… sitting with my friend Allison last night, drinking margarita after margarita, huddled in a happening crowded bar in the West Village … but talking as privately as if we were alone. How does that happen?? It just does. The manager noticed it, came over and said, “I just want to say that I have noticed you two sitting here, talking … You two are so involved in one another, and it is so great to see you. Here are two spoons. The reason why you need the spoons will be forthcoming.” (Something like that … After all, I was on my 3rd margarita). 10 minutes later, a plate of gorgeous complementary sorbet was sent to our table. Merely in appreciation of our … of our what? Disinterest in being part of the “scene”? Our involvement in one another? I don’t know – but it was a lovely gesture.
Allison and I covered (in no particular order):
— her reading of Under the Banner of Heaven – which she has now leant to me. She feverishly told me about the book, and what she has learned about the Mormon Church
— our general admiration of Jon Krakauer’s writing
— which actors of today we think will last in the culture’s consciousness … in the same way that Bogart, Grant, Hepburn do … I actually said the word “zeitgeist” in all seriousness during this part of the conversation. I’m a jackass, but I mean well. And at least I used the word correctly.
— we discussed our mutual struggle, living as single people, in this concrete wilderness
— our upcoming trip to Ireland and how excited we are
— the DNC
— Book recommendations flew back and forth. We are VERY big on passing books to one another. She is responsible for my reading the fantastic biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, which I wrote about here. She is also responsible for my reading Savage Beauty, the wonderful biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Now – she has leant me Under the Banner of Heaven, as well as a biography of Teddy and FDR called The Roosevelts. I am going to lend her David McCullough’s phenomenal biography of John Adams, as well as the novel I just read, Winner of the National Book Award. We are huge readers, and love to share the wealth with one another.
— We discussed boyfriends. Of the far and recent past. We analyzed, parsed apart, sympathized, and continued to order more margaritas.
— we talked about movies out now that we can’t wait to see. Napoleon Dynamite, and others. I, in particular, am looking forward to seeing Vincent Gallo’s apocalyptic BOMB of a movie called Brown Bunny. I need to see just how bad it is.
— We discussed our mutual admiration for Angelina Jolie. I love that woman’s acting and am excited to see what she does next.
— We discussed Passion of the Christ – which I saw and she did not. We covered the general hotness of Jim Cavaziel or whatever the hell his name is.
I am sure there was more. We were there for hours. Then we strolled home to her place, through the humid night, the crowded streets …. At one point I said, “Wow. My legs feel funny. I am suddenly aware of my legs.” Margaritas, when artfully made and artfully drank, can conceal your obvious drunkenness. Perhaps it just brings out an overt loquaciousness … it’s not the same as doing tequila shots, which can have disastrous results.
We then lay in bed in her air-conditioned apartment (LUXURY) – and watched, for sheer amusement purposes, the tape of my appearance on a cable talk show, in 1994. With an awkward wall-eyed talk show host. It’s a bit beyond description … and makes you wince to see it. You wince for everyone involved. It’s like “Waiting for Guffman”. Only I’m involved in the embarrassing-ness. I was being interviewed because I was in Ithaca, doing a play … and this was their local show. Imagine “Wayne’s World”, only with wall-eyes. And I was being interviewed in tandem with my 20 year old hottie young boyfriend, who was also in the show … and who could barely conceal his contempt for the proceedings. It is howlingly funny and also unbelievably awful to watch the spectacle. Allison had been asking to see it, and so I obliged. The wall-eyed talk show host would ask a question, I would proceed to answer, trying to be gracious, and next to me is my squirming uncomfortable boyfriend … taking his glasses off, putting them back on, sprawled out in his chair like a latter-day John Garfield … making an inappropriate comment about how everyone should “see my knees” because I got bruised up during the show …
Allison and I lay in her bed, stunned in the horror of it. Laughing but also wincing in mortification.
My moment of infamy.
And we woke up this morning to rumbles of thunder and rain on the window. Nothing like a rainy morning in Greenwich Village. Truly. The trees are bursting, and green, dripping raindrops, you can smell the fresh-baked odors from bakeries, there are dog-walkers, little kids being rolled by in shrink-wrapped rain-proof strollers, the rain comes down, and New Yorkers go about their peaceful Sunday morning business.
“…which actors of today we think will last in the culture’s consciousness…”
Who’d you pick?
That “knees” comment in the old post made me snort the coffee.
I haven’t been visiting that often and, boy, have I been missing some great stuff here. I’m going to have to take a few hours and read it all.
Best to you, girl.
J.
Actors that will become part of cultural consciousness: John Cusack.
Knees story: Almost made me shoot pop out my nose.
Night out with pal: Sure must be fun to be in your social circle.
Emily – I can’t decide. I have to think more upon it.
Any thoughts?
I like the John Cusack suggestion …
Juliette – good to see you!
And I’m very glad that the “knees moment” has given some laughter. I still laugh about it!
I like Krakauer’s work a lot (I was lucky enough to find a couple of old Outside magazines at a yard sale for a nickel apiece with a couple of his articles in them this weekend).
For some reason, Under the Banner of Heaven didn’t do much for me. I learned a lot, too. But he didn’t seem to have the same passion in his writing for this one as he did Into the Wild or Into Thin Air.
harvey keitel.
de niro
A second Krakauer reference From Red in less than a week?! Why I can almost see Peter Horton summitting now…and it makes me a little woozy? Lack of oxyen…no wait…its the acting. If I lay here calmly it should pass. I agree about his books…”Under the banner of heaven” he seemed to have an aloofness to it. His other books had more of a “personal” investment in the story telling.
Well, I am already over 100 pages into Banner of Heaven – and I guess I don’t agree with the comment that there is an aloofness. There is a different style, obviously – because Into Thin Air he was the protagonist, it was biographical – This is historical, so it requires something different.
I guess my only proof of this is that I cannot put this freakin’ book down!!!
Nothing can compare to the great-ness of Into Thin Air, however.
Hi Sheila,
I think you should convert the tape of your talk-show appearance to mpeg and post it. I’m sure all of us your fans would love to see it. (I certainly would.)
Bryan, I would love to. Or – no, that’s a lie. I would NOT love to. It’s horrible. Allison can vouch for its jaw-dropping horrible-ness.
Additionally, hottie boyfriend has now gone on to some success … He’s rising up into the more rarified air of celebrity-dom, slowly but surely.
This tape could ruin him.
Hmmm … maybe I could sell it to a tabloid? Make some cash??
I think “Imagine ‘Wayne’s World,’ only with wall-eyes.” is quite possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. Just to be clear… are wall-eyes when they look in separate directions like Marty Feldman?
Curly:
Yes. Separate directions. Marty Feldman … HA. Yes.
I am here to say that video in question is one of the most hilariously horrendous “real life” moments ever to be caught on tape. The best part of it for me was that Sheila and her co-stars had no idea (no idea) how long the interview was going to go, so were most likely under the impression that it would be over in 10 minutes, 15 max. But the guy just keeps droning on in a mumbled vaguely creepy whisper….and much of what comes out of his mouth, rather than being questions for his guests, seems to be his own abstract reflections on the play, theater in general, their peformances. Every so often, he emerges from these barely audible (and self directed…I mean the guy doesn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular besides himself) soliloqys, to shoot a flimsy banal question at one of his captives (“So how do you like Ithica?”) Then he will take this long pause as though he’s getting ready to wrap things up (at which point the aforementioned actor on the rise shifts in his seat, puts on his sunglasses and appears ready to leave), only to launch again into another mumbled speech. The three actors all seem at first bemused, but by the end there is no doubt that they are experiencing something along the lines of chinese water torture. Anyway, thought some of you might appreciate my take on this video. Sheila you can always blur out star on the rise’s face.
Sheila,
I think the actors who will remain in our “culture’s consciousness” should be a thread all on its own. I’m still trying to think of who I’d pick. Actually, I don’t think actors remain in our culture as much as maybe Movie Stars do. A person can be both, and I’d argue that the ones who endure are exactly that.
Emily – I think you’re right, and I also think it might be a combination of actor and role. Like – without Stanley Kowalski to play, Brando might not have landed himself so firmly in the culture … it was the ROLE combined with his talent that did it …
I’m still thinking about who I would choose myself.
“…the rain comes down, and New Yorkers go about their peaceful Sunday morning business.”
You do realize, I suppose, that line would make one fine ending to a novel?