howdy folks (ooh, texas rubbed off on me! ;)
chris(X?) is in a play called 'The Seven Deadly Dwarves'. Last night was opening night (i didn't get to go, but i'll go tonight) and at some point during the evening - maybe pre-show rehearsal, someone handed him a couple of mini-flyers. one of them was EXTREMELY entertaining. so much so that i will share it with you.
this is a quarter of a sheet of neon paper, no picture, and the type reads as so:
It's cheesy and silly, but still, oh so... Goth...
3rd annual
Goths on Wheels
aka: The Aquarian Birthday Party
We'll be Roller Skating to Bauhaus
well past the witching hour...
So wear your vampire best
and join us for a night of the strangest
roller skating party you'll ever see.
Tarwheels Skating Rink
Friday, February 6th
11:30 pm, 2:00 am
Cover: $10 per person
Take I40 to exit 55.
If coming from the west, turn left off the exit.
If coming from the east, turn right off the exit.
Then, turn right at the stoplight.
Tarwheels will be 2 1/2 miles down on the left.
************************************
d., you KNOW i thought of you and k.k.!
you gotta love a boy who brings you things like this...
man, i wish i could go - and bring my antonia*.
if YOU get to go, PLEASE be sure to tell them that SAM'S DAY OFF sent you!
MUCH love, and don't fall on your face and break your fangs...
-sambolina (who doesn't skate and definitely doesn't do "goth")
*my camera
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Friday, January 23, 2004
Well, I’m back! Texas survived us and we all survived each other! Hooray! I will have some photos for y’all SOON!
I have two major bits of news today. One is sad. Bob Keeshan – better known as Captain Kangaroo - died today. He was 76 years old.
I was just talking to Chris about him a few days ago. Chris is a big Mr. Rogers fan – we all are. But the Captain had an edge to him that Fred didn’t. I loved Mr. Rogers, but I always thought how messy I’d look in his neat, quiet little world. I would have blended in KangarooLand, though. Things were wilder there, and the Captain looked like a happenin’ kinda’ guy. He had that Beatlesy haircut, those WAY cool sideburns, that sharp red coat with the giant pockets and white trim, and the characters on the show were just LOONY (Remember Mr. Moose and the Ping Pong balls?). Not to mention the big crush I had on Mr. Green Jeans…
People made messes on the show, sometimes things got loud. He had Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings - “Well you know my name is Simon…” and he had “The ToothBrush Family with the “brush your teeth” song, which I still sing today… Bill Cosby came on with Mortimer Marker for Picture Pages (I still know that song AND the Simon one, too…),
I loved watching Rollo the Hippo and the Dancing Bear break it down, and I always wanted to know what Mr. Green Jeans would be inventing next… Kevin dressed like my family… and the Captain sometimes hallucinated a little tiny marching band…
Yeah, definitely a place where I’d fit in.
So today, raise a glass (even – or maybe ESPECIALLY if it’s rootbeer) and have a moment of silence for the passing of this good man who loved kids and life, who dang sure made ME smile when smiles were sometimes a rare commodity...
And now for my good news – FRANK BAILEY FOUND ME! HE’S NOT LOST FOREVER IN THE WILDS OF JAPAN!!!
Huh?
Frank Bailey is a dear, strange bloke who befriended me – and my sad little waif of a best friend – between my junior and senior year of high school. That was a pretty yuck year*, I was new, I didn’t know anyone yet – except beloved Buck (he’s another story for another time) and his Cowboy Bros., so I got a job working in Merry Go Round at the mall until school started. Frank was working… somewhere in the mall – record store? I think so. And we went in there to look at music we couldn’t afford and flirt with a couple of cute guys who worked there (who was that sexy Middle Eastern guy, Frank? The great artist who’s father forced him to take BUSINESS classes**…?)
ANYWAY… Frank adopted us, or we adopted him, and he became our sort of Guardian Angel. He drove us all-the-hell over Deep-South-Central Louisiana, listened to our teen angst bullshit (poor, poor, Frank. You shoulda’ got a’ medal!), saved us from bad drunk guys, bad drunk parents, and occasionally ourselves. Ever a gentleman and a most reliable friend… I wouldn’t have made it through that year without him.
