Hickory Community Theatre and The Nerd.

I really wanted to write something about “The Nerd” but I think I have to recuse myself. That’s because I know all these people and I have known them very closely for many years.

Rick Steadman, accurately depicted by Daniel Breuer, is an accountant who worked for me in Tallahassee in the 1980 when I ran an accounting shop in the Comptroller’s Office. I am glad to see he hasn’t aged even a bit, he still wears the same shorty short shirts and the same tie that he always wore before, even his eyeglasses are still held together with tape, to save money, as they always were. And his voice hasn’t changed at all either! It brought back memories I thought had vanished long ago. God, he was good. I wanted to take him home.

Warnock Waldgrave, played by John Gann, oh man, how I have missed you! You were the old sergeant who made sure that the Titan II missile was ready to go, or that the load was adjusted on the KC-135 before take-off, or that the computers and the radar was always ready in Vietnam before the bomb runs began. Loved you guy, you made things happen. I always hoped you would find a sense of humor somewhere, and I still hope you still will.

Clelia Waldgrave, played by Delene Huggins, you are the woman eternal, the one shaped by man to help comfort and care for his fantasies. You are the woman who keeps the nucleus together while the masculine Atom determines WHERE you will wind up. You are the harried thing that man needs to keep himself sane and I have known you all through all my life in so many women that I met and have known, many of them as family members and most of them many long years ago.

William Grummert, played by Christopher Honsaker, is the song of potential success, the birth of new beginnings, the hope that springs eternal. I have known him in my real estate adventures, and in my law suits, and in legislators that I have worked with. What a good man he is! He is a bit shifty and off center sometimes, but that is because life is not fair with him either.

Tansy McGinnis, played by Cheryl Ann Roberts, I identify with most of all. She is me. That’s where I have been far too many times, cleverly and professionally zagging when I should have been sloppily zigging. Buying Palm instead of Blackberry, for example and then over correcting with Apple. I made out OK, just like Tansy did. We both could have gotten here easier than we did - but - well, that’s the way life is. Hi Tansy!

And then there was Alex Hammond, played by Anthony Liguori. Yes I know you too - not well, I saw you as Androgyny personified. More reminiscent of those old Greek gods than any mortal human I've ever met, except in a collective sense. But you were omni-present, providing guidance more by insightful "belly-bumps" with your eyebrows, than by guile, and in the amazingly delightful end, you were the one who kept sanity together with a beautiful, knowing smile and a fantastic game plan.

Finally, Thor Waldgrave, played by Preston Gann. Thor - things will get better. I been there. Relax man, you’re not really trying to play a role - not in the play of life that is. Un-unh, you take charge. For example if the script tells you to pull the shade down, you rip the poor thing off! If you get frustrated, you break saucers. But if a Nerd shows up, don’t - DO NOT- try to run away and hide in a closet!

So. That's one of the things about going to plays at the Hickory Community Theatre. You not only get to meet a lot of new people in the audience and on the stage, but you never know WHO you will really run into. It could even be you.

Damnation.

My new chapbook has been rated. It now carries a rating of “D”. That’s for “Disturbing”. It is, I have been told, “unacceptable in Hickory”. I kind of missed all that when I was putting it together, but nonetheless, I guess I have joined the ranks of Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer. Of course that’s only for those who haven’t read Ginsberg or Mailer, and it is only for a part of Hickory.

I had left the book for a week with an establishment that sells chapbooks from time to time. They said they needed to review it before making a decision. I was gone for a week and when I returned, I went back to them and asked if they wanted to carry it. That’s when I found out it had been rated. “It is unacceptable.” I was told.

“Hmmmm.” I said. “Could you let me know - ah - why?”

“It’s disturbing.” They said.

“Oh.” I said. (I was prepared for them not to want to carry it, but not for THIS!)

They went on, at my insistence, to explain that it was “over the top”, and would be too “controversial” for Hickory.

At least they did return the book to me. I donated it to the Burke County Library.

So, “D” stands for many things besides Disturbing. Among them are Dark, Dismal, Destructive, Depressing, Deadly, Dissolute, Dastardly, Dungeonesque? Differently Dramatic, Distinctive Developmentaly Delightful Discovery? Oh well - never mind. What is done is done.

I guess that’s what I get for doing my first “Publish on Demand” book. And since demand is way down in America now, I have pointed out to several people already that I will also Publish on Request, even Publish on a Slight Show of Interest. Just get my attention. Won't be easy now that I am downcast and depressed.