Limbo

Narrator: Welcome to America's last frontier

where the final lumbering remnants of the ice age

the massive and awe-inspiring glaciers

cast cathedral-sized icebergs into the sea.

Where nature's bounty unfolds in a panoply of flora and fauna

the like of which is seen nowhere else on the planet.

From the ocean depths plumbed by ageless cetaceans

to azure skies, where the mighty eagle soars

this land abounds with creatures great and small

strange and majestic.

It is a land steeped in tradition.

It's mists redolent of the hearty souls of men who have gone to sea.

Tlingit and Haida

Inuit and Aluit

Russian and Norwegian.

Their languages and deeds lingering on in the names of

our countless islands and passageways.

A land that, for centuries, has lifted its siren call to the bold and adventurous.

To men and women willing to risk their lives for the promise of untold fortune

be it from fur or fin

from the heaven-pointing spires of old growth spruce

or from the buried treasures of yellow gold

or black, energy-rich petroleum.

A land visited each year by the relentless and mysterious salmon.

Each river and stream welcoming home the king and sockeye.

The coho and dog, pink or humpback

which is smashed into cans and quick-cooked

to give the colorful local folks something to do

other than play cards and scratch their nuts all day.

The land where that nice old lady from Fort Lauderdale

who had the stroke three cabins down was probably parked next to the

thawed-out halibut you're eating on board tonight.

While your floating hotel chugs through the Hecate Strait to deliver its precious

load of geriatrics to the hungry, Visa-card accepting denizens

of our northernmost and most mosquito-infested state.

So?

What's redolent?

Having or emitting an odor.

You mean people are gonna want to come to this place because of the smell?

-Pleasantly fragrant. -Not talking about this place.

Damn right they're not.

Soon as they close this place down

they'll turn it into a tourist attraction.

They'll disinfect the joint and you can get a job in one of those uh...

cases, like in a museum. One of those displays, uh...

Dioramas.

Yeah, dioramas!

In that diorama, they'll hang fake fish guts all over ya

and put a label underneath that says, "Typical Filipino Cannery Worker."

Probably pay better than this.

I'll be out on the water in my boat

and every time I make a set there'll be one of those

floating nursing homes with 500 sons of bitches and their cameras

capturing the moment.

And what boat is this?

My boat.

You don't have a boat, honey. Remember?

Oh, yes I do.

I'm getting it back. Today.

Hi, would you like some hors d'oeuvres?

-Excuse me, would you like some hors d'oeuvres? -Thank you.

-Hi, would you like some hors d'oeuvres? -Thank you.

-Nice uniform. -The bride's parents wanted uniforms

so Frankie and Lou rented these. I look stupid.

You look like an angel.

I look like a little white maggot.

-Hi, would you like one? -Yeah. Thank you.

How come you don't have to wear one?

This is the official unemployed pulp mill workers uniform.

Right.

Excuse me, would you like some hors d'oeuvres?

-Uh, no thanks, darlin'. -I'll have one.

What I'm saying is, you've got to look at the big picture.

You clear cut the trees, what do you have?

-Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of timber. -But it's ugly!

The point is to try to get the trees down without spending a fortune.

No, you're thinking short term, Phil. Like my mother always told me

"You don't shit in your front yard."

-Your mother said that? -Constantly.

Look, our people cruise by an island.

They've got their binoculars out, the ones that can still see, God bless 'em.

What do we show them?

We show them a little Indian fish camp

some totem poles, maybe.

We show them a black bear foraging for breakfast in the early morning mist.

We do not show them deforested hillsides and logging equipment, Phil.

Heavy machinery they can see in New Jersey.

The timber industry has just as much right to make a living as anybody else does.

We all have to make our living. I'm not arguing that.

Cut the trees in the interior, turn it into a parking lot.

Just quit with the chainsaws when you get to where people can see.

We're trying to develop themes for each area up here.

The Whale's Causeway.

Island of the Raven People.

Kingdom of the Salmon.

-Lumber Land. -That's us.

