[joe-frank-list] 'Karma for dollars'

[russellbell at gmail.com]

	Larry attributes his 'gnawing sense of self-loathing' to how
he looked (fat) in a recording of his one-man show, 'Uncle Philip's
Coat'
(https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/14/theater/theater-review-in-an-immigrant-s-tatters-comfort-for-the-dreamers.html)
He tells of people who tell him he has a wonderful life - but they
don't have to live it.  Larry says people are shocked when he tells
them he's an actor but they don't recognize him; he starts telling
them he's a failed actor.  On a flight the person behind kicks his
seat, but Larry doesn't want to confront him; when the plane lands,
the guy recognizes Larry; he and his wife are excited to see him.
	6:10: Jack Kornfield talks about the quality of love, quotes
Merton, who uses rain as an example of non-judgment.
	8:20: Larry tells Joe that he can't buy Dewar's on the road,
buys John Barr (an inferior brand).  He recounts his performance of
'Uncle Philip's Coat' at Hampshire College.  (It paid $1200.)  He
forgot the clothes for the performance, had to buy them at a mall.
(The woman arranging his show is Pearl-Anne Margalit
https://www.wmassjewishledger.com/2012/09/pearl-anne-margalit-heads-adl-major-gifts/)
He gets back home at 3 AM, has to fly to Seattle for Ionesco's 'The
chairs' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chairs Ionesco's
http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/A-fresh-arrangement-of-The-Chairs-1159378.php)
at 6 AM.  Larry complains that the play is nonsense, the death of the
theatre, anti-theatre; he's dismayed that people take it seriously.
He wants to walk out but needs the work.  Larry thinks that Joe isn't
going to use this segment on his show.
	16:50: Kornfield tells us that we all suffer pain, should be
compassionate with ourselves.  He says one of the great practices is
to pretend that you're enlightened and try to act that way.
	19:50: Joe tells Larry that he has to go to bed, can't promise
that he will use Larry's material on his show, won't pay him if he
doesn't.  Larry's unhappy with talking to Joe but not getting paid for
it.  Larry tries to negotiate alternative payment; Joe refuses.
	26:50: Kornfield quotes Ecclesiastes, 'To everything there is
a season...' (3:1) to introduce the idea of things always changing,
that we have to learn to accept it.  He tells the joke about the
department store that asks a customer what the neighbors would think
if they repossessed his furniture.  He tells the story of the fellow
in a boat on the river, run into by an empty boat, then by one with a
man in it.
	31:20: Larry tells about acting in 'The Workroom' in Baltimore
about 1982. (https://www.facebook.com/theworkroomnyc) It's about a
sewing factory in Paris after the war.  They visit a sewing factory in
Baltimore.  The workers there are contemptuous of them, tell them
actors can't understand their work.  Larry recurs to how Joe pays him.
Joe tells Larry that if he had to pay 'top dollar' for every
conversation he couldn't afford it, would fire him.
	41:40: Kornfield says that nothing can appease suffering but
facing it.
	47:10: Larry says there must be a Larry-Block following in
Joe's audience, that Joe should advertise his works at the end of
Joe's shows, as he does Kornfield's.
	48:40: Kornfield asks how we can judge others when we don't
know their stories.  (He mentions Stephen Levine and a hospice nurse
he also mentioned in 'Karma part 7'.)
	55:40: Larry and Joe talk about payment more.  Larry describes
Joe's luxurious life (yachts, chauffeured limousines, olympic pool...)

	http://jfwiki.org/index.php?title=Karma_For_Dollars

russell bell