Canada, Folks.
It’s always a relief to go to Canada. Even if it’s just for a day or two. I love Vancouver. It’s a beautiful city.
It was nice to be in a city that has an abundance of water but also sad to land in a city and be jealous of a drizzle. Everything is so green and the landscape is so dramatic and lush. Stunning. Everything looks like kindling where I live. In the not-so-back of my mind I’m wondering where climate migration will take me.
I feel all the American garbage culture stress roll off me almost immediately upon arrival in Canada. I used to think I was idealizing the place or not seeing it properly. I wasn’t. I walked across the Burrard Bridge and I saw relaxed people walking, running, holding hands. Unpretentious. Humble. There was no feeling of the psychic pollution of the States that pervades everything. The slow unraveling, quickening.
I don’t know the nuances of Canadian politics and I’m sure they’ve got their own problems but I have a sensitivity to the selfish frenzy of the paranoid American psychological environment and it is not hanging over Vancouver. There is a feeling of diversity and integration that I’m sure isn’t perfect but it is different and genuine and not tense. Even Canadian pretension lacks pretense. Granted, it’s a little boring, but it’s real. Almost meditative. Practical.
The show I did at the Vogue was great. Cameron Esposito wanted to do some time before so I let her work on some new stuff. She was great. The crowd was great. Did some new versions of the stuff I’ve been working on. Tightening it up a bit. I really like the Vogue. It does have one of the most tragic, drug addict refuge alleys behind it though. It’s not that there are a lot of addicts back there but the ones there are all in, full-on street, totally tragic. It makes me feel grateful, which I don’t always appreciate. I went out the front after the show. I had my own buzz and I didn’t want it to be killed.
I talk to Rosie Perez today. It’s truly a great talk. It’s really what this is all about. It’s what this show is best at. It’s a deep conversation with an amazing creative person about the struggle of her life. It has nothing to do with show business. It was the type of talk that when we were done I asked her if she was okay and she said, ‘I’m going to need a minute.’ As did I. Moving.
On Thursday I talk to Jesus Trejo. He’s a young gun who I have watched work his way up from parking cars at the store to becoming a strong act.
Great talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and Lafond live!
Love,
Maron
Idealizing the Place.
