Wonka vs. Wonka
I want to apologize for all the swearing I do in this. I am reading the Deadwood scripts and watching the shows again and again and of course that would be the part of the striking language of the show that I am running with. I could edit it out, but fuck no. I aint gonna.
I am in a writing mood, which is rare, so I am gonna give myself the benefit of the doubt and go with it. I saw Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and have some thoughts on it fer what that’s worth…
I would divide the film into two parts, before Charlie goes to the factory and then in the factory…
The before is just breathtaking and had me just enthralled by the wondrous beauty, and magic of filmmaking. What is possible to show, to create. It is why I always want my work to be made into film. A book cannot fucking compete with the wonder that is possible. I mean having an endless budget sure does help, but the immediacy of image… I just was reaching these points of euphoria watching the first part of this movie (more on euphoria later) that just doesn’t happen when I read. I mean, a sentence can me my cry within its perfection, but the being so taken over by image… or something outside myself…? Reading does not come a boar’s butt hair close. There is a scene where the delivery trucks are leaving to deliver the chocolate bars, I just sat in awe and my heart pounding at the exquisiteness of it…
The scenes with Charlie in his house, with his family… when he is opening his bar, and there is not ticket. I just was weeping, even though I know what will come… just the pathos of it. Oh it is great, twice, twice he opens bars, hoping against hope, coz, man ,this kid needs a break, his family needs a break and it just ain’t there… I just was in it… it is my kind of story ya know? It is so my kind’ve story.
This new one is just a very different animal. It is just its own thing. But I will succumb to the sin of comparing them… First off, Burton does mechanical like no one else, the machinery all just cleanly seamless… and that is part of the problem. In the first film, there is more time spent showing the magic of the candy, or the creation and not so much on the machinery, coz well, they aint had the special effects to make it look as impressive. But I think that is representative of what is important to Burton… the cold mechanics, and less of the warmth, pleasure in the creations of Wonka… it is a loss…
Ok, just some stuff…
I always felt that Wonka is presented in the first film… and even almost in the book… he has magic. He goes to magic lands… he is does the impossible, he is like a God right? And in this new film, they kinda hint at the idea that he knows the outcome already… that he knows what is to be, which kid will win…
Even in the intro… they kinda make it like Charlie is pre-ordained… that all his suffering is not in vain, he will… be saved. It is in the cards.
It is very Christ like to me… Wonka knows Charlie is his son, that’s why it works better in the first version of the film that there is no father present. Makes the need for a father more immediate and less creepy (more on that later) … In the first film, Wonka says to Charlie, after Charlie does not betray him by returning the gobstopper, I knew it was you, or something like that. Wonka had to test Charlie, but he knew it was him, Charlie had to suffer, had to sin, and be redeemed, he was not the betrayer sinner as his grandfather was urging him to be… to get revenge and sell to old Slugsworth. In the new one, Charlie just wins by default, just there it is, you won coz no one else is left. They took out his breaking the rules, where he and his grandfather drink the pop and fly. That is a big mistake, in my humble opine. It takes out the fuckin tension. First off, that part, shows in an unconscious way, a truth to kids… you are never fucking perfect. You sometimes break the rules, but it is who you are, if you are good in your being, purity of intent, that is what counts. Or as Nancy told me they say to the kids in school after they do something, well, fucked (not how she put it) it’s what you do after that counts. The other kids are rotten. Charlie gives in to temptation, he sins, he drinks the pop that makes you fly, and it almost costs him everything! But his soul is good, his intention is pure, and he is not a betrayer, and Wonka just needs Charlie to show that. To own who he is. And that allows him to win. In the new version, it is just, “Yes you won…” The end in the first film, where he wins, he is left, but but but he doesn’t… Oh the heartbreak, there is tension and rage! And, it harkens back the beginning when he is opening the bars and there is no chocolate. It is the idea that he just can’t fuckin win. He will never catch a break, fate will only tease him and his family. That is the belief a lot of folks have, that they can not win, ever. No breaks. So to trick that out is so taut with resonance for the audience. Also, more time is spent in the first one showing how fuckin awful this kids life is. Charlie so needs some hope. This one… well he has family and they are poor as fuck, but man, they seem to have more land then any other house around them, and it looks kinda snuggly. And they are happy enough with their cabbage soup. Even the menace of when Charlie finds the ticket and in the first film, that he might get it stolen from him… here not the same stress. And he leaves without getting his change, but then thinks of selling it… small thing.
Depp is great. I just love him… it is a very different animal again… so I feel weird comparing them, coz this film on its own is really just amazing and should stand on its own. So I am sinning, I am a sinner, forgive me, I do have purity of intent, like the first film version of Charlie Pail. J
Its like he is just a fucked up man/ child (Like Michael Jackson, and man, I know know there are gonna be SO many comparisons in review to Jackson!) or is he magic?
I really like the magic god like version of Wonka. That is what I wanted when I was a kid. The idea that is was not just random fate… luck. Wonka was there, Charlie would be saved, Wonka knew and was the invisible guiding hand.. that is just my thing.. what I wanted… again this is my personal fetish, desire, fantasy. Need for a net.
But they hint at that in this film… the new version, like someone comments how did the Oompa Loompas know the name of Augustus Gloop? Someone says, it’s as if they know what will be, and some other stuff that hints at preordained fate… but then they move away from that, and Willie is just a screwed up guy. They even show him in therapy with an Oompa Loompa as therapist. Then at the end, they make the tension, not the confrontation of Charlie having broken the rules, not being a potential betrayer, being sinful, but still being a true disciple, one that Wonka knew he would be… he says, something to that effect, knowing it was him…
In this new version, Wonka says you won, BUT Charlie has to give up his family and come live with him in Neverland, I mean Wonkaland. Oh the Jackson stuff is very bad timing for this film… and it is too bad for the film coz it mocks it, makes us less immediate to it.
And Charlie turns his back on Wonka, choosing family over Wonka and Wonka leaves, AFTER wrecking Charlie’s house…
And this pissed me off here… This made me mad. Coz ok, the Bucket family kinda cheerfully fix the roof, and the dad gets a job and they are better off then they were, they have LOVE and each other… and Wonks is sad coz he is alone, no family. Just an Oompa lumpa… that is not blood family so can never be real family. There is this whole thing bout Wonka’s father, a hilariously cast Christopher Lee playing an intimidating looming dentist. The thing is… that part so pissed me off, coz in this new version... once Wonka turns his back on Charlie, it is clear, this is not the god Wonka, it is the fucked up man/ child version that can not see past himself, so how can he have any overreaching concern for Charlie? Charlie is on his fucking own and always was… it was all luck not fate or magic or guidance.
