Conversations With Friends and Others

A Chat With: Erik Smith

2010-01-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

Erik Smith

I've known Erik since about 2000, when we both lived in Austin. At the time he managed a bar I used to regular in. We'd also both studied acting in the same studio, but under different teachers.

He moved up to Chicago in 2007 with his girlfriend at the time. He introduced me to my current vocation of pedicabbing, which he'd started doing here after having pedicabbed in New York for a number of years. He kind of drifts around between New York, Chicago and Florida, and pedicabs in each town.

After some drama and some shake-up, he lived on my floor for six months last year. He may again. However, I'm sure we both hope not. It got real annoying.

Hopefully we'll hear more from him, as he can be an interesting guy to jaw with.

Oliver- You’re in Fort Lauderdale

Erik- Yes. I’m pedicabbing for right now, trying to stay out of trouble.

O- What kind of trouble could you get into?

E- Oh, drinking too much Natty Light (laughs).

O- So, it’s okay down there?

E- Yeah, there’s the Super Bowl February 6th , the Pro-Bowl before that on the 31st, the NFL Experience

O- They still make you wear those Hawaiian shirts to pedicab down there?

E- Yeah, we have to put up with that shit. It’s like communism.

O- Sounds more like a dictatorship than communism.

E- Yeah, that’s exactly what it is, it’s a dictatorship. And there’s a fear factor involved, like if we don’t pay the lease weekly then some douchebag from another state will get our bike. There’s a long waiting list, so the threat’s always there.

O- Kinda sounds like the worst of both worlds. I mean, you know my thing, if I have to abide by a dress code somebody had better be signing me a check. No way I’m gonna pay for the privilege.

E- And that’s the other thing, we’re doing this promo for Land Shark. Land Shark stadium is where the Dolphins play and we’re doing this thing for Land Shark Lager, which is owned by Budweiser, and they make us wear those shirts. It’s pretty lame, you’re guaranteed not to get laid. I guess if you’re Sammy Hagar…

O- Yeah, it worked for Sammy Hagar

E- I don’t have the career that he’s had, or the tequila, which is actually good tequila.

O- Really…the Cabo Wabo?

E- Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty embarrassing to order, it’s in this toxic blue bottle, but it’s pretty decent.

O- And so, you’re gonna work down there for a bit and then…

E- Well, you know, you keep looking at the weather map, strictly for the weather. Hopefully, by mid-February I’ll have three to four thousand dollars if I play my cards right.

Then I’ll probably go back to New York, start auditioning again. I had a pretty sweet place in Harlem, it was $100 a week and on 130th Street, only 20 blocks from Central Park. I don’t know, come back to Chicago, collect my crap, maybe work through the baseball season, maybe go to Portland for about a month.

I’m looking at getting a netbook online, I’ll probably get some writing done.

O- What kind of writing?

E- The good kind. I don’t really like to talk about it, I have a couple of script ideas.

O- So, things there are all good.

E- Yeah, there’s three weeks of bullshit and it’s cheesy ass Florida but I’m sort of beyond that.

A Discussion With: Carolyn Hunt

2010-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

Carolyn Hunt

I know her better as Mom.

Oliver- Okay, Mom, something I wanted to talk about, Grandma, your mom, was adopted right?

Carolyn- Yes she was.

O- Was there ever an attempt to find out who her biological parents were?

C- Your grandmother did look into it, after her mother, my grandmother died

O- Her adoptive mother.

C- Yes. Well, you weren’t here that one Thanksgiving, but she was up here and she went on and on about how her mother was such a liar. She would ask her mother questions about where they got her and she would say she didn’t know or she wouldn’t tell her.

O- So Grandma had no idea.

C- Right. And then, after her mother died she…I don’t know if she went to an attorney, but she found out her birth mother’s name and where she was from.

O- Where was she from?

C- Oklahoma, but I think her mother had her out here. At the time there were homes for unwed mothers and stuff and they would fabricate. There was an article in the Kansas City Star about them if you’re looking to research it.

O- How long ago was the article?

C- Oh I don’t know, a long time ago.

O- Eighties? Nineties? Seventies?

C- Probably nineties. But these homes for unwed mothers would fabricate information that might not even be true. They would make stuff up and lie to adoptive parents. They’d tell them any old thing to get those kids adopted. So anything she would tell us was all just speculation.
I didn’t even know she was adopted until I was in high school. She may have known more than she would tell us, but…you know, it was difficult for her. Like in school we’d have to do family trees and… she just didn’t have it, she didn’t know, and she would try to guess at her nationality.

O- So it’s a missing piece, genetically.

C- Oh yeah, absolutely, and you make up stories to go along with it. And it’s been so long now, it’s been 85* years, so trying to find anything out would be impossible. If her birth mother was sent away, her immediate family might not even know if there was a child.

O- What was her birth mother’s name?

C- Last name was Arnold. She said on her birth certificate her name was Audrey, so she was born Audrey Arnold.

O- I’m assuming Arnold is an English name.

C- Yes it is.

O- What was your reaction when you found out?

C-Well I was shocked. Then everything started falling into place. Like when we’d talk about nationality she’d say, “Oh, we’re just a hodge-podge and a little bit of everything.” And the way I found out, there was some argument or some drama and my grandma said, “Well, you know your mother’s adopted right?” and I was just, “umm…no, I didn’t know that.” It wasn’t something that was discussed.

*My grandmother, who my family and I had known as Beatrice Howard, died in 2004 at the age of 84, and any records would actually have to date back about 90 years.

Interview With: Oliver Hunt

2010-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

I figured what better way to kick off this endeavor than to start by probing my own self (go ahead, yeah, I set myself up for it). Sometimes a person’s gotta be their own best friend.

Oliver- Hey you

Oliver- Hey guy

O- So, where are you right now?

O- Right now I’m in a coffee shop in Ravenswood, but when I type this up it’ll be at the library. I’m on my fourth cup of coffee today. I was gonna try to quit coffee this year and switch to tea but, for now, I like the white noise and idle chatter of coffee shops to read, write and study in, and coffee’s cheaper than tea in those places and I’m usually pretty broke so…

O- Well, how are you surviving this winter?

O- Well, I’ll tell you, this winter doesn’t feel nearly as harsh or as desperate as last year’s. Maybe I’m more acclimated to it because this summer was such a non-summer. I mean, it barely got warm and it hardly ever got hot or sweltering.

Another thing is…I kinda lucked out. Without saying too much, I don’t have to worry about rent for a couple of months. Granted, after paying rent a few months in advance there wasn’t a lot left over, but that’s a pretty big thing not to have to worry about.
So, even though it’s January, I still take the pedicab out to things like Blackhawks games. I might only get a ride or two, but if I make twenty bucks I can get a cup of coffee and some groceries. That’s the thing, it’s never actually preferred, but I know how to survive on little to no actual income.

O- We should talk more later.

O- Definitely. You know where to find me.