Out of Jail

Honest,I thought it was Oregano!Damm drug sniffing dogs.It's been almost two months I see but my brain is rested and ready for new tales.Some of the new ones might deal with childhood pranks but I will be posting.

Previous Post

The last post was written by my old roomate Charlie.I asked him for the details of that night cause it was foggy in my mind.The first time I have ever cut and pasted also.I never had a need to.That event took place in 1984.I have some other good stories from when I lived with Charlie that I do recall and will put here sooner or later.

Guest Post about my Manhattan Beach days.

We were in the great red shark that night, the cougar, coming back from a mexican/ fresh fish restaurant/bar down by the beach in Hermosa. I was reasonably sober, cause I had to drive. Plus, I think we were all really hungover from the previous night, so I was taking it easy. But you're far tougher than us. You drank heavily before, during and after dinner. You have passed out in the passenger seat in our short ride back from the restaurant.

We come up that really steep side street near our house, with the long hood of the cougar seemingly pointed at the stars. We crest the top of the hill and the headlights freeze frame a strange little moment in time. There's a guy and a woman in the middle of the road. The woman is screaming and crawling on the ground and the guy is trying to gather her up, but she's like this limp squirming cat. "What the fuck is this?" Larry says from the back seat. We're all dumbfounded, our mouths hanging open. The guy moves fast over to the drivers side window, which is open, and begs for help. He wants us to give them a ride. Before I can tell him hell no, you snort and rise from your near coma in the passenger seat then open the passenger door. "Here ya go," you say and stagger outside into the street, leaving the door open wide. The guy proceeds to drag the screaming woman around to the passenger side and starts to manhandle her into the car. I'm like, "Get the fuck out of my car! You are not putting that woman in here." I have no idea what's going on with this woman, who looks like she's in the middle of a psychotic breakdown. But she's got victim written in her crazed eyes. Your brother and his friend from the back seat are telling him the same thing, to get the hell out of the car. There's shouting and arm waving. The guy gives me this look and then reluctantly drags the woman back out of the car. You're staggering around outside, laughing. I figure with all the screaming, the cops will be here any second. And since the Cougar doesn't have a valid registration (I shaved the stickers off of other people's license plates and glued them to my plates to maintain the semblance of legality), not to mention scores of parking tickets that I accumulated while living in Santa Monica, it's imperative I get this vehicle off the street immediately. Your brother reaches out and pulls the door close and we power around the corner and into the driveway of our little spanish style rental house. Not a second too soon. As we pile out of the car, the cops come roaring up, two patrol cars, full lights and sirens. The guy is still dragging the screaming woman around. The cops surround them. We want no part of this.

Larry, his friend and I all wisely beat cheeks up the stairs and into the house, where we watch the proceedings from our windows. We yell at you, telling you to get in the house. You don't listen. You're out there weaving around heckling the cops, "whaddya doin'? You don't know what you're doing!" Followed by wild laughter. The cops turn and ask you what is going on. You tell them in so many slurred words that we saw them in the middle of the street and were going to give them a ride. The cops turn back to the couple and start to separate them. You're still heckling them and we're shouting out the window for you to come back to the house. One of the cops has apparently had enough of you, he turns, shakes himself to settle his gun belt, and then tells you that if you don't leave he's going to arrest you. "I'm pre-med. I know what I'm doing," you say in response. You say this while staggering around in a circle in the middle of the street. We're horrified, thinking that you've probably got one of your ever present glass jars of coke in your pocket and things could get ugly real fast. But apparently the threat of arrest does filter into your spinal column, causing you to change your direction. You make unsteady steps back to the house, while we watch from the windows. In a few moments, they've arrested both the man and the woman and take them away. You come upstairs and we do a few lines and you go to bed, while sitting around drinking beer and shaking our heads at the weird turn of events and another close call you had with the law. JOHN ABEL wrote:
P.s. I want to put a post up in my blog on some of our appt. fun but you need to give me a rundown on the night that dude approached the car and whatever was going on

30 years on

It has been 30 years since I spent that first summer working in North Truro on Cape Cod.I never had a summer like it and never will again.There were several more summers in North Truro to follow but I was not prepared for what the Cape did to one.If you fell under the spell like I did the whole world consisted from the Truro Line to the tip of Provincetown.Sun,drink,drugs,girls who did not know you unlike your home town.It was all so much that by mid August that first summer my brain was fried and I had to go home to recover. Well Tanned into late Sept but with a hell of a lot less brain cells.One of the first episodes I had came just after I left the campground job but was still living in the room between the men's and ladies room my brother and I had.He was still working there.One of the guys we worked with Bruce was a summer resident whose parents had a house on the bay side of Truro.I went down there one afternoon with him in my Vega wagon for"a few beers" His parents wern't down but his younger sister who was I think 15 at the time was there.Blond with long legs she was a young goddess who as the beers went down became even more of a beauty.She thought my flirtations funny and Bruce always one to egg one on did just that.Soon I found myself driving my Vega up and down the dunes outside their cottage while screaming out the music to Bonanza.I would go tearing across the dunes come back have another beer and then drive off again.At this point the rest of the story was told to me the next day.I left Bruces and somehow drove the six or so miles up rt6 to North Truro around 5 in the afternoon.I pulled into the house on pond rd.where Jimmy Manning who I was now working at Babes Rest with was hanging out.He said I came screaming up ,the Vega making a loud noise and said"Let's go swimming!!"He did not realise how gone I was till he got in the car.We went flying down Pond Rd. up through the hilltop parking and down the sand road right onto the beach where Jimmy said I parked the car stripped down to nothing and went charging off into the water.This was around 5:30 and he said a few families were still on the beach.Luckily no one called the police about the naked drunk guy laughing in the water.Then he said I went to the car opened the back tailgate and passed out.Jimmy drove me back to the campground and they rolled me out.Next morning I wake up at 6:30 to go to work and stumbling out the door into the early morning quiet I find no car.I'm wondering where the hell my wagon is and my brother was in Boston so I start walking the 3/4 mile to Babes.I have a huge fuckin hangover and as I walk by the gas station in North Truro center there are two police cars filling up.It looks like they are pointing at me and laughing and at this point I see dried blood on my pants.I'm thinking great I wrecked my car someplace and these guys know it and are toying with me.I turn the corner to walk up that freakin hill on 6a to Babes and that is the morning it became known to us as Puke Hill.I chowed twice going up it and stumble into the kitchen at Babes where Jimmy and Tom are laughing at me and the owners Claudia and Pierre are amused that I actually showed up the way I look.I made it through work and Jimmy filled me in.Turns out he took the car back to his sisters house after dropping me off and the loud noise was the catylitic converter dragging on the ground as I had knocked it loose in the dunes.

