It's a joy to be around people who are capable of original thought and who haven't had that particular gift knocked out of their heads by a lifetime of indoctrination at school, at work, and in groups of people.
Willie Morrissey, above, is one of the most surprising and insightful thinkers I have ever met, leavened by a deadpan wit that has a playful, childish silliness to it. (All my favorite thinkers are amused by their own brains.)
Willie has just started his own blog, inspired by this one he claims, and I can't wait to see how it evolves. One of his first posts showed the connection between tennis great Pancho Gonzales and painting legend Wayne Thiebaud in the form of an old character at the Golden Gate Park tennis courts. It's pretty brilliant.
Click here to check it out so far.
I met Willie while playing on a softball team for The Lone Star Saloon years ago which is where I met another original thinker, Willie Watson, above. He was a fine athlete, musician, filmmaker, along with being a municipal slave for San Francisco's Muni bus system.
He died young last week on his couch. Besides being an original, a kindler, gentler soul than Willie can hardly be imagined. Rest in peace.
Thanks for the nice words, and some accuracy,
ReplyDeletetoo "...childish," "...silliness." Right on.
So sad to hear about Willie (I used to know his last name). I didn't interact with him that much. He had no interest in my schtick, for which I admired him. He seemed like a grown-up. It felt good just knowing he was around.