The Latest Buzz

Sometimes you want to travel because you have always wanted to see the Great Wall of China and you know it is once in a lifetime; sometimes you are sick of winter and you want to get warm; other times it is because of curiosity…and sometimes it is to see somebody..for a once in a lifetime party.

Maurice ‘Buzz’ Beaulieu was going to celebrate his 90th birthday in Norfolk, VA on May 8, 2011. As far as the family tree grows, we begin with the lovely Landry sisters: Gini, Janice and Linda. Their father, Charles, had two sisters. They grew up in Lowell, MA. The elder sister Janet found the love of her life in Lowell and that would be Buzz. He would become a career Naval officer, a pilot. And not just any ol’ pilot, he was a fighter pilot in WWII and the Korean War. Interestingly enough, he attended Lowell High School with Jack Kerouac. They both played football for LHS.

Their family, which eventually would include two sons and a daughter (Mike, Michele and Marc chronologically), would move 30 times across oceans and continents. His decorations included the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Aircraft carriers were his welcome mats and launching pads. His favorite was the USS Enterprise (“The Big E”):



My first encounter with the esteemed aviator was with his wife Janet at a lobster bake in New Hampshire celebrating our wedding:



Always a proper and respectful guest, he never once mentioned my ‘Mao’ hat with its red star and the ‘flower children’ abundantly present. In fact I would say he immediately was in the spirit and made sure he was going to enjoy his ‘lobstah’.

Over the years we developed a fine relationship. He and Janet had settled in Winter Park for his retirement, the same city as Gini’s parents. This allowed for the exchange of many visits, stories and the building of our own memories of Buzz.

Sadly, several years ago we lost Janet. and Buzz finally left his home in the Orlando area to live in the same community as his oldest son Mike. You might remember our visit there last year on our way to Miami Beach (“We’re Off” – December 30, 2009). Buzz was gracious enough to share his apartment with us for a couple of nights.

So the Landry contingent eagerly gathered to begin their voyage of homage. Parking was our first challenge at Logan Airport. This included commandeering and surviving an elevator:



After a brief stay in Philly to connect to Norfolk we gathered at Fellini’s courtesy of Mike Baloo Limousine servce. Twenty four celebrants gathered to ‘mangia a la italiana’.



Buzz is fourth from the right and busily engaged. However, though he had an ear for everyone who would sit next to him to share memories and receive accolades, he would inevitably search out the youngest and follow their antics:



Ava and Christa were more than glad to oblige in their mutual enjoyment of the party and being four years old.

The next day was the actual birthday. With an early start, decorating began at the activity room in the independent living community that is home for Buzz. Michele had filled a van for their drive from St Louis containing party materials and mementos lovingly prepared and researched.

The activity room quickly lived up to its name:



The honored guest arrived and the girls grabbed their uncle for pictures:



The theme was tropical and, yes, those are flamingoes on top of Janice’s head.

It is impossible to describe in detail the books thoroughly encompassing Buzz’ military career and the organization of the memorabilia pages prepared by many, many family members and friends. Here is the one from Gini:


Each person had taken the time to express why they thought this day and the guest of honor were worthy of their love, respect and admiration.

Though feeling very emotional themselves, Mike, Michele and Marc each read excerpts that they felt were of note. This included anecdotes from Buzz’ brother, advice for aging and George Carlin’s take on getting old. We enjoyed it all.

Four generations are always impressive especially when there is so much ‘beaming’:



Dutifully playing the honored guest, Commander Beaulieu played his part with ease. The formal act of honoring his attainment of nine decades was a ‘piece of cake’:



He thanked one and all with his love and emotion stirring the scene. Thank you sir!

Chicago Bound

Alright, clear your calendar, go to the bathroom, get some water and take a deep breath…

Greetings – let me introduce you to the ArtistFormerlyKnownAsSpeedyVonDLucci:



This man has recently earned his MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) from Columbia College of Chicago in the Interdisciplinary Arts Department. He has been the subject of the Chicago Journal, the school magazine…. security guard alerts…..academic probation….proud parents….gris gris magnet and all-round bon vivant.

The path has been anything but dull. Overlapping experiences with his parents involved high school acting awards, medal-winning track runs, travel and wayward experiments. College brought about geodesic domes, illegality, a fecundity of art, love, heartbreak and a self-defined major/degree.

He is a man in motion: traipsing and camping in the Grand Canyon, roaming the Appalachian Trail, living off the land in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and learning to deal with the urban dynamics of Chicago.

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Our most recent trip (Gini and I) was a drive to Chicago to be there for Chip’s presentation of his thesis along with several of his fellow degree candidates. It’s never quite that simple. By the time we actually left we had set up a night in Erie, PA at the Glass House Inn (recommended), a visit with our nephew Sam (another graduate this month of the Bachelor kind) at Oberlin College, the transference of title of our Toyota Camry with 250,00 miles that Chip had been driving but was now jettisoning as he prepared for his departure to LA, and a scheduled stop on the return to visit with Rick and Hanna. Gini would then fly from Syracuse to Miami to have her root canal finished because, even with the plane fare, it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than having it done by her regular dentist in Plymouth, NH!

