| The
Del Close Messages (part 5) Go back to part 4. |
| short filipowicz |
9:47 pm |
| the funniest thing i ever
heard the man say and still one of the funniest things i've ever heard from anyone was in
my i.o. level five about a year ago... "my heart stopped for a few seconds earlier this week." we all just stared at him, he took a drink, and we started class. no explanation. nothing more. short. |
|
| Goodbye Mark |
1:16 pm |
| I'm not going to waste a lot
of time talking about how Del was a major influence on me, and how much I learned from
him... it's all way too obvious. Del just made me laugh. A lot. The good kind of laughter. Like the time he approached me in the bar upstairs and asked me to join "SexWars" the following week because he liked my work and had been divorce, so I had some emotional baggage. Then he proceeded to take me to the green room and introduce my Scots-Irish ass with an Hispanic name... Jaun Perez or something like that... that's fucking hilarious. Or at the last "SexWars" show he was able to attend... we were all in our heads after a couple of bad weeks... Del comes in and says, "I puked on my cat today... then I decided it needed a shower, but then I realized that if I went into the shower naked with my cat, I could get into trouble... so I put on my raincoat and dragged the cat in the shower with me... then I called Jamie." Or the time in class when he was wearing a short-sleeve tee-shirt and called it his "track suit." He fucked with people and he made me laugh
and he puked on his cat and I miss him more than I ever realized I would. |
|
| Thanks
from Kansas City Trish Brerong |
9:56 pm |
| After hearing and reading a
lot about Del, I finally got to meet him at BSIIF, where I had volunteered to make sure he
got where he needed to be. When I carried his bad into his hotel room and fumbled for
anything resembling coherent speech, he said, "What's wrong with you?" I told
him I was nervous, and he asked why. I said, "Because you're DEL CLOSE. You created
the thing I want to spend the rest of my life doing." In an effort to help me relax,
he said, "Oh. Would you like to do some drugs with me?" My experience with drugs doesn't go much beyond prescriptions. And I'd heard the stories...especially the one about the game you play by getting a weird drug and an obscure celebrity and a strange place...so, not much less nervous AT ALL, I asked, "What kind of drugs, sir?" Fortunately, he just meant pot. I got to be friends with Del that week. I've never known anyone like him. I love his stories. I appreciate his honestyl I'm touched how kind and generous he always was to me, and to the performers in Lighten Up. I'm amazed at how someone with such an incredible life would take the time to make me feel like I had something interesting to add to the conversation. And all the same things are true of Charna.
So, my most sincere thanks for extending your world outside of Chicago, and letting the
rest of us play. |
|
| Two
Del Coins Matt |
1:53 pm |
| One day, before
"Show", Del made it up the stairs and was puffing away at his little cigars by
the bar, also hacking away. I asked him what he planned to do when he died. He'd said he
was dying before, so it didn't seem like as big a deal then as perhaps it does now. I'd
seen a special about people who get themselves cremated, packed into a cylinder about the
size of a pen and launched into space. I figured this appealed to his love of science
fiction. He said he'd already willed his skull to the Goodman Theater, for its next
production of Hamlet. "I want to be the first person in theater to get posthumous
recognition applause," he said. Funny man. Matt |
|
| The
Truth About Del in Hamlet charna |
10:10
am |
| Here is the answer to your
questions - Fact or Fiction? In the modernized version of Hamlet, Del as Polonius was giving orders to his assistant played by J.J. Johnson. JJ was to keep looking down and taking notes while lighting Dels cigarette without looking up and without missing a beat. What JJ didn't notice was that the lighter did not light. Del said, "Oh Flick thy bic once again, good Renaldo". The audience did go crazy and in the ballroom I heard a lady ask if Del Closes' lines were really in the play. As for the second story about Del missing his call-that was NOT something he was prone to do. He was extremely reliable and always on time. I don't recall his ever missing his call. Even sick with food poisoning, he made his shows. I really think that is fiction. I have another one from Hamlet too. He was stiff in his joints, so he bought some tiger balm to rub on his body. It was on his hands and he forgot and went to take a pee. He got it on his dick and it burned like hell. While he was wincing in pain, JJ asked Del what was the matter. Del said, "I put tiger balm on my dick." JJ said, "OH, for the character, right?" |
|
That's it. You can also read my afterthoughts about Del and these messages.
If you want to discuss this go to the thread "The Del Close Messages" at the IRC Message Boards.
Last edited on 01/25/01.