"Leave a message, we'll call you back." "Hey, it's Kurt!" "I am calling you." "I'm in town." "Just hoping you're around." "I don't know if you're there or what..." "Pick it up, man." "You will not regret it." "Hey, Kurt..." "So you're here?" "Where're you stayin'?" "Yeah, thanks." "The rumours are true." "Nah, we didn't wanna know." "Oh yeah?" "What've you got?" "Lay it on me." "Sure..." "I could be into that." "I could use some time in the woods, absolutely." "Yeah..." "I think that could be cool." "Let me just run it by Tania." "I'll call you in ten..." "Right on." "What?" "Don't ask my permission..." "I said I'd run it by you." "He wants to check out some hot springs near Estacada, camp out tonight." "Get an early start tomorrow, be home by... noon I'd say." "Look, if it's gonna be a problem I'll just call him back and tell him I can't go." "Hey... you should come too." "You're totally welcome." "You know that, it'd be fun." "I'm not exactly up for camping." "It's probably gonna rain anyway." "Could rain all day." "Look, you're just waiting for me to tell you to go..." "We know you're going so I don't know why we have to go through this thing of me letting you off the hook." "I'm not gonna enjoy myself if you're... miserable about it." "Go in, Lucy, go in!" "that'd be Eleven Nine." "Hugh, how are you?" " Very good." "How are you today?" " Good, thanks!" "I'm callin' in..." "I never could understand why Lyndon Johnson became the champion of the Civil Rights Movement." "are you talking about?" "I mean the Voting Rights Act was a great thing." " Oh yes..." " It was the..." "It was the beginning, literally the beginning of American democracy." " I grew up in a state..." " It also became the foundation of the..." " Southern Strategy." " He said we've delivered the South to the" "Republican Party for a long time when he signed the Act." " I mean is that what you're talking about?" " Yeah." "You said it with regret..." "These were all wedge issues." "When Reagan talked about..." "He's for State's rights." "All it was, it was just a veiled way of saying: "He's a racist."" "When Nixon talked about "Law and Order", that's what he was talking about!" "He was talking about the..." "Think about this." "You had..." "Lee Atwater kickin' around when all these guys were devising the Southern Strategy." "Including..." "Including Karl Rove, he's taken the Southern Strategy to the next step, and that's to divide us by way of religion." "So, I don't think you're insane." "I mean, I was joking when I said you're insane..." "Not really." "I'll tell you..." "I'll tell you this." "I agree with the fact that..." " May I interject here?" " Yeah." "I didn't call up and assert that Lyndon Johnson did this, I asked a question." "But Bobby reacted as if I was asserting it." "And then he starts calling names." " Let me go back..." " It was a bad question." "Listen Bobby, there's no such thing as a bad question..." "Kurt!" "Hello?" "Hello!" "Hey man!" "Hey, Kurt!" "I brought a cooler." "Take it." "And a wagon." "And a TV." " You're looking good." " Really?" "I wish!" "He hasn't sold the house yet?" "No, not yet." "But my days are numbered here." "I'm really glad you could come." "I didn't know if you could make it on such short notice, everyone's so busy now." "You know I had a dream about you the other night?" "Where you're... in, like, a hospital or something." "It was really weird." "But you were the best thing about it by far." "That's cool..." " How's Ashland?" " Ashland?" "Amazing!" "Transformative." "I'm at a whole new place now really." "Wow, you've really got it all goin' on." "Hell yeah!" " Where's your shit?" " It's in the car." "I've got the dog too." "Really?" "Why don't we take your ride." "What do you think?" "Cause this thing is just a slug in the mountains." "Erm... sure!" "I can drive." "Alright!" "Let's load it up!" "The Democrats are sitting on their damn hands." "What do you make of that?" "First of all, the Democrats in Congress have made a tragic mistake, and that is... they seem to think that they're part of the Government..." " Yeah." "Yeah, that's a good point." " Rather than going to the people." "Opportunity is not just knocking at the door, it's pounding at the door." "There's the Democratic donkey, you know, sittin' there sipping tea sayin':" ""I don't know!" "I don't know if I should get up and answer the door or not."" "It is there." "You know we saw the same thing in last year's presidential election when our party's nominee did not..." " It'll just take two seconds." " ...the corporate crooks." " Hope that's all?" " ...the fight is not about them." "It's not a fight for them." " It's a fight to hold on to the very solid..." " Yo, you got ten bucks?" "by the Exxon, by the Coors, by the Murdochs, by Richard Mellon Scaife." "It's a fight, we can't win by removing ourselves, standing on the sidelines..." "Some people say we need a third party," "I wish we had a second one." "And I'm gonna fight for that to be the Democratic Party." "But I certainly understand people..." " Hey, what's up?" " What's goin on?" " 30 