This really has little to do with the blog but it was necessary as a precursor to explain what I was doing in a cemetery. During the actual funeral ceremony I had a million things running through my head. I began to wonder what is was like to work in a funeral home, to be the pianist during the ceremony. There were 4 or 5 funerals that day and your job is to play their departure song? That is heavy! I suppose this, like any job, begins to get painfully repetitive. They go home at the end of the day and the fact that they witnessed 5 groups of people say goodbye, sometimes untimely goodbyes, probably doesn't phase them anymore. It must be same feeling that scientists get when they have to experiment on animals. A few jobs I have applied to required me to do unthinkable things to mice. They asked me if I was okay with that. In reality the thought of it is a shade below horrible, but clearly if I expressed it in that manner, I would not have gotten the job. But I am told that any displeasure in treating the animals in this way is quickly dissolved. You just get used to it and become numb, even joking about it. The point is moot since I was never even offered those jobs.
Then the priest, wow what a tough job. I mean having to talk about death all day and needing to look sincere at all times. Man, that is like when people expect comedians to be funny and happy all the time. In my head I just want to believe that comedians don't cry and that girls don't poop but that is just ridiculous. When I am at work I can turn to a co-worker and say a joke to lighten the mood. Not this guy. When the preacher teared up, was it a show or was it legitimate? I mean wow! I suppose some people are more in tune with emotions than other people, but everyday? Do they make fun of the customers like some people who work in retail?
After the ceremony my friend let loose that Jan Paul Beahm (a.k.a. Darby Crash) was buried in this cemetery. Darby, if you don't know, was the idolized singer of the influential L.A. punk band, The Germs. I used to listen to them in high school so I thought it would be neat to check out his grave. We went up to the office to find a very cheerful atmosphere just like in any office, water cooler jokes and such. They ended up giving us a map to the celebrity graves. Sharon Tate and Bing Crosby just to name a few. We couldn't find Bing's tomb stone but we did find an 'Albert Crosley' and assumed that either that was his real name or that the cemetery screwed up. We never found Sharon Tate's but we did find Darby's since one of us had been there before.
While death is not as funny in real life as it is portrayed in some classic movie scenes, like when Jeff Bridges and John Goodman attempt to get Steve Buscemi's ashes in "The Big Lebowksi", I can honestly say that the business of death is an interesting one.
1 comments:
Unlike you, I really want to believe that comedians don't poop and that girls don't cry.
Post a Comment