Back for a minute, Folks.
Home for the holidays with no real plans and no family around. Perfect. It’s a little quiet but it’s a good time to reflect and get grounded and hopefully not sink into a self-hole with a maudlin pond at the bottom.
Please be careful, People. Have a good holiday and new year. Don’t die in a stupid way. Be nice to people. Don’t engage in emotional or physical violence. Be of service. Do the empathy thing.
I don’t really get all worked up about the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays issue. If someone says ‘Merry Christmas’ to me I smile and look at them and shout, ‘I AM A FUCKING JEW YOU INSENSITVE FUCK!’ Which is really the politest way to handle that situation. If you were wondering.
I did some serious on-set time in Atlanta on the Aretha Franklin bio pic ‘Respect.’ A few 12-hour-plus days but it got fun. Now I’m home through the new year and then back for a few more scenes.
I’m glad to be home. It feels like I haven’t really spent much time here lately. The last time I was here was only for a week or so and then I had to put LaFonda down and leave two days later. Maybe that helped my grief a bit but I was little concerned about how Monkey was handling it. For some reason I didn’t think it would affect Buster that much because he just liked to beat up on the old lady. Buster is a little fucker.
I don’t really have the holiday spirit but I like the pace of the peace that comes over the towns when everything stops moving for a few days.
I did have a moving experience on the set of the movie. The last meal at catering in the dining hall was sort of a Christmas party. A few local singers were brought in to sing Christmas carols. It’s rare that a star of a movie hangs with the crew for a meal but this crew had been working together for a while and it was a special meal and Jennifer Hudson came in to hang with everyone. I don’t really know her or her work but I know she is a great singer. Of course, the people singing wanted her to come up and sing but she wasn’t into it.
Then I watched her watch them and she seemed to be pulled in by the music. It was like she couldn’t help herself as she moved in to join the women in a chorus of a song I didn’t know. A Christmas song. Her voice was somehow transcendent but I guess most people know that. To hear it in that situation, that close up really got me all choked up and connected to humanity. I guess that’s what it’s all about.
Today I talk to an old pal of mine from Boston, Jimmy Tingle, about life, politics and sobriety. On Thursday I talk to another inspired singer, Brittany Howard, about her journey to greatness. Great talks for the holidays!
Enjoy!
Love,
Maron