"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients." Gustave Courbet

03 August 2015

Bulk.


Harrison’s fiction is full of men who know who Modigliani is but also how to cut someone’s throat; now I understood where he got them.

I found Jim at the bar of the Murray Hotel, where Sam Peckinpah once shot up the ceiling when he was having trouble with a screenplay. I was so nervous that I hugged the great bulk of him. Vodka to vodka, we made plans for a dinner at his home the following day.

It took me 45 minutes to drive the 9 miles from the Murray to Jim’s house, though the speed limit is 70. I kept having to pull over, because I’d never been in that kind of cathedral. Jim’s wife, Linda, prepared a pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and onions from her garden, while Jim drove me around with a cigarette and a tumbler of red wine bouncing on the armrest between us.

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