AtDTDA (12) an anti-wallflower device 348

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Here we are on Bleeker Street. Echos on echos on echos. I'm listening 
to "Family Tree", the first official issue of Nick Drake's bedroom tapes, 
here's "If You Leave Me" by Dave van Ronk [who crashed on Judy 
Foster's couch during the halcyon days of the big folk scare] and do 
you know the way to blue? Can't help but think of Richard Farina, 
Dave van Ronk, early Dylan. . . . 

Greenwich Village at the turn of the century is painted rather broadly 
here, after the fashion of a 60's reproduction of an Art Nouveau poster 
using day-glow pigments. "Uptown Slummers" heading for Maria's on 
MacDougal:

           Historical/Biographical Note:

           The Pleiades Club emerged in 1896 from the 
           gatherings of some members of the Greenwich 
           Village artistic community in the small Italian 
           restaurant of Maria del Prato on MacDougal Street. . . .

http://tinyurl.com/2jsc8l

Which goes on into exclusively Pynchonian realms. . . .

                [   That's right, he wrote the book for us,           ]
                [   the trainspotters, wing-nuts and nut-jobs       ] 
                [   who must pursue each thread, in the vain     ]
                [  hope that by unraveling the tapestry we will   ] 
                [   make the nightmare go away (though there  ] 
                [   it is, hung on the western wall, night after      ]
                [   sleepless night. . . .), he wrote this book        ]
                [   with a damn near explicit instructions for       ] 
                [   us to traverse the web.                                  ]

     Howard Seiger Neiman (1868-1947) was a patent attorney, 
     editor and publisher of Textile Colorist magazine (1918-1944). 
     Born in Norristown, PA, he received a B. S. degree from 
     Lehigh University in 1888 and entered the dyestuff and 
     chemical industries. Neiman had studied at New York Law 
     School, set up offices as a patent and trademark attorney, 
     and became a leading legal adviser for the cosmetic industry. 
     He served as chemical expert for Leopold Cassella & Co., 
     H. A. Metz & Co. and other concerns.

     Throughout his life, Howard Neiman belonged to numerous 
     clubs and associations. He was a member of the American 
     Chemical Society since 1893. A charter member of the 
     American Institute of Chemists, he was named its honorary 
     secretary in 1946, after having served as its secretary for 
     twenty years. He was a member of the Salesman's Association 
     of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, 
     the Chemists Club, Theta Delta Chi, Old Colony and the 
     Manhasset Bay Yacht Club. He also was president of the 
     Municipal Opera Association and a Mason Knight Templar 
     and Shriner.

     The Pleiades club was one of Neiman's long-time      
     commitments. He was a member of the Board of Governors 
     throughout the Club's history, served as its Secretary in 
     1905-1908 and again in 1928-1933, and was elected 
     President of the Club three times.

                "Do you know where we're going?"

Well, we're going to R. Wilshire Vibe's digs, apparently smothered 
in Beaux-Arts detailing:

http://tinyurl.com/2umbg9

http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/art/art05/0805feat6a.jpg

     The Victorian period was greatly related to the technological 
     advances of the Industrial Revolution, including the Gothic 
     Revival use of board-n-batten siding, fret-sawed "gingerbread" 
     and the balloon frame made possible by powered sawmills, 
     as well as the multicolored paint schemes made possible by 
     paint development. I divide Victorian styles into pre-Ruskin 
     (Italianate, Norman/Victorian Romanesque, and French 
     Second-Empire) and post-Ruskin influence (Queen Anne 
     and Richardson Romanesque). The development of Victorian 
     row houses, Beaux Arts, Art Deco and 20th century skyscrapers 
     can be shown as natural reflections of available technology.

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/article.php?article=1090

The fiendishly clever anti-wallflower device happens to be a:

     . . . .sort of circular couch in wine-colored plush skirted 
     with gold tasseling and provided with satin cushions in 
     matching shades, accommodating eight to sixteen 
     non-dancers. . . .

With R. Wilshire's egregious art collection staining the outer walls of the
dance pavilion, those sitting out dances become particularly uncomfortable. 
Two things come to mind:

My "Wilshire" is Wilshire Blvd. in L.A. near/in Hollywood.
"Our Wilshire" is probably a reference to:

     Wilshire Boulevard was named by H. Gaylord Wilshire, 
     a real estate developer from Ohio who also owned a 
     lucrative gold mine in Aspendell, near Bishop, California. 
     An historic apartment building, the Gaylord, across from 
     the site of the Ambassador Hotel carries his middle name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilshire_Boulevard

The other is that some sort of physics metaphor has to be contained in this
"Anti-Wallflower Device", what with forces in the dead center pushing at all
this potential motion, and forces from the far edges forcing the dancers back 
to the middle and preventing anything/anyone from sticking to the walls.

The omnipresence of Palm trees suggests L.A./Hollywood, the long delicious
list of the the habitues of this establishment with its general accounting of 
the local atmosphere is a variety of cinematic dream and the ticker-tape 
machines in the bathroom bring us back to the bad ship Anubis.