Trillin first in series of lectures
By Paul Haist
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A few years ago I had a Travis Bickle moment at the Columbian Cafe in Astoria.
It was morning. I was seated alone in a booth with a cup of coffee and The Oregonian.
Another man was seated on a stool at the counter opposite my booth. He was hunkered over his breakfast.
I was waiting for two women to join me for breakfast.
The women arrived. They were full of chatter as they settled in with me. One of them asked me something.
At that moment, the man at the counter spun around on his stool. I looked up at him and he fixed me in his gaze with steely blue eyes.
"You talkin' to me?" he asked. He bit off each word like a piece of beef jerky.
I froze.
This was my Travis Bickle moment.
You remember Travis Bickle. He was Robert DeNiro's character in the Martin Scorsese film "Taxi Driver," the mentally unstable Vietnam vet who, armed to the teeth, dialogued with himself in his dresser mirror: "You talkin' to me?"
But it was not Travis Bickle or Robert DeNiro at the Columbian Caf? that morning, and the only thing the man at the counter was armed with was a fork, which was appropriate because he was Calvin Trillin who likes to write about food.
Trillin is a longtime contributor to the New Yorker magazine, "Deadline Poet" for The Nation magazine where he writes a column of comic verse about contemporary politics, a noted food writer, and the author of several popular books, most of which are not about food.
I got to talk with Trillin a little that day in old Astoria.
Now, Trillin can be talkin' to you.
Trillin is the leadoff speaker in this season's Portland Arts and Lectures series presented by Literary Arts. He'll appear on stage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 10.
He's filling in for Joan Didion who had to cancel her Portland appearance.
Trillin's most recent book is "A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme," published this May as a sequel to his best-selling "Obviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme," published in 2004.
Trillin said of his efforts at poetic politicking or political poeticizing, "We weren't going to know whether you could bring down a presidency with iambic pentameter until somebody tried it."
Here's how Trillin explained the naming of his latest book, and some of his doggerel to go with it:
" 'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!' " From the moment President George W. Bush uttered that phrase—to Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—we knew that it would be attached to his presidency forever..."
A qualified guy, I wish I had added.
Your resume's super, even if padded.
We wanted the best to lead FEMA's forces,
And who would know more than a man who knows horses?
You saw that the storm was more than some showers,
And sent off a memo in four or five hours.
You found out that life in the Dome was not Super—
And only a day after Anderson Cooper.
A heckuva job! You know how to lead 'em.
We hope to award you the Medal of Freedom.
Trillin has been consistent in his expression of dissatisfaction with, if not his disdain for, the current U.S. president.
Defenders of George W. Bush are likely to wince more than a little at some of Trillin's political observations, although they may find it difficult also not to laugh with the man.
Here is something else from his new book, this about Sept. 11, 2001, and the mess in Iraq:
"The only time George W. Bush seemed reluctant to talk about 9/11 was when he was asked to appear before the 9/11 Commission. Otherwise, he mentioned it constantly, usually just before mentioning the importance of taking our fight against terrorism to Iraq. Considering his attempt to make his case by what rhetoricians might call relentless juxtaposition, George W. Bush may someday be referred to by historians as the Great Conflater."
Regardless of whether one agrees with Trillin on some of today's key issues, it remains that his is a voice inspired by a gift for expression that can make us laugh even in in these unsettling times.
In a brief phone interview he said it was too early for him to know what he would discuss in Portland.
While Trillin frequently has addressed political issues, many readers admire him especially for his writing about American regional cuisine, as collected in "The Tummy Trilogy" (1994).
He also is admired for his personal narratives, including "Remembering Denny" (1993) and "Messages from My Father" (1996), which were New York Times bestsellers.
His forthcoming memoir, "About Alice," follows his recent New Yorker article, "Alice, Off the Page." Alice is his wife.
General admission tickets to Trillin's appearance here are priced at $26. Seniors 60 and over and college students with ID get in for $20. Upper balcony tickets are $10. Children get in for $5.
Tickets can be ordered online at www.literary-arts.org. Click on Box Office. Contact Literary Arts by phone at 503-227-2583.