On October 31, TRIO will be airing this doc again which I saw last night. Excellent film.
They say genius is never appreciated in its own time, or however that saying goes, but Hicks was widely appreciated elsewhere. It was his own country that couldn’t accept him unedited, above ground.
If you can appreciate yet another explanation for why George Bush is still in the running instead of behind bars and John Kerry is his so-called opposition then this is a film to study. It deftly chronicles how doggedly devoted Americans can be to their own slick packaging and contrived sense of exceptionalism and if you doubt how little we’ve evolved since Hicks’ time you haven’t been reading Operation Clark County in the Guardian.
Hicks’ genius was giving legitimacy to those nagging suspicions that something just ain’t right; the thoughts people keep to themselves or be treated to ridicule and contempt because the mainstream doesn’t spoon-feed them affirmation of their conclusions. He put the spotlight on corporate America and he devoted his life and career to waking people up to its methods. Violent resistance energised him.
His trials and tribulations are an indictment not only of the times he lived in but of the current state of affairs. Bill Hicks had it in for anyone who was busily baa-ing their life away in a barn lot.
He was brilliant and brave and funnier than hell. His legacy will live on.
Greetings, Diane.
Yeah, I saw that show a couple months ago. I agree, it’s a great show and he was the kind of person this country desperately needs more of.
Every once in a while, HBOComedy (I think) plays a half-hour stand-up routine performed by Hicks. It was taped several years ago, but it’s still good stuff, and maybe even more relevant now than it was then.
It’s a tragic shame that the man is dead; we need his like now more than ever before.
Peace.
Hi R.G.,
I miss laughing. I still do it but it’s just not the same. Hicks was racing against the clock and put up a valiant fight. Now that time’s run out too many people are still looking for a saviour to make things right. What I really appreciated about Hicks is he told people to do the heavy lifting and save themselves.
When are you going to get back to blogging? I miss your thoughts.
Peace