WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.430 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.430 --> 00:00:06.466 align:middle line:84% I'm going to go and read, or I'll stay here and read-- 00:00:06.466 --> 00:00:09.728 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:09.728 --> 00:00:11.130 align:middle line:90% 00:00:11.130 --> 00:00:12.570 align:middle line:84% I'm getting a little loopy, sorry. 00:00:12.570 --> 00:00:14.880 align:middle line:84% The kids were so intent at the jail today. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:18.600 align:middle line:90% 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:19.750 align:middle line:90% I read these pieces too. 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:23.820 align:middle line:84% I have these pieces about jail in the memoir. 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:26.320 align:middle line:84% There's some jail pieces in that. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:27.612 align:middle line:90% And so I decided to read those. 00:00:27.612 --> 00:00:28.945 align:middle line:90% I thought that'd be a good idea. 00:00:28.945 --> 00:00:30.900 align:middle line:84% And then it's sort of criticizing the guards 00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:33.468 align:middle line:90% and stuff in the piece. 00:00:33.468 --> 00:00:35.010 align:middle line:84% And then it felt really uncomfortable 00:00:35.010 --> 00:00:38.032 align:middle line:90% because all these guards around. 00:00:38.032 --> 00:00:38.740 align:middle line:90% And they told me. 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:41.423 align:middle line:84% They made me promise not to read certain things to the kids. 00:00:41.423 --> 00:00:43.590 align:middle line:84% And I forgot what I wasn't supposed to read to them. 00:00:43.590 --> 00:00:45.540 align:middle line:84% Like I had to say that I wouldn't read, 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:49.790 align:middle line:84% I think it was sexual stuff or obscenities or something. 00:00:49.790 --> 00:00:52.680 align:middle line:84% But I didn't know if I couldn't read bad stuff about the guards 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:54.647 align:middle line:90% though. 00:00:54.647 --> 00:00:55.230 align:middle line:90% It wasn't bad. 00:00:55.230 --> 00:00:56.775 align:middle line:84% It was just someone else was saying 00:00:56.775 --> 00:00:57.900 align:middle line:90% bad stuff about the guards. 00:00:57.900 --> 00:01:01.312 align:middle line:90% 00:01:01.312 --> 00:01:03.270 align:middle line:84% It's from Some Ether, it's called "Soft Radio." 00:01:03.270 --> 00:01:08.735 align:middle line:90% 00:01:08.735 --> 00:01:10.110 align:middle line:84% You guys are kind of young, maybe 00:01:10.110 --> 00:01:12.905 align:middle line:84% I need to explain what soft radio is. 00:01:12.905 --> 00:01:15.030 align:middle line:84% You probably know-- actually, Linda Ronstadt, she's 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:18.147 align:middle line:90% soft radio. 00:01:18.147 --> 00:01:19.980 align:middle line:84% It's a type of music from the '70s that they 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:21.980 align:middle line:84% play on the radio and they called it soft radio. 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:24.570 align:middle line:90% 00:01:24.570 --> 00:01:26.520 align:middle line:90% "Soft Radio." 00:01:26.520 --> 00:01:31.540 align:middle line:84% "I don't know if Ivan is dead and I don't know who to ask. 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:33.630 align:middle line:90% Thin the last time I saw him. 00:01:33.630 --> 00:01:37.350 align:middle line:84% Yellow, the hospital made him yellow. 00:01:37.350 --> 00:01:42.390 align:middle line:84% Percodan made two of him, one aching from the stitches, one 00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:47.100 align:middle line:84% hovering above whispering it's all right, it's all right. 00:01:47.100 --> 00:01:50.430 align:middle line:84% Demerol flattened the doctors into playing cards, 00:01:50.430 --> 00:01:53.730 align:middle line:84% shattering as they fell on top of him. 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:57.780 align:middle line:84% Behind each-- outer space, release. 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:00.690 align:middle line:90% At 17, crystal meth. 00:02:00.690 --> 00:02:04.605 align:middle line:84% We loved the ring of it, like a girl's name, like a jewel. 00:02:04.605 --> 00:02:08.139 align:middle line:90% 00:02:08.139 --> 00:02:11.890 align:middle line:84% We stole candles and a crowbar, tore the plywood off 00:02:11.890 --> 00:02:16.090 align:middle line:84% a ruined beach house to spend the night in a tilted room. 00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:18.250 align:middle line:90% We knew what to take. 00:02:18.250 --> 00:02:21.940 align:middle line:84% Marijuana made the world small, a pinpoint. 00:02:21.940 --> 00:02:25.540 align:middle line:84% Opium left us in the shower counting tiles. 00:02:25.540 --> 00:02:30.280 align:middle line:84% Valium liked to drive, liked the red lights of traffic 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:35.020 align:middle line:84% at night, the heater off the window, the soft radio. 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:36.580 align:middle line:90% It was easy. 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:42.760 align:middle line:84% Always a $2 coat on Avenue A. You could always sell your dog. 00:02:42.760 --> 00:02:46.240 align:middle line:84% Maybe Ivan is still sweating, propped at his table 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:50.230 align:middle line:84% at Foley's, nodding though no one is talking. 00:02:50.230 --> 00:02:54.160 align:middle line:84% His loft, a Pompeii, holes kicked in the plaster. 00:02:54.160 --> 00:02:57.760 align:middle line:84% He pisses out the window, leaving long yellow icicles 00:02:57.760 --> 00:03:01.620 align:middle line:84% to dangle over the heads of businessmen. 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:04.240 align:middle line:84% On the train today an advertisement. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:08.640 align:middle line:84% A pill rising over New York like the sun, like redemption. 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:12.420 align:middle line:84% Radiating, promising a clear new day. 00:03:12.420 --> 00:03:14.580 align:middle line:90% And the city, again, spotless. 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:19.890 align:middle line:84% The Statue of Liberty, perfect clouds, the water all clear. 00:03:19.890 --> 00:03:22.650 align:middle line:90% I don't know if Ivan is dead. 00:03:22.650 --> 00:03:25.980 align:middle line:84% The same restlessness walks a young man 00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:28.560 align:middle line:84% through moving subway cars toward 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.080 align:middle line:84% or away from someone he might love. 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:34.110 align:middle line:84% As a woman on the platform opens and closes 00:03:34.110 --> 00:03:36.720 align:middle line:90% an umbrella, an enormous lung. 00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:39.480 align:middle line:84% As a man rolls quarters between his fingers 00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:42.320 align:middle line:90% chanting anyone, anyone."