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<quote>
I USED TO SPEND A GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME IN ENRICO'S SIDEWALK CAFÉ ON BROADWAY IN SAN FRANCISCO. ENRICO BANDUCCI WAS THE OWNER. I FIRST MET HIM IN THE 50'S WHEN I WORKED AT A NIGHTCLUB CALLED "FACKS" AND HE OWNED "the hungry i", A POPULAR NIGHTCLUB IN THE NORTH BEACH NEIGHBORHOOD. IN 1968 I WAS PARTNERS IN A 600 SEAT THEATER RESTAURANT ON BROADWAY, A BLOCK AWAY FROM ENRICO'S. ONE DAY I WALKED IN, AND ENRICO WAS SITTING AT HIS USUAL TABLE BY THE DOOR WITH A GUEST. I SAID HELLO WARMLY TO ENRICO AND POLITELY TO HIS GUEST, THEN QUICKLY TURNED BACK TO ENRICO TO SPEAK WITH HIM. BUT ENRICO STOPPED ME, ASKING IF I KNEW THE GUY HE WAS SITTING WITH WHOM HE CALLED "WERNER". "DO YOU KNOW WERNER?" HE ASKED. I SAID NO. SO ENRICO INTRODUCED US AND ASKED ME TO JOIN THEM. WE SAT AND TALKED FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR. I IMMEDIATELY NOTICED SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT ABOUT WERNER. FOR STARTERS, HE DIDN'T HAVE A STORY. ALMOST EVERYONE HAS A STORY. THEIR STORY WILL GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT INTO HOW THEY RELATE TO LIFE. WERNER NOT ONLY DIDN'T HAVE A STORY: HE LOOKED YOU IN THE EYE. HE PAID ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING YOU SAID. HE WAS INTERESTED RATHER THAN INTERESTING. HE WAS CURIOUS. HE COMMUNICATED DIRECTLY AND CLEARLY. I THOUGHT TO MYSELF THIS IS SOMEONE TO TAKE NOTE OF, THE KIND OF PERSON IF I SAW HIM AGAIN I WOULD BE SURE TO APPROACH. OH, AND HE WAS PRESENT. I COULD SEE AND FEEL IT WAS HIS INTENTION TO CONNECT. HE WASN'T THERE TO IDLE CHATTER. THIS WAS SOMEONE I COULD RELATE TO. SO THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED. THAT WAS HOW I MET HIM: I WALKED INTO ENRICO'S ... AND THERE HE WAS - JUST SITTING THERE. LATER I WOULD BECOME HIS AIDE (DE-CAMP). IT WAS JUST A NATURAL EVOLUTION OF OUR EXPANDING RELATIONSHIP. IN RETROSPECT MY THOUGHT IS HE NEEDED AND WANTED SOMEONE AROUND WHO WASN'T A DISTRACTION, AND I CAN MAKE MY PRESENCE KNOWN, AND I KNOW WHEN TO "DISAPPEAR". <unquote> |
If you know the book I'm talking about, you'll have noticed the quality of the paper it's printed on, and the color and heft of its cover on which an orchid is boldly embossed (in Chinese art the Orchid symbolizes Love, Beauty, Elegance, Refinement, many descendants, and the perfect human being). Those are Jack's ideas. If you've received a handwritten letter or card from Werner, you've noticed the quality, color, and heft of the paper and its envelope is just extraordinary. Those are Jack's ideas too. He has an uncanny, remarkable eye for paper (yes, paper), the impression it makes on people, and the experience of Werner it conveys. As a result Werner asked that anything printed by est, both the wording and the paper it was printed on, be vetted first by Jack. I met Werner about ten years after Jack did. Everyone meeting Werner has a unique experience of him and the impact he invariably has in their life. So its appropriate that the circumstances in which I met Werner were unlike Jack's (how could they not be?). But what was the same (maybe it's true to say it's the same for anyone meeting him) is the experience of the je ne sais quoi he has. Whatever it is, I wanted to be around it. Whatever he has, I wanted it. |
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