xtcian

lwb

1/30/04

left: Lindsay and me in April 1991; right: Lindsay and me in March 2002

This blog is going out to one of my closest friends in the world, Lindsay Bowen. I don't know anybody (with the exception of Salem) who maintains a positive outlook on life like he does – we made fun of him in college because his debauchery was only outpaced by his inability to actually get into trouble. He's a cat with 9,000 lives, and proof that good grace and good humor acts as proper padding to any misstep.

I've oft-told this story, but I met Lindsay in 1989 when he was fresh out of high school – he was the lighting director for a Lab play I was in called "Private Wars." There was this one scene where Chris Briggs was trying to explain something to John Bland, and the lighting changed with the story, and it always got a laugh. Probably the only time in drama history a light cue got a laugh, and only because Lindsay is just one of those people who gets it.

The only time I was ever furious at him was at Mardi Gras 1992, where he drank our entire bottle of Southern Comfort while we were playing Ultimate Frisbee. Then I think he threw up in our guests' house, which was insult to injury, but quickly became hilarious about a week later. The rest of the time, he – along with Dana – have been utter saviors. They eased my transition to the Carrboro farm in 1994, they let me stay two uninvited months in their house in 1997, and they provided the proper impetus for me to move to New York in 2000 (without which my life would never have wildly diverted to the right path).

His devotion to theater has gone past the "childhood crush" phase, past the "college dabbling" chapter, straight through the "gotta pay Manhattan rent" collapse, and on into What He's Doing With His Life. He slogged through seven years of writing code for credit card companies until the right gig came along. Now, he has suffered through one of the worst winters of discontent I can imagine. A lot of tragedy has befallen him of late, so I wanted to tell him, through this public space, that we love him very much and I know this will be a hard landing, but it will be on his feet.