Republic...

 Republic

                                               

     One of Greg's favorite pastimes was heaping abuse on "phony actors" or guys who never did a day's work in their lives. He greatly admired true artists who could bring a writer's words to life but despised those who used their fame to spread horseshit ideas. He especially hated those "tough" guys who spouted patriotism while never actually living in the real world. The poster boy for such hypocricy was the much adored John Wayne. Greg loved to describe Wayne as fighting on the World War II battlefields of a sound stage in Burbank. The guy was portrayed as a football lineman at USC when he actually never played a down but watched safely from the bench. While many of us were not up to playing college football we did not espouse the kind of toxic masculinity that has infected society for most of history. Indeed John Wayne acted in some of our favorite movies of all time like "the Quiet Man" or "Stagecoach" but his life outside of film was filled with racism, sexism, and bullying patriarchy in levels beyond the pale.  He said blacks should not be in government since they did not have the brains to lead, he had latina girlfriends since he said they were easy to manage and made an absurdly pro-Vietnam War movie that Greg also loved to quote. In films where Wayne had control he was always ready to make these specious pep-talks for American exceptialism while having himself filmed in heroic close-ups. Such a movie was the ludicrous "the Alamo" that Wayne produced himself and included a couple of embarassingly jingoistic monologues. They were as phony as the rug he wore on his thinning pate out of sheer vanity.

 Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat - the same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step or his first baby shaves and makes his first sound as a man. Some words can give you a feeling that makes your heart warm. Republic is one of those words.

 I had checked out a record from the library that was filled with famous lines from movies and one of them was John Wayne's speech as Davy Crockett about his love for "the Republic." It was right before the second great road trip with Greg and Kevin and I had just started making mix-tapes. I made a few and gave them to Greg to listen to as they drove east through our once great country. One day they decided to take some LSD and as they drove, the Republic speech came out of nowhere and just blew their already righteously stoned minds. Little did John Wayne know that a couple of drugged up hippies were laughing at his foolishness a decade after his film. In the ensuing years as we had our kids we also liked to repeat the part about your first baby shaving and making a sound like a man which would have been unusual for me having a daughter. 

               the real Davy who couldn't give a good god damn about republics