Blog Block

No posts in awhile as I just haven't been inspired to post anything.I hope to change that soon.By the way I had a knock on the door tonight and when I answered it baseball bat in hand I found two folks from Peta at my door.They said a neighbor had complained I was beating my monkey in the window while she looked on from the sidewalk down below.I told them I don't own a monkey but if I did I would never beat it. I would just spank it if it was bad.

Last ride postscript

I forgot to mention that at the time Eastview Mall was owned by the extended family of a Pittsford Friend Bob Wilmot.Another friend Jeff L's dad insured the Mall and Jeff had to go blab about it to his father.So about a month later I get a letter and bill for the damage from L Insurance.When I told Jeff he was an idiot for telling his father he said his dad did it as a joke.I guess it was cause I never paid the bill.

The Last Ride of the Vega

There are more Vega stories to tell and some short blurbs like the morning my father came in my bedroom and asked me if I knew where my car was and I told him in the driveway.He told me to look outside and I did to see my vega wagon parked sideways on the front lawn drivers door open.I said "Hey I made it home didn't I?".My brother Mike also parked his VW on the front lawn once or twice.Anyhoo that the Vega Wagon survived Cape Cod and the summer of 77 was a major miracle.It made it fine through fall in Rochester but that New Years eve was to be it's last ride.What better company to have along than Wildman who has shared and provided some memorable moments in a car.We started out doing some doobs and since it was New Years Eve I know coke was involved and maybe something else.We wern't picky.Whatever drugs came along we took them.Wound up at a huge New Years party at Greg Clark's house and by the late hours wound up at The Gaslight at Eastview Mall where "The Inside Out Band" was playing and in a bit of irony they had played in Provincetown all during the summer of 77.By the time the Gaslight was near closing time we had a weeks worth of drugs and booze in us in just one nights work.We pulled away and I saw the whole vast back parking lot of the mall empty of cars and there was a coat of ice on much of it with a dusting of snow.It was then some Winter Olympic memory kicked in and I saw the lightpoles.Somewhere we had picked up a bottle of Champagne which was now opened.I took a swig and decided we were going to Slalom the light poles of the mall parking lot.We had gone through and around about 7 of them passing the bottle ,skidding on the ice and laughing our ass off when wildman goes"Lookout" and the car is stopped dead in it's tracks.Where the hell did that traffic Island and small tree come from?Indeed it was the only traffic Island in the whole back parking lot and the Vega was stuck real good on it.So I come up with the plan we'll go back to the bar and say it was stolen.Right after we exit the car the little scooter mall security guy comes putting up and Bob says toss the keys.So I toss the keys and we tell him while weaving back and forth someone stole my car and we just found it after leaving the bar.I tell him the keys aren't in the car and we start searching for them.Right away Wildman goes"Here They Are!" and I'm thinking way to blow my story drunk.Just then two of the Kennedy girls come along and ask us if we need a ride and we tell the guy we'll be back in the morning.They drive us home and next thing I know my dad is asking me where my car is.I'm lying in Bed the room spinning and I say"It's over at Eastview with a flat tire"I pass out again and an hour later my father storms into my room and starts yelling which he never did."Flat Tire!,that car is wrecked,If you ever drink and drive again I'll kill you you horses ass"It turns out he went out there and indeed there was a flat tire but there was also pretty much no front axle left amongst other vital things underneath the car.He called the towtruck and they had to bring another one out,this one a flatbed cause there was nothing left to hook a tow to.The funny thing is the body was untouched but the damage underneath was almost 2,500.00 more than bluebook on the car.So the Vega Wagon that had served me so well and acquired legendary status amongst my peers was no more.A postscript was that six months later I saw what I was sure was my car for sale at Dick Steamers Mobil station.I wouldn't have put it past that asshole to take a car with a badly bent frame fix it up and pass it off to some one as a solid car.

None of your buisness

You ask where have I been.I haven't posted of late because I was involved in a terrible drinking accident.I got a little careless and it's a fine line between pro and amateur.I'll just give you this advice which I saw in a Modern Drunkard Mag some years ago."When you are crawling on your hands and knees Taxis and Police Cars look a lot alike so be careful what you hail.I'll put up some posts this week.

Missing the Curve

This is one of my favorite tales from when my parents used to go to Calif. to visit our older brother and leave Larry and I in charge.This one started on a summer night with a bunch of us at my parents doing windowpane.In fact it might have been the night Foss made the brownies and I followed him around the house straightening out the carpets he was kicking up.At some point some of us went out to the Cottage Hotel in Hyldahls dads two week old T-Bird.He,Kiv,myself and Teg Jones who was tripping for the first time drove out there for some wacked reason and stayed about half an hour before it became too strange.(Wildman may have been along also) We piled back in the car and headed back towards my parents.All of us were tripping except Hyldahl who had eaten a bunch of Codeine.Somehow we wound up on Van VorHees(sp) Road where you came down that long straight section and there was that wicked turn that had the big 15mph sign.As we headed down the straight section all of us were yelling "Faster!Faster! and at one point we were doing 75mph.Tom hit the curve at a LOT more than 15mph the T-Bird went off the road and stuck in the hillside lawn on the right.We were at such an angle we all had to climb out the passenger window.After we were out Kiv had to remove a pound of herb from the trunk which we stashed across the road down a hill under some bushes.A short time later Monroe County Sheriff pulled up and called a tow truck.There were two cop cars there and they asked us what had happened.I don't recall what we said but one cop finally walked up to me and asked my friends name.I told him Teg Jones as he had freaked out and kept saying the next car around the corner was going to kill us.Then the cop said we were lucky no one was hurt and Teg blurts out"No we wern't drinking!" The tow truck hauled away the T-Bird which had a lot of bottom damage and the other police car left.The cop left told us to get in his car and all these guys jump in the back seat leaving me to sit up front.The cop asks us where he should drop us off and all these guys in the back seat say my house.By this time it was around 1:30 a.m. and I'm thinking there are like 15 people tripping back at my parents house so I tell the cop to take us to Kivs .I reason that he had that 67 Impala fastback then and we can drive to my house from there.He asks me how to get there I tell him and off we go.So now the guys in back aren't making a peep.I'm in the front seat of a cruiser tripping my balls off watching the cool light show trying to make small talk when the cop says to me"I think you guys are doing something besides drinking tonight but you've been through enough so I'm not going to press it.I can almost here the backseat wetting their pants while I'm watching the trails from all the lights on his dashboard and thinking this is cool.He drops us at Kivs and Hyldahl walks off home.The rest of us get in the car go back and pick up the pot and head to my parents As we come up RRMills at around 2:15 we crest the hill and every light in our house is on.Speakers are out the living room windows with The Who on and in the driveway are my brother,Langer and a few others.Some of them are riding bikes in circles one my little brothers small bike and I think it was Lang standing there with the hose squirting them with water as they drove by grinning like a fool.I'm thanking my lucky stars the cop did not bring us here.At some point after Larry wound up going after Teg cause he told him Bob did not make it and Larry thought he meant Bob was dead.Thats why I think Bob might have been along but the whole later part my memory is blurry.At some point Foss put road signs in the front lawn which he did more than once.

