When I worked at the theatre I remember a short good looking baby faced college student trying to sell his original art. He soon became a local celebrity by forming the band Jeff and The Kickers. Time and the inability to get a music contract made his time and music disappear into a distant memory. I saw his obituary and I hardly recognized the old man in the picture. We come from nothing and we leave with nothing.
I’m sitting here in a hospital room, about to have Bypass surgery. The downtime has given me time to reflect on my old home town. The Rio theatre was once the heart of the small town of Wharton Texas. It was a time I still see through the eyes of the teenager I was some sixty years ago. My coworkers at the theatre, and my classmates will live forever young in my memory. It was a time of discovery and disappointment. It was filled with the hard truths that come with the coming of age. Death, first love, racism and elitism filled the pages in the book of my small town beginning. Through it all The Rio theatre provided the anchor of stability that helped me persevere. I have been the victim, perpetrator, and casualty in the struggling drama of my life, but there is much I gained in the transformative exposure to the art and music of movies. I now see everything through the lens of an artist. My paints are the insights I drew from my youth.
Wharton is still the home of horton foote and the the premier of “Baby the Rain Must Fall” was held there.Mr.Footes eternal query.Can one ever go home?,still resonates in my mind. Years of living made me realize that the answer is not subjective.One can never truly go home except in their memory for home in this sense is forever relegated to a specific place in time.
When I worked at the theatre I remember a short good looking baby faced college student trying to sell his original art. He soon became a local celebrity by forming the band Jeff and The Kickers. Time and the inability to get a music contract made his time and music disappear into a distant memory. I saw his obituary and I hardly recognized the old man in the picture. We come from nothing and we leave with nothing.
I’m sitting here in a hospital room, about to have Bypass surgery. The downtime has given me time to reflect on my old home town. The Rio theatre was once the heart of the small town of Wharton Texas. It was a time I still see through the eyes of the teenager I was some sixty years ago. My coworkers at the theatre, and my classmates will live forever young in my memory. It was a time of discovery and disappointment. It was filled with the hard truths that come with the coming of age. Death, first love, racism and elitism filled the pages in the book of my small town beginning. Through it all The Rio theatre provided the anchor of stability that helped me persevere. I have been the victim, perpetrator, and casualty in the struggling drama of my life, but there is much I gained in the transformative exposure to the art and music of movies. I now see everything through the lens of an artist. My paints are the insights I drew from my youth.
Wharton is still the home of horton foote and the the premier of “Baby the Rain Must Fall” was held there.Mr.Footes eternal query.Can one ever go home?,still resonates in my mind. Years of living made me realize that the answer is not subjective.One can never truly go home except in their memory for home in this sense is forever relegated to a specific place in time.