So, here I am - when I should be composing a blog bit about Abortion – just lyin’ about and sweating (it’s gettin’ hot here in Phoenix already, and I’m refusin’ to turn on the A/C unit this early in the year in order to save $) and I’m reminiscing. Thinkin’ about that video I recently posted here at ‘Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends’ pertaining to my good ol’ friend TORCH and how he got The OC Weekly’s award for ‘2008 Father Of The Year’ for knocking unconscious some pedophile cop and uncovering some child porn ring or something.
And, of course, that gets me thinking about not just Torch but ALL of us in the ‘LEAGUE OF SOUL CRUSADERS’ – the whole drinking-buddy gang! (As I was telling my friend Toddfan Discman a couple of days ago, there’s a “romance” associated with our carefree past and our daze of free-flowin’ booze. And I don’t give a damn what Tom Waits says or how much he thinks he’s “matured”.)
But ya wanna know what got me started reminiscing? Doesn’t matter, ‘cause I’m a-bound to tell ya anyway:
Earlier today, I happened to mention Wally George to Brother Napoleon and I reminded him of Wally’s infamous saying, “You’re OUTTA HERE!” Next thing you know, Nappy and I were going through the house singing that old theme song: “Wally-Wally, WAL-LY!”
Shortly afterwards, damned Nappy went to YouTube to see if he could find any old Wally George clips (in the same way he happened to stumble upon that 2007 video interview with Torch a few weeks ago).
Sure enough, there’s a whole bunch of old Wally at YouTube, and I got hooked on watching them, jus’ like it was 1982 all over again!
So tonight, I started doing some YouTube searches and was AMAZED to find what’s available at that site! I’m always a day late and a brain cell short, which is why I’m only just now, in 2011, discovering this astounding stuffs that y’all have known about for like 15 years.
Anyway, back in 1982, the drinking gang I was in - the ‘League Of Soul Crusaders’ – we totally ruled the world. Er… well, we ruled Los Angele— we ruled the WEST side of Los Ang— In 1982, the ‘League Of Soul Crusaders’ ruled Santa Monica. That is to say, we ruled all of Santa Monica that was West of Seventeenth Stre-- Well, we ruled BAY STREET in Santa Monica, and I ain’t backin’ down from THAT!
At any time in 1982/'83, if you entered the house at 824 Bay Street in Santa Monica, California, and if we were home – which is to say, if we weren’t at Jolly Jack’s bar or terrorizing someone else’s neighborhood – it’s pretty much a sure bet that one of three things would have been on the always-turned-on television set.
We would have been drinking and watching either . . .
MTV . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXLHUThBib8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTAhZKP5wCY
. . . or Deputy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vOXZ9hjJ94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGE5RStcggc&NR=1
But if we weren’t watching either MTV or Deputy Dawg cartoons, then it’s easy money that we were watching "the father of Combat TV", Wally George, whose show struck us as being hysterically funny. Sure, it was sort of the political equivalent of an Andy Kaufman stunt, which is why we loved it. It was never a question of IF but a question of WHEN Wally George would shout at his liberal guest, “You’re OUTTA HERE!”
Ahh, man, good times gone by!
How did I get old? And where in hell did this grey hair come from? - damn it!
“Grey hair, you’re OUTTA HERE!”
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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Ah, 1982. Ecstasy was legal (not that you could find it), the hostages coming home was OLD news, Come on Eileen - music was happy and we had our MTV, the Carter depression ended and the Reagan BOOM began, no more waiting in line for gas, and most of life was still ahead of us. What a great f***ing year! Cruising in Dino's '73 Barracuda (which beat EVERY comer off the line, every time), going to the drive-in with Dino in the trunk of Tom's Mustang (muscle cars were the sh** in Jersey) - cracking up when Dino collided with the case of beer on a big bump - the 80s were indeed party time. God was in his heaven and all was right with the world. Sure, the cold war was scary, but we got to be scared watching War Games and Red Dawn! How much better does scary get? Oh, yeah, Freddy Krueger. Before Wes Craven became, well, craven.