Holiday Inn

The last months I spent at Northeastern my brother made the mistake of giving me an American Express card before going to work for him.That card led to a lot of road trips to the Cape via a Hertz Rental from Logan.One fall trip was memorable just because of the chain of events.We drove to P-Town and the Surf Club and spent the afternoon filling up a few tables with empty Bally XXX's.There were four of us and talking to Michael the Bar Tender we found out the Jug Band was playing The Barley Neck Inn in Orleans that night.So off we went with me driving a full size ford wagon.We arrived at the Inn feeling like the Guys in Animal House when they saw Otis was playing the road house.We all went in except for Chris who was fast asleep in the back.The Jug Band was fun and we gave them the usual 'You guys suck,play something you know when the guy at the table in front of us turned around and said "Would you shut the hell up!" at which we looked behind us to see who he was talking to only to find a wall.At this point Chris came in after waking up and seeing a tap-room sign.After the first set Geno came over and said that the manager would like us to leave which we did and drove back to P-Town.We walked back into the Surf Club and Michael said something like are you guys still standing,laughed at us and then refused to serve us.So we went to the Gov. Bradford just as they shut down then drove to Piggys where we had a drink and Mugsy and Jimmy DeMarco met a girl who wound up driving with us to the Holiday Inn where I rented a room after that bar shut down.In the room I had a picture off the wall with many lines laid out on it when the girl tells us her dad is Police Chief in Truro.We all laughed.She wound up in the bathtub with Mugs and Jimmy,I'm snorting lines and Chris has vanished when a knock comes at our door.I open it to find Chris naked grinning like an idiot.Around 5 a.m. we are evicted from our room the cops daughter leaves and we drive around a bit before I pull into the lot of Babes and we sleep a few hours.Daybreak comes and we are convinced the cops are waiting at the truro line for us but no sign so I pull into the packy in Truro get a case of buds and off we go back to Boston.It was aFri morning by this time but then NU did not have many classes on Fri.so I don't think it affected our G.P.A. not that it would have mattered.

Birthday Fun

Back in 1973 I was spending a lot of time with Bill W. ,Teg Jones a few other guys and gals and Bills sister Debbie.Debbie and I were in the early stages of an on-again off again thing and when Feb rolled around we were on again.The night of the 6th,my 18th B-Day we all went up to Teg Jones parents place above the mushroom house.It was cold and clear but there was snow on the ground.We were drinking beer and Bill and I were doing shots from some bottle of rotgut whiskey.We were drinking inside but then went outside to smoke some doobs and I kept hitting the Whiskey bottle and debbie kept telling me to take it easy on the booze.Well going outside into the cold made the hard stuff hit and next thing I know we were driving down 96 with Bill driving the W.family Pinto with Debbie shotgun and myself,Bill M. and Karen.W in backseat.We had the lights on trying to light a doob I am told when a Trooper went by the other side of 96.He pulled a U-Turn and came after us at which point Bill pulled over and switched seats with Debbie.Debbie had turned 18 in Jan and it was after 11 or 12 or whatever law was back then so Bill was not supposed to be driving at 17 w/o an adult in car.The trooper said he saw Bill driving and was giving us a hard time when I seated behind the driver seat and now Debbie pushed it forward and chowed out the window and halfway onto the Trooper.Bill said he looked at me,then his pants and told us to get the hell out of there and he better not see us again tonight.

Animal House 2

Day passed into early eve and all of us including Regina, Jimmys sister and another roomie of ours off to The Surf Club for the Jug Bands Sat night show.Our table has around ten folks at it hootin and hollerin and having a great time.At some point during the day Mugsy or myself found some muscle relaxers on our person and a few folks including my brother Larry ate them.The Jug Band put on a great show and since it was Memorial Day things got a bit wild.All I know was at the end of the night Geno invited Jimmy M. and Myself onstage where we sang "When the Saints Come Marchin In"while the umbrella lady led the conga line around the bar followed by my brother Mike and Mugsy.I don't recall how but we all made it back to the cottage in North Truro and at some point early the next morn Mugsy said some irate neighbor lady cme in yelling and screaming that my brothers car was parked on top of her septic system and when no one woke up but Mugs she went crazy.A little later the landlord showed up and wanted to know if this was going to be a regular thing as folks were passed out in sleeping bags all over the floor.The lady next door turned out to be a rummy whose husband was a dean at Northeastern so we had her ass.It was a nice start to my last season at Babes and one in which I got the best tan of my life.

