Sam Shepard was arrested yesterday in Illinois for drunk driving. According to news reports, his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. I don’t have any sympathy for drunk drivers, and I hope that if Shepard is convicted a judge won’t either.

But what I really want to talk about is this mug shot, which propels Shepard into the rarified ranks that include, say, Nick Nolte.

Well, he certainly looks drunk. And I know we all age (if we’re lucky). But my first thought after seeing this was about potential future roles for Sam. It now occurs to me that if Sam Shepard writes a sequel to “True West” (as Albee wrote a prequel to “The Zoo Story”), then Shepard seems perfectly disposed to play Dad. Because he looks like a toothless old man who lives in the desert. Yes, Sam Shepard, early action playwright and former hipster and lover to Patti Smith has become… a coot.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 9:51 am and is filed under On reading, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.