ReplyDeleteThis trip down memory lane sponsored by FascAnniee for your enjoyment.
Also, it turned out that Reagan was RIGHT - totally, completely right. Those Russkies were totally PUNKING us with that cold war sh**. They were eating their own shoes to survive. We ripped down the Iron Curtain only to be let down. Ivan Drago didn't have nuttin'. Talk about your anti-climaxes.
ReplyDeleteANNIEE ~
ReplyDeleteRight you are! The Rooskies were "punking" us. There is one thing and ONLY one thing the Rooskies were consistently better at than were the Americans: the game of Chess.
But on the chessboard of life, they didn’t even rise to the level of crap. I almost never speak ill of whole groups of people (and even now, I’ll concede that there must be some exceptions), but my interest in Senator McCarthy having led me into detailed studies of Communism in general and Russian intrigue specifically, I eventually arrived at the conclusion that the Russians were functionally retarded. Well organized, to be sure, but functionally retarded as a people.
Furthermore, as John Stormer states in his absolutely unquestionable masterpiece ‘None Dare Call It Treason: 25 Years Later’, every communist country in the world (including, of course, the alpha of communist countries, Russia) was “Made In The U.S.A.” Had our Elite, our Establishment figures, our “Illuminati” not assisted Russia in every possible, imaginable way in becoming a superpower so we would have a legitimate enemy thus making possible the spending of untold billions of dollars on national defense (enriching those same Elite), Russia today would be every bit as backwards as is Afghanistan.
The more one studies the story of Communism in the 20th Century, the more one comes to realize just how intellectually and economically pathetic the Russian people were. Russia was indeed “Made In America”, sad to say.
Hey, I know that Wally George started out as a local celebrity in the Orange County/Los Angeles area, but he was eventually syndicated and seen all across the country, I believe. Were you familiar with his show back in the early ‘80s? Ever see it? It was primarily theater, simple entertainment and not to be taken the least bit seriously (although some folks mistakenly did take it that way), but homeboy was a real trip and a half. He used to have us howling the way he would berate and verbally stomp on his liberal guests and display that look of mock shock. Well, just these two clips here give you a good idea about The Wally George Show. For awhile, that was some of TV’s most entertaining “stuffs”. Great beer-drinking programming!
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.
~ D-FensDogg
‘Loyal American Underground’
That's what blows me away about Reagan - he KNEW, he just KNEW they had to be collapsing economically behind that curtain. He knew the shelf life of a true socialist system, and he got in place just when they had reached critical mass. How brilliant is that? Yeah, only through the mist of history do I really appreciate the man I so feared back then. Even as I partook of the bread of prosperity that spread to the lowliest. I didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteSad to say I didn't know Wally George, but I'm glad you just mentioned it because I didn't watch the clip and I was eager to. Didn't get the chance. Off to watch it now. I did watch some Morton Downey Junior - hehe. He seemed like a nut, but he was funny. Screaming at the people, calling them out on their crap. I should totally have that job. So in the internet age I've simply given that job to myself. Good times.
Nice to speak to people of my generation; you can dispense with pleasantries and get right down to it in shorthand ;)
Oh, the chess game thing - dam, you nailed it there. I read this amazing article once in The Smithsonian - came on the heels of that Searching for Bobby Fischer movie that I love. (About Josh Waitzkin - amazing performances and awesome true story; if you haven't seen it, please do.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it went in depth about chess - maybe Chess - players and what it does to them. That was what was brilliant about the movie; it dealt with the wreckage chess works on the minds of the people that get too deeply invested in it. Kasprov, when he lost to Big Blue, had a FIT, and he was quite serious. The movie had old chess connoisseurs walking around muttering to themselves about maybe taking a pawn...and that's actually true.
It's something about the depth of the game, trillions of possibilities that narrow as you go. Our minds stretch to the limit if we get too deep in there. And it leaves those great minds simply, literally, fried. Not that it isn't fun getting there - I once almost REALLY caught on to the game when I had a teacher who took me under the bottom of it and really taught me. Oh, never about the endgame; we didn't make it that far before he moved on, but he wasn't worried about the endgame anyway. He just liked to rule the board. And he was showing me how. Not often does that happen. They don't necessarily like to share, unlike Austrian economists, who love to share (ironically.)
