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In August of 2001, I went
to see Spalding do Interviewing The Audience at the Ravinia Festival
in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
Having seen him do this
performance once before, I knew that he wandered around with the crowd
before the show speaking to people. This was how he collected names of
people he might call up onstage during the show.
I was at the show with
my friends Megan and Clark, my girlfriend Heidi, my brothers Marc and Eric
and my mother. We stood out in front of the pavilion looking around. On
the way to the show, my girlfriend had been telling me, “I know it’s a
dream of yours to be interviewed by Spalding, but please don’t be too upset
if it doesn’t happen. There will be a lot of other people at this show.”
I knew this was true, but speaking to Spalding before the show was the
only way to be sure I had a chance at getting up there.
Before too long, we saw
Spalding in the distance. He was on crutches, and we had no idea why. I
kept my eye on him, and as soon as he approached, I made eye contact. It
wasn’t really until he was that close that I saw how much older he looked
than the last time I had seen him. He had a scar on his head, and he looked
like he really didn’t feel so well. I said hello, and we started chatting.
I introduced him to my mother, and he began to ask her more questions than
he did me.Then he moved along.
Then we were inside and
in our seats, and Spalding was introduced. He came out on his crutches,
sat down, and proceeded to tell us all the story of his trip to Ireland,
and the car accident. He didn’t tell us anything of the apparently severe
depression he had been suffering since that time. We were regaled for a
good while with his tales of Irish hospitals, injuries, and medicine. I
hope someone somewhere releases a recording of
Life Interrupted,
because I was unknowingly extremely fortunate enough to see this very early
version of it.
Next, he took out a few
sheets of paper, and the first person to be called up was…my mother! I
was really excited for her, as I had introduced her and my family to Spalding,
and I knew she found him as intriguing as I did. They started out with
the usual questions – what do you do, life story, do you think about death,
and so on. My mother is a sign language interpreter, and Spalding had her
interpret a bit from one of the monologues, I believe it may have been
Monster
In A Box. He pointed out to her how one of his teeth was getting a
little long. It was terrific.
However, I was also disappointed,
because if my mother was called up there, it was impossible that this would
be my night to chat with Spalding. So my mother came back to her seat.
Spalding turned to the microphone and said “Ordinarily I would never do
this, but is Luc out there?” I was speechless. I stood up and started my
walk to the stage, looking back at my girlfriend in disbelief. I sat down,
and we started the interview.
I remember the interview
in so much detail, it’s wonderful. We talked about my job. He asked me
if I thought about death every day, and I said yes. I told him how I had
begun saving money by drinking under the table after seeing Monster
In A Box. I told him about how I sometimes didn’t think before I spoke,
offering my use of the word gimp as an example. Even though it drew a huge
laugh from the audience, and Spalding knew what I meant I still feel bad
about that to this day. I didn’t know about the severity of his depression
after the injuries, and I would never have wanted to kick him when he was
down, unintentionally or otherwise. He did get back at me later, though.
I mentioned that I sometimes liked to eat too much (I was about 130 pounds
overweight at the time). Spalding waved his hand at me and said “Oh, stop!”.
I deserved it!
A lot of time was spent
on how I was neurotic, and how my girlfriend Heidi is my conscience and
my anchor to the earth. When we were finished talking about that, it was
clear that she is an extremely important factor in my life, not to mention
my mental health.
He asked me if I wanted
to ask him any questions, and I told him I had two. I think the first one
I asked was whether his breakup with Renee would have an effect on the
upcoming version of Swimming to Cambodia at the Goodman Theater
in 2002. I really don’t remember if that was the question I asked or not;
isn’t that strange? But I also honestly don’t remember his answer.
During his story of the
Ireland trip and accident, Spalding told us how one of his sons had told
him that he was mentioned on the Simpsons. My second question (planned
for years) was going to be whether Spalding was aware that he had been
mentioned on TWO Simpsons episodes. He said he was, and he let me tell
the story of the second episode. The audience loved it. We finished up,
and I went back to my seat, thrilled.
After the show, numerous
of the old rich women from the North Shore of Chicago came up to me with
questions. “How did you know so much about Spalding?” “Is this Heidi?”
“You should be onstage yourself!”
I will always remember
that night. The Swimming to Cambodia shows that next year were canceled.
It seemed to be all downhill after that, although I was not aware of the
severity of Spalding’s depression until the following April, which I will
write about in a separate review. Suffice it to say that that August night
in 2001 was one of the most memorable evenings ever for me, my girlfriend
Heidi and my mother.
--- Luc Garneau
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