Wonka is a damaged scientist… they all are, when a kid is in danger, they watch… they stare… and that is ok if you know that Wonka knows it will be ok, in someway you know he is God of that world and the threat of hell can be ok, but the kids’ souls are not lost yet, they will go to a purgatory, and maybe that experience will redeem them, maybe not… but they will be safe… they will be transformed from the experience but safe. But there is a way in this version that folks watch, no parents pass out like they do in the first version. It seems like they kinda wanna be rid of their brat kid in a way. And we feel that way too. And Wonka does that to Charlie. Fucks up his house and then leaves when Charlie won’t come be his Daddy. That is what Wonka wants, needs, a father, coz his was awful. And the whole dental thing is amazing and a wonderful metaphor, again, making this film it’s own thing. But for me, the lack of there being any talk about ‘well I fucked up your house and your life’ is painful. Wonka knows Charlie and his family are starving… he is born and lives in the stable… you wont be my house bitch, fuck you then. Sorry, these are my issues, I know. It is not fair.
I just have known folks, like that. They have so much and you, uh me, I had so little and I would think they could see my obvious needs, and I wanted to believe they could see my worth, that maybe they saw something in me so they would and easily could, lift me out. And they’d hint that they saw something… special… or they’d say it. And they’d promise assistance…and that is the worst part of any of it… the promise of something better, only to have it withdrawn in such a cruel way… they make the deal some impossibility, something you can not do.. for Charlie its give up your family… oh you wont do my demand, then fuck you, never mind, goodbye, go back to your shit pen. And you realize, they saw nothing of you. They are not a virtuous soul,which, to me, is someone that gives if they are able when they recognize the necessity for it and puts no stipulation on it. Think Bono… or Dave Eggers. These are virtuous souls.
To the other type that dangles impossible stipulations, you were only a trick… and that is what hurts about this new film.. Wonka sees nothing of Charlie. It is about Wonka. And Wonka’s faults and damage. If you accept that, fine. Even in the end. Charlie helps Willie’s redemption. It is all about Wonka. Wonka hooks up with his real father – he is examined by his father, he is seen by his father. And that makes Wonka start to allow, to see, the importance of family. So he will allow Charlie to keep his family. But he almost walked away. He did, he only came back out of his own selfishness. He did not think, oh I fucked up Charlie’s house, he and his family are starving.
Charlie also did nothing to prove his virtuousness, well he is very loyal to his family. But he didn’t do anything to prove his worthiness. He is poor… so what? He loves his family and is not a brat… that aint enough… in the first one it is so fucking cool that Charlie, having every fuckin right to want to fuck Wonka, even his grandfather is saying… fuck him fuck him.. Wonka fucked with you, you fuck him back.. betray him.. Who Charlie is, in his soul… he accepts responsibility for fucking up… he did fuck up, he did break the rules. He lost. And he is the most mature of them all. He proves he is the one who can take on the factory. Charlie, in the new one, only proves he loves his family. And also, if you think about it, he might not have the best business smarts to run the factory. Coz if I was so fucking poor and my family starving and I knew the deal was have it all, but no family.. fine… I would say…sure… and then when I was in, I would take care of fucking family. You do what you have to do to survive, to help those around you survive, and the more starving you are… the more willing you are. He can say no to Wonka. Charlie makes a big show of not giving up his family… what he really is saying is he won’t sacrifice himself for his family. He will plunge them into worse poverty, coz now their house ruined, as Wonka crashed into it with the glass elevator. Maybe coz Charlie is not starving emotionally, he is so very loved, so he does not need to do “by any means necessary” for the protection of his family.
That Wonka can go through their cupboards in the Bucket house and see they are bare, see the poverty and then turn his back when Charlie won’t go with him reeks of such cruelty. It is like the Johns that pick up poor kids, make them have sex without condoms. You are so poor, or starved for drugs, you do it my way or you die, either way.. it is my way. It is just so deviant to the spirit… How can you still care about Wonka? You just gotta get he is not god like. He is a cruel coz he is a sick self absorbed kinda dangerous man. And that is more realistic to life and the folks you run across. The way artists are. Mad self absorbed geniuses. I know I have that in me. I do not mean the genius part. I mean the self absorption. I sure have the madness. I just like the magic part too… I mourn that.
Charlie has only proved he will not betray his family. Charlie does betray them, in my mind, coz he will not do what he can to protect them. If you look at it in another light… Ok, bear with me and let’s transpose this into the sex world.. Charlie wants to stay a kid… he says no to the trick… No, I won’t go live with Wonka without his family, he says basically, fuck yerself. He won’t go be the breadwinner. You won’t be my sugardaddy, I got a daddy already. I am starving with him, but he gives me love, and you are offering… ? Not love… but something more then cabbage soup. Hey folks, guess what I would choose… ?
In a third world country, this kid would be shot. I mean how many families sell their kids off… Ok, so Charlie ain’t for sale. His family will suffer, they stick together dammit. So he says no. Go away you wacky man. And thus Wonka doesn’t get the boy, and it makes him so sad. And thus Wonka realizes he doesn’t have family. Charlie did give him something, throughout the film, Charlie asks Wonka questions about who Wonka is, his past, it gives him pause to reflect. Where the other kids really want Wonka to acknowledge them, Charlie wants to know about Wonka and that is an admirably mature quality. The mean spirited Oompa Loompas ain’t doing it for him any more in the face of the noble love Charlie is capable of and displays. So Wonka grows to accept Charlie’s terms and the whole family lives with him. They stay quaint and cramped together in their shit shack that is moved into the factory. And Wonka gets the kid, until the mother decides to sue for damages… wait, Charlie gets the factory, that is what Jackson shoulda done…give the fuckin boy Neverland, move the whole family inside and then all would be just dandy for him… oh, that aint fair coz I don’t think Wonka is a pedophile. I think there are the simulators to Jackson, that they are both kinda very much not aware that they are now adults. In interviews, I think it was Depp who said, Wonka doesn’t like kids, while Jackson… ya know.. but I think beyond the physical similarities, what folks are reacting to is the emotional, the adult male wanting a child to live with them, be a family, forsaking their birth family, feeding the adult male in some way. Wonka is asexual and Jackson seems to think he is 10 and can still play with boys the way kids do with each other, WHEN THEY ARE KIDS. Anyways, it is unfortunate that the experience of seeing this film cannot be unmediated on already, I mean seen freshly, not seen through the lens of the Jackson case or anything other then what it is. We have to frame it with other references.
Just like how folks have the need to see Asia’s portrayal of Sarah in comparison to Courtney Love. Yes, there are similarities, and I think we can acknowledge that and then move on. We don’t have to be beholden to resemblances. That is more spooky to me, folks’ lack of imagination. They just need to jump so fast to say oh, I know what this is…! Ok, you say that and then you can move on. This new Wonka can wear gloves and be creepy and want a boy to live with him and NOT be Michael Jackson. What we need to look at is how we are so fast to customize and categorize stuff, instead of letting the parallels exist and finding threads of truth that inform our thoughts on the subject. Coz there are many ways to experience it, and it is what we bring to it. I mean, I am very aware that I have my stuff, that coz of my past I am more apt to bring to the table… but to dismiss Depp’s Wonka as just Jackson is a real disservice. And it misses the point. It is the reality of our culture; we can not have an authentic experience.
