As the world plunges deeper into chaos and uncertainty, it’s important to remember that no matter what happens in the near future, at the very least we’ll have real-life genius, and potentially omnipresent deity, Bill Murray, to draw inspiration from. The veritable 21st century renaissance man has stepped into the role of actor, comedian, golfer, bartender,dishwasher, karaoke singer, ticket taker, and all around good guy in his post-divorce free for all, and has been showing up left and right to do, well, whatever the hell he feels like, it seems. I mean, who’s going to say no to freaking Bill Murray?
This time, the news is that Murray was in Oakland, driving a taxi, while the real driver was in the backseat, playing the sax, naturally. At the Toronto Film Festival this past Friday, during “Bill Murray Day” (of course), the legendary actor/troublemaker told audiences of his experience in the Bay Area earlier last week. Apparently, Murray’s taxi driver to Sausalito was a saxophone player in his free time, so Murray asked him, “When do you practice?” And he said, “I don’t know, I drive like 14 hours a day.” And [Murray] said, “Well, where’s your sax.” He said, “It’s in the trunk.” So Bill hopped in the front, telling him to get his sax out and start practicing, adding “I know how to drive a car.” And so they went.
Along the way, the driver and musician stopped at a “sketchy rib place” around 2 a.m. for some grub, during which time Murray told the dude to keep playing, while the surrounding crowd was like “What the hell? Little, crazy white dude playing that thing” to which Murray, who I believe is a transcendental being, said “Relax, man, you’ve got the fucking horn, we’re cool here,” and all was chill as chill can be.
Has Bill Murray attained some higher level of peace? Is he one with the universe’s ebb and flow? As he explained, “It made for a beautiful night. And we’ve done that. And I think we’d all do that. I think if you saw that moment and you’re as they say, ‘available,’ you’d make that connection and you’d do it right.” I like to think that if the world were a little more Murray, then perhaps we could avoid all the pain and suffering, lost dreams, and broken promises. Maybe we all just need to hop in the front seat of a taxi and let the dude take a break with his sax and some ribs. Know Murray, know peace.
[Via San Jose Mercury News, Paste; taxi photo from zombieite]
Got a tip for The Bold Italic? Email tips@thebolditalic.com.