Jesus Freaks and Candy asses

 

Jesus Freaks and Candy asses 





   It seems appropriate in the season of Jesus celebrating to bring up one of Greg's very favorite movies, the deeply dark "Affliction" with the unforgettable performance by Oscar winning James Coburn. The authenticity of the anguished man was increased by the constant pain of rheumatoid arthritus the actor sufffered at the time. Coburn plays a bitter misanthrope who only loves hockey, hating humanity and booze. Greg really tapped into the farther reaches of this destroyed personality and enjoyed hearing Glen Whitehouse mutter and issue all sorts of negative pearls of wisdom. Sometimes it might just be him holding out his hand with a shot glass in it to get whiskey poured in or the trademark description of his family as "That's what I've got for children. Jesus freaks and candy-asses! " The story is told  by a successful son about his struggling brother played by Nick Nolte and the family gathering together to bury the Mom who has died and is left in a bed upstairs before the old man notices. Glen would respond to his religious daughters pleading as "Jesus is more powerful than any demon"...Glen Whitehouse: Oh go fuck yourself! Greg would guffaw with pleasure at the sheer brutality of the man who was actually 180 degress away from the father figure we knew. He made noises like a hard shell but was nowhere close to his wife in that regard. There was also a remarkable scene where Wade (Nolte) pulls out his own infected tooth with a pair of pliers, then washes his mouth with Jack Daniels and spits in the sink which was repeated by Greg with intense laughter. In essence the movie is a direct opposite of the way Greg actually comported himself but he loved to play the part just to feel that he chose not to be Glen Whitehouse. While we knew people like Wade that was not what the Sheehy household was like. Much unlike the wistful and poignant description of Rolfe "Our stories, Wade's and mine, describe the lives of the boys and men for thousands of years: boys who were beaten by their fathers, whose capacity for love and trust was crippled almost at birth, men whose best hope for connection with other human beings lay in detachment, as if life were over. It's how we keep from destroying in turn our own children and terrorizing the women who have the misfortune to love us; how we absent ourselves from the tradition of male violence; how we decline the seduction of revenge." Greg was spared and lived a good life. 




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athletic Club Flower shop

Image
  Athletic Club Flower shop      This phrase is actually the telephone greeting at Greg's uncle Johnny Tassano's flower shop at 808 W. 8th street near Flower street in downtown L.A. Greg loved the place and culled many a story and line from his experiences at a place he worked and visited fondly. Even when he wasn't employed he drove around with cousin Kent (Kevin Smith) and they had a ball observing the absurdities of modern living in the Southland. The phone was answered by different employees and each had a unique turn of "Athletic Club...flowershopppp" There was owner John Tassano, right-hand man Ronald P. Lord, "Speed," a delivery man, and Carmen who cut flowers and told odd anecdotes such as the origin of pizza. I believe Greg and Kevin could go on for weeks about the people they met on their deliveries as they set forth across the city of the angels to spread floral joy. This might include places to eat, fascinating neighborhoods, cemeteries, lone...
Read more

Oil and gas crowd

Image
  Oil and gas crowd       This one comes from cousin  Kevin's bold political action volunteering for the Fred Harris presidential campaign in 1976. Kevin got a terrific piece on the campaign published as an editorial in the Los Angeles Times and also developed an imitation of the candidates speaking voice. Fred Harris was everything you would want in a public servant  and had come close to being asked to be Vice President but his brand was not widely known. Despite representing Oklahoma as a senator Harris managed to be an admirable liberal who favored the Great Society and economic democracy. Way ahead of his time Fred wanted to wrest control away from corporations and millionaires. He travelled in a recreation vehicle wth young Smith aboard to cut down on costs and was as grass roots as it gets. Fred was married to native-american LaDonna and to this day we have buttons stating "LaDonna for First Lady." Kevin would repeat the phrase from Fred's speeches a...
Read more

alright mother

Image
  alright mother- “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” —Carol Ann Duffy  Greg was always delighted by a story told by his mother in law about a "sortie" dinner party attended by a Doctor "Putty" Putnam who had been forced to attend an opera by his wife. When asked by a clueless guest if he enjoyed the opera, his response was  "fuck you!" When I was visiting Bear Cove and sitting next to the matriarch Greg goaded her into telling the tale. But a rum n' coke had loosened "Minnie's" tongue and when she got to Putty's answer she blurted a rather hard FUCK YOU!  Roy, hearing his bride curse thusly said across the table "Alright mother!"
Read more