He also has the “honor” of being privy and witness to some of my most often re-told adventures. Frank was the inspiration for mine and Lisa’s favorite joke:
Sam: “Lisa, can I be frank with you?”
Lisa: “But I thought it was MY turn to be Frank!”
(Frank: “I AM Frank, and I NEVER get to be Frank!”)
Oh god, and mom's "Hey Frank, wanna' get LEI'D for your birthday?" joke. Poor, poor Frank!
He might have been there when I had my hands in Henry Rollins’ hair, but if he wasn’t I know for SURE that he heard all about it the next day…
He was there – and a key part of the evil revenge/fun on the night of my one and only blind date (with a guy named HARRY GARY. I am NOT joking. His father was Elmo*** Gary. Remind me to tell y’all THAT story sometime… sheesh.)
He was there – and drove - the night Lisa freaked out (big shocker THERE, huh, Frank) at Jason’s house and had to be physically removed, then slept with a shard of broken wineglass to her throat the whole night… He was there for the midnight fountain slamdance (though we wouldn’t let him watch); he was witness to some of the earliest and most extreme hair adventures and didn't fuss at me - too badly - for cutting myself; he picked me up at truckstops and let me play HORRIBLE music in his truck... and SO many other crazy (mis)adventures. He bravely tolerated our fledgeling attempts at voodoo – despite the fact that he was VOCIFEROUSLY opposed to it; he sat patiently for hours while we decided what to wear (or not wear – Lisa) and he listened – and sometimes came to get me – when I called crying in the middle of the night, afraid for my life and my sanity…
And he contacted me today out of the deep, Texas blue (YAY, SAM’S DAY OFF & GOOGLE!) and said**** that he thought I might not want to contact him because he reminded me of bad times…
PUH-LEASE!
He’s the very best reminder of the good times inside all that bad, and I love him dearly. He was the surrogate when I was missing Joe and Dad so badly that I wanted to die, and he made me begin to really see the miracle that I was - that I am.
I talk to my new friends about Frank and have old pictures in my photo album. Aunt Sue asks about him from time to time (she’s gonna’ FLIP!) and I think often of how much my best friend Stewart reminds me of him. Thank GOD Stewart has an easier job (and no !@#$ LISA to deal with!), though. *UBER-sheesh!*
I thought I’d lost him forever…
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto (well, ‘Mr. Google’, anyway) for bringing this good friend back into my sphere! And thank you, Frank for not thinking I was a ticket marked “Titanic” and looking me up. You lost me once, you’re stuck with me now!
Big love and happy reunions (well, at least ones with a minimum of bloodshed, JEFF*****! ;)
-Sam
*and THAT was a hell of an understatement. It was VERY BAAAAD times.
**probly’ did him a favor, actually….
***”REMEMBER THE ELMO!”
****he also said: “You're one of “those” people, the bright sparks in life that you always look for around you and seldom find… I'm glad you're still SAM, and have never lost the magic…” MOOOoOoOoOOooOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
*****my middle brother. we like to fight - apparently. :)
I have two major bits of news today. One is sad. Bob Keeshan – better known as Captain Kangaroo - died today. He was 76 years old.
I was just talking to Chris about him a few days ago. Chris is a big Mr. Rogers fan – we all are. But the Captain had an edge to him that Fred didn’t. I loved Mr. Rogers, but I always thought how messy I’d look in his neat, quiet little world. I would have blended in KangarooLand, though. Things were wilder there, and the Captain looked like a happenin’ kinda’ guy. He had that Beatlesy haircut, those WAY cool sideburns, that sharp red coat with the giant pockets and white trim, and the characters on the show were just LOONY (Remember Mr. Moose and the Ping Pong balls?). Not to mention the big crush I had on Mr. Green Jeans…
People made messes on the show, sometimes things got loud. He had Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings - “Well you know my name is Simon…” and he had “The ToothBrush Family with the “brush your teeth” song, which I still sing today… Bill Cosby came on with Mortimer Marker for Picture Pages (I still know that song AND the Simon one, too…),
I loved watching Rollo the Hippo and the Dancing Bear break it down, and I always wanted to know what Mr. Green Jeans would be inventing next… Kevin dressed like my family… and the Captain sometimes hallucinated a little tiny marching band…
Yeah, definitely a place where I’d fit in.
