Notes From A Complete Stranger, Part 10

In other news outside of Tawas I so much enjoyed the television interview of Joaquin Phoenix on the David Letterman Show.

From the February 17 Herald Sun:
"JOAQUIN Phoenix's recent movie director feels responsible for his bizarre career change, which saw the star appear disheveled and incoherent with David Letterman."

Seems he's retired from acting and is now doing rap. Who cares? The man is a very gifted actor who can do whatever he wants to do. He'll act again if he wants to. His rap may suck. It may be good. Who cares? But the Letterman thing was hilarious and upsetting at the same time.

From Wikipedia:
Phoenix made his rap debut in mid-January 2009. Rumors circulated that it was an elaborate hoax, to which Phoenix stated "This is not a joke. Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention."

I like Mr. Phoenix and wish him the best at whatever he does. I am currently watching a few of his movies because I did not know how talented he was. I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival at my local Baxter Theater of his latest film "Two Lovers " which co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow. I felt the film would be great because of the little clips I had seen of this guy, and now because of Letterman I am actually watching his previous films and getting to know how talented he really is. "Two Lovers " will be dark, and never get to the Family Theater on Newman Street in downtown East Tawas. That reminds me of a time my wife and kids and I were visiting my folks up there in Tawas one summer and we were making fun of the old theater, which by the way was a very cool place when I was a kid. I used to go to the Saturday matinees and watch cartoons with Captain Muddy and then a feature film. Sometimes two. The beginning of the end for the Family Theater was when they painted all the walls in a Jungle Book motif. If that wasn't bad enough a few years later they split the theater down the middle to make two theaters out of one and now you need binoculars to see the small screen from any seat midway to the back as you are in a tunnel. And this was what we were making fun of on that visit quite a few years ago. My parents don't take lightly to any teasing about their town. They love their double theater and they also love Wall Mart. They couldn't care less about what had to be torn down to make way for their city's "progress".

I would love to host Joaquin up in Tawas. They would absolutely love him up there. Of course they would swoon all over him because he is a Hollywood actor, but in time they would grow to hate him when they learned more about him.

From Wikipedia:
Phoenix has long been a social activist, lending his support to a number of charities and humanitarian organizations, notably Amnesty International, The Art of Elysium, HEART, and The Peace Alliance, an organization which campaigns for a United States Department of Peace. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors of The Lunchbox Fund, a charity that provides lunches for poverty-stricken school children in South Africa.

Phoenix has been a dedicated vegan since the age of three. He is a member of P. E. T. A. and the organization In Defense of Animals, and has actively campaigned on their behalf. He narrated the film Earthlings for Nation Earth, a video about the investigation of animal abuse in factory farms, pet mills, in industry and research. In 2005, he was awarded the "Humanitarian Award" at the San Diego Film Festival for his work and contribution to Earthlings.

In 2005, he participated in the documentary I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust.

Jim Dunn of the ICN especially. I am sure he would write a comprehensive article on the man who was raised a little differently than most people who live in Tawas.

From Wikipedia:
Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in Río Piedras, located in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the third of five children, including River (1970), Rain (1972), Liberty (1976), and Summer (1978). He also has a half-sister named Jodean (1964), from his father's first marriage.

His father, John Lee Bottom, was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California. His mother, Arlyn Phoenix (née Dunetz), was born in the Bronx, New York to Jewish parents from Hungary and Russia. In 1968, Arlyn left her family and moved to California, later meeting Phoenix's father while hitch-hiking. They married in 1969, then later joined the religious cult the Children of God. They began traveling throughout South America.

His parents eventually became disillusioned with the Children of God; they made the decision to leave the cult and returned to the US in 1978. They changed their last name to "Phoenix" to symbolize a new beginning. This was also around the time Phoenix had begun calling himself "Leaf", desiring to have a similar nature-related name like his siblings (he was inspired by spending time outdoors raking leaves with his dad). This is the name he would use as a child actor; at fifteen, he changed it back to 'Joaquin'.

Remember, Jim Dunn is the editor who I reported had an opinion piece in the Perchville issue of the ICN titled, "Warning: please quit feeding bean burritos to chickens" , and that article was aimed at a fellow who was promoting the idea for every American to quit eating chickens. I would love to see this Mr. Dunn interview Joaquin. Dunn thinks he's clever. The interview would be one for the ages.