Animal House

I was just reading that the Highland Light in North Truro turns 150 years old.I love that lighthouse.The sound of that foghorn on stormy nights was so soothing and also romantic with the young ladies.You could hear it all across North Truro but my story starts in Boston at the NEZ house the Fri night of Memorial Day weekend 1981.The house was pretty empty and Mugsy and I deceided to drop some acid.Right after we took it Animal House came on TV and we started watching and soon were caught up in it.Around midnight after many beers and with a good acid buzz going we decided the only thing to do was drive to Cape Cod right now!So we grabbed a 12 pack hit Mao's closet for two bottles of white wine and along with a few joints some speed and a vile of coke we headed out with mugs driving his VW411 or whatever they were called.About 45 minutes out of Boston after much fun Mugs starts waving his hand in front of his face saying"I can't see" "Pull over" says I and we smoke a doob and do a few lines.This went on like three times before we made it over the bridge onto the Cape at which we got a second wind.All of a sudden we are in North Truro at like 3a.m. with nothing to do so we pull off route 6 and talk and do more drugs ,have another beer and all of a sudden its getting light out.So off we go to Provincetown where we pull into a parking lot right before or past The Red Inn.We open a bottle of wine and I tell mugs we have to let it breathe which is when he looks at me like what kind of stoner idiot are you.So we start sipping wine and at this point I found Camels in my pocket so we're smoking drinking wine at daybreak with fisherman walking by us and looking at us like we're two really messed up guys having a good time.Around then we snoozed for an hour or so and when we woke up decided it was time to head back to North Truro and find the house I had rented with five other guys and gals for the summer.The thing was though the cottge sat off the road above the bay on freezer beach.So we drive back and forth with no luck and finally wind up at Dutras Market around 9 in the morning.We have no idea what to do when Jimmy M. my workmate from Babes and roomate shows up withMarty another roomie and then my brothers Larry and Mike pull in followed by Grtetchen W. from Pittsford.So we all head down Pond Road to the cottage and proceed to drink more beer(cont)

NEZ

I realised tonight I still haven't put up a post on my fraternity time at Nu Epsilon Zeta besides a brief mention.Though most of my time there was spent in the quest of knowledge there were a few incidents I can write about soon.

He Likes It

History Lesson

I was just looking in a book discussion in one of my History groups where they are reading a new book on Pocahontas.I am not reading the book but mention is made of how the Indians put up with the settlers rascally behavior.That got me to thinking that a similar thing happened to the Indians on Cape Cod when the pilgrims raided their corn granary in Truro in a spot still called Corn Hill.I thought how ironic a few hundred years later just above Truro is P-town which could be called Corn Hole.

My Book

I'll put up a few more poems from my hard to find"Anus of Repose" 3 copies I know of. (1) "Rainy Day in P-Town" Raining today-nothing to do-So I said let's make sticky Buns!-Bruce made a happy face on mine (2) "Eddie" Sometimes-When he starts to talk-I feel like asking him-If his asshole is closed for repair.

Richard Gere

I've been busy with my Gerbils lately so no new posts.I'll put something up soon.In the meantime I'll put up an old poem though (- )will have to do for line breaks. "Holiday in P-Town", As I recall- the days were sunny-but each night-golden showers fell on Uranus.

Izod

I was just going through some books and found the little card from Ben Silver the clothing catalog from my 50th B-Day.It was a pale blue Izod golf shirt from Mr.@Mrs. Dalton and the card reads "Looks good on the links or in a Privet Hedge."I think that was Wildman's sly remark about my 40th B-Day and the first L.A. story I've put here.In those days I sometimes slept at the office on my nice couch and that night I was there and walked a few blocks over to the Italian Restaurant my neighbor was a witer/manager at.It was about a week after my 40th so it was a cool Feb. night and after dinner and a bottle of wine I moved to the Bar where the owner Tony started pouring me Pernods.I was taking Vicadin for a sore knee that night along with trips to the bathroom for snuff breaks.Things got real warm and cozy at the bar but I was feeling no pain.A few hours later I come to walking down a sidewalk by the Wilshire Country Club which is like 6 miles away from the Restaurant.I stop on the sidewalk and its like I'm in some strange Star-Trek episode.Last thing I recall I was at the bar at Guidos and now I'm walking down a quiet street.The problem was when I came to walking the Vicadin took over and I kept walking a few steps then falling face first on the sidewalk.After a bit of this I found a nice big hedge crawled under it and went to sleep.Next thing I know some private neighborhood security car is flashing his spotlight on me and telling me to get up or he will call the police.(Never pick a Country Club Area to be messed up).I told him I was trying to get home and would he drive me to Wilshire and one of the highrise Condos so I could call a Cab.He tells me no and I stumble off falling flat a few times again while he's driving along real slow with the spotlight on me and next thing I know I walk into a lobby of a Condo on Wilshire and see myself in the mirror.My face is all bloodied from falling,my shirt has blood stains all over it and I tell the counter guy I need a cab and that some guys beat me up.The cab comes and I get in and the cabbie is one of the guys I know just coming on his shift.He tells me I look like someone beat you up and what the hell happened to you?I ask him the time and by now it is 5:oo the next morning.I tell him to take me to work where I go in the side door and crash on my couch.At 11:30 the next morn I wake up and call another cab,walk past our shipping guy mumbling something about tripping over something in my office and go home.The amazing thing is no one came in my office that morning or seemed to know I was there.I get home and take my clothes off and my knees and elbows are all bloodied and skinned from falling and my nose is all scraped up.I find out the next day my buddy had someone take me home but my apt keys were at work so he dropped me off when I said I'd take the bus back over to work.During my "walk" I crossed two major streets had a pocket full of cash and"snuff".That I did not get rolled ,hit or busted was amazing.The shirt came clean in the wash,I still have it and I stayed away from Vicadin and Pernod for a month or so.

The Old Quig homestead

By the way the old Clambake estate has been on the market for quite some time and the price keeps getting lower but still a chunk of change.There were additions put on after the Grizz years but the resident ghost and his antics have also become better known which appears to be scaring folks off.Imagine if two clambakes at our peak and a few nights of listening to The Murph tell his "tales"didn't make the little dude pack his bags for new digs I don't think anything will.