dollars?" " 30 dollars..." " ...and other folks, because..." " Take it easy." "And if we do not stand up for working folks..." "The one good thing about the... he is trying to flip the party back to the grassroots level." "In last month..." "This thing go back any further?" "How's your dad?" "He's alright, you know." "All things considered." "Last I heard he was living in... a new place." "Yeah, right." "For some reason he decided at age 70, that he didn't want to be married anymore." "So he moved out." "Yeah, that's what I heard." "Then he ended up with these... fuckin' blood clots on his brain." "Oh, fuck." "And they just showed up, out of nowhere." "He was really weak for a while, nobody knew what to do." "Then they... dissolved." "Just went away." "That's heavy." "Really put my mom through the wringer." "Yeah, I bet." "I bet." "It's kind of like when an old Eskimo goes off to die alone." "Who knows?" "You still have this." " Didn't this use to be Noah's?" " Yeah." "Found it behind Krugers, there's crumbs in there where you can add it." "And then, it was mine for a while." "Man..." "Mark, you really hold on to shit." "Not that I should talk." "I've still got crates of records in the garage, stuff that I haven't even listened to in... ten years." "I'm gonna have to take the whole load down to Syd's I think." "See what I can get for it." " Syd's just gone man." " No way!" "The rent got to be too heavy, now it's a... smoothie place." " Rejuicenation." " No!" "Syd sells on eBay, now." "Oh that makes sense." "I should be doing that." "Tania went by on the last day, said the only records left in the bins were our friends'." "No more Syd's." "End of an era." "Come on!" "That was amazing!" "Were you catching that?" " That young soldier got a raw deal..." " And everybody that was there..." " Do you know where we're goin'?" " Oh yeah!" "Cruisy..." "Downtown!" "Now you take this." "No, you take this one." "You take this one." "These aren't even funny." "Back to you, Lucy." "Sunshine!" "This is a great spot, man!" "You're gonna love it!" "I was here..." "two summers ago." "Totally private." "No one around." "And most of all..." "It has this otherworldly peacefulness about it." "You can really... think." "Sounds awesome." "'Cause you can't... you can't get real quiet anymore." "I visited this hot spring in Arizona last summer." "Where no one is allowed to talk at all." "Total silence." "It's fuckin' amazing." "They want me to come back and work as a chef sometime." "I've got a whole menu worked out for 'em." "Right, I think I read about that place in a magazine." "You remember Yogi?" "Sure, he stiffed us on the rent when he left town." "Really?" "I forgot about that." "Well, I ran into him in Big Sur last month." "We had the most incredible night together." "We were out under the stars, dancing to these drums." "Everybody was jumping over these huge bonfires." "I'd never seen anything like it." "Everyone there... was just so joyful that night." "Beautiful women..." "singing and dancing." "I don't know, just a really, really amazing group of people." " No shit." " Yeah." "You should've been there." "I think Yogi got laid." "Slow down..." "Slow down, you wanna go left." " Really?" " Yeah." "Trust me Mark." "Okay!" "I'm in your hands." "I remember that." "I think we're somewhere..." "in this area." "I need a little space." " It's the mother of your child." " Thank you." "I have no idea..." "No it's fine..." "Can you hear me?" "Can you hear me?" "What was that?" "No..." "I mean, we are looking for it." "I can't hear you." "We're gonna have to go." "I'll call you when I have reception." "I love you." "The sign up there is literally blank." " We've entered a whole other zone." " Far out." " Up or down?" " Up!" "Getting dark..." "What do you think, Kurt?" "I spotted a turn-off where we can camp for the night." "Just a few miles back down that road we passed." "We can camp there..." "And find the river in the morning." "You know how to get there?" "Yeah, I know how to get there, but you gotta turn around." "Well." "That's close to here I guess, right?" "Still get a good start in the morning." "Looks fine to me." "Lucy, stay here." "It's good to get out of the city." "Forget all this is out here sometimes." "No shit." "It's not like there's any big difference between the forest and the city though." "Know what I mean?" "It's all one huge thing, now." "There's trees in the city, and garbage in the forest." "What's the big difference, you know?" "I see what you mean." "So you lookin' forward to fatherhood?" "Yeah." "Sure, I mean..." "We're both stretched so thin with work, it's almost impossible to imagine, but..." "It'll have to work itself out." "We'll just... find another rhythm." "Do it is whatever people do." "So... fuckin' brave, man." "I've never gotten myself into anything that I couldn't get myself out of." "It's just..." "Having a kid is so fuckin' for real." "Watch out Ham's cans!" " Did you... are you pumpin' these for me?" " I pumped it." "It's easier to aim with one hand than with two hands." "Really?" "Why do you