Anyways… I miss the old Wonka being more magical, mysterious, and miraculous. The old Wonks was disturbed, but he could have compassion when he wanted, he could love. If you were deserving of it, if your soul was worthy. You could still sin, you just had to be responsible about it and have purity of intent. You would not betray, you gave back the gobstopper! The focus in this new film is on the detailed skeletal mechanisms of the factory, even how Wonka’s father outfitted his son’s face with a massive imposing mechanical apparatus, substituting for emotional love and care, or that is how this father displays it. I love how the father says to the young Wonka, if he leaves (the kid) when he comes back, he (the dad) will be gone. And when young Wonka comes back, the house is surreally gone. That got me. The feeling of there is no home, once you leave to go be yourself, separate from what parents want or command and you are left abandoned. I think a lot of kids have that feeling, that, even without the house and all disappearing, I mean that is the Wizard of Oz, there is no place like home and you cant go home again… for me it resonates. That I want home and it is not there…
Charlie is betrayed by life… he does not have what others have and he does not want to ache so for it coz he know his family aches for him. And he wants to make it better. He wants to be the savior of the family, of the house. He wants to win to save them as much as he wants it for himself. That is what is there in the beginning of both films. And made me weep. And he is a good kid, as they tell us in case we don’t know… the grandparents have to say… yup, he is… He ain’t saying, “Fuck you, where is my Sony Playstation?! You lazy fucks!” He eats his cabbage soup and makes toothpaste caps into Legoland. He is sweet and we care… he is a marked contrast to the other kids. The best update being how Violet and her mom are updated into being “winners”. That just is fucking brilliant, and the catlike competition between her and Veruka is tricked out a tad more. But the new Veruka does not come close to touching the shoes of the old one. Oh and I love how the kids look like Keane big eyed paintings. And they look like this artist I am into, Loretta Lux, wonder if Burton saw her work. The film looks great, and I do love Depp in it, like I said. He is so brilliant, he can do anything. The other thing is…this Wonka does not want to hear the truth. He gets mad at the kid, Mike TeeVee that figures out the system and always is talking logic, the science of it, taking away the magic… and Wonka wont answer him, just says, you are mumbling, I cant understand you. Which is the same. Wonka makes his own rules. Ok, so it is not the rules of science, it is magical, but it is a childlike self-serving magic. It is not all knowing. He will forsake Charlie. This film is the story of Wonka, the other version is Charlie.
I always wanted to believe that Wonka was there, somehow steering it so Charlie would get the ticket. He knew Charlie was noble, deserving. If Wonka could make the magic he did, why couldn’t he know about Charlie and make sure Charlie got that ticket somehow. Just like god sending Christ, having it all be predestined. Slugworth, just like Satan, works for Wonka. Wonka places the apple of temptation before them. He dangles it, he has it in his candy garden. He still had to test Charlie… just like the in Greek myths, if you’re not a god, too, well, then, you gotta get tested and prove yourself, even the chosen folks… ya gotta suffer some. But Wonka knows it would be alright. Charlie won’t plummet, crash and burn, coz Wonka is 99.9% sure of who Charlie is…but Charlie has to give him, come up with that .1% himself.
And this new Charlie… well, he is more Bush like. He is says, I love my family and poverty is fine as long as I have love. So I don’t have to do terrible things. And low and behold… the dad gets a job… and they are OK.
But what if he hadn’t… what if Charlie said no to Wonka and dad didn’t get a job. And they lose their house… how long before mom has to become a whore, or Charlie gets put in foster care and grandparents get put in some care facility to die? And there is no family. Coz love is NOT enough. Charlie, in the real world, would know what all the kids that went to the Jackson factory knew. Loving your family is not enough. Sometimes the noblest thing you can give is yourself away to a man that wants you for reasons other than you hope for.
I don’t think this version will have the resonance the older version does… it is pretty spectacular but eventually the special effects and the funny use of modern usage “that’s weird!” will be dated. And what would give it staying power is the universal truth in it. The way Star Wars taps into those myths…
This film doesn’t do it. It lies to us and kids, in their hearts they know it. The other one, the old version, you can sit there and know, yeah, I would sneak shit, too, I would take the opportunity to fly, too. And then it shows yeah, you can be a shit, but still be alright, you can still be good, and save your family and yourself. All Charlie does is be impressed by the magic and wonder. When someone is talking logic or facts he is saying, golly gee whiz! And he does that all the way through. By choosing his family, he is choosing magical thinking. That love is enough magically. And kids know it ain’t. That families stick together whatever… we know they don’t. Poverty destroys families. Especially in the face of Bush storming in, wrecking our house, seeing there is NOTHING, and saying give yourself over to me, leave your family go to my war, you wont? fuck you then… go die… and he leaves…
Charlie’s fault in this film is he is too good. No kid can relate.
They took the sin outta him, sanitized him. And Wonka is too immoral in a way. Uncaring. He commits the sin of being all too human.
And Satan sells more then God, and that is coz he was an angel first. Burton forgot that, and that sin is unforgivable and will doom this film to not stand the test of time.
Just my take…
Back to euphoria. Billy Corgan was in town for the last two nights and that was great. I got to hang with him some and I saw the shows. It is amazing how, when your with him, he is Billy, but when he is onstage, he is so god like, I mean he can cause those feeling that charismatic preachers can, mass euphoria. I was always fascinated by those tent revivals I went to as a kid. The power of it, the elation. The shared experience of exurbia. That is what I miss in writing, the isolation. That is what I love about creating music, when I watch my band, there are these transcendental moments that can happen, that others feel too, that are like the beginning of the new Wonka film, so overwhelming and consuming and in your face. Billy is in total command and he knows it and knows how to craft it. There is no false move. And you can give yourself over, coz he wont drop you, he is heartfelt there, he is in it, while being in command, he is giving himself over at the same time. Just amazing to me. I felt these waves of elation over take me again and again and I just felt so happy. It was great to see him, we went around SF for a bit. Folks don’t recognize him, not much. I like that, like being anonymous too. It is better to be able to walk around and take stuff in and just be. He doesn’t put on Billy Corgan when he walks around. He is just Billy. We watched a Pentecostal street show, and folks were swooning. And I told him, thass yer magic, you reaching folks to God. That place in the brain that is euphoria that holds the God experience, that is not an isolated experience, I mean it is one that is a feeling of joining with others and it is one that does not usually come from reading a book. I just dig it, when it is buoyant.The chemical thing of it, what makes it, dunno, just know when I am in the face of it and that I dig it. It feels like something bigger then me, my worries, it feels transcendent and fills me with a senseless hope and love, and I just dig it. My friends from the band Crimea played (http://www.thecrimea.net/ ) played too and that was so kwool that they played with Billy! I met them in NY when we were there for the Harold’s End reading and then in London, Davey, the very swell singer, read at the reading we did at Foyles and he was very amazing. He can go to those places, like this last song they do was very channeling of that sublime energy. They were reminding me of folks that get the spirit, that are movin’ within it, with no control but just the spirit. The crowd felt it too. It was kwool, they dedicated a song to me, I think it was “it’s hard to be weird.”