Masterbakers

I received some old pics from Grizz today and two of them from his parents place are marked Clambake 75 so it looks like both the legendary 75 and the 76 were held at Quigs.One of the pics from 75 shows quite a few full moons exposed on route 64 with a lot of guys standing around.What the poor souls driving by must have thought but more on those two bakes in a later post.I missed the first bake which was held at the old Kennedy place and involved only 12 or 13 guys one of which either Joe or Foss as I recall wound up being pushed around in a wheelbarrow passed out.Junior year was at Doug Turners and it had a bigger group but still mostly our close gang.The one thing I recall about that one is Spike getting in a fight with some neighborhood tough who was a junior but the reasons are forgottten much like many many braincells.Senior year was at Kenna Woodas parents pace at Thornell and East Streets and for the first time other guys from our year outside our small circle were there.I recall Foos sticking his finger down his throat so he could puke and drink more.But what made 74 a breakout bake was after Kennys we had a convoy of cars full of drunken stoned Pittsford guys descend on the Cottage Hotel.I think it was a Sunday that bake was held as when we entered the Cottage it was pretty empty.It was the first of two years we terrorised Tommy Doggett and Ben Henderson.All I know is sinks were ripped from bathrooms(Greg Clark) and that I was sitting at the bar with Foos and Murphy while Foos kept raising a shot glass and chanting"To the Furher!" At some point we lit a joint at the bar and Ben Henderson told us we had to leave and the Murph gets up and starts walking to the door while Foos and I yell to him Murph what the hell is he going to do?.It was while at the bar while mayhem ran amuk around us that Foos and I started talking to these two long haired hippie types at the bar.The rest is a blur but when we all left The Cottage Foos and I wound up leaving with these two guys.We smoked and drank and I passed out and came to as we were dropping off Foos at his parents house.I passed out again and next thing I know these two guys and I hit a tree on some country road in a Maverick or something like that.They started talking about driving to someones house to get another car.The car we were in was driveable but I remember a smashed windshield.I think they had forgotten about me in the backseat and at this point I started to tell these guys to take me home.We started arguing and I was cursing them when I saw we were at route 31 and Marsh Road so I said listen you fueckers drop me off here and I'll walk home from here.So I get out and after walking a few minutes realise I'm on some kind of route 31 but not anywhere near Bushnell's Basin.It turns out I was in Macedon.At this point I am pissed and still fucked up big time so I walk off the road and into this cornfield where the next thing I know it is first light and I've been sleeping in this cornfield for a while.I stumble out onto the road and stick out my thumb.After a bit a guy comes along and asks where I'm going.I say Pittsford and he says you are going the wrong way.So I cross the road and the next guy says I'm going the wrong way.Then I notice I'm not on 31 but some other side road that runs the same way.I finally figure out the right way and get a ride to Fairport. As I'm walking through town very early I see the police station and I figure I'll tell them what happened and they will let me sleep a few hours as a drunk.No one is there so I curse them out thinking Otis always had a place to go in Mayberry.I wind up across from the Green Lantern Inn and who comes along but Eddie the Janitor from PMHS.He pulls up and I get in and he is laughing"Where the Hell have you been,you look like shit!" he exclaims and I tell him you wouldn't believe it and utter my silent "Fuck You,What a Rummy I thought to myself" about eddie.Anyhoo he drops me at PMHS and I walk the rest of the way home to my parents on RRMills and around 8:00 on monday morn walk up the driveway my mom outside watering and just grunt at her on my way to bed.For all that I had the honor of winning"King Clam" our senior year.

Clambake Time

After getting an email today about"The Shroud" the next few posts should be about The Clambake.From its beginnings in sophomore year , my first one at Doug's Junior year the senior year at Kennas house where the Legend of the Clambake began to grow with the thrashing of our first bar and then the Clambakes of all time ,The Thirstys Five and The Ultimate bake"The 76 bake at Quigs place.After that the bakes moved on to the park and like an aging metal band became more bloated year after year with Dougs hourlong drunken rambling rants.Then the bakes where all kinds of strange folks showed up like Dougs Butcher Friends who thought Dice Clay was Funny.Finally the beginning of The Anti Bake where wives and children were invited to todays mellow bake.Along the way there are some great stories to tell.The schroom bake,Eddie treat as the Master Baker the year Wildman and I were in Thirstys after I moved to Calif and we informed Tommy Doggett it was Clambake Day and he begged us to just stay out of Thirstys afterwards.Roscoe's loss of The Sacred Shroud ,Spikes songbook of Clambake songs.Wildman's"Ghosts of Clambakes Past" song.The Bake became to big for its own good but the stories it spawned are Pittsford Legend.

Casino 2

I received an email from Tom G. where after reading"Casino" he recalls something I did not or as he says according to his recollection. "After the tree branch encounter,Larry took over driving with you shotgun.While wildy correcting his oversteer,(which caused everyone to awaken)Larry yelled that you had"chowed" all over him.You then told Larry in no uncertain terms,"you asshole, you chowed on yourself". Next thing you know,I'm in the hammock at Babes." Thank you Tom G..He also mentioned that he thought maybe his brother Dave came with us that night and I'm not sure he didn't .If he did he was in the way back of the wagon on the ride home.That also means Joe K. and his spitting routine were from a trip a year or so earlier.You will also note the vega is a two door but the front side windows were long so you can see how far the branches were into the car to be smacking us.

The Vega Wagon!Mine was sandstorm(beige)

The Casino

I may as well do one more Cape story before heading back to Pittsford.This one also involves the vega wagon.One fine August afternoon in 1977 Larry and myself pulled into the yard of my buddy Tom G'S parents house in Wellfleet.I actually creased the front passenger side panel of the vega brushing one of those quaint split rail fences.At this point we had a cooler full of 16oz Pickwick Ales and the three of us were headed all the way down Cape to Falmouth to pick up Joe K. and Stool and bring them back to North Truro.We were meeting them at The Casino a big old bar in Falmouth right on the water.S. Schuler was waitressing there that summer and Joe and Scott had stayed with her for a night.We got to The Casino and soon many many rounds of drinks were drunk with the motto"It's On Butch".Butch was the owner of the campground Larry and I had worked at but that I had left by this time to work at Babes.The employees had a"sort of profit sharing plan".Suzie wanted to know what we were doing up in North Truro as the money and tips were flowing.By the time we left at closing the world was our Oyster or at least Cape Cod was.The ride home showed what teamwork can do.It's a good 50-60 miles back up the Cape and I was behind the wheel as we left The Casino lot.Somehow I made it from the paved parking lot onto a packed sand beach without knowing it.As I cruised along the beach about thirty yards from the road and considered when I wanted to rejoin pavement someone had to take a leak already.So we stopped all got out of the car and as we stood there laughing and peeing a police car pulled up on the nearby road and the officer asked"Is this the Accident?''We all looked at each other and said no there was no accident and the cops gave us a longing look but had an accident to find and off they went.Joe K. who had swallowed a doob when the cops pulled up told me I was in no condition to drive and he took over with larry riding shotgun Stool behind Joe in the backseat me in the middle and Tom G. behind Larry.We made our way out of Falmouth onto the main route 6 and headed north up the Cape.Joe did well for awhile but somewhere along the way I awoke to hear Larry yelling at him what are you doing.It seems Joe was in the left lane of route 6 on what he thought was a four lane stretch but was in reality a two lane stretch.As he swerved to avoid a southbound car he wandered off our side of the road up a slight embankment at which point large tree branches were smacking Tom G. now awake and myself in the face.We managed to avoid the trunks of the trees and as Joe stopped Larry took over driving while Joe moved to shotgun and began one of his constant spitting routines.Somewhere along the way Stool had rolfed sort of out the window.From there we made it back to the room in North Truro in the wee hours and when the alarm went off at 6:15 the next morning for Tom G. and I. He came awake stumbled to his feet and walked smack into the fridge.I grabbed him by the arm took him out to the vega wagon and off we went to work our breakfast shift at Babes.About an hour later Tom G. was really pasty white manning the toast machine so we sent him out to the hammock where he lay in his apron and large white chefs hat while patio diners ate a few feet away unaware of the mighty effort we had made to return.I have no idea how I made it through that morning standing in front of a steaming dishwasher but we were young and PRO.