Sam was very glad to see us, as we were to see him:



He gave us the quickie tour of the campus and the ritual eating of burgers at The Feve. Somehow he has to muster enough interest to finish his courses even though he has already procured a lucrative software engineering job in Boston. His father, Geoff, is amazed at his starting salary and wonders where he went wrong with his life – well, that’s another story.

Then… on to the Windy City. Boy is it flat out there. After a while life is just a stream of Americana and agrikharma. By the time we entered the city limits our eyes were victims of some kind of visual Doppler effect:



Eventually we were swallowed up by an exit on the Kennedy expressway and found our way to Chip’s apartment in Lincoln Park. We delivered the title of the Camry just in time for the arranged sale. One thousand dollars seemed like a deal since the engine light was on and his future home of California would treat it like 8oz of water on a domestic flight should he be so foolish as to arrive in it.

Dinner was at a fine Italian restaurant and we thoroughly enjoyed the company of his close friend Frank who was doing graduate work at the University of Chicago in urban environment education. Chris, of course, pontificated on many aspects of his own educator experience and his dream of a ‘puberty-ometer’ that would replace metal detectors in schools.

This was a fitting group to confer on Chip his present for his accomplishments. He had a knowing smile on his face as he unwrapped a gold track baton with the words ‘The Human Race” laser-etched on its surface. Long may he run (some of us need a break!).

The next day was movie day (Lincoln Lawyer – we liked it) and more friends o’Chip at the IO Theater where improv rules. The introductions included a couple of the performers. Dave Pasquesi and TJ Jagodowski were mind blowing in their 50 minute-made-up-on-the-spot skit. They are nationally known and Dave had agreed to be an outside evaluator for Chip’s thesis presentation. Very cool.

The theme of the day also included getting the gallery ready for the show. Chip had already shown us the book he had designed and published:



The pages were arranged to give the reader a feel for the image, feel and location for some of the more significant climbs in Chicago.



Yes, for those of you who may not be aware, Chip’s thesis is The Urban Quiet. It is his experience of confronting the metropolitan dynamo of Chicago head on. He would climb the facades of buildings and understructures of bridges (with the L train pounding overhead) and have a photographing team capture the experience. A head cam would bring some of the ascents visually closer, offering vicarious vertigo.

As he free-climbed he would produce globs of clay to impress upon the rugged hand-holding features of the building. Later he would cast them and produce concrete versions of these ‘holds’. In the gallery he built a faux façade and bridge arch to attach these holds in a sculptural climbing wall of these gotham golems.



Vinyl lettering indicated the source location.



One video screen was placed below the climbing wall to show footage of the obtaining of the impressions during the climbs. Another video was tucked back in the corner but placed in the ceiling of the space about a foot or two above your head with a sound track of Chip’s breathing that recalled the effort necessary for these feats. The Urban Guides of the Urban Quiet were on display on glass shelves opposite these walls.

“…The city has been a stressful loud place for my mind and I get overwhelmed with my resentments of the past and fears of the future, I’m never in the present. Challenging my body physically is immediate relief. I am documenting by photography and video, making a compilation of my failures and successes. Sharing this documentation is a way for me to share this experience to an audience. Also I am taking small impressions of some of the buildings I climb to create an urban climbing hold. This is similar to a climbing hold in an indoor wall but it takes the shape of the holds in the urban landscape; bricks, concrete, metal, etc. This is something to ‘hold’ onto from my experience…” (Artist currently known as Prince Von D’Lucci)

And he even did it under the careful guidance of his mother:



We hooked up with Bill and Janice the next day. Janice is Gini’s sister, Bill her loving and stalwart husband. They were able to take some time and travel out by car, staying with some friends in the burbs of Chicago for the festivities. Though both have been very supporting (along with Linda and Geoff and many other Von D’Luccis) Bill has been prominent with his presence, labor and communication. Chip has been quite fortunate with this.

The next day brought our scheduled, bought-and-paid-for tour of the architecture of Chicago along the Chicago river…in 40 degree dank, wet and gray conditions. However the group seems to have gotten on quite well:



And now I will over/underwhelm you with highlights of the tour (click on picture for better view):














Here is a perspective on Millenium Park:




Grant Park:




This massive display was the urban entity whose immenseness made monumental ‘noise’ to Chip. His response was to immerse and ascend, depend and conquer.

The evening of the show arrived. We entered the building one more time. This time there was a more formal tone:



We headed for a particular section first:


(minus the blue tape)

CBS 2 of Chicago will be interviewing him this Thursday at the gallery and then they will watch Chip climb a column from one of his photos (right middle):



May the universe continue to keep him safe.

So the night was successful. We had a wonderful dinner at Rhapsody and Gini managed to make it to Miami and Chris made it home.

If you have made it this far, you are a victim of Pride and Prejudice, forgive us: