Beautiful Ruins

In 2008, Pat Bender, Dee’s son and the former front man of the Reticents, finds himself in a slump. He spends his time performing “comic-music” (154) lackluster in comparison to his older material. He captures the attention of an Irish club promoter named Joe, who suggests that Pat go on tour in the United Kingdom. Having failed to make his comeback in America, Pat enthusiastically accepts Joe’s invitation.

Pat thinks of how people only seem to come to his show out of morbid curiosity; fans express shock that “he didn’t go the gorgeous-corpse route” (155) after years of using hard drugs. At 45 years old, he still dreams of redeeming himself and becoming a star, but Dee and his ex-girlfriend Lydia try to reason with him. Pat wants to make up with Lydia and promises to stay sober, but the disillusioned Lydia refuses him.

Pat arrives in London and stays in a flat with Joe and his friends Kurtis and Umi. Joe sets Pat up with a gig at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. While in London, Pat soaks up British culture and visits a record store. He asks the clerk if the store carries any of the Reticents’ albums and is dismayed to discover that it only carries “relevant stuff” (160).