But back to what you said, YES. That was the thing; there was one hugely famous chess game and the one fellow simply came out, made his move, then got OFF the stage again where his opponent couldn't see him. Unable to psychically intimidate his opponent, the other master player lost his sh**! He was storming around, screaming about how the guy ought to have to stay out there for him to scare! How could he remove himself and be unscarable? Oh, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right, it was contrary to the spirit of the game. And, of course, it wins. Who blinks first?
And yeah, Reagan was really freaking good at it.
Heh, that Wally George stuff is good schlock. It actually is similar to Morton Downey in some ways. Although it's funny he mentions Geraldo because I immediately called to mind watching Geraldo getting his nose broken on one of the endless race-war shows he would put on in his talk show host days. Except Geraldo means that stuff; guy's a tad insane. He's a Jerseyan too ;) A lot of whackjobs are - Springsteen, obviously, Geraldo, Bon Jovass, etc. (Bon Jovi is working for the current administration, actually. Jackhole. No one liked him. I mean, like, personally.) Anyway, funny. I love the bit about heavy metal - ask Yngwie Malmsteen or the Judas Priest guy where the best metal shows happen - right here in Jersey. Malmsteen was so blown away by the remaining metal fans here that he makes time out of every tour to have a show at the Starland - and I go. (Got thrown out of the last one, but...yeah, that was awful. No one gets thrown out of a Malmsteen show.) Anyway, the satanic message was part of the schtick; we loved it. It was an outlet; kept us out of trouble. But it serves to counterpoint why Yngwie was such a breath of fresh air - he never got that memo and instead came here to be our Paganini. Uplifting songs, all strongly guitar-shredding-centric and completely based on classical music - he'll outline all his various riffs and which composer they're based on. The Paganini is the best.
ReplyDeleteOh, he's a true genius, and he's only gotten better and better with age; used to attempt stuff always a bit beyond him, so he would make some mistakes back then - now, nothing is beyond him. Has played before the Japanese philharmonic, all centered on him in velvet and ruffles like an old master. Amazing stuff. And in person? Holy crap, man can shred guitar for 4 hours straight with one 2 minute break, and NEVER hit a sour note or skip a beat (even when he swings the thing around his head; I have NO idea how it's humanly possible and I've seen it up close...no. idea.)
At his first show here during the Guitar Gods tour, he introduced these guys first from Trinidad, and holy cow, just blew everybody away! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTh-OXq9Oic Get up there with their dreds hanging waist-long, bending from the waist and swinging that hair over and over. Amazing. Now I might post this lol.
Ok hijack over, resume position.
ANNIEE ~
ReplyDelete>>> . . . Morton Downey Junior - He seemed like a nut, but he was funny. Screaming at the people, calling them out on their crap.
I never watched him, but I know his show was modeled after the Wally George "Combat TV" approach. The Wally George show was akin to "Political Wrestling" - fake but entertaining.
>>> . . . I should totally have that job.
Yes, you SHOULD! That is so right up your alley.
>>> . . . Searching for Bobby Fischer
Yeah, that was a good movie.
And I actually bought my first DVD player solely in order to watch the movie "Game Over", about Kasparov's match with Deep Blue. I simply couldn't find a VHS copy of the movie and was so interested in seeing it that I finally decided it was time to join the DVD Age.
>>> . . . Unable to psychically intimidate his opponent, the other master player lost his sh**!
I've said that I think chess is closer to music than it is to math, which at least partially explains why I was always interested in it and played semi-decently despite my complete ineptitude when it comes to numbers.
And yes, it's possible to psych out an opponent, especially one who is strictly amateur (as was I).
Knowing how many players just fall to pieces (pun intended) when they lose their queen, I would sometimes give up my queen to take my opponent's queen when there was no advantage to me other than a psychological one. I felt very comfortable playing queen-less, whereas I knew losing their queen would unnerve some of my opponents.
