Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 13:01:54 -0500
To:Andy Aaron aaronhub@aol.comSubject: Jules Backus - Sept 3, 1944 - Nov 21,1996
Ann Arlen arlenacw@amanda.dorsai.org
john and bobbie jdouglas@together.net
liz Bogner Elizabeth_Bogner@harcourtbrace.com
Eric Breitbart Ericb550@aol.com
brian drolet@mail.voyagerco.com
Bobby Buechler 71726.360@compuserve.com
che ivoire@wanadoo.fr
melanie falk mfalk@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Max Frazee maxcat@inch.com
ginnie newsom vnewsom@aol.com
Jackie Ochs jkld1006@aol.com
Lynn Phillips 72212.240@compuServe.com
RozRozNews@aol.com
Emily Prager eprager803@aol.com
he'd get there like this.
Please add to, and circulate reminiscences of Jules...
Once, back in '77 in L.A. he came up with the idea for Assuage Parlours:
Hey, Listeners and Listenettes, he said, in his T.V. pitchman's voice,
Come on in and get Assuaged today! --LP----------------------------------------
I'm feeling horrible about Jules. Today, I thought of how happy he always was to see me. He always had a big long hug and kiss. After we hung out in Paris the kiss changed to one on each cheek. He loved going to the 5 Spice Resturant in Burlington. We would have vodka to start , he would then order something very hot & spicy. Jerry , the owner would always bring us a homemade liquor that he made with tangerines and some type of alcohol. When I first met Jules I didn't quite get him, I remember when he would get his sloppy drunk. I got used to him and he grew on me more & more. An an and when he would sometimes st start to st stuttor. One Xmas in Berleley, Sierra & I were with Bobby, Gay & Jules about 5 in the afternoon. Jules start drinking vodka. Jules got Bobby nervous because he thought Jules would drink all the vodka. Gay watching the boys drink & wanting her share started drinking. Jules was drunk, he was trying to arrange the lights and I think he went home to pass out before we ate. Jules was generous . In Paris, I spent a day with him and Djamila shooting grafitti and stencil art, we has a great couscous, he always paid . One evening he invited Claire, Gay, me, Chris, Mariah, Djamila, and a few others to have dinner at the Blue Train at the RR station in Paris. It was where royalty ate with gold and murals. A cup of coffee cost almost 10 bucks. The bill was about $1500.00. Jules loved to come up to Vermont. once I asked him to bring me coffee from NY and he would brought me 2 bags. The last time Sierra was in NYC and needed a place to stay. Jules offered his loft to her. He always made arrangements for her to get keys. Sierra , Rain, & I stayed there one Thanksgiving. We went with Jules and Mary to Ruth & Michaels for dinner. It was so wonderful. My god, the NY times food editor, Vogue Mag food editor, director of Chinese collection at Met. Museum. Michael played the harmonica. We had a great time. Sierra trying to convince the vogue editor to push hemp seed ice cream. Coffee Club.........every morning when we stayed at Jules in NYC we would eagerly await Pierce to arrive to have coffee together. Jules always putting a touch of sugar in the coffee pot . We would sit around smoke and drink coffee. Jules never seemed to care about possessing things. I haven't been able to stop thinking about him so I wrote down some of my thoughts for you my friends to share. love roz
I'm sorry. It's all part of the plan. Whenever I hear that someone sweet has passed, I wonder why all the shits are still alive. Life is a mystery. My condolences. Love,Gary
I knew him for less than 2 years, but the news of his death hurt more than any I can remember in a very long time. He was the gentlest, sweetest man I've met.
Brian Drolet
it seems not so long ago that i met jules one evening during those years of too much of everything. and not enough, at benvenue. but it wasn't until quite recently... oh, thanksgiving a coupla years ago... up here in vermont, that he really came into focus.... his wonderful enthusiasm, and raw kindness, like the fragile openess of the side of his neck. sometimes covered with a scarf of some sort. in the dirt, his bare feet following the rototiller.... and then the possibilities of our actually working on something together. look at all the work he had done... the grafitti from the streets of paris. we would find some way for the skeleton (from a print he had given to me, to ride its bicycle through those streets (i have a video tape that he shot still sitting on a shelf, that would be the environment / background for the animation). i recall once when i was working down in nyc, and we were having a cup of coffee while looking at some stuff i was working on, when a guy, who had to sign off on an opening i was doing, called from mid-town traffic on his cell phone saying we had to have the animation in his office immediately.... Jules decided he could shoot it right off my screen with his ever handy Hi8. and zap, a messenger took it right out the door.... just like that.... jules was right there..... and the circle was just beginning to grow.... i certainly hope that it will remain unbroken.... with love and strength to all those who feel his rare spirit... and to Mary, especially... J>
Jules will always occupy a special place in my heart because he took the last photo I have of my daughter Lela and me before she was killed. She'd come to visit me in Paris (May '95) and it so happened that Jules (and Mary and Gay and Roz and lots of others) was there so a few of us went out to dinner at La Barcane, a good restaurant near the Place des Vosges--Jules, Mary, Lela, me, and Rick Prelinger. Lela was so happy. We had three bottles of wine and everyone was in good form. I had a small camera that we passed around. It's a hard picture for me to look at. There's also one of Jules and Lela. I'll have to find it....... eb
I didn't know Jules way back when, I met him in Paris in the Spring, at Claire's house, what could be nicer. We had tons of people ion common and Jules became my buddy. He asked just the right questions and encouraged me to follow my instinct, at a bus stop in Paris.. I did. He wanted to come back to France and trael in the country. I was looking forward to seeing him here and roaming with him a bit in the south of France. I'll always think of him when I have a pastis, and I'll drink one to him tonight. After a short time I have lovely memories of a kind man. I smile when I think of Jules. Rest peacefully, dude. Dozie
jules, the big hugs and smilie greetings will be missed. a most communal spirit. your kind heart will be missed. and the art. seeing your art before going to europe made france seem a little more familiar. i found myself stopping on the streets to admire the images. a big squeeze!-love rain
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