TOPICAL TUESDAY: GEORGE CARLIN

George Carlin never touched me much as a performer. I realize his place and importance, and if someone had offered me free tickets to a Carlin concert, I probably would've said yes, but I never found him particularly funny. When I heard he died the other day, I didn't feel the void brought on by Richard Pryor's death. Okay, fine. Pryor had sort of been dead for years to me when he died so I didn't feel a void. I was probably eight when he stopped making movies or performing live, meaning that I was at least ten years away (depending on the club)from being old enough to gain legal access in a club to see him. So void isn't really the right word. Sorrow? No not quite. Wait, I'm not even talking about Richard Pryor in this post. There's no good reason to spend time remembering the word. I should save those powers for when I take the GREs.

The point here is simply that I wasn't miserable when George Carlin died. Yet for a brief moment today, his death actually struck me and made me stop. This morning as I drove to work, I noticed a bunch of bouquets on Selma and Vine. As I took a closer look, I saw that all the flowers sat atop George Carlin
's star on the Walk of Fame. Actually the Vine strip is more like the place where Walk of Fame rejects go. It still counts but it's not on Hollywood. There's even one spot further up Vine where someone's star has been chopped in half. Who? You got me. I think the person had a B and an L in their name. Then just a giant crack where the star used to be.I guess they were repaving the road, and bam, there goes the sidewalk. That's how much love the Vine stars get... But yes, flowers for Carlin. Roses and daffodils and forget-me-nots. Actually I don't know what a forget-me-not looks like. But the name is apt... Ah, off topic yet again. I'm more focused in real life, you know...

Okay. One step at a time. Step A: Alex hears of Carlin's death. Reaction to Step A: Alex not sad. Step B: Alex sees flowers for Carlin death on Carlin star. Reaction to Step B:Alex sad. Not sad exactly but I did take an honest moment to think about the man and his beard and his flowing gray hair. Something about the realization that George Carlin's star had been under my nose all these weeks without my knowledge; something about these loyal fans who made the pilgrimage to Hollywood to pay their respects; something about the driver honking for me to hurry the fuck up and turn onto Vine; something made me take a moment.

Perhaps one day I'll appreciate you Mr. Carlin. Maybe one day I'll listen to what you said about those 7 words and appreciate your observations not because of their place in the stand-up canon, but because I find them hilarious. But probably not. Not because it's impossible to change one's mind, but because I'm too stubborn to even give you a chance. In the meantime, I'll tip my hat off to a man that many love, who I too at least loved in Bill and Ted's adventures.

Whoa.. He looks like Stephen Hawking here..