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Nathaniel G. Moore puts on gallery show in honour of Randy “Macho Man” Savage

Since he was a teenager, author Nathaniel G. Moore has been a devoted fan of pro wrestler Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Now Moore’s preoccupation with Macho Man has become the basis for a book project and a gallery exhibit on display in Toronto next week.

“For the same reason as the protagonist in The Hockey Sweater loves Maurice Richard, I loved Randy Savage,” says Moore. “He was my hero. Then he was not my hero. Toward the end of my teen years he became Jesus and Willy Loman all at once.”

Moore currently has a novel/memoir called Savage in the works, which he says chronicles the “middle class implosion” of his own family, set between February 1986 – when Moore first saw Savage on television – and the wrestler’s death in May 2011.

The book, Moore’s fifth, sounds about as complex and quirky as his idolization of Savage. Moore sums up the highlights: “Lots of secrets from the 1960s, real estate betrayals, broken hockey sticks, garden tool battles, general child abuse, laughter, family vacations, materialism, and a lot of bad cooking.”

While writing the novel, Moore began collecting Macho Man art. The exhibition Savage: Cult of Personality, Pure Media and the Art of Macho Madness features pieces from his collection, including music, video, and artwork. At an opening reception on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m., fellow Savage fans and literary lights Dave Bidini, Greg Oliver, Michael Holmes, and Daniel Scott Tysdal will perform short readings.

The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs Nov. 12–15 at The White House Studio.