I actually don’t find it hard, it comes naturally to me. J Anyways, their record is very groovy, and I recommend it!
I am very into the new White Stripes record. It just has such atmosphere, I feel transported and that is what I look for. Man I love that band. And the Foo Fighters, the “mellow” side. I cannot stop listening to. Dave is such a brilliant songwriter. His melodies are gorgeous and I can get to these points of euphoria whilst listening. I love this line from the song Razor, “Wake up it´s time We need to find a better place to hide…” I start to see a film… stories just start running for me. I love the Foo Fighters dangit!
Again, folks, now is the time to get into Deadwood. The first season is out on DVD. I been reading the scripts and man it so exciting to just get myself in the world. The rhythm, flow of the language, I just get so excited.
Then the second season will be out, and y’all will be ready for the third season and I am getting ready for it too in every way… ya’ll will see. I hope. Milch has faith in me, which is more then I have in me, so I am scared.
It is weird how you can desire something so strongly and it’s like they say, “God moves mountains but bring a shovel!!” like you have to do the work, the footwork, but it is possible to get into the Wonka factory. I never expected anyone to give me a golden ticket, but I think I had a belief of my right to search for one, to pursue one. IF I had something to offer… I felt the yearning, urge, to go to Deadwood… that is contained stories that just resonated within me. I often have that euphoric feeling when I am watching the show, so much so that I squeal out loud, I bounce on my seat. I am so absorbed and taken over. I don’t remember a TV show ever doing that for me. That’s coz it is a living novel. It is beyond TV. And it deals with themes that are mythical. And I went there, with no expectations, only to go where I felt I was meant to go. And the doors opened where I didn’t know there were any. I didn’t go with any idea of being a part of Deadwood… I just follow that spirit that recognizes what makes me feel alive. I am the worst of the Wonka kids too. I want Wonka too see me. Like my seeking Billy. I wanted to give him my books and when he did, and he said to me after reading my books, “We stand toe to toe as artists.” I felt validated. Well more then that, I felt permission as an artist and as a being. I seek it out from those that move me, not coz of them being famous, but coz of what their souls are. When I saw Cherry Hood’s work, she was not known here at all. And all I knew is she made my soul sing, there was truth of God in her work and I hoped she would find that in mine. That we could maybe combine to do something transcendent together. That had the power to affect and move folks. And it is the hope of any human to be seen to be acknowledged. And it is what we are willing to do to get that… be on reality shows, etc… and that we have to give ourselves over. Reveal who we are completely. No mystery or magic. And I very much revolt against that. I will be who and what I want. Or you want to make, I am game… Just as long as I can go to those places in my work… I can’t approach it in my writing, but that’s why I wanna move into film and Deadwood… I can be not so alone. I am dying being so alone it feels. I am not one that can stand in front, coz I have too much shame of who I am. I am not like Billy, but I crave that occurrence of sharing that beatific experience while listening, or watching and knowing I was a part of it. I ain’t wanting to not be Christ, but part of the body? Maybe a hangnail? Not the end of Jesus, but the swell stuff, the healing teachings. I wanna be in on that joyous bliss of creating, And I am getting really close. I really think it all comes from not wanting to be alone with anguish. That euphoria, is the antithesis, the antidote to pain. That’s why folks, when at those healings, can have hands laid on them and do what they could not before, a body racked with arthritis being able to bend effortlessly.
Speaking of that, I spoke to Lance Armstrong on Friday. It was after his day, and he just was so fucking present and I just was very floored. I have a quote of his I read a lot. Think I posted before. “I’m not happy if I’m not doing some physical suffering, like going out on a bike ride or running. First, it’s good for you. No. 2 it sort of clears my mind on a daily basis. And it’s a job. My job is to suffer. I make the suffering in the training hard so that the races are not full of suffering.” Writing is one of my sufferings, but it makes the other part of my living possible. It is my emotional suffering. And I have to do the physical too. I have to ride coz then I am too much in my head and that is dangerous as well. I get very spooky.
Thinking of Armstrong often gets me up a hill when I am on my bike and I laughed at myself telling him how I pretend to be him, like his incredible rotation speed, I pretend that is me, and I pedal faster. I was talking to Sheryl Crow, who is just so very wondrous in her being who she is. We talked about purity of intent. She comes from that place… I have so much admiration for her. They invited me to ride with them… that is uh, yeah, I get to embarrass myself, but I think I would take them up on that ride.
They are eating a lot of carbs so in my show of support for the them, I am too, even though I aint in the Tour de France. I am goin to Euro Disney tho. That is gonna be a trip…
The Heart is out in the UK now and it is very exciting to me. I have been reading so much about the bombings there, and it amazes me how Americans have this feeling, well long as it aint us… Europe is used to that… it just is very eerie to me, to feel this sense of being in London. My film is there, and there is press about me out there and there is this gaping wound there… I feel like a bad
Wonka child too. I want to be seen there. And I have reverence for the sufferings of others going on. And I know we can do something. We can take our purity of intents, and say this cannot go on… we can write sing vote protest dance bike our ways out…
I know there is a way for us to transcend… Should I add a golly gee? Or a Deadwood COCKSUCKAHHHHHHHHHHH golly gee wiz. I love them both.
Jt
PS Oct 6th in NYC. For Da Capo release. And Thistle LLC (my very swell band) will be playing once a week at the Red Devil Lounge (love that name!) in SF. Please come and say howdy!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!
THISTLE LLC's COMING TO THE RED DEVIL LOUNGE!!