Gimlet Afternoon

The Vega Wagon was responsible for so many adventures but the summer of 1977 my first on the Cape the Vega really went through some nights.I began to think the car was just indestructable.One of the first fun nights happened after my friend Tom G. who now lives in Webster and I picked up a quart of Gin after the beach one afternoon.We went to Babes Restaurant where we worked and sat outside with Dirty Pierre the Chef/Baker/Liveinboyfriend of the owner.The three of us polished off the gin by drinking Gimlets just Gin and Limejuice.As I recall Pierre had one ,two at most.Tom and I had a good buzz on by this time and drove back to the campground where Larry and some of the Cape gang were hanging out in our room.We had a few beers there and decided to head to P-Town and the Surf Club.Larry and a few others left before I did in a 65 Vista Cruiser called"The Ouch Mobile" for that was the word painted on dents on the car.Tom G. rode shotgun with me and I decided we needed to catch up to the other guys.It's about six miles to PTown from where we were and route 6 at that point is four lanes of undivided highway two lanes each North/South.I caught the "Ouch" mobile and passed them going around 80 which was about top speed for the vega.Bruce who was driving ouch exclaimed"Man,your brother is fucked up" and indeed I was as I only recall bits and pieces.The rest was told to me next day.Anyhoo once we passed them I slowed down to around 60 but decided we needed to head North to P-Town in the far left lane which was a Southbound lane.I am told a few cars heading south passed us on the right horns blowing,me flipping them the bird.By the time we reached the P-Town turn I was back in the correct lane but then did a left on red towards town and as we rounded the two lane curve by the A&P in Ptown my friend Tom tells me people walking were diving into bushes on the side of the road.Making it finally onto Commercial Street I started jumping on the gas and hitting the brakes.A cop noticed this and I explained to him I had just gotten the car out the shop and was testing the brakes.He told us he better not see us come by again and we pulled into the wharf parking lot.I don't recall even going in The Surfclub and am quite sure it was Tom G. who drove the vega back to North Truro.That first summer on the Cape was fun but hard on the braincells and the Vega Wagon!

Fun with foil

Okay I know in the day we could make a pipe out of a cardboard T.P. tube and some foil or use foil to burn a little Hash Oil but again I have a mystery.Last night I cooked some Angel Hair pasta and put the left over pasta in an alum bowl and covered it with foil.About an hour ago I went to nuke some and what do I see but tiny little holes in the foil!Now what in the hey could cause that?.I cooked the pasta in salted water and I did put the bowl on top of a closed pot of tomatoe sauce but no way it could have leaked through.

So I hear you like Pilots

My name is Steve but my friends call me Butts."Hi Steve"

Community Service

My last few months at Northeastern I had decided to go to work for my older brother in Calif. He sent me an American Express card to help me with the transition from college to working life and I put the card to good use helping others.One weekend I rented a car with Brother Bear and we drove around Boston on a fall friday night and helped the homeless guys get some exercise.I was driving and would pull up next to one and Bear would ask them "Hey want a beer" as he held a can out the window.As the homeless guy approached to get his can we would drive off making him run after us to try and get the can.It's hard to get these folks to exercise but we did our best that night.We even passed"The Bearded Clam" in the combat zone.

P.S.

A few years later my brother in Calif sent me a pillow in the shape of a pill that read Rohr 714.I was at Northeastern University by this time living in a fraternity.It was a great bunch of guys .We sang songs helped the homeless and had a swell time.Often when I came home from the Library after hours of study I would look at that pillow and think of my carefree Pittsford days.Now though Knowledge was my Drug! and helping the less fortunate my passion."Knowledge is Good" was my new motto thanks to Emil Faber a very wise man.

The Cadillac of Qualudes

A bit after high school Jeff threw a Xmass party at his parents place.I had the Vega Wagon so it was 75 or 76.Sometime during the party I somehow ingested a Rohr714, a Qualude.I don't recall taking it so some twisted person must have somehow gotten it into me by some devious means.Anyhow I had heard that one was incredibly suave on Rohrs which at first I was making time with several ladies.But no one informed me that if you drank with them things went south at a certain point.Well the sicko who slipped it to me must have been laughing cause I reached the border and kept going.Ask Pedro indeed.My older brother and Larry had to beat me up to get my cars keys away and then drove off in it leaving me at the mercy of a cruel winter night.I was standing on the front lawn when T.L. came up and gave me a talk on the spirit of Xmass and such.I nodded my head in agreement and then spotted this near life size lit Plastic Santa Claus laughing at me on the neighbor Lunts lawn.So I went over and wailed the shit out of Jolly Old St.Nick.He wasn't laughing when I finished with him.Man it felt good and just as I finished I looked up to see Jeffs Mom looking out one of the upstairs windows and then the blinds closed.So let that be a lesson to you to be on guard against "friends" slipping drugs into you unknown.I had a nice black eye the next day and my father called us a bunch of animals.

Things to think about when dropping off the kids at the Pool

Last night I made Tater Salad.I put it in a metal bowl and covered it with foil and tonight the foil has little holes in it.All there are are red taters,mayo,red onion,a little dill pickle juice and a few cchopped dill pickles.Now I have noticed that when I make Veal Parm and cover the metal tray of leftovers with sauce with Foil holes aoppear in the foil.Biedy and I talked about this a week or so ago when I mentioned it and he said the same thing about covering Lasagna with foil.Most likely the acid in the tomato sauce but what could cause it in tater salad?

Rosebud

I have been busy setting up stage 2 for my master plan to become THE Player in world media so I have not posted here in a few nights but I have some new posts brewing in my brain.I have lots of stuff on many folks so watch your back.As Gov LePetomane said"I didn't get a Harumph from that Guy, You watch your Ass!."

