Tao of Pauly

Swimming with Spalding Gray

"Doubt is my bottom line. The only thing I don't doubt is my own doubt." - Spalding Gray

This afternoon, I will be participating in a Spalding Gray memorial, watching his epic film based on his monolouge Swimming to Cambodia. Anyway, be sure to read this great article: Swimming written by Pitchaya Sudbanthad. Here's a bit:

But memory was a part of him that he couldn’t contain. It wound around him and choked his head with regret. This he told us many times. Onstage, where he sat with his tabletop set-up of a microphone, glass of water, a pen, and a notebook, he rehearsed his life over and over for us. He gave it shape and projected what he saw into the darkened theater. He breathed faster. He didn’t look at the notebook. In his head, he could see everything so clearly. He stitched together what he saw and threw those naked pieces of himself into the audience, who went for it, like lions. He had enormous pain that he turned into laughter. Why did he do this with his life? Maybe, if he threw enough out to the audience, there’d be nothing left to throw.