Thursday, December 31, 2009

End of tThe Double-Aughts









Jethro Bodine called James Bond Double-Aught Seven, so for the past decade, that's what I went by. I mean, not James Bond or Jethro Bodine. I used the double-aughts. I never do anything on NYE. I've told people Hallowe'en is the only holiday that I dig. But when I worked with the Elvis band, it was nuts. We played Laurel & Hardy's on 63rd and St. Louis in 1979 and I honestly was kissed by a hundred drunken women of three generations. I think I might have been kissed by Roy, the owner, but I'm not sure. I do know that the Elvis band brought him a lot of business. I worked the spotlights and handled the mailing lists. There were others, but that was the best NYE memory ever. In the 90s, I had a few parties, Harry & Diana, Jeff Osier & Cathy, Von, Erik Seckar, and my favorite people, Sean & Jessica Doolittle, driving in from Omaha.

Over the past year, I've found obscure stuff I was in, and now have a copy of a mag that I simply reviewed episodes of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Yea, its been an odd road I've followed. I bought me a transistor radio for twelve bucks near North and Wolcott. I pretend it is an iPhone to confuse just about everyone. The black helicopters have proven me much enjoyment, and when they come back next week, I've decided to signal them with the flashlight I used at the printing plant. I somewhat solved the mystery of Pete, the handicapped man I've seen for a quarter century. My good friend Jannah made me a wonderful card, and my favorite memory is of getting a ton of swag from Marty Mundt, who was getting rid of about a babillion books. He had this three-fold of Telstar, and even though I wanted it just because it is so damn cool and the song Telstar is one of my favorites, I put the sheet into a Mylar holder and sent it to Jann. I always look back at that, it wasn't a pay it forward thing, more the idea that there was someone who would love this thing much more than I could think that I could. And so it left my hands. Made some new friends liker Greg Tramel down in Houston and Andrew in Santa Monica, TaviAnne Greiner and Louis Suarto with all their wonder photos of the night skies, and Jean Claude Smith and his wife, Sabine Hope, who have a son with cerebral palsy and that always stay in my head. I found myself unemployed for an entire year for the first time since 1978. I'm out of work 17 months, actually. I discovered the insane comic art of Fletcher Hanks via Paul Karasik, as well as THE WALKING DEAD by Robert Kirkman, likely the most incredible comic series I'll ever read. Ten trade pbs now and AMC has picked it up, filming in B&W as the book is, the zombies are the background, the real thing is the human aspects. Things I never would have thought of. A damn good read. Crappy summer, never as warm as it should be, but I kayaked twice with my friend Paul and got to glide under my favorite object in Chicago, the 16th Street Bridge. I'm taking my dog out in a minute, we'll look at the blue moon as I attempt to stop him from pissing on the front lawn, and think of the stars and the International Space Station, all the satellites, and I know the best thing I did this year was to send that three-fold Telstar away to Jannah, where it truly belonged.

4 comments:

Capcom said...

Happy New Year friend! Wishing you all the best, and your every need met in the next decade, God bless. xo

I sure would have liked to see that Elvis band, wow.

The Telstar brochure is displayed in my living room, still on the bookshelf I sent you a pic of, and a proud addition to my space collectibles. Also my best present from a friend ever. :-x

Boohoo, I didn't get to see the blue moon last night, the mists of Avalon were heavy in Knoxville and covered everything like a grey shroud. I half expected a foghorn to go off occasionally while I was out.

Cheers!

Lana Gramlich said...

I like the lines & geometry of those top 2 photos quite a bit. Well done! Happy 2010, Wayne. My best to you.

James Robert Smith said...

When I was a kid I had a cool teacher named "Mr. Robertson". I don't know his first name anymore (if I ever did). In retrospect, he was the best teacher I ever had. Ever. When I was in the sixth grade he gave me this HUGE stack of NASA propaganda booklets. Every mission and program you could think of. TELSTAR was in there, too. Along with obscure shit like THE DYNA SOAR, which was a precursor of the Space Shuttle.

That's some neat stuff. Good on you, I reckon for giving it to someone who would like it.

Rich Chwedyk said...

Was just listening to Telstar a while ago. Played it yesterday, too. Surprised Pam a while back by mentioning that three note phrase right near the end sounds like a tip of the hat to the Strauss "Thus Spake Zarathustra." That song only gets better.