyst (booze or drugs or the wrong kind of mate), nothing was less surprising than the sudden fall.
I’d also been raised, as a kid, on a steady diet of “downfall” classics–films such as Words and Music and Young Man with a Horn. In short, I am a sucker for self-destruction. I knew the price a fine musician could pay for providing others with incessant pleasure, not because I was a fine musician myself but because I had frequently been so provided. I knew those rare notes never came easy–that they were too often accompanied by self-neglect or even self-abuse. After all, I’d seen Kirk Douglas hit the skids as the young Bix Beiderbecke. I’d seen Mickey Rooney, portraying Larry Hart, go stumbling about in the rain. In such a world, little could make more sense than the swan song. the daily demise, of two more jazz greats. I decided to be on hand at Boryana’s to see it …
[And I did–and much more over the years! Thanks, again and again, Kalisa!]
November 15, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Michael Hemp
She was one of a kind and those of us lucky enough to have her in our lives will never forget the “Queen of Cannery Row”—and how much more than even that she really was. The Old Row is now officially over.
I look forward so seeing all of you, her friends, Wednesday night at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. For more info go to: http://www.CanneryRow.org