everyday boheme

This weekend my wife and I went to see a revival of Merce Cunningham and John Cage’s “Roratorio,” and I realized that almost certainly the first time I heard these two great artists’ names together was in a song from RENT. “La Vie Boheme” — the impromptu mock funeral staged at the end of the first act — is a running commentary and tribute to decades of bohemian inspirations.

When I was in eighth grade, my class did a project based on Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” — we had to go home, talk to our parents, and report back on each of the cultural references he sings about. I was familiar already with some of the people or places mentioned, but in some way everything I learned later about, say, thalidomide or “Russians in Afghanistan” was built on top of that lyrical mnemonic device.

So — in homage to all of the ways that RENT has been a creative touchpoint for a generation (or more) of younger artists, activists, theatergoers and fans, and because we’re terribly impatient about the three nights we’ll spend in August at the Hollywood Bowl seeing Neil Patrick Harris’ production, we’re starting a group blog to document each of the people, places, events and ideas name-checked in “La Vie Boheme” and its reprise, “La Vie Boheme B.” And we need your help. All of you.

Here’s how it works. You can either go here to easily submit a post or email me to become a member of this group Tumblr. Then, go here to read the lyrics to both parts of the song and find something you know a lot about — or don’t know anything about yet.

You can explain or make an homage to any lyric in any way you see fit: post photos, YouTube videos, recreate meals or performances and invite everyone you know — anything that inspires you to create in the spirit of RENT and all of its own inspirations.

We’ll update this master post with links to each post as they go up. You don’t need to claim anything, but let’s do our best to avoid duplication in hopes of completing the entire list. (Here’s a great execution of this I just found, ironically, for “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”)

[Full introduction and explanation here.]

Here’s how it works. You can either go here to easily submit a post or email me to become a member of this group Tumblr. Then, go here to read the lyrics to both parts of the song and find something you know a lot about — or don’t know anything about yet.

You can explain or make an homage to any lyric in any way you see fit: post photos, YouTube videos, recreate meals or performances and invite everyone you know — anything that inspires you to create in the spirit of RENT and all of its own inspirations.

We’ll update this master post with links to each post as they go up. You don’t need to claim anything, but let’s do our best to avoid duplication in hopes of completing the entire list.

La Vie Boheme

(The BOHEMIANS immediately begin to enact a mock funeral, with MARK delivering the “eulogy.”)

MARK
Dearly beloved we gather here to say our goodbyes

COLLINS & ROGER
Dies irae — dies illa
Kyrie eleison
Yitgadal v’ yitkadash, etc.

MARK
Here she lies
No one knew her worth
The late great daughter of mother earth
On this night when we celebrate the birth
In that little town of Bethlehem
We raise our glass — you bet your ass to —
(MAUREEN flashes hers.)
La vie Boheme

ALL
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme

MARK
To days of inspiration
Playing hookie, making something out of nothing
The need to express —
To communicate,
To going against the grain,
Going insane
Going mad

To loving tension, no pension
To more than one dimension,
To starving for attention,
Hating convention, hating pretension
Not to mention of course,
Hating dear old mom and dad

To riding your bike,
Midday past the three piece suits
To fruits — to no absolutes —
To Absolut — to choice —
To the Village Voice —
To any passing fad
To being an us for once
Instead of a them

ALL
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme



RESTAURANT MAN
So that’s five miso soup, four seaweed salad
Three soy burger dinner, two tofu dog platter
And one pasta with meatless balls

A BOY
Ugh

COLLINS
It tastes the same

MIMI
If you close your eyes

RESTAURANT MAN
And thirteen orders of fries
Is that it here?

ALL
Wine and beer!

MIMI & ANGEL
To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
To leather, to dildos, to curry vindaloo
To huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou

MAUREEN & COLLINS
Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion
Creation, vacation

MARK
Mucho masturbation

MAUREEN & COLLINS
Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it’s new

COLLINS
To Sontag

ANGEL
To Sondheim

FOUR PEOPLE
To anything taboo

COLLINS & ROGER
Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham and Cage

COLLINS
Lenny Bruce

ROGER
Langston Hughes

MAUREEN
To the stage

PERSON #1
To Uta

PERSON #2
To Buddha

PERSON #3
Pablo Neruda, too

MARK & MIMI
Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow
To blow off Auntie Em

ALL
La vie Boheme

(JOANNE returns.)

MAUREEN
And wipe the speakers off before you pack

JOANNE
Yes, Maureen

MAUREEN
Well — hurry back

(MAUREEN and JOANNE kiss.)

MR. GREY
Sisters?

MAUREEN
We’re close

(ANGEL jumps on top of COLLINS, who’s on the table. They kiss.)

ANGEL, COLLINS, MAUREEN, MARK, MR. GREY
Brothers!

MARK, ANGEL, MIMI & THREE OTHERS
Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens,
Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman
German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein
Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa
Carmina Burana

ALL
To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy
Vaclav Havel — The Sex Pistols, 8BC,
To no shame — never playing the Fame Game

COLLINS
To marijuana

ALL
To sodomy,
It’s between God and me
To S & M

(MR. GREY walks out.)

BENNY
Waiter…Waiter…Waiter

ALL
La vie Boheme

COLLINS
In honor of the death of Bohemia an impromptu salon will commence immediately following dinner…
Mimi Marquez, clad only in bubble wrap,
will perform her famous lawn chair-handcuff dance to the sounds of iced tea being stirred.

ROGER
Mark Cohen will preview his new documentary
about his inability to hold an erection on high holy days.

(ROGER picks up an electric guitar and starts to tune it.)

MARK
Maureen Johnson, back from her spectacular one-night engagement at the eleventh street lot,
Will sing native american tribal chants backwards through her vocoder,
While accompanying herself on the electric cello —
Which she has never studied.

(At this point, JOANNE has entered and seen MAUREEN playfully kiss MARK.
JOANNE exits. BENNY pulls MIMI aside.)

BENNY
Your new boyfriend doesn’t know about us?

MIMI
There’s nothing to know

BENNY
Don’t you think that we should discuss —

MIMI
It was three months ago

BENNY
He doesn’t act like he’s with you

MIMI
We’re taking it slow

BENNY
Where is he now?

MIMI
He’s right — hmm

BENNY
Uh huh

MIMI
Where’d he go?

MARK
Roger will attempt to write a bittersweet, evocative song.
(ROGER picks up a guitar and plays Musetta’s Theme.)
That doesn’t remind us of “Musetta’s Waltz”

COLLINS
Angel Dumott Schunard will now model the latest fall fashions from Paris
While accompanying herself on the 10 gallon plastic pickle tub.

ANGEL
And Collins will recount his exploits as an anarchist —
Including the successful reprogramming of the M.I.T. virtual reality equipment
To self-destruct, as it broadcast the words:

ALL
“Actual reality — Act Up — Fight AIDS”

BENNY
Check!!

La Vie Boheme B

To dance!

No way to make a living, masochism, pain, perfection
Muscle spasms, chiropractors, short careers, eating disorders!

ALL
Film!

MARK
Adventure, tedium, no family, boring locations,
Dark rooms, perfect faces, egos, money, Hollywood and sleaze!

ALL
Music!

ANGEL
Food of love, emotion, mathematics, isolation,
Rhythm, feeling, power, harmony, and heavy competition!

ALL
Anarchy!

COLLINS & MAUREEN
Revolution, justice, screaming for solutions,
Forcing changes, risk, and danger
Making noise and making pleas!

ALL
To faggots, lezzies, dykes, cross dressers too

MAUREEN
To me

MARK
To me

COLLINS & ANGEL
To me

ALL
To you, and you and you, you and you
To people living with, living with, living with
Not dying from disease
Let he among us without sin
Be the first to condemn
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme

MARK
Anyone out of the mainstream
Is anyone in the mainstream?
Anyone alive—with a sex drive

OTHERS
La vie boheme
La vie boheme
La vie boheme

MARK
Tear down the wall
Aren’t we all?
The opposite of war isn’t peace…
It’s creation!

ALL
La vie Boheme