think on TV they do it with two hands?" "Everything is about looking cool." "But I look pretty cool with one hand, right?" "Yeah..." "Two hands is the responsible shooting." "One hand is renegade shooting." "Yeah, renegade..." "I'll try leftie." "Switch, switch." "Switch Hitch shooting." "I think one more shot..." "Let me take one more shot." "You know I was gonna sleep out, but..." "Is it... cool to sleep in?" " Sleep in the tent with you?" " Fine." " So you're gonna sleep in the tent?" " It's a two men tent." "Two men and a doggie." " That's cool." " Two men and a doggie tent." "That's pretty cool." "Sleeping with the dogs." "Pretty cool." "She's a girl." "Keeps you warm." " I took some night classes." " Anything good?" "It was alright." "Some physics classes..." "But here's the thing about that, It's that I knew more than they did." "All this quark and superstring shit, I know all about that." "It makes sense." "And don't get me wrong." "I understand it." "But that's not the final answer." " Wow, you think you understand it?" " Basically..." "It's like this see..." "Sometimes things look like they don't have any order, and then, from a different level, you realise that it does have order." "It's like climbing a mountain." "Look around, you see trees and rocks and bushes, pressing around you." "And then you get above the tree line, you see everything you just went through and it all like comes together." "You know, you see that it has a shape, after all." "Sometimes it takes a long time to get high enough to see it, but it's there, it's..." "It's all about space and time and how it..." "How they change the rules sometimes." "Makes perfect sense to me." "It's like... two mirrors." "Moving through space." "There's a single atom moving between them." "Fuck." "I forget..." "Whatever..." "But I..." "I..." "The thing is:" "I get it." "I get it on a fundamental level." "The thing is..." "Is that I have my own theory." "Ah yeah?" "It's that the universe is falling, man." "That's what explains it all." "The entire universe is in the shape of a falling tear." "Dropping down through space." "I'm telling you man." "I don't know how it happened, but that's just the way that it works." "This tear, it's been dropping down for ever, just doesn't stop..." "So did you tell them that?" "Your theory about the tear-shaped universe?" "Did I tell them?" "Who the hell am I?" "They don't care about my theory, doesn't mean shit to them..." "I don't have any numbers for it." "God..." "I miss you, Mark." "I miss you really, really bad." "I want us to be real friends again." "There's something... between us, and I don't like it." "I want it to go away." "Man, what are you talking about?" "We're fine." "Are you serious?" "Do you really think that?" "Of course!" "Course I do, we're fine." "We're totally fine." "I don't know..." "My God!" "God, I'm sorry." "I'm just being crazy." "I'm sorry." "I'm just being crazy." "I know..." "Don't pay any attention to me, okay?" "We're fine..." "Everything's totally fine." "Feel a lot better now." " Your dog's in distress." " Yeah..." "Tania calls it "separation anxiety"." "It hates to be left out." "Hi!" "Thanks." "How far are we from Bagby Hot Springs?" "Oh, you're real close." "I think." "I've never been there, but... it's around here somewhere." "Maybe 10 miles... away." "We might have a little map printout in the back." " I'll check for ya." " Great." "And I'll bring you some coffee while you're looking at the menus?" "This is better anyway." "Now we won't be rushed, we can take our sweet time..." " Need more time?" " Nope." "Alright." "Hey, hang on a sec." "Could I get... two scrambled eggs, dry toast and sausage." "Before my call comes." "Could I get the same as my friend please?" "Except, bacon instead of sausage, and no dry toast." "Wet toast please." "Very good." "Not too wet, just make it damp." "I know..." "I know, I'm sorry." "Well, he thought he knew where it was, but..." "Remember who we're dealing with." "I don't know." "Apparently we're... closing in on it." "Did you do anything last night?" "She's fine." "We're super close." "I never doubted you, man." "This is where we're goin'." " This is where we are?" " Awesome." "Yo, yo, yo yo yo..." "There!" "On the tree." "I don't know how we could've missed that?" "I'm tellin' you man." "This is a very special place." "If you can't see the little arrows at night, you can't get in." " Grew pickles?" " Yes." "So they grew pickles?" "It's only like a half-sour." "It was..." "I guess it's called half-sour where they're sort of salty and don't have a lot of flavour." " How are you feeling?" " Good." "I feel good." "How about you?" "Feel good too." "I see sticks!" "Yeah, over here!" "My God, Lucy, look!" "Go catch it!" "It's only one day a week but, really pulls me out of myself." "The kids are cool." "They're really into it." "And it's fun thinking about carpentry and woodworking... in a way I haven't for a long time." "Makes you realise how long ago sixteen was." "So now this... it was basically a dumping ground... is this really happening community