Observations on My Friend and Hero
TOM DAVIS
Number 1: Tim is taking me to my first Nine Inch Nails concert. We’re standing in the lobby taking a little break—the music is very loud. A teenage concertgoer approaches Tim in amazement—not because he recognizes him, but because he’s an “old guy.”
“Hey, man, how do you like the music?”
Tim: “It’s the best concert I’ve ever seen.”
“Really? Cool. Enjoy the show!”
Number 2: I am talking to Tim on the phone.
Tim: “So . . . what are you reading now?”
Me: “I’m trying to read the Bible all the way through.”
Tim: “Oh God—there goes another one!”
Me: “Don’t worry, Tim—I don’t think I’ll ever get through Leviticus.”
Tim: “Of course you won’t. Don’t you have better things to do?”
Number 3: We’re watching the news and Tim is included in a story about the ’60s as the icon who encouraged youth to take drugs.
Tim: “I love it when they try to blame me for the ’60s. I wish!”
Number 4: Tim greets me as I enter his home for a visit. He gives me a hug, then suddenly steps back, hands on hips in a mockmacho stance and growls, “I can love you more than you can love me!” And he stares at me with the intensity of a boxer glaring at his opponent as the referee gives the rules—a challenge!
Number 5: There is a lively gathering of friends around Tim’s beloved kitchen table painted with colorful figures by Keith Haring—a symposium! Somehow the conversation causes Tim to lift his hands and proclaim, “Isn’t it wonderful that here we all are, living at one of the most remarkable and exciting times in history?”
I sense a good argument. “Wait a minute. Isn’t that a bit too subjective? Doesn’t every time have its heroes? Has there ever been a time in history that is recognized as being particularly unremarkable or unexciting?”
Tim: “Yes, the ’50s!”
Number 6: I am leaving Tim’s house after a visit.
Tim: “Tom, is there anything I have here that you’d like?”
Me: “Actually, there’s a really old book on that shelf over there.”
Tim: “Good, take it. I want to give away all this stuff to my friends before I . . . de-animate.”
Number 7: Tim: “Have you noticed that all living beings go toward the light?”
Number 8: A new person in Tim’s house asks if it’s okay to light up a joint.
Tim: “I don’t know. It could ruin my reputation.”
And at another occasion when my wife noticed that there were no guests who were smoking or drinking. Tim: “This could ruin my reputation.”
Number 9: The subject of ancient Egypt comes up and I provocatively make a statement about lavish tombs that wasted a great civilization like a terrible war.
Tim: “Well, they were going for immortality and they had the wisdom to leave lots of gold and treasures around so that the thieves would leave the important stuff—the bloody rags. Science may one day replicate the pharaohs from their DNA, and the pharaohs will have succeeded.”