Sept. 13
xoxo (ex badkissers)
Thistle LLC
Space Mountain
Sept 24th
Mark Curry
King Straggler
Thistle LLC
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I am in a writing mood, which is rare, so I am gonna give myself the benefit of the doubt and go with it. I saw Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and have some thoughts on it fer what that’s worth…
I would divide the film into two parts, before Charlie goes to the factory and then in the factory…
The before is just breathtaking and had me just enthralled by the wondrous beauty, and magic of filmmaking. What is possible to show, to create. It is why I always want my work to be made into film. A book cannot fucking compete with the wonder that is possible. I mean having an endless budget sure does help, but the immediacy of image… I just was reaching these points of euphoria watching the first part of this movie (more on euphoria later) that just doesn’t happen when I read. I mean, a sentence can me my cry within its perfection, but the being so taken over by image… or something outside myself…? Reading does not come a boar’s butt hair close. There is a scene where the delivery trucks are leaving to deliver the chocolate bars, I just sat in awe and my heart pounding at the exquisiteness of it…
The scenes with Charlie in his house, with his family… when he is opening his bar, and there is not ticket. I just was weeping, even though I know what will come… just the pathos of it. Oh it is great, twice, twice he opens bars, hoping against hope, coz, man ,this kid needs a break, his family needs a break and it just ain’t there… I just was in it… it is my kind of story ya know? It is so my kind’ve story.
This new one is just a very different animal. It is just its own thing. But I will succumb to the sin of comparing them… First off, Burton does mechanical like no one else, the machinery all just cleanly seamless… and that is part of the problem. In the first film, there is more time spent showing the magic of the candy, or the creation and not so much on the machinery, coz well, they aint had the special effects to make it look as impressive. But I think that is representative of what is important to Burton… the cold mechanics, and less of the warmth, pleasure in the creations of Wonka… it is a loss…
Ok, just some stuff…
I always felt that Wonka is presented in the first film… and even almost in the book… he has magic. He goes to magic lands… he is does the impossible, he is like a God right? And in this new film, they kinda hint at the idea that he knows the outcome already… that he knows what is to be, which kid will win…
Even in the intro… they kinda make it like Charlie is pre-ordained… that all his suffering is not in vain, he will… be saved. It is in the cards.
It is very Christ like to me… Wonka knows Charlie is his son, that’s why it works better in the first version of the film that there is no father present. Makes the need for a father more immediate and less creepy (more on that later) … In the first film, Wonka says to Charlie, after Charlie does not betray him by returning the gobstopper, I knew it was you, or something like that. Wonka had to test Charlie, but he knew it was him, Charlie had to suffer, had to sin, and be redeemed, he was not the betrayer sinner as his grandfather was urging him to be… to get revenge and sell to old Slugsworth. In the new one, Charlie just wins by default, just there it is, you won coz no one else is left. They took out his breaking the rules, where he and his grandfather drink the pop and fly. That is a big mistake, in my humble opine. It takes out the fuckin tension. First off, that part, shows in an unconscious way, a truth to kids… you are never fucking perfect. You sometimes break the rules, but it is who you are, if you are good in your being, purity of intent, that is what counts. Or as Nancy told me they say to the kids in school after they do something, well, fucked (not how she put it) it’s what you do after that counts. The other kids are rotten. Charlie gives in to temptation, he sins, he drinks the pop that makes you fly, and it almost costs him everything! But his soul is good, his intention is pure, and he is not a betrayer, and Wonka just needs Charlie to show that. To own who he is. And that allows him to win. In the new version, it is just, “Yes you won…” The end in the first film, where he wins, he is left, but but but he doesn’t… Oh the heartbreak, there is tension and rage! And, it harkens back the beginning when he is opening the bars and there is no chocolate. It is the idea that he just can’t fuckin win. He will never catch a break, fate will only tease him and his family. That is the belief a lot of folks have, that they can not win, ever. No breaks. So to trick that out is so taut with resonance for the audience. Also, more time is spent in the first one showing how fuckin awful this kids life is. Charlie so needs some hope. This one… well he has family and they are poor as fuck, but man, they seem to have more land then any other house around them, and it looks kinda snuggly. And they are happy enough with their cabbage soup. Even the menace of when Charlie finds the ticket and in the first film, that he might get it stolen from him… here not the same stress. And he leaves without getting his change, but then thinks of selling it… small thing.
Depp is great. I just love him… it is a very different animal again… so I feel weird comparing them, coz this film on its own is really just amazing and should stand on its own. So I am sinning, I am a sinner, forgive me, I do have purity of intent, like the first film version of Charlie Pail. J
Its like he is just a fucked up man/ child (Like Michael Jackson, and man, I know know there are gonna be SO many comparisons in review to Jackson!) or is he magic?
I really like the magic god like version of Wonka. That is what I wanted when I was a kid. The idea that is was not just random fate… luck. Wonka was there, Charlie would be saved, Wonka knew and was the invisible guiding hand.. that is just my thing.. what I wanted… again this is my personal fetish, desire, fantasy. Need for a net.
But they hint at that in this film… the new version, like someone comments how did the Oompa Loompas know the name of Augustus Gloop? Someone says, it’s as if they know what will be, and some other stuff that hints at preordained fate… but then they move away from that, and Willie is just a screwed up guy. They even show him in therapy with an Oompa Loompa as therapist. Then at the end, they make the tension, not the confrontation of Charlie having broken the rules, not being a potential betrayer, being sinful, but still being a true disciple, one that Wonka knew he would be… he says, something to that effect, knowing it was him…
In this new version, Wonka says you won, BUT Charlie has to give up his family and come live with him in Neverland, I mean Wonkaland. Oh the Jackson stuff is very bad timing for this film… and it is too bad for the film coz it mocks it, makes us less immediate to it.
And Charlie turns his back on Wonka, choosing family over Wonka and Wonka leaves, AFTER wrecking Charlie’s house…
And this pissed me off here… This made me mad. Coz ok, the Bucket family kinda cheerfully fix the roof, and the dad gets a job and they are better off then they were, they have LOVE and each other… and Wonks is sad coz he is alone, no family. Just an Oompa lumpa… that is not blood family so can never be real family. There is this whole thing bout Wonka’s father, a hilariously cast Christopher Lee playing an intimidating looming dentist. The thing is… that part so pissed me off, coz in this new version... once Wonka turns his back on Charlie, it is clear, this is not the god Wonka, it is the fucked up man/ child version that can not see past himself, so how can he have any overreaching concern for Charlie? Charlie is on his fucking own and always was… it was all luck not fate or magic or guidance.
Wonka is a damaged scientist… they all are, when a kid is in danger, they watch… they stare… and that is ok if you know that Wonka knows it will be ok, in someway you know he is God of that world and the threat of hell can be ok, but the kids’ souls are not lost yet, they will go to a purgatory, and maybe that experience will redeem them, maybe not… but they will be safe… they will be transformed from the experience but safe. But there is a way in this version that folks watch, no parents pass out like they do in the first version. It seems like they kinda wanna be rid of their brat kid in a way. And we feel that way too. And Wonka does that to Charlie. Fucks up his house and then leaves when Charlie won’t come be his Daddy. That is what Wonka wants, needs, a father, coz his was awful. And the whole dental thing is amazing and a wonderful metaphor, again, making this film it’s own thing. But for me, the lack of there being any talk about ‘well I fucked up your house and your life’ is painful. Wonka knows Charlie and his family are starving… he is born and lives in the stable… you wont be my house bitch, fuck you then. Sorry, these are my issues, I know. It is not fair.
