Bricklore

A pretty interesting
brick fell from the sky
yesterday--
Downtown '81.
When it struck earth
it smacked open
into a diorama
of NYC, complete
with graffiti artists,
strippers, pushers,
some live footage
of bands from
fanbrains long ago.
James White and
the Blacks were a
highlight--and DNA.
The whole glacier
does some things
with time that I
can't really describe...
you'll just have to
watch it. Creates the
illusion a day can be
as long as you
want it to be, in
this case, almost
endless. Jean
Michel Basquiat
is the main character...
and while watching
him ease like a
tumbleweed around the
rough angles of Manhattan,
I'd pause every now and
then and say, So that's
what his voice sounded
like. Curious, relaxed.
Innocent all the way
down to the undertones.
But after the day was
finished, I checked the
DVD notes and noticed--
the original audio tapes
for the movie were
lost some time between
the 80's and late 90's,
when the directors
reclaimed the rights,
so they had Saul Williams
re-record it. So the film,
the day-sized man, the
lackadaisy painter
you're watching
is really only a
visual ghost
to verbal flesh,
or the past,
overdosed, reliving
the best intentions
of the present--which
can only approximate.
That's not a problem, though.
I liked the scenes best
when he was simply
walking.