I didn't do that a lot, but it usually proved to be an effective tactic on most of the occasions when I did employ it.
>>> . . . (Got thrown out of the last one, but...yeah, that was awful. No one gets thrown out of a Malmsteen show.)
Ha!-Ha!
Anniee, you are one of a kind!
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Well fortunately for me I don't remember it, so there's that. When doing tequila shots it's apparently important to stop and let them take effect before downing a few more, or it can hit you all at once and all of a sudden Malmsteen is eying you suspiciously from the stage and then stuff happens that you don't remember (and are very glad you don't.) Hey, at least we made eye contact; I'll always have that.
ReplyDelete"I've said that I think chess is closer to music than it is to math, which at least partially explains why I was always interested in it and played semi-decently despite my complete ineptitude when it comes to numbers."
Oh I think that's exactly right; numbers didn't help me at all with that game; it's got trillions of possibilities and unless you're an astronomer you can't approach the game that way. Well, even if you are. No, it was learning from someone whose whole approach to the game was artistic, was elegant, was simple but graceful - then suddenly I was getting it. I really wish that guy hadn't disappeared so quick; but he was sort of a wreck I guess.
Well, now I guess I want to see the movie about Kasprov, even if he is a jackhole. Man could certainly play. He went back and beat the thing, didn't he? That's what I seem to remember. If so, good on him. Computers will never be able to take over the game. Not really.
ANNIEE ~
ReplyDelete>>> . . . Hey, at least we made eye contact; I'll always have that.
Tequila is just evil stuffs. Never works out well for me.
But, yes, - Ha! - you'll "always have Pari-- uhm, the diner. No, wait! I mean, the eye contact. You'll always have the eye contact".
My philosophy about chess was: The best defense is an unrelenting offense. (Ya gotta take into consideration, however, that I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was just young, eager, and aggressive. Anybody who REALLY knew the game woulda cleaned my clock!)
>>> . . . Well, now I guess I want to see the movie about Kasprov, even if he is a jackhole. Man could certainly play. He went back and beat the thing, didn't he? That's what I seem to remember.
No, I think Deep Blue was disassembled shortly afterwards, despite the fact that Kasparov demanded a rematch. (There was some suspicious goings on.)
It's not a really great documentary (too much filler), but it IS interesting. I was glad I saw it, and I gotta say, I'm not altogether sure that Kasparov didn't get "rooked" by IBM.
>>> . . . Computers will never be able to take over the game. Not really.
I agree. The computer can't know any more data than the men input. It can't think "creatively".
What I took away from the "Game Over" documentary is this: Is it really possible for a computer to be able to differentiate between its opponent's mistakes and its opponent's tactics that "appear" to be mistakes?
Yeah, it was an interesting movie, but I wish they had gone into more chess-related details and cut out most of the "atmospheric footage" that really added nothing to my understanding of the controversy. How many times did we really need to see that old chess-playing contraption?
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Hey, Stephen, don't you live where it's possible to use a swamp cooler? I would have one, but Jersey ain't hot and dry so it's not an option. I don't trust it anyway, since I like it COLD and no one has convinced me that a swamp cooler can do that. My husband is an air conditioning professional, but I still don't believe it when he says that AC's only remove heat and moisture. Take that "dry heat" with you; I do NOT believe that it's ok to swelter because it's a "dry heat". Dry heat my butt.
ReplyDeleteANNIEE ~
ReplyDeleteSome folks out here have both an A/C unit AND a Swamp Cooler. But the problem is, the Swamp Coolers are really only useful for short periods of time during the year. But an A/C unit is an absolute must for everyone (yes, due to the "dry heat"), and they are ALL running damn near non-stop from June through October.
Incidentally, my brother Nappy was also a professional air-conditioning unit repairman and installer for years (graduated at #1 in his class).
He finally burned out on that business and took something less rewarding but also less stressful and time consuming.
It's nice to know, however, that whenever anything goes wrong with our A/C unit, my little Brother will have it up and running again very soon. That's an expensive repair ticket out here in Airheadzona.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'