So today, raise a glass (even – or maybe ESPECIALLY if it’s rootbeer) and have a moment of silence for the passing of this good man who loved kids and life, who dang sure made ME smile when smiles were sometimes a rare commodity...
And now for my good news – FRANK BAILEY FOUND ME! HE’S NOT LOST FOREVER IN THE WILDS OF JAPAN!!!
Huh?
Frank Bailey is a dear, strange bloke who befriended me – and my sad little waif of a best friend – between my junior and senior year of high school. That was a pretty yuck year*, I was new, I didn’t know anyone yet – except beloved Buck (he’s another story for another time) and his Cowboy Bros., so I got a job working in Merry Go Round at the mall until school started. Frank was working… somewhere in the mall – record store? I think so. And we went in there to look at music we couldn’t afford and flirt with a couple of cute guys who worked there (who was that sexy Middle Eastern guy, Frank? The great artist who’s father forced him to take BUSINESS classes**…?)
ANYWAY… Frank adopted us, or we adopted him, and he became our sort of Guardian Angel. He drove us all-the-hell over Deep-South-Central Louisiana, listened to our teen angst bullshit (poor, poor, Frank. You shoulda’ got a’ medal!), saved us from bad drunk guys, bad drunk parents, and occasionally ourselves. Ever a gentleman and a most reliable friend… I wouldn’t have made it through that year without him.
He also has the “honor” of being privy and witness to some of my most often re-told adventures. Frank was the inspiration for mine and Lisa’s favorite joke:
Sam: “Lisa, can I be frank with you?”
Lisa: “But I thought it was MY turn to be Frank!”
(Frank: “I AM Frank, and I NEVER get to be Frank!”)
Oh god, and mom's "Hey Frank, wanna' get LEI'D for your birthday?" joke. Poor, poor Frank!
He might have been there when I had my hands in Henry Rollins’ hair, but if he wasn’t I know for SURE that he heard all about it the next day…
He was there – and a key part of the evil revenge/fun on the night of my one and only blind date (with a guy named HARRY GARY. I am NOT joking. His father was Elmo*** Gary. Remind me to tell y’all THAT story sometime… sheesh.)
He was there – and drove - the night Lisa freaked out (big shocker THERE, huh, Frank) at Jason’s house and had to be physically removed, then slept with a shard of broken wineglass to her throat the whole night… He was there for the midnight fountain slamdance (though we wouldn’t let him watch); he was witness to some of the earliest and most extreme hair adventures and didn't fuss at me - too badly - for cutting myself; he picked me up at truckstops and let me play HORRIBLE music in his truck... and SO many other crazy (mis)adventures. He bravely tolerated our fledgeling attempts at voodoo – despite the fact that he was VOCIFEROUSLY opposed to it; he sat patiently for hours while we decided what to wear (or not wear – Lisa) and he listened – and sometimes came to get me – when I called crying in the middle of the night, afraid for my life and my sanity…
And he contacted me today out of the deep, Texas blue (YAY, SAM’S DAY OFF & GOOGLE!) and said**** that he thought I might not want to contact him because he reminded me of bad times…
PUH-LEASE!
He’s the very best reminder of the good times inside all that bad, and I love him dearly. He was the surrogate when I was missing Joe and Dad so badly that I wanted to die, and he made me begin to really see the miracle that I was - that I am.
I talk to my new friends about Frank and have old pictures in my photo album. Aunt Sue asks about him from time to time (she’s gonna’ FLIP!) and I think often of how much my best friend Stewart reminds me of him. Thank GOD Stewart has an easier job (and no !@#$ LISA to deal with!), though. *UBER-sheesh!*
I thought I’d lost him forever…
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto (well, ‘Mr. Google’, anyway) for bringing this good friend back into my sphere! And thank you, Frank for not thinking I was a ticket marked “Titanic” and looking me up. You lost me once, you’re stuck with me now!
Big love and happy reunions (well, at least ones with a minimum of bloodshed, JEFF*****! ;)
-Sam
*and THAT was a hell of an understatement. It was VERY BAAAAD times.
**probly’ did him a favor, actually….
***”REMEMBER THE ELMO!”
****he also said: “You're one of “those” people, the bright sparks in life that you always look for around you and seldom find… I'm glad you're still SAM, and have never lost the magic…” MOOOoOoOoOOooOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
*****my middle brother. we like to fight - apparently. :)
