The Homecoming Tape

Few films actually display life as it should be. Hollywood gets too superficial and glamorous and turn imagination into Coke-a-Cola ads. The underground gets too gritty and grumpy. Jack Smith's Normal Love (1963-4) does neither. It hits to the core of what people want. Green fields. Pink clothes. A sense of euphoria. Swings! Who doesn't want to be pushed on a swing right now? I would simply die if someone was pushing me on a swing right now. I'd hold on to the chains tightly and stare out, looking for something miles away.

The film has such excitement and energy. Smith just finished his landmark Flaming Creatures (1963) which met much opposition. So he said "fuck it," got all his friends together, went way outside New York City, far away from the Village, far away from the swamp of a harbor, and made a bizarre film in vibrant color. Since he was too afraid to finish anything after Creatures, he would always edit the film on the fly WHILE IT WAS SCREENING. It's fantastic. It's the film I was trying to emulate all through high school even though I didn't know it.

Others like the Velvet Underground, I like the Mothers of Invention. Others like Andy Warhol, I like Jack Smith.

I can't wait to go home. I reserved a Hi8 camera just like the good old days and make a whole tape of everyone back home. All the places I love. 28 from Yarmouth to West Harwich. Main Street, Orleans. Eastham to Welfleet. Commercial Street, P-Town. My grandmother's living room in the afternoon. My dad's house near twilight. Chatham. I'll go there. I'll go everywhere. I'll see everyone and I'll create.