(Photo: Michael Bilow)
Much has already been written on the passing Sep 18 at age 76 of Bruce McCrae, who used the stage name “Rudy Cheeks.” The death was reported by his brother, W. Scott McCrae in a public forum for the Tolman High School Class of 1968. He hardly needs yet another obituary, and I highly recommend the one written by Ian Donnis, now with Ocean State Media but who was Rudy’s principal editor at the Providence Phoenix. I edited Rudy sometimes for Motif, but less frequently.
Of course, Rudy was one-half (“Jorge”) with Chip Young (“Phillipe”) of their 43-year running “Cool Cool World” column written by the artificial personas of two gay, campy partners, one supposedly Mexican and one supposedly French, who notionally tipped their sombrero and beret to what they deemed praiseworthy. The column began in the now-defunct Providence Eagle, transferred to the now-defunct NewPaper in the course of an acrimonious court case that established the characters were owned by the writers rather than the Eagle, transferred to the now-defunct Providence Phoenix, and finally in 2014 transferred to Motif which, as of this writing, is the only thing on this list not defunct — including, as would appeal to their sense of dark humor, Rudy and Chip themselves.They celebrated their 40th anniversary in print with an encomium in 2020. Chip died in 2022, ending their column.
Only recently did younger readers question whether the ethnic and gay characters were inappropriate misappropriation, but four decades ago two white, straight men were the only ones who could safely play-act such roles in public, as homosexuality was a crime in RI until the law was changed in 1998. The LGBTQ community got the “ha, ha, only serious” joke and was appreciative, naming Rudy and Chip one year as grand marshals of the RI Gay Pride parade. Like La Cage aux Folles, it was seen as a celebratory tribute.
The fake personas cloaked the column behind a shield of anonymity that allowed it to say things that establishment journalism could not, often reporting rumors that might not easily be proven, anticipating by 40 years what Steven Pinker termed “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.” Most of these rumors were in fact impeccably sourced, because whistleblowers trusted them to print what otherwise would remain hidden. Over time, many of the targets of their reporting made amends with them, and disgraced PVD Mayor Buddy Cianci — called by them “Bud-I” as a shot at his enormous ego — while serving time in prison engaged in regular correspondence with Chip.
Performing as a solo act and as a core member of both The Fabulous Motels and The Young Adults, Rudy’s music was a mix of punk cabaret and satire completely unlike anything else, and in 2016 Rudy was a triple-inductee to the RI Music Hall of Fame. At the 2019 RI Music Awards, Motif bestowed on Rudy a Lifetime Achievement Award and featured, on the issue cover, a portrait of him holding a rubber chicken, a frequent prop at his performances. By far the most famous of Young Adults’ music was “Complex World,” about an indecisive idiot paralyzed by anxiety, released in 1979 as the band’s only single; the B-side was “Beer,” which is possibly the most pathologically non-drinking drinking song ever. They played legitimate covers if they were strange enough, notably “Mack the Knife,” but were most known for their dark satire, such as “Kill Yourself” and “A Power Tool Is Not a Toy.”
The titular song became the centerpiece of a film, Complex World, in 1991, set in the old PVD performance dive bar Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, a bizarre yet horrifically prescient fantasy about a right-wing presidential candidate hiring a gang of terrorists to blow up a rock club owned by his son. A significant regional hit, the film remains one of the best records of the band in live performance and is a true time capsule of 1980s PVD, immediately familiar and recognizable by those who were there.
In everything he did, Rudy could not help exuding counterculture. His Comediac routine, improvisationally live-narrating cult films such as Plan 9 from Outer Space, anticipated by years the technique now associated with Mystery Science Theater 3000. I brought a date to one of these shows in the mid-1980s, and it is hard to explain how a big part of the act was Rudy interacting with people in the audience who just did not get it, had no idea what they were seeing, and began abusively heckling him, to which he was only too happy to respond in kind. While my date appreciated the meta-theatricality of the audience becoming the show, she was worried we were going to be trapped in an emerging bar brawl.
I got to know Rudy well only in his later years, by which time his health was declining. He had a stroke that was limiting but still allowed him to perform on stage, including at his induction ceremony to the RI Music Hall of Fame. He did not drive, so for Motif events I would pick him and serve as kind of personal secretary, running interference for as much of a RI celebrity as there was outside of Mr Potato Head. He was hopeless with technology, and I built and repaired everything from computers to electronic pianos for him. He watched television using the modern incarnation of rabbit ears. But he was always very grateful and appreciative to everyone.
From 1986 to 1989, Rudy co-hosted the morning show on WHJY 94.1FM with Carolyn Fox, the two of them riffing off each other inexhaustibly. Fox and I were classmates, and a few years ago we sat together at a school reunion: Rudy was a frequent topic of conversation between us. By chance one time I ran into Pam Steager, another writer in the alternative press of that era, and she told me about her place being the real-life “Casa Diablo” that Phillipe and Jorge claimed to live in.
Almost everyone who met Rudy had at least one story about him, and no one ever forgot him.