RIP Bruds

December 9, 2004 4:21 AM

David Brudnoy -- Boston-area political commentator, film critic, and memoirist -- is close to death. After a debilitating illness ten years ago, Brudnoy has given a public face to living with AIDS, and has used his renown to found an organization for AIDS research. Last night, his final interview served as a public wake for his friends, his loyal listeners, and local government officials who sparred with him on his show.
posted by pxe2000 (9 comments total)

While at times, struggling a bit for the breath to speak, David Brudnoy is always, the open book and I couldn't help by ask why, while standing at deaths door he wants to share it all.

David:“You go through a couple of days of that… more pain… pointless. No end.”

Gary:“What you are saying to continue would be just to continue your being for a few more days?”

David:“With morphine and a little oxygen and food. I am not starving myself. I am not asking my doctors to do anything illegal. I wish I could but they won't. I will make it through. My head is completely accepting of this. I am absolutely ready.”

godspeed david.
posted by three blind mice at 4:33 AM on December 9, 2004

listening to the interview last night, i was particularly touched by his sense of humor. at one point he asked david lapierre "do you think there will be pitchforks in hell?"

one always hopes that one will go out with that dignity.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:42 AM on December 9, 2004

I have always disliked the man intensely-- but I learned a lot listening to his show as a middle-schooler waiting for Johnny Most to start the Celtics broadcast.

I still think he's a complete bastard. But he's one that I respect a lot. He's incredibly intelligent, always consistent and almost never seems to shoot from the hip.

He should also be recognized for his huge contribution to AIDS awareness in New England. He was very public with his disease in a place where being public with anything is considered rude. But it was the right thing to do-- he demonstrated to a lot of us that AIDS isn't a disease reserved for lowlifes and that the shame that was (is) attached to it is stupid.

More than anyone in this area, he destroyed the image of "good" AIDS/"bad" AIDS that had been adopted by so many people.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:09 AM on December 9, 2004

The procession of pills: two Advil, one 3TC, one AZT, one Paxil this morning, and last night a pentamidine treatment while I was drenched from night sweats. It is the bodily weakness and my own sense of ignorance that form the pit of blackness and fill me with impatient dread. The needle has replaced the kiss. Death and I are head to head in a total collision, pure and mutual distaste. Death does not want someone who has begun to taste of medication and is bloated and blurred. (Fat and pale-- and then for a time wildly pink and purple from the medicines --and dandruffy, I am physically intellectual, finally.) But death's acquisitive instincts will win. I feel death as dirt closing over me.

Perhaps you could say I did very little with my life, but the "douceur", if that is the word, Talleyrand's word, was over whelming. Painful and light-struck and wonderful.

I have thousands of opinions still-- but that is down from millions --and, as always, I know nothing.

-- This Wild Darkness, by Harold Brodkey
posted by matteo at 6:35 AM on December 9, 2004

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posted by yerfatma at 7:01 AM on December 9, 2004

In the days before the Internet, one of my ways to access the great world out there was late-night listening to AM radio stations across North America. I remember Brudnoy from those times, and later learning about his struggle with AIDS.

At some point he disappeared from the timeslot I'd first heard him in, and I'd wondered if he had worsened. But IIRC he'd just moved to a broadcast earlier in the day. I hadn't realized his condition had slipped so badly the past year.

Yeah, his politics were rather different than mine. But I agree with Mayor Curley - a much more interesting, intelligent conservative than the mouthbreathing ranters who pass for rightwing spokesmen these days.

And this kind of death - falls under the category of "wouldn't wish it on anyone." Godspeed, DB.
posted by NorthernLite at 8:46 AM on December 9, 2004

i read a beautifully moving tribute to david earlier today.

while it's tragic to die so young and of such a horrible disease, i hope his end is peaceful. godspeed, david.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:35 AM on December 9, 2004

An unforgettable interview. How could anyone fail to admire his resolve and his sense of humor. He'll be remembered for many years to come as a highly articulate and engaging spokesman for his ideas-- and through his fundraising efforts for AIDS research.

pxe2000, thanks so much for this post, allowing expat Bostonians a chance to hear the interview.
posted by ibmcginty at 12:46 PM on December 9, 2004

The Boston Globe reports that Brudnoy has died.
posted by briank at 6:23 PM on December 9, 2004