Dark Side of the Moon

I was going through my book today and Mose has a B-Day coming on May 7th I believe.I recall the summer we went just about every night to his out of town parents place down in that cool basement bar that opened onto the inground pool.I bought the portable AM/FM-Cassette deck one night and we played the Pink Floyd album over and over.The most memorable night though was when Wildman,Kiviat,Foos and myself went to 12 corners in Brighton to pick up a pound.The week before on a sunday night we were out of pot cruising somewhere in the city with Foos calling out the window when these two guys said they had herb.Foos bought some and got to talking and set up a buy for a pound several nights later.We drove to Brighton from moses place and parked in a little shopping center lot.Behind us was a Donut store and behind that a older two story wood frame house Foos went into for the buy.The other three of us were sitting in the F85 and as the minutes went by getting restless.After about 40 minutes with still no sign of Dave we were getting worried when all of a sudden 4 or 5 Brighton police cars came roaring into the lot and drove back towards the house.That was enough for Wildman and myself and we split the F85 and hitchiked back to Moses .As we walked up to Bills front door an underclassmen went racing by and yelled something. A few minutes later I answered a knock on the door to find a Monroe County Cop standing there.Bob and I thought he was there for us but he asked us where the kid who was "Garaging" was hiding.We realised he was looking for the kid who ran by and said so but he claimed to have seen him run into the house.We hadn't even had a chance to make it down to the bar and the cop wanted to come in and look around so we said OK.He wandered around a few rooms and then came back to us and asked us what was behind this door.We said the steps to the basement so the cop opens the door and I am right behind him staring down at all these guys drinking and in a direct line is Murph toking on a joint.The cop is looking down the stairs and Murph looks up the stairs and his eyes got REAL BIG.The cop looks at Murph then turns to me and says "Why don't you see if he's down there" I go down look around a suddenly very silent bar and come back up and tell him he's not there.The cop looks down the stairs again and tells Bob and I to have a good night and walks back out the front door.Not long after this Foos and K show up with a pound and it turns out the Brighton Police cars were all just parking behind the Donut shop before going in for glazed and a cup of Joe.

A Pertinent Announcement

Last fall while in Roch I was talking to Mr.Wittig's daughter.She knows Mrs B. from girl scouts and I had sent in a memory of Mr.Wittig she was going to use as one of many from students along with my pic in a room at PMHS in his honor.We were talking and she mentioned that she thought she was imagining things but when she went back to the school for the first time she noticed that the stairway in the library was gone.I don't know why they did this and forgot to ask how one can access both floors of the Library now but I always thought that stairway was cool.For one thing it offered a third escape route off the balcony in case something went awry in one of our many pranks.I have heard the Balcony became off limits to students not long after we left and I can certainly see why.Besides the ease it offered to rain water balloons down into the commons area en masse it was just a great place to launch mayhem.Who can forget when the person every one thought was the "Masked Maurader" Mike Q. appeared on the balcony like the Pope proclaiming his innocence as the patsy we had hired to play the part ran across the commons and was caught by Mr.Sherman.I forgot what we gave the younger Foos but it probably involved herb.As his brother would say though he was a "Lowly Sophomore"How many times Foos used that line before launching a tray of food at a Sophomore table starting yet another commons clearing food fight.Our trips to the Liquor store on Fri mornings so we could hacve Vodka Slushies and how long it took the food ladies to catch on when we ordered an Orange Juice Slushie and two empty cups.Highball sipping bourbon from a Choc milk container.In winter sticking beers in the snow in the courtyard at the edge of the commons area.Kerry taping the thumbtacks to the back of the door handles leading out the library into the commons and us watching as folks opened the door.A good loud"OH MURPHY!!" as we all cleared away from the table leaving the Murph turning beet red and sputtering curses or picking the lock to the second floor room at the back of the auditorium with a credit card and smokin doobs.How we did it the night of the Choral Society or whatever that Kenny was in onstage while we were flipping the bird and waving to him from up in the room. The metal window sills at the edge of the commons where L.A. and T.L. scratched in with a knife such gems as "SLA Join today","We Love you Tania" and "Lebanese Red Hash 8 dollars a gram" And of course"The Bomb!" It's a wonder we got any learning done.

Timex

I am watching "The Ten Commandments" and man is it a long movie.I don't think I've ever watched the whole thing but have seen bits and pieces over the years.They don't make em like this anymore.I noticed in one scene though where Moses(Chuck Heston) is standing on a rock that he is wearing a wrist watch.Then there is the Burning Bush scene.I admit I've never had a Burning Bush talk to me but there was one night when four of us on Windowpane saw a wheat field on Old Dutch Road waving back and forth at us.Wildman was driving the Camaro and Foss ,Kiviat and I were his wingmen on a fine August night.We were on our way to the Bristol Hills and we sat and watched the wheat for about five minutes. Earlier that night we had been at L.Wenricks house as Dave was going out with her younger sister and it was the first time I took part in throwing pool balls around the table while on Acid.The trails were impressive but I think we sort of scared the two girls.As for the rock who can forget the great Ozark Mountain Daredevils album from the day."I been standin'on the rock,waitin' for the wind to blow" "I been standin' on the rock,waitin' for my seeds to grow".....

Farewell Lanky Planky

I just read about Ridge Lumber closing its doors after so many years and got to thinking about some of our old haunts that aren't around anymore.Places like Carol's Hamburgers where the manager called the police on us that summer night for no reason.Roseland Park where we spent many a summer night.Wahls, Hicks and Mc Carthy as we knew it.One of the first cheap 15 cent hamburger joints named The Golden Point on Ridge Road.The Washington Drive In where the fun was always trying to sneak in to watch Bad Cinema.I can never forget the night Neil,Wildman and a few others of us clothed ourselves in sharp coats from the goodwill box by Thirstys before going to the Drive In.Hozzies which made a great hoagie and which Biedy helped to bring down.Checos Cabana in E.R. the far axis on the Thirstys to the Cottage Hotel back to Thirstys to Checos run.The Milk place in the Basin with the two friendly old ladies.The little grocery store in Bristol where we would stop for supplies on the way to Annies Cottage.Finally for me Burdetts where the few of us who worked there knew it was the heart of the Pittsford Universe.The cute cashiers and deli girls, the fun we had"working" there and the coconut telegraph that passed through the store and the parking lot.Waiting for Rick H. in his Van to pull in at three every weekday afternoon so Larry,Danny H. ,Wildman and myself could have our afternoon "smoke" and telling langers younger brother he better not rat us out.Unloading the freakin truck at 6: 30 every tues or thurs morning after being at Thirstys till closing the night before. Scotty always knew that on Sunday Morning Larry and I would be at"church" in the Burdetts lot with the NYTimes.We knew everything going on sometimes before it happened.The"Fringe Benefits" were pretty good also.

