November 1, 2010
It was only this morning that I realized my shoes are mismatched, a left shoe of one pair, a right from another. I hope people (who tend to be more attentive to shoes than I am) interpret it as a fetching eccentricity.
Saw Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight in Mamet’s A Life in the Theater. It was, essentially, two good actors having a good time, and that brought pleasure. Talked briefly with Knight afterwards. He looked so tired. I thought for a moment he was a buddy of mine whom I could invite out for a drink and a little chit-chat, but the delusion passed and I move on. Walked to Columbus Circle and wandered the edges of the park until it was night.
Spent the morning paddling about in Soho and Tribeca. It was cold, but the light was clear and beautiful. It was difficult to look east. The curved scimitar of the moon hung pale over Varick Street, Ate at the Tic Toc Deli, for old time’s sake. The men next to me were discussing the filming of a movie, clearly the director and the cinematographer. It was exciting to listen to. Near the entrance a self-satisfied young man was reading a script, broadcasting to all the world “I have a part.” I was happy there. I almost missed the atmosphere of theater blocks and blocks wide.
Evening. Quite cold enough. Luckily it’s only a block from the theater when I saw Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson. The show was great fun, not as revolutionary as the talk about it would imply, and an apt thing to see the night before an election which may plunge us again into an at-least-temporary Populist backlash. The show is right that the inevitable outcome of Populism is tyranny made worse by the belief that it is the tyranny of the people. I tried to analyze the difference between Jackson’s Populism and the Tea Partyers’, and I think that it’s the fact that Jackson’s was genuine and ours is the disgruntlement of the privileged classes at having their privilege curtailed. The difference between Jackson and someone like Sarah Palin is that Jackson had some genuine– if historically questionable, even lamentable–achievements, whereas she is merely a complainer.
Calls from Mickey and Damian. Finally glad I bought the phone.
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