My friend, Eliot Asinof, dead at 88 years of age...

Today's New York Times had Eliot's obituary in it. This is sad news in Mudville indeed. He was a wonderful man, with a kind and grumpy heart, a real curmudgeon. He was a writer of some fame, having worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter in the 40s and 50s and then being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He made a great comeback, though, with his seminal work 'Eight Men Out', which was made into a film. He was a good man, an excellent neighbor, and a fixture in the Somewheresville scene. He wrangled with the best minds in the town over coffee and breakfast at first the Cinnamon Twist and then The Farmer's Wife. His mushroom hunting skills garnered shopping bags of morels and chanterelles, and he was known for his baked chicken with walnuts. The little town I live in has grown considerable smaller in the 24 hours since his departure from this plane of existence. As a writer he leaves behind a prolific testimony: 12 novels, countless screenplays, teleplays, and numerous cameo appearances in John Sayles' (with whom he shared a deep friendship) films.

Farewell Eliot...Be well, do good work, and take the rest of the day off...

Johnnyboy