Gorilla of My Dreams

“Gorilla of my dreams!” was just one of the quotes at Tod Brilliant’s Polaroid Art opening at the Flying Goat coffee house in Healdsburg. One time Tod told us that he would like to go down to the local coffee shop in a gorilla suit, order a coffee, sit there and drink it–all without talking. He just wanted to see people’s reactions.

It turns out he actually did do that once. I didn’t know he’d actually done it though. He and a friend dressed up in gorilla suits, walked down to the Flying Goat, ordered coffee — and I think — attempted to drink it. After my experience in the gorilla suit last night, I’m not quite sure how someone might accopmlish that.

Regardless, Tod had a rather successful opening last night–or it seemed successful from my perspective. There were many people, some wine, and root beer floats. I arrived just after 8h00 pm and everything was in full swing. Because a year or so ago, Tod had mentioned this gorilla suit scenario, I thought it would be funny to attend his art show opening in a gorilla costume. I rented a gorilla suit from a local costume shop (including a tutu–because I wanted to be a girl gorilla).

I made a tiny child cry. A few people tried to talk to me, but I have such a quiet voice and the mask made it impossible to hear me say anything. I just ended up standing around getting stinky and hot — which is just what you would expect from a gorilla suit.

The best thing was though, nobody expected me to arrive in a gorilla suit. Tod thought I was his friend who’d dressed up with him before. Andi didn’t know who the hell I was (until I had to breathe and I showed her my face). I hope Tod and Andi appreciated the appearance. I just thought it would be funny.