saw “Up in the Air” last night.  I like George Clooney.  He does this thing where he makes his romantic leads ‘Simple’.  They aren’t all fast talkers, many of them take a few beats to get the jokes, aren’t too cool to laugh when they get it, and are likely to explain it back to prove that they got it. They get momentarily confused not just as a way to make an endearing facial expression (see Hugh Grant) but because they were in fact momentarily confused.  Yes, this is an acting decision designed to ultimately make them appealing, same as grant, but it’s an effect that is affected through the character, not the actor (hugh again).  Anyhow, I saw the movie and was planning on writing a bit about it this morning, and maybe what I just wrote about George, but then I had a dream last night brought on in part by the movie so I have decided to write about that.

So, last night before I went to sleep  I got an email from the company’s heads inviting everyone who was ever a part of the company to come to party, where entertainment would be provided by a musician I recently wrote about.   The president of the company, I may have already noted, is pals (and was pals) with many of the singers I idolize.   I think that email, combined with the movie, which features a man who travels a lot, led me to this dream.  I write this seems less of clear of a proposition. 

Maybe if I describe the dream, it will make more sense to you and me.   Basically I was invited to a ‘jam session’ in a cozy warehouse (the build oxymorons) filled with old curios and ephemera. As the Musician/friends sat around a table they would write songs on a list, and then take turns playing/singing the songs that they wrote.   I am a compulsive doodler during meetings, a fact I had recently made light of at work, and  one that explains why while everyone was writing songs they were going to perform, I, who was only there to observe, was caught scribbling the line “Living on the road my friend”. (It’s  funny thing how writing never actually is legible in a dream, but my doodle almost was. It wasn’t, but almost). They guy sitting next to me read my line out loud, finishing it, and then wrote the song on the list , for me to sing.   Of course when it got to me, I was nervous and though I got to the cusp of actually singing, which felt quite like getting ready to jump out of an airplane,  I ultimately did not sing, instead explaining the people at the table that it my shame that I never have learned to sing or play, especially since the songs I would love to play are all so simple, and easily sung.  I cited Townes and John Prine.     For some reason this admission was very emotional, and the people at the table were emotional too, treating it as if I had shared some deep and personal secret to a support group.

Ok, so that’s the dream. Writing about it, I think revealed that it  has very little to do with the movie, except perhaps the line I scribbled down, though  I may have scribbled it anyway, since it’s one of my favorites.   No, I think the dream was probably brought on by the email, which reminded me that  Office in Austin was a tight community of like minded individuals, that I hate to see dissolved. No one at the table was familiar though, which was interesting.

But the movie was good, and relevant in some other ways .   It was overloaded with short meaningful moments, but saves itself from heavy handedness somehow.    The ‘twist’ was very real.  At least in my experience.  Though  to be clear here, I have never experienced anything similar to that myself, since Orlando circa 1999, a fact that only occurred to me a split second before I wrote it,  three seconds ago.