That's a turn-of-the-century sawmill with a little water-powered generator

and a gift shop.

That's history, Phil. Not industry. History is our future here.

Not our past.

Would you look at her? She looks like a million bucks doesn't she?

Would you like some more, gentlemen?

No thanks, could you find the little girl with the shrimp and send her over this way?

It's like with these kayak outfitters, Phil...

¶ C'est la vie say the old folks It goes to show you never

Thank you! Thank you all very much.

Today is kind of a special day for me. I know it's a special one for all of you, too.

This is my last appearance with Randy Mason and the Pipeline.

I'll be continuing my run as a solo performer at the Golden Nugget

while Randy, will be rapidly sinking back into the relative obscurity

he so richly deserves.

The time we've spent together has seemed much longer than it probably was.

And with that in mind, I'd like to dedicate this next song to him. Fellas.

¶ Room 16, the Palms Motel

¶ I can rest behind that door

¶ My life with you has become a living hell

¶ Don't wanna live like that no more

¶ And whatever it will take

¶ I will do to make this final break Yeah

¶ Better off without you

¶ Better off without you

¶ Better off without you in my life ¶

You're not gonna take that attitude if I show up with a lawyer.

-A lawyer? Are you threatening us with a lawyer? -Yeah!

In schools now, when they teach contracts, you know who they use?

Francine here, that's who. She wrote the fucking book.

It's not exactly a textbook, Louise.

I, on the other hand, am a criminal attorney.

Some of the business practices you engaged in...

That's bullshit!

You see a couple of dykes wander up here from Seattle and you figure

"here's easy pickings."

When we bought these properties which you had run into the ground...

That is not true!

When we bought them from you promises were made about

plumbing, about dry rot, about roofing materials.

-I had a cash flow situation. -Promises which you did not keep.

-I gave you my boat. -As collateral.

That boat's worth a lot more than those repairs.

That boat is worth relatively little, we had it appraised.

-I gave you my license... -Hey but HarmOn, the problem is we're not fishermen.

Exactly.

So I take my boat

I go out, I make my limit

I give you the money.

-I get my boat back... -Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute.

We paid the docking fees all winter.

We had the engine overhauled.

And now that there's fish again you think you can waltz in here and take

our boat? Harmon, our boat. As if you still owned it.

As if you never defaulted on any of this stuff.

You're worse than the fucking bank

Harmon, if we let you treat us like this what does that say to everybody in Port Henry?

-It says, "Hey, don't take these women seriously." -You come up here

-you bust people's balls... -If your balls are being busted that's because you

put them in a vice and you yanked the handle.

The screw.

-What? -The jaws of a vice are moved by a screw or a lever.

They don't call it a handle.

Thank you, Louise.

The point being, Mr. King

if you are feeling pressure on your testicles you have no one but yourself to blame.

So you're just going to take the hit?

You're going to let my boat rot in the harbor.

You misrepresented the properties to us, Harmon.

You tried to swindle us into keeping your boat from being repossessed by the bank.

By assigning the title to it.

You gals already said you're not fishermen.

Yeah but, from what we hear there's no shortage of guys moping around town

willing to work for a piece.

For a share.

What?

On a boat, you know, in nautical terms it's called working for a share.

Thank you.

Francine, if we're gonna do this we have to get our terminology right.

You think that you're going to get anybody in this town to take my boat out

and fish on my license?

You're both fuckin' crazy.

¶ Better off without you

¶ In my life ¶

Is this your truck?

Uh-huh.

You're working here?

Well I gotta load this wine off, gotta help tear things down after.

Could you give me a ride?

Yeah, I guess.

After I uh... How far is it?

Just into town.

Well, let me know when you're ready.

Oh, I'm ready now.

-Oh aren't you the singer? -Well I was.

-Uh, you're really good. -Thanks. Listen.

I just broke up with a guy and he's here and if I'm going to keep my shit together and

not make a scene, I need to go now.

Okay.

I'll wait here.

Yeah, I'll just uh...

I meant what I said before.

You're really good. At singing.

Thanks.