garden." "I'm so proud of you, Mark." "I'm serious." "You've really done something." "You've really given something back to the community." "I don't know..." "No, really." "I'm serious." "It's really something." "It's not that big a deal..." "It's not that... much time out of my life." "It's nothing you couldn't do if you felt like it too." "Not that you don't give to the community, I mean..." "Just a... different community." "This is it, Mark." " Cool, this looks fantastic!" " I hope you like it." "Awesome." "Alright." "Let's start these flowing." "Plug it up, and then..." "Let's grab it." "Come on." "Fill up here." "And then... just make the tubs cool enough to get our bodies in." "Just dump it in." " Whole thing?" " Yeah!" "Probably wanna refill." "Look at that water." "Man..." "Yesterday..." "Wanted to get a notebook." "For my journal." "So I borrowed Pete's bike, and first when I took off riding, and where I was on the sidewalk, there was this old man on the sidewalk too." "And... you know he was walkin', walkin' walking', so I thought: "Oh, I'm clear."" "And I took off to the left, around him, and just then he stepped to the left, and I didn't ring the bell or anything." "When I got past him, he yelled at me." "He was like: "Hey!" "Thanks for the warning!"" "And I just felt so... bad." "All of a sudden I felt so guilty." "But it was fine, you know." "Never gonna see this guy again." "But I realise I forgot something at the house." "So I rode back." "Had to ride back by him." "Just looked at his face, like, I felt like:" ""Oh, he's so angry at me." "Totally hates me."" "Whatever." "Can forget him again." "So, then I wanna go, you know..." "Get something to drink." "And I go into a little store, stop the bike." "When I come back out, I get on the bike, I'm riding," "I'm riding down the same street, cause it's a hill." "And I pass the guy again." "And again, I'm just like, feeling more and more tense, like..." "Then I've got a stretch, you know, before I get to the notebook store." "So I'm like: "Okay!" "I can finally move on with my life, not have this guy!"" "Go down to the notebook store, look for my notebook." "It's like 20 blocks." "Look for my notebook." "Come up to the cash register." "I'm buyin' the notebook, and the automatic doors open, and I look up and the guy is like, walking right into the store, right, in front of me." "And I'm just... can't believe it!" "And then the cashier woman, I hear her talk to me all of a sudden," "She's like: "Superstar."" "What?" "And I look at her." "And she's this Indian woman, maybe like 50 year-old Indian woman, with glasses and a dot on her forehead." "And I was like:" ""What?" She said: "Jesus Christ Superstar!"" ""You said 'Jesus Christ!"'" "I was like: "No!" "I didn't say 'Jesus Christ."'" "You know?" "I looked at the bagging guy." "Asked like: "Did I say 'Jesus Christ'?"" "He's like, just, shrugs." "And she's like:" ""It's okay!" "It's okay!"" "felt like, I feel like I would've known if I'd said "Jesus Christ", you know?" "I would've heard my voice in my memory, like: "Jesus Christ."" ""Jesus Christ", Kurt said, "Jesus Christ."" "So, I was still shaking my head, I was like, I feel like I'm going crazy." "And I'm still sorta tense and everything." ""I feel like I'm going crazy!"" "She's like: "It's okay!" "You're not crazy." "It's okay."" "She was really nice." "And right when she said that, I..." "This dream that I'd had just, just yesterday morning, just flashed on me, because, the same lady, the cashier lady was in the dream, doing the same thing, basically." "I mean, it wasn't in a store..." "But I was really upset about something." "Totally depressed about something." "And she just... put her arms around me and said..." ""It's okay!" "You're okay."" ""Sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy."" "I see all kinds of shit out there, man." "Most people don't see it, they don't want to." "Hey, what's goin' on?" "Just relax, man." " Just... settle in." " Alright." "Lucy, come!" " All righty!" " Yep." "That was... that was awesome, Kurt." "I'll call you soon, man." "Hold on a sec." "See ya." "See ya, Kurt." "take care of the new people who come along every year to join the labour force or to re-join them." "And it doesn't take care of the sharply higher cost of necessities." "It's one thing to say inflation appears under control of the aggregate." "But when you notice that housing costs, healthcare costs and energy costs are exploding you're talking about things that make up the overwhelming share of the budget of an ordinary family." "And so the combination of uncertainty about the future and the pressures on the present create this mood." "Now the White House is well aware of this." "You hear the word "recovery" all the time, because they don't dare use the word "prosperity"." "You also see things like these..." "photo opportunities this week from the... uh... so-called..." "'working vacation' in Texas." "Think you can help me out with a little change?" "Ahhh..." "I'm sorry, man." " Hey man." " Right on, thanks." " Have a good night." " You too."