I just have known folks, like that. They have so much and you, uh me, I had so little and I would think they could see my obvious needs, and I wanted to believe they could see my worth, that maybe they saw something in me so they would and easily could, lift me out. And they’d hint that they saw something… special… or they’d say it. And they’d promise assistance…and that is the worst part of any of it… the promise of something better, only to have it withdrawn in such a cruel way… they make the deal some impossibility, something you can not do.. for Charlie its give up your family… oh you wont do my demand, then fuck you, never mind, goodbye, go back to your shit pen. And you realize, they saw nothing of you. They are not a virtuous soul,which, to me, is someone that gives if they are able when they recognize the necessity for it and puts no stipulation on it. Think Bono… or Dave Eggers. These are virtuous souls.
To the other type that dangles impossible stipulations, you were only a trick… and that is what hurts about this new film.. Wonka sees nothing of Charlie. It is about Wonka. And Wonka’s faults and damage. If you accept that, fine. Even in the end. Charlie helps Willie’s redemption. It is all about Wonka. Wonka hooks up with his real father – he is examined by his father, he is seen by his father. And that makes Wonka start to allow, to see, the importance of family. So he will allow Charlie to keep his family. But he almost walked away. He did, he only came back out of his own selfishness. He did not think, oh I fucked up Charlie’s house, he and his family are starving.
Charlie also did nothing to prove his virtuousness, well he is very loyal to his family. But he didn’t do anything to prove his worthiness. He is poor… so what? He loves his family and is not a brat… that aint enough… in the first one it is so fucking cool that Charlie, having every fuckin right to want to fuck Wonka, even his grandfather is saying… fuck him fuck him.. Wonka fucked with you, you fuck him back.. betray him.. Who Charlie is, in his soul… he accepts responsibility for fucking up… he did fuck up, he did break the rules. He lost. And he is the most mature of them all. He proves he is the one who can take on the factory. Charlie, in the new one, only proves he loves his family. And also, if you think about it, he might not have the best business smarts to run the factory. Coz if I was so fucking poor and my family starving and I knew the deal was have it all, but no family.. fine… I would say…sure… and then when I was in, I would take care of fucking family. You do what you have to do to survive, to help those around you survive, and the more starving you are… the more willing you are. He can say no to Wonka. Charlie makes a big show of not giving up his family… what he really is saying is he won’t sacrifice himself for his family. He will plunge them into worse poverty, coz now their house ruined, as Wonka crashed into it with the glass elevator. Maybe coz Charlie is not starving emotionally, he is so very loved, so he does not need to do “by any means necessary” for the protection of his family.
That Wonka can go through their cupboards in the Bucket house and see they are bare, see the poverty and then turn his back when Charlie won’t go with him reeks of such cruelty. It is like the Johns that pick up poor kids, make them have sex without condoms. You are so poor, or starved for drugs, you do it my way or you die, either way.. it is my way. It is just so deviant to the spirit… How can you still care about Wonka? You just gotta get he is not god like. He is a cruel coz he is a sick self absorbed kinda dangerous man. And that is more realistic to life and the folks you run across. The way artists are. Mad self absorbed geniuses. I know I have that in me. I do not mean the genius part. I mean the self absorption. I sure have the madness. I just like the magic part too… I mourn that.
Charlie has only proved he will not betray his family. Charlie does betray them, in my mind, coz he will not do what he can to protect them. If you look at it in another light… Ok, bear with me and let’s transpose this into the sex world.. Charlie wants to stay a kid… he says no to the trick… No, I won’t go live with Wonka without his family, he says basically, fuck yerself. He won’t go be the breadwinner. You won’t be my sugardaddy, I got a daddy already. I am starving with him, but he gives me love, and you are offering… ? Not love… but something more then cabbage soup. Hey folks, guess what I would choose… ?
In a third world country, this kid would be shot. I mean how many families sell their kids off… Ok, so Charlie ain’t for sale. His family will suffer, they stick together dammit. So he says no. Go away you wacky man. And thus Wonka doesn’t get the boy, and it makes him so sad. And thus Wonka realizes he doesn’t have family. Charlie did give him something, throughout the film, Charlie asks Wonka questions about who Wonka is, his past, it gives him pause to reflect. Where the other kids really want Wonka to acknowledge them, Charlie wants to know about Wonka and that is an admirably mature quality. The mean spirited Oompa Loompas ain’t doing it for him any more in the face of the noble love Charlie is capable of and displays. So Wonka grows to accept Charlie’s terms and the whole family lives with him. They stay quaint and cramped together in their shit shack that is moved into the factory. And Wonka gets the kid, until the mother decides to sue for damages… wait, Charlie gets the factory, that is what Jackson shoulda done…give the fuckin boy Neverland, move the whole family inside and then all would be just dandy for him… oh, that aint fair coz I don’t think Wonka is a pedophile. I think there are the simulators to Jackson, that they are both kinda very much not aware that they are now adults. In interviews, I think it was Depp who said, Wonka doesn’t like kids, while Jackson… ya know.. but I think beyond the physical similarities, what folks are reacting to is the emotional, the adult male wanting a child to live with them, be a family, forsaking their birth family, feeding the adult male in some way. Wonka is asexual and Jackson seems to think he is 10 and can still play with boys the way kids do with each other, WHEN THEY ARE KIDS. Anyways, it is unfortunate that the experience of seeing this film cannot be unmediated on already, I mean seen freshly, not seen through the lens of the Jackson case or anything other then what it is. We have to frame it with other references.
Just like how folks have the need to see Asia’s portrayal of Sarah in comparison to Courtney Love. Yes, there are similarities, and I think we can acknowledge that and then move on. We don’t have to be beholden to resemblances. That is more spooky to me, folks’ lack of imagination. They just need to jump so fast to say oh, I know what this is…! Ok, you say that and then you can move on. This new Wonka can wear gloves and be creepy and want a boy to live with him and NOT be Michael Jackson. What we need to look at is how we are so fast to customize and categorize stuff, instead of letting the parallels exist and finding threads of truth that inform our thoughts on the subject. Coz there are many ways to experience it, and it is what we bring to it. I mean, I am very aware that I have my stuff, that coz of my past I am more apt to bring to the table… but to dismiss Depp’s Wonka as just Jackson is a real disservice. And it misses the point. It is the reality of our culture; we can not have an authentic experience.
