Page 46 - The Myth and the Moment

Afternoon

like, my great-great-grandfather was an animist. His son became a
Christian or else. So what should I do: worship the river gods? Carve
a totem for my father’s grave? Sit on a bus bench waiting for some
sweet chariot to carry me home? Nah, give me a break, man. This
country really screws up your head. Nation of Islam!”
“Okay, okay. So you didn’t go down the usual paths. What
happened to your acting career? Hollywood has certainly opened up
since the Sixties.”
“Hasn’t opened up to anyone with an opinion.”
“So you do have principles. Won’t do just anything for a buck.”
“Brilliant analysis, Evangelino. You’re lucky I’m doing you a favor.
This isn’t my only gig; I’ve got my fingers in a lot of pies.”
“Still working in the theater?”
“Naw. No money there. I was road manager for the Burning
Sensations from `68 to `75—you remember them?”
“Uh, no. Guess I wasn’t listening to pop music in the Seventies.”
“You didn’t miss much, man. I wouldn’t have done it if the four of
them weren’t my younger sisters. I don’t know if we broke even, but
we really broke it up. But what about you, Nate? You look too funky
for an over-educated white man in this city; how did you wind up
down here?”
“Possibly the same dynamite combination of obstreperousness and
talent that enabled you to purchase this luxury automobile. When I
started out, I wanted to put a message into experimental theatre, like
Brecht or even Ionesco. That was okay as long as I was willing to
work for nothing and the people kept coming to the performances. I
was writing other stuff, too; poetry, essays, reviews. Sounds like the
classic egghead author, right? Kolpak was around when I went
through a kind of crisis, but he probably doesn’t know it. I did a play
for his theater one year. He kept making me change it. Then the
actors complained because their parts were like birds without
feathers. So I had to change it even further. The public loved it, the
critics loved it, Phil loved it, and I hated it. Allison was in the cast,
and it really got her a lot of attention. So I had to repeat. And
couldn’t. I did stay with politics for a while, though. Like your
project. I also worked with the Dead Poets Alliance.”
“Say what? I missed that; my eyes were on the road, for a change.”

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