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Rolling Stone
April 7, 1994
Life
on the Duplex Planet
by Richard Gehr
If
stand-up sociologist David Greenberger had his way, every school would
have to post a sign reading, WHEN YOU GET OLDER, EVERYTHING WILL BE
DIFFERENT.
Greenberger
has been illustrating that axiom since 1979, when he began
posing evocative questions like "Which do you prefer, meat or
coffee?" and
"How close can you get to a penguin?" to the residents of
Boston's Duplex
Nursing Home, scribbling down their free-range response.
Who
invented sitting down? "The man that couldn't stand up"
(Bernie Reagan).
What can you tell me about the Beatles? "I can't remember that
far back! I
used to go to musicals in New York. There's no place like New York
- my
father said that, and his daughter says it now" (Edna Hemion).
Greenberger
published the hilarious and moving results in The Duplex
Planet, a modest, on-going 'zine, the best of which is now available
as a
book of the same title (Faber and Faber). In addition a Duplex Planet
comic
series (Fantagraphics), card set (Kitchen Sink), CD (East Side Digital)
and
video (Gravita International) all lend multimedia voice to this chorus
of
elders. On stage, NRBQ keyboardist Terry Adams punctuates Greenberger's
touring monologue with Ellington interludes.
"We're
taught that 18 to 25 are the glory years," says Greenberger,
39.
"I'm trying to give a name, a face and a character to the phenomenon
of
aging."
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