Anyways… I miss the old Wonka being more magical, mysterious, and miraculous. The old Wonks was disturbed, but he could have compassion when he wanted, he could love. If you were deserving of it, if your soul was worthy. You could still sin, you just had to be responsible about it and have purity of intent. You would not betray, you gave back the gobstopper! The focus in this new film is on the detailed skeletal mechanisms of the factory, even how Wonka’s father outfitted his son’s face with a massive imposing mechanical apparatus, substituting for emotional love and care, or that is how this father displays it. I love how the father says to the young Wonka, if he leaves (the kid) when he comes back, he (the dad) will be gone. And when young Wonka comes back, the house is surreally gone. That got me. The feeling of there is no home, once you leave to go be yourself, separate from what parents want or command and you are left abandoned. I think a lot of kids have that feeling, that, even without the house and all disappearing, I mean that is the Wizard of Oz, there is no place like home and you cant go home again… for me it resonates. That I want home and it is not there…
Charlie is betrayed by life… he does not have what others have and he does not want to ache so for it coz he know his family aches for him. And he wants to make it better. He wants to be the savior of the family, of the house. He wants to win to save them as much as he wants it for himself. That is what is there in the beginning of both films. And made me weep. And he is a good kid, as they tell us in case we don’t know… the grandparents have to say… yup, he is… He ain’t saying, “Fuck you, where is my Sony Playstation?! You lazy fucks!” He eats his cabbage soup and makes toothpaste caps into Legoland. He is sweet and we care… he is a marked contrast to the other kids. The best update being how Violet and her mom are updated into being “winners”. That just is fucking brilliant, and the catlike competition between her and Veruka is tricked out a tad more. But the new Veruka does not come close to touching the shoes of the old one. Oh and I love how the kids look like Keane big eyed paintings. And they look like this artist I am into, Loretta Lux, wonder if Burton saw her work. The film looks great, and I do love Depp in it, like I said. He is so brilliant, he can do anything. The other thing is…this Wonka does not want to hear the truth. He gets mad at the kid, Mike TeeVee that figures out the system and always is talking logic, the science of it, taking away the magic… and Wonka wont answer him, just says, you are mumbling, I cant understand you. Which is the same. Wonka makes his own rules. Ok, so it is not the rules of science, it is magical, but it is a childlike self-serving magic. It is not all knowing. He will forsake Charlie. This film is the story of Wonka, the other version is Charlie.
I always wanted to believe that Wonka was there, somehow steering it so Charlie would get the ticket. He knew Charlie was noble, deserving. If Wonka could make the magic he did, why couldn’t he know about Charlie and make sure Charlie got that ticket somehow. Just like god sending Christ, having it all be predestined. Slugworth, just like Satan, works for Wonka. Wonka places the apple of temptation before them. He dangles it, he has it in his candy garden. He still had to test Charlie… just like the in Greek myths, if you’re not a god, too, well, then, you gotta get tested and prove yourself, even the chosen folks… ya gotta suffer some. But Wonka knows it would be alright. Charlie won’t plummet, crash and burn, coz Wonka is 99.9% sure of who Charlie is…but Charlie has to give him, come up with that .1% himself.
And this new Charlie… well, he is more Bush like. He is says, I love my family and poverty is fine as long as I have love. So I don’t have to do terrible things. And low and behold… the dad gets a job… and they are OK.
But what if he hadn’t… what if Charlie said no to Wonka and dad didn’t get a job. And they lose their house… how long before mom has to become a whore, or Charlie gets put in foster care and grandparents get put in some care facility to die? And there is no family. Coz love is NOT enough. Charlie, in the real world, would know what all the kids that went to the Jackson factory knew. Loving your family is not enough. Sometimes the noblest thing you can give is yourself away to a man that wants you for reasons other than you hope for.
I don’t think this version will have the resonance the older version does… it is pretty spectacular but eventually the special effects and the funny use of modern usage “that’s weird!” will be dated. And what would give it staying power is the universal truth in it. The way Star Wars taps into those myths…
This film doesn’t do it. It lies to us and kids, in their hearts they know it. The other one, the old version, you can sit there and know, yeah, I would sneak shit, too, I would take the opportunity to fly, too. And then it shows yeah, you can be a shit, but still be alright, you can still be good, and save your family and yourself. All Charlie does is be impressed by the magic and wonder. When someone is talking logic or facts he is saying, golly gee whiz! And he does that all the way through. By choosing his family, he is choosing magical thinking. That love is enough magically. And kids know it ain’t. That families stick together whatever… we know they don’t. Poverty destroys families. Especially in the face of Bush storming in, wrecking our house, seeing there is NOTHING, and saying give yourself over to me, leave your family go to my war, you wont? fuck you then… go die… and he leaves…
Charlie’s fault in this film is he is too good. No kid can relate.
They took the sin outta him, sanitized him. And Wonka is too immoral in a way. Uncaring. He commits the sin of being all too human.
And Satan sells more then God, and that is coz he was an angel first. Burton forgot that, and that sin is unforgivable and will doom this film to not stand the test of time.
Just my take…
Back to euphoria. Billy Corgan was in town for the last two nights and that was great. I got to hang with him some and I saw the shows. It is amazing how, when your with him, he is Billy, but when he is onstage, he is so god like, I mean he can cause those feeling that charismatic preachers can, mass euphoria. I was always fascinated by those tent revivals I went to as a kid. The power of it, the elation. The shared experience of exurbia. That is what I miss in writing, the isolation. That is what I love about creating music, when I watch my band, there are these transcendental moments that can happen, that others feel too, that are like the beginning of the new Wonka film, so overwhelming and consuming and in your face. Billy is in total command and he knows it and knows how to craft it. There is no false move. And you can give yourself over, coz he wont drop you, he is heartfelt there, he is in it, while being in command, he is giving himself over at the same time. Just amazing to me. I felt these waves of elation over take me again and again and I just felt so happy. It was great to see him, we went around SF for a bit. Folks don’t recognize him, not much. I like that, like being anonymous too. It is better to be able to walk around and take stuff in and just be. He doesn’t put on Billy Corgan when he walks around. He is just Billy. We watched a Pentecostal street show, and folks were swooning. And I told him, thass yer magic, you reaching folks to God. That place in the brain that is euphoria that holds the God experience, that is not an isolated experience, I mean it is one that is a feeling of joining with others and it is one that does not usually come from reading a book. I just dig it, when it is buoyant.The chemical thing of it, what makes it, dunno, just know when I am in the face of it and that I dig it. It feels like something bigger then me, my worries, it feels transcendent and fills me with a senseless hope and love, and I just dig it. My friends from the band Crimea played (http://www.thecrimea.net/ ) played too and that was so kwool that they played with Billy! I met them in NY when we were there for the Harold’s End reading and then in London, Davey, the very swell singer, read at the reading we did at Foyles and he was very amazing. He can go to those places, like this last song they do was very channeling of that sublime energy. They were reminding me of folks that get the spirit, that are movin’ within it, with no control but just the spirit. The crowd felt it too. It was kwool, they dedicated a song to me, I think it was “it’s hard to be weird.”
