The other day Stephan and I were talking about this thing we always laugh about, and honestly, he was just really describing it better than me, so I was all "Why don't you write the blog post about it?"
And he did! Please welcome Stephan Cox.
"Going for It"
Lori and I have an expression we like to call “going for it.” It refers to anyone who wholeheartedly and unironically engages in an activity that is clearly ridiculous. The unironic aspect is absolutely key, because if you stop, even for a split second, to play it safe, to indicate self-awareness, or worst of all, to reveal you’re aware just how ridiculous you’re being, the whole thing collapses in on itself and you lose the designation of “going for it,” and with it, our respect. Because when you see someone going for it, you must admire them.
This is a phenomenon that is better illustrated than discussed, so I’ll provide some video clips to show you what I’m talking about. But first, let me tell you about our dog. When we leave him in the house alone for too long, the minute we come home and open the door, he has to (he must!) tear out of the house and into the yard, running at top speed, without any destination or direction. As he runs, there is a look on his face that says “I do not care that I am running for no reason! I must run! Run! Run! Laugh all you want, haters, but I am going to run! I AM RUNNING!” We do laugh, but it’s mostly with admiration.
The phenomenon of Going for It (GFI) is, of course, more demonstrable in humans, because dogs aren’t capable of self-reflection, guile, or embarrassment the way humans are (*note to fellow dog owners: I’m not saying dogs can’t get embarrassed. In fact, one time at the beach in Carmel, Baxter made the mistake of trying to pick up another, larger dog’s toy, and was subsequently (and hilariously) hump-dominated. The look of mortification on Baxter’s face after was of pure embarrassment. Now, before you go feeling to bad for ol’ Bax, I should point out that he’s often a cranky douche around other dogs—adorable puppies in particular—so it was funny to us to see him getting some payback. He, however, doesn’t like it when we bring it up).
There are certain individuals who routinely go for it, by dint of what they do professionally. Take Riverdancers. What they are doing, for all intents and purposes, is patently ridiculous. But they sell it, so it works. Similarly, yodelers. Again, a specific, very demanding skill that is flat out absurd, but you kind of have to admire a fella or gal who does it, because it’s nearly impossible to yodel ironically. If you can find me a Youtube clip of someone yodeling ironically, I’ll buy you cookie.
Mariachi bands also notoriously go for it. They are 100% irony free as a discipline, and their very music is, just, wow. Here I must mention the Gipsy Kings, not because they’re a mariachi band, but because they do share certain traits. If you’ve ever listened to the Gipsy Kings (and let’s face it, if you’ve ever set foot in a Pottery Barn, you have), you will know that they do not deal in shades of gray. They go from zero to OH MY GOD THEY ARE TOTALLY GOING FOR IT, with the top-of-the-lungs singing, the crazy hand clapping, the machine-gun-like acoustic guitar playing. I believe it is possible to break a sweat just by listening to the Gipsy Kings.
An individual who routinely goes for it is Richard Simmons. He is like a little 50-something wind-up toy that just bounce, bounce, bounces everywhere in his little short-shorts and kinky afro. You can laugh at him (everyone does), but he MEANS IT, he goes for it, and so it’s endearing.
Biz Markie also goes for it (YOOOOOOUUUU! YOU GOT WHAT I NEEEEEEEED!), but we're pretty sure he’s developmentally disabled, so he doesn’t count. Ol’ Dirty Bastard of the Wu Tang Klan went for it, but he was certifiably insane, and besides, he’s no longer with us (tip your 40, won’t you?). A funny side note about that: when my friend Jim Maloy emailed me to tell me Ol’ Dirty had passed, I asked what was the cause of death. Drugs? Heart attack? To which Jim replied: “Naw, his head just fell off.”
Now for some video examples. There was a singer who made some recordings in the 80s named Shooby Taylor, and if you haven’t heard of Shoob, please allow me to introduce you to something the likes of which you have never heard before nor will ever hear again (he’s since passed on, sadly). Shooby had his very own style of scat singing, and he wanted the world to hear it. So back in the 80s in New York, he would go down to these little recording booths they used to have in Times Square where you could cut a single of yourself singing, either along to something pre-recorded in their library of songs, or to something you brought along yourself. Shooby would show up to one of these places with a stack of instrumental LPs under his arm. He would then ask the engineer to dim the lights, while Shooby would take off his shirt, play “air saxophone” while he sang, and Go. For. It. If you can make it through this track without smiling, you are clinically dead.
The next clip of going for it is one you’ve likely already seen a few times over the last year or so. It features a guy on 1970s Soviet Russia TV, with brown hair, wearing a brown suit, with a brown tie, in front of a brown backdrop full of what look like giant paperclips. (This, by the way, is what I was sure everything looked like in the Soviet Union when I was a kid: just… brown). He sings a song about how happy he is to be going home, the refrain to which is, sing it with me now…
I have saved the best for last for you, because this individual is the very embodiment of Going for It. Lori and I first encountered SK Thoth in the BART station at 24th and Mission in San Francisco, where he would perform for money. And by perform, I mean he would dress up in what looked like some version of gypsy garb that was clearly purchased at Ross or Dress Barn, along with high heeled shoes that showed off his very shapely, shaven calves, and he would play his violin and sing in an impossibly high falsetto, while keeping time with some jingle-jangle thingies he had fastened around each ankle.
He’s made some changes since then—he’s since relocated to New York and now dresses a little more like the Indian from the Village People, but the effect is very much the same:
I know! When we first encountered him in San Francisco, our initial reaction was to mock mercilessly. But a) this was San Francisco, and we, the Normal People, were essentially on his turf, and b) he was so completely and totally committed to his… thing… that the only possible response was complete and utter admiration. Again, if there had ever been even a glimmer of self-consciousness or irony, it would have been terrible. But it worked so well that someone made a documentary about Thoth that won an Academy Award. If you happened to watch the Oscars that year, you will definitely remember him. He didn’t speak during the acceptance speech (the filmmaker did), but he was up there on the dais in full regalia. And when they were played off, he sang and yipped with joy, twirling and jingle-jangling all the way off stage.
Note from Lori: Another thing I admire about Thoth is his work ethic. He SEEMS crazy, but he's so organized, man! It's like he lays out his crazy pants very carefully every day, shows up for work in the same place, and works really, really hard at his job, which is….singing crazy songs and dancing back and forth while playing the violin, which to me is just enough diametrically opposed things to make it hilarious. His appearance implies a certain lack of capability in this direction, but I'll be damned if he wasn't out there every day at 8am when I went to work in San Francisco. OK, back to Stephan:
I caught up with Thoth in Central Park recently, where he performs in the great hall in front of the Bethesda Angel. He has incorporated a ghostly pale young woman who performs with him (apparently known as the Pink Angel). It goes without saying, she, too, goes for it.
If you can't get enough Thoth, there is a whole documentary on him, and you can watch it here. It is fascinating!
I guess the bottom line is, if you’re different, embrace and celebrate that difference with everything you’ve got. And it you do it with total commitment, people will celebrate with you.
Go for it!
