Living with Legends

Hotel Chelsea Blog

recent posts

about

The Chelsea Mourns

The Chelsea mourns the passing of a long time resident and the opera world mourns the loss of a great librettist, Arnold Weinstein.  Playbill’s obituary, NYTime’s obituary.  If you would share your tribute to Arnold with others, it would be greatly appreciated.  You can either enter a comment below or e-mail chelblog@yahoo.com. 

From Granta — Arthur Miller recalls visiting with Arnold.
http://www.granta.com/extracts/1691
On a recent visit there to Arnold Weinstein with whom I have collaborated on a libretto for a new opera based on A View from the Bridge, with music by William Bolcom, I found myself sinking back, psychologically speaking, into my original warm feelings toward the hotel as of my arrival there over forty years ago. And as we discussed some business in the total chaos of his living room, which is not so much furnished as littered with collectors’ items suitable for a massive Salvation Army donation, the door to the corridor swung open and without a knock a powerful maid entered, her exuberant smile and glistening black skin all aglow with some sort of triumph. And raising up over her head four rolls of toilet paper, two spiked on the fingers of each hand, she called out at the top of her joyous contralto voice, ‘I didn’t forget you, Arnold!’ And he rose from his wobbly chair and gratefully accepted her gift. And so I instantly knew that clean facade or not, refurbished lobby notwithstanding, I was back in the Chelsea again.  Link to photo of Arnold, Arthur & William Bolcom

Teamwithaviewtitle

Interview with Arnold and William Bolcom

From Opera News, reviews of Arnold’s well known works:
The Wedding of the Year,
A View from the Bridge

May 2003, William talks about Arnold’s role.
Bolcom composed this extraordinary Medusa with his longtime collaborator, the writer Arnold Weinstein. Bolcom and Weinstein are as much a team as Bolcom and Morris (meaning Joan Morris, the composer’s singer wife, with whom he performs cabaret songs and the like). Weinstein came up with a brilliant libretto on the Medusa theme. As Bolcom says in his accompanying notes, “I have tried to sail my musical boat according to [Weinstein’s] laid-out course…

Personal recollections:
Bill Tchakirides was influenced by Arnold’s work.

Posted in

One response to “The Chelsea Mourns”

  1. former resident Avatar
    former resident

    As far as the Chelsea Hotel goes, Arnold was the sage godfather of the hotel and all its sweet little freaks and geniuses. Having been there a long time, he had seen every aspect of humanity in the raw. Little could surprise him, and though he had a bemused cynicism, he was never jaded and rarely judgmental of the people around him. (Political leaders were another matter.) As a result, his friends spanned generations and temperaments, from Arthur Miller to Dee Dee Ramone to 20-something artists just starting out. If he didn’t like someone, however, he could be very blunt. His was often the dissenting opinion about someone everyone else liked, and he always turned out to be right. He was very independent and wise in that regard.
    Arnold was that rare artist who did absolutely no self-promotion and avoided outside publicity too. Instead, he put that energy into his work and into his play. He always had time to play and had a great generosity of spirit, sense of mischief, and enjoyment of the world. He seemed to know everyone on 23rd street intimately, from Harry, Larry and Jerry at the Custom Art Laundry to Carlos, senior waiter at the 24 hour “Donuts” shop on the corner where we used to go for coffee sometimes. The last time I saw him, we went for fried shad roe at the Oyster Bar under Grand Central and he told me a story about spontaneously jumping a train one day to go see his friend William Eastman out west. Then he lamented that younger artists didn’t have that spirit, things had grown too business-like and people were too scheduled. I had just come from living with young artists who had that same spirit, and he was very interested in them and cheered that gypsies could still thrive in the 21st century — outside the Chelsea Hotel, which has always been a kind of wildlife refuge for them.
    He had two words taped to his computer, one an acronym of the other: Silent and Listen. He was a good listener, but thank God he only took his own advice about half the time, because he was a wonderful storyteller too. Two of his many stories can be found here.
    He brought so much buoyancy, wit and optimism to the dance. It’s impossible right now to imagine the Chelsea without him.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment