Monkey Man All the World's A Cage (Man) Arlo Thurston cuts trees for a living. But when no one's watching he is the world's greatest entertainer. The trouble is, no one's watching. Or rather, they don't know they are. That's because Arlo is always entertaining...he doesn't know when to stop. But Hollywood couldn't care less. So Arlo stands outside, on the edge of "The Business", doing his own business. And his girlfriend thinks he's wasting his time, and his clients think he's wasting his talents. "He's such a good tree trimmer", they say, "why would he want to do that!?"
(Monkey) He wakes up. He walks on two feet. He goes to work. He chops and hacks down trees.
He is needled and wheedled by customers. He is thinking about a joke he can live out. He is running out of time--he is pushing on the bars of a cage of his own making. He is trying to love and running on fear. He is tired and he is lonely. He knows nothing. He knows everything. He wants to shake you up. He wants to pull the rug out from under your comfortable existence. He wants to cathode-ray-gun you with his genuflecting-hippie-drugged-out-philosophizing-cooler-than-coolness. And sometimes he's just a crab, doing a dance.
He's a guy tapping his feet. On this planet. Firm, brown earth. He knows there is a connection between him and the earth. Between him and the trees he swings through. The trees he cuts to give life.
The leaves scatter in the bed of his old F-150. His dreams scatter and he chases them down the streets of Venice. He sleeps in a bed. He has a girlfriend. They fight. They make LOVE. Arlo Thurston--Monkey Man.
He loves to love and joke and run and scream through the trees. He has a chainsaw. Arlo is an entertainer in search of a stage. He is a monkey in search of a clan. He is a human in search of a thought...Arlo Thurston is a man. Arlo is a monkey. Modern. Primitive.
Sound: Grruzzzz...sxcreezzawwwssgggzzzzzzz.thud...Another branch....crea...ak....c...crack....shugghggsshhhhssss....a mind is a terrible thing to be a hominoid....I run....I dream....I dance.......I sleep....CUT....Run....dance...dream, perchance to.....hooray for Hollywood....you....I....Are.....a.......man....a....monkey...banana....peel out....run....breathe....stop...look and listen. See no....hear no....speak......NO!
Dream...Rage...Love...Heartbreak and redemption coupons...hold hands when crossing the street....swing through the trees...I live in a city of godless, nameless dwellers...we wake...we go to our jobs....we dream of Hollywood endings....I dream of waves...of curl...of foam...of sun on my back...a Tree....limbs...sky....endless out toward my hearts...redemption...salvation....what price?....what from?....save me from being human to...forgive...to reach...the sky...from the 405...the deal...the dump...the drudgery...the chains...the bars.......words....grunt...eye...eye....live...to die....I have hands....they clutch the wood...The jagged blade....CUTS....the tree bleeds...my breath....the wood....the day...the duty...