I actually don’t find it hard, it comes naturally to me. J Anyways, their record is very groovy, and I recommend it!
I am very into the new White Stripes record. It just has such atmosphere, I feel transported and that is what I look for. Man I love that band. And the Foo Fighters, the “mellow” side. I cannot stop listening to. Dave is such a brilliant songwriter. His melodies are gorgeous and I can get to these points of euphoria whilst listening. I love this line from the song Razor, “Wake up it´s time We need to find a better place to hide…” I start to see a film… stories just start running for me. I love the Foo Fighters dangit!
Again, folks, now is the time to get into Deadwood. The first season is out on DVD. I been reading the scripts and man it so exciting to just get myself in the world. The rhythm, flow of the language, I just get so excited.
Then the second season will be out, and y’all will be ready for the third season and I am getting ready for it too in every way… ya’ll will see. I hope. Milch has faith in me, which is more then I have in me, so I am scared.
It is weird how you can desire something so strongly and it’s like they say, “God moves mountains but bring a shovel!!” like you have to do the work, the footwork, but it is possible to get into the Wonka factory. I never expected anyone to give me a golden ticket, but I think I had a belief of my right to search for one, to pursue one. IF I had something to offer… I felt the yearning, urge, to go to Deadwood… that is contained stories that just resonated within me. I often have that euphoric feeling when I am watching the show, so much so that I squeal out loud, I bounce on my seat. I am so absorbed and taken over. I don’t remember a TV show ever doing that for me. That’s coz it is a living novel. It is beyond TV. And it deals with themes that are mythical. And I went there, with no expectations, only to go where I felt I was meant to go. And the doors opened where I didn’t know there were any. I didn’t go with any idea of being a part of Deadwood… I just follow that spirit that recognizes what makes me feel alive. I am the worst of the Wonka kids too. I want Wonka too see me. Like my seeking Billy. I wanted to give him my books and when he did, and he said to me after reading my books, “We stand toe to toe as artists.” I felt validated. Well more then that, I felt permission as an artist and as a being. I seek it out from those that move me, not coz of them being famous, but coz of what their souls are. When I saw Cherry Hood’s work, she was not known here at all. And all I knew is she made my soul sing, there was truth of God in her work and I hoped she would find that in mine. That we could maybe combine to do something transcendent together. That had the power to affect and move folks. And it is the hope of any human to be seen to be acknowledged. And it is what we are willing to do to get that… be on reality shows, etc… and that we have to give ourselves over. Reveal who we are completely. No mystery or magic. And I very much revolt against that. I will be who and what I want. Or you want to make, I am game… Just as long as I can go to those places in my work… I can’t approach it in my writing, but that’s why I wanna move into film and Deadwood… I can be not so alone. I am dying being so alone it feels. I am not one that can stand in front, coz I have too much shame of who I am. I am not like Billy, but I crave that occurrence of sharing that beatific experience while listening, or watching and knowing I was a part of it. I ain’t wanting to not be Christ, but part of the body? Maybe a hangnail? Not the end of Jesus, but the swell stuff, the healing teachings. I wanna be in on that joyous bliss of creating, And I am getting really close. I really think it all comes from not wanting to be alone with anguish. That euphoria, is the antithesis, the antidote to pain. That’s why folks, when at those healings, can have hands laid on them and do what they could not before, a body racked with arthritis being able to bend effortlessly.
Speaking of that, I spoke to Lance Armstrong on Friday. It was after his day, and he just was so fucking present and I just was very floored. I have a quote of his I read a lot. Think I posted before. “I’m not happy if I’m not doing some physical suffering, like going out on a bike ride or running. First, it’s good for you. No. 2 it sort of clears my mind on a daily basis. And it’s a job. My job is to suffer. I make the suffering in the training hard so that the races are not full of suffering.” Writing is one of my sufferings, but it makes the other part of my living possible. It is my emotional suffering. And I have to do the physical too. I have to ride coz then I am too much in my head and that is dangerous as well. I get very spooky.
Thinking of Armstrong often gets me up a hill when I am on my bike and I laughed at myself telling him how I pretend to be him, like his incredible rotation speed, I pretend that is me, and I pedal faster. I was talking to Sheryl Crow, who is just so very wondrous in her being who she is. We talked about purity of intent. She comes from that place… I have so much admiration for her. They invited me to ride with them… that is uh, yeah, I get to embarrass myself, but I think I would take them up on that ride.
They are eating a lot of carbs so in my show of support for the them, I am too, even though I aint in the Tour de France. I am goin to Euro Disney tho. That is gonna be a trip…
The Heart is out in the UK now and it is very exciting to me. I have been reading so much about the bombings there, and it amazes me how Americans have this feeling, well long as it aint us… Europe is used to that… it just is very eerie to me, to feel this sense of being in London. My film is there, and there is press about me out there and there is this gaping wound there… I feel like a bad
Wonka child too. I want to be seen there. And I have reverence for the sufferings of others going on. And I know we can do something. We can take our purity of intents, and say this cannot go on… we can write sing vote protest dance bike our ways out…
I know there is a way for us to transcend… Should I add a golly gee? Or a Deadwood COCKSUCKAHHHHHHHHHHH golly gee wiz. I love them both.
Jt
PS Oct 6th in NYC. For Da Capo release. And Thistle LLC (my very swell band) will be playing once a week at the Red Devil Lounge (love that name!) in SF. Please come and say howdy!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!
THISTLE LLC's COMING TO THE RED DEVIL LOUNGE!!
Sept. 13
xoxo (ex badkissers)
Thistle LLC
Space Mountain
Sept 24th
Mark Curry
King Straggler
Thistle LLC
http://reddevillounge.com/generalinfo.htm
ADDRESS: 1695 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
General line: (415) 921-1695
PARKING: There are numerous garages open within a two block radius of the club. Street parking is available, but not easy to find.
WHO WE ARE: The Red Devil Lounge is operated by musicians and music lovers who strive to provide a creative, fun and eclectic atmostphere to enjoy live music.
HOURS OF OPERATION: Each event begins at a different time. The start times range from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Feel free to call us or check the calendar to verify times. We generally close at 2:00am each night we are open.
AGE RESTRICTIONS: The Red Devil Lounge is 21 and up only. Valid ID must be provided at the door for entry
TICKETING: Tickets for all Red Devil Lounge public events are available at ticketweb.com or on the night of the show at the box office. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis - there is no reserved seating. Ticket prices vary for each event. We do strive to keep the door fee moderate, but it alllows us the opportunity to pay the great bands we have performing.
DRESS CODE: Dress codes are ridiculous -- you can dress how you'd like when you come to the Red Devil.
posted by JT LeRoy at 1:27 PM
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