George Carlin Died One Year Ago Today - Democratic Underground

hiphopnation

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jun-22-09 01:42 PM
Original message

George Carlin Died One Year Ago Today

and I miss him still - terribly. :(

I repost the sentiments I sent around last year, after his death.

If you’re reading this, you’re a friend, a confidant, a family-member, a raconteur, a traveler, a dreamer, an artist, or just someone whom I thought would appreciate the sentiments.

I have waited until now to say something about George. It’s taken me a couple of weeks to sit alone in silence and absorb the information. OK, not in silence, I’ve spent the past few weeks pouring over George’s material – the material that has been a
soundtrack to the better part of my life. I discovered him as an adolescent, the perfect time to get into George Carlin. In my grief – and I admit, it does feel strange to feel grief like this for someone that, after all, I have never met and I furthermore admit that said grief would likely be the subject of ridicule and mockery for George which is why my grief-stricken state has been punctuated with loud, boisterous fits of laughter – I have reflected deeply on what George did for me in my life as a struggling, on-again/off-again, mixed-results artist and I’ve mostly been rendered speechless.

At least 30% of his material went over my head at the time I was absorbing it, but it didn't’t matter, he opened up a world of words and imagination to my young, thirsty ears. At the time I started listening, he had entered his “curmudgeon” phase, where his material had turned from the silly in favor of more weighty, substantive topics. The first album I ever bought was “What am I Doing in New Jersey ” the first half of which is a relentless tear on the Reagan administration. I hadn’t even formed political opinions yet but I still listened to the routine over and over again, soaking it all in, and it somehow made
sense. Of course, listening to it know I realize just how spot-on the whole thing was. After ‘ New Jersey ’ I immediately began listening to all of his recordings from the 70’s and was hooked. He captivated (and sculpted and molded) my young mind.

One of the few comforts I’ve been afforded over the last week is the sheer volume of fans just like me there were out there. Those of us who would memorize routines and recite them back to ourselves in bedroom mirrors. Those of us who had every single album, could tell you which side a certain routine appeared, the years of each, where they were recorded - I have realized this week that I am one of many who had reverence and deep-seated respect and love for George.

So, I am just one of many who realize that we've lost much more than a just a damn fine comedian. I am one of many who having difficulty saying goodbye. I am one of many not prepared for the news. I was looking forward to him being around another five years. I needed time to prepare myself, to fill myself up to the brim with his inquisitive, hilarious, scolding,
endearing views on the world. I needed more time to convince myself that it was OK to live in a world without George.

And as funny as George was, I have come to the same conclusion that the rest of us have who were more than casual observer’s of his – George’s contribution goes ar beyond his gift of laughter. George was deeply dedicated to some firmly-held principles that his abrasive and coarse tone helped bolster. Chief among them, of course, is our collective right, indeed our
duty as patriots, to exercise the free speech muscle we’re so lucky to have been afforded and to remind us the that if that muscle is not exercised, it atrophies just like any other muscle. It is slowly, bit-by-bit and fiber-by-fiber, encroached upon, repealed, challenged, and reversed by self-righteous and indignant moralists upon whom the concept of personal
liberty being inexorably tied to the ability to speak without fear violent retribution is completely lost. George got right in their faces, didn’t he? God bless him. (He didn’t believe in god, of course, and in his later years, he took to worshiping the sun. Now there’s a funny fuckin’ routine.)

I’ll miss the laughs but what will be missed the most, by me, is that nagging, persistent, needling, irksome,
challenging voice that has been there for nigh on twenty years, forcing me to look at myself in ways which I as not always comfortable, but in ways that made me a better person.

In fitting tribute (it’s obvious to me that George was a great father, his daughter is gracious, kind, and keen-witted) Kelly Carlin has directed contributions in George’s name to two institutions: The American Heart Association and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Free Speech. I urge you to give in his name. www.georgecarlin.com

Godspeed, George Carlin: a patriot, a tireless champion for free speech, a muckraker, an antagonist, a dissenter, a lover AND a fighter, and hands down, one of the funniest mutherfuckers that ever did live.

He continues to inspire me - and many others.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-sisko-carter/awesome_b_218696.html

here's to George on the year anniversary of his shuffling off. I'm sure he's down there, looking up at us. :bounce:

:toast: