Tim Murphy...

Tim's been on my mind a lot lately... probably because I keep running into him.

Mind you, this is Tim in Oregon we're talking about here, and though that makes him hard to run into I still seem to manage it.

Tim and I met back in high school and it didn't take long for me to realize I'd found my brother, if not by birth. I'd never really felt close to my own brother - let's be real, I hated him at the time - but Tim had all the qualities you'd expect from a brother without the burden of being related.

We grew very close.

After high school, well, things kind of fell apart between us - shattered is more like it - but I've been very fortunate to find him again. He lives in Oregon and I'm here in Orange County, California but we try to keep in touch.

And, like I said, though it's hard to run into the guy, he's popping up almost as much as Rosa!

So, I thought I'd write about it.

This probably all has to do with the Newport Theater Arts Center, where we're performing "Something to Hide", in a way. You see, many years ago.... okay, a shitload of years ago - we're talking circa 1983 - Tim and I performed there. Tim was taking some kind of performing class and needed someone to help him with a musical number. Me, being the wunderkind that I was, jumped at the opportunity. We did a song from Sweet Charity - the trapped in the elevator song (which has to be reworked as those of you who know the show will certainly know).

So, every time I go down there, I think of Tim. (Mind you, when I get there I think of Rosa - as mentioned in a previous post.)

Then, last night, I started watching Arthur, the film with Dudley Moore.

It seems like an eternity ago but Tim and I saw that movie in the theater. It was a dollar theater - back when they had those - and I think Tim and I actually snuck into it (theater-hopped). We very quickly picked up on Mr. Moore's laugh/cackle and did it throughout the movie... and after the movie... mostly me.

Now, memory being so fragile, there are so many things that I since escaped me. For instance, how did we get to Newport Beach? How did we get home from the dollar theater in Fountain Valley? (I want to say we walked - we were stupid enough to....)

Tim and I would often walk everywhere - smoking, of course - and talk about everything. I've been very lucky to have friends with ideas who like to talk: both Tims, Rich, Rob, Rosa, Sean, Sean, and Sean...

Tim Murphy looks a whole lot like Kevin Smith, the film-maker, in case you're wondering - and could play a wicked Silent Bob.

And I am very lucky to know him.