One guy who would probably do OK up there with Dunn and the rest of his ilk would be Mickey Rourke. His latest film "The Wrestler " will most likely be a huge hit up there. It was for me. I love Mickey Rourke, at least his acting. But his character is suspect. His history as a boxer and his being a movie star would carry credence up in my old hometown.

From Wikipedia:
In 1991, Rourke decided that he "…had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "… was self-destructing … (and) had no respect for myself being an actor." Rourke was undefeated in 8 fights, with six wins (4 by knock-out) and two draws. He fought as far afield as Spain, Japan and Germany. He never achieved national prominence and he suffered a number of injuries, including a broken nose, toe, ribs, a split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone. His trainer during his boxing career was Hells Angels member Chuck Zito, and his entrance song was Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine."

Boxing promoters stated that Rourke was too old to do well against top-level fighters. Indeed, Rourke himself admits that entering the ring was a sort of personal test: "(I) just wanted to give it a shot, test myself that way physically, while I still had time (interview in The Gate with Christopher Heard)." In 1995, Rourke retired from boxing and returned to acting.

But you never know. He likes little dogs. And he can be mean and I think he is a redneck, however I recently saw an interview he did on Larry King and he was quite eloquent, humble, and restrained. Perhaps accepting getting old is a good thing for Mickey.

From Wikipedia:
In February 2007 he was in South Beach, Florida, protesting against a puppy store he claims sells dogs infected with parvo. He wanted the store to shut down, claiming a puppy he bought for his friend at the store died. He was supported by other activists.

I suppose Dunn would find Rourke's protest behavior ridiculous. Maybe if he saw the Steve Buscemi film "Animal Factory " in which Rourke plays an inmate named Jan the Actress he would really get riled up. Mickey Rourke playing a woman is quite upsetting. Does something to your equilibrium. As for The Wrestler , Mickey Rourke does an amazing job as Randy the Ram. When I was a kid we had Big Time Wrestling come through Tawas on a yearly basis. They would set up the ring at the high school gymnasium and for one night we'd have midgets and big-time wrestlers like Leaping Larry Chene. I know, midgets are supposed to be called little people, but back then they were called midgets in the ring and also on TV. Lately there has been a resurgence of that label "midgets" in the porn industry as they are now hyping midget porn and midget strip tease. Anyway, we'd get these big-time wrestling midgets and big-time wrestlers like Leaping Larry Chene. In those days Dick the Bruiser and the Sheik were top draws, and of course so was Larry Chene. Larry died in a car accident at the age of forty.

From the Bill Dakota blog Larry-Chene-Wrestler:
The best, good-guy, was "Leaping" Larry Chene. He was a well built, muscled wrestler but, on the short side. Like Hulk Hogan used to be, Larry was the King. He was called leaping because he used what was termed as the flying head scissors. He would flip-leap at his opponent, wrap his legs around their neck, then flip them over. It was skillful and dangerous and hardly ever used by wrestlers today.

The wrestling matches were big-time entertainment for a kid like me. I remember receiving in the mail an autographed postcard from Mr. Chene, and I still have it as part of a collage I made several years ago.

In "The Wrestler ", Rourke plays somebody deathly near to himself. A beat-down old man giving it all he has left. One scene especially moving is when Randy the Ram is working the counter at a grocery store deli. Amazing stuff. Of course, the film suffers with the typical Hollywood ending. Randy the Ram is explained to us, where being left with our feelings would have sufficed.

From Wikipedia:
Rourke gave his dogs credit during his Golden Globes Best Actor acceptance speech January 11, 2009: "I'd like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren't here anymore because sometimes when a man's alone, that's all you got is your dog. And they've meant the world to me." The day of the 2009 Golden Globes show, he told Barbara Walters that "I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about fourteen years ago or so ... the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce. The dogs were there when no one else was there." Asked by Walters if he had considered suicide, he responded:
"Yeah, I didn't want to be here, but I didn't want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear....I think I hadn't left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, 'Oh, man, if I do this,' [and] then I looked at my dog, Lowjack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don't have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, 'Who's going to take care of me?"

So what happened to David Foster Wallace and Hunter S. Thompson, both dead from suicides? Simple fact is they both said they would do it, and they did. Their words mattered then, and they most certainly matter now. On the flip side, Perchville made another splash and I missed it. And still do.