Hendersons Pond

Three of my brothers are at the frozen four this weekend including Larry.They have been going to the College Hockey finals for the past nine years and that got me to thinking about the day a bunch of us played hockey all afternoon.It was Xmass break a few years after High School.We played on the pond on the way to JK'S house that Ben Hendersons grandfather owned at that time and his house sat back in a corner in the woods.The Murph was the only one who used skates for the rest of us it was boot hockey but we had a blast and played a long time on a rare sunny winter day in Roch.That night we played poker in the basement at Framers parents house.We had two or three tables going as there were a bunch of us and anyone who had played hockey kept jumping up with cramps in the back of their upper thighs from muscles one would not use unless running on ice in boots.It was funny to watch all of us jumping up and down through the night.I recall Framer had a huge row of books near the steps in his basement with a whole bunch of stuff by The Beats so I'll put up a few.I never have firgured out line breaks so I'll use- for line break."Ah who cares?-I'll do what I want--Roll another joint", "The cow,taking a big-dreamy crap,turning-To look at me" from book of Haikus by Jack Kerouac and "Poker Star," "It's a star that looks-like a poker game above-the mountains of eastern Oregon-There are three men playing.-They are all sheepherders.-One of them has two pair,-the others have nothing. Richard Brautigan,"The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster"

White Punks on Dope

I wasn't going to post tonight till I just read the story in the D&C about vandals trashing the town cemetery in Nunda down by Hunt Hollow.One thing I have done when I come back to Roch and cruise the Finger Lakes is check out the old graveyards and there are a lot of them.I've searched them online also.Biedy has a very small old one on the way to his cottage in Port Bay that was just cleaned up in the past few years.Italy Valley has a few I have stopped at.Biedy showed me one a couple of years back in Ontario County that was all overgrown next to a medical bldg he called on including one Revolutionary War Vet.Last fall Mrs. B dragged me grumbling and complaining(unlike my usual self) even though I did not know where we were going to Mount Hope Cemetery.It was a cool early November day and it turned out to be one of the best times I have had in Roch. Thanks Mrs. B!!The atmosphere is just steeped in History and the grounds are quite beautiful. We spent a good three hours plus there.Lots of huge old trees and rolling hilly grounds and some incredible graves and crypts.A lot of History on the grounds and some downright spooky areas even in daylight.

Gator Bait

You have to feel for those Ohio State fans like Will and Ruth.The Gators crush them back to back in title games.Speaking of them though brings back fond memories of their wedding.Russ,Ann and I bought one of those portable vanity mirrors with the lights so we could do our snuff on the drive to Ohio without turning the overhead lights on.I forget who the fourth was(Richie?) or were there five in our car but we had a lot of fun and sniffing.The Thruway rest stop where a few carloads of us pulled in and several of us guys in one stall doing a blast and talking loudly when Biedy pulled a chinup to discover a guy in the stall next to us.I still wonder what the poor guy thought what WAS going on next to him.Richie C and I streaking on the roof of the hotel/motel and running over to the roof by the pool area to impress the girls swimming there.Biedy and Neil K's room being the middle room and us filling the bathtub of it with ice and Heinies the night of Wills wedding.The sidetrip to Niagra Falls on the way home where we made another pitstop to do a blast before we crossed the border.The ride back to Boston with Wildman in his VW.He started the whole trip by showing up from Long Island on thurs in Boston and driving me back to Roch where he stayed at Russ and Anns place on Jefferson for the weekend and got Lucky.

King Clam before the Fall

Did You Eat Yet?

Wedding Tales

I was thinking back to the first of our gang to get married.Scott and Marys wedding gave us our first Bachelor party.Who can forget the scratch and sniff Hustler Centerfold at dinner or that beautiful farm girl dancer/stripper out at that place in Bloomfield afterwards.There were also a lot of great parties given them before the wedding and I basically blew all my Burdett's earnings on chump powder that spring.After the reception a bunch of us wound up at Ann's friend Judy McD. on Allens Creek and someone came up with the idea of skinny dipping.Well I jumped in the pool naked and looked around to see everyone looking at me dressed like what is this Drunk up to.(That seemed to happen to me a lot at Weddings) Anyhoo I get out of the pool after a few minutes and find out Judys dog has run off into the bushes with one of my socks.I had to have a drink over that and as the fog moved into my brain I found myself in a car with Tracy Put. ,Suzie Schul.,Mary C. and myself.It was Suzies moms car but Tracy drove and after a stop at Thirstys where Mary snagged a bottle of Whitehorse Scotch we decided to crash in on Russ and Ann who had gone down to her parents cottage.While Tracy was a gentleman and talked to Sue in the front seat Mary and I slugged on the bottle of scotch in the dark of the backseat and at some point while I was trying to maul her we kicked it over open which made the back seat smell real good the next day.We showed up at the lake woke up Russ and Ann and partied on all night.Come early morning we were all lying on the dock in lounge chairs when Russ decided waterskiing was just what he needed for a wakeup call.So Tracy and I got in the boat Rusty hooked up the tow rope and off we went.The breeze did wake me up so I popped a beer and was the lookout when Tracy started started to head towards shore after a signal from Russ.As we got closer and closer to the shore Russ was grinning like an idiot and Tracy and I were wondering why he didn't drop the rope.We started yelling to him and he gave us a laugh and as we were just nearing the dock Russ let go of the rope and literally skiied right onto the gravel beach next to the dock.The skis stuck fast in the gravel and Russ did two complete head over head tumbles getting a big round of applause from us and the girls on the deck.Luckily he was so drunk he was scratched up but unhurt.We toasted that with Bloody Mary's and then passed out for the rest of the morning.Weddings were tough.

Request

Now that I've found out how to download photos here though I'm not sure how much memory they allow on the blog I'd love to get ahold of some old pics to put here.Especially if anyone has like old clambake pics that have a bunch of us in it when we were young and had lots of hair.I know Russ and Ann had some great photo books as does Biedy.If you can scan them onto your computer and email them it would be great.

Colorado Home Building Tycoon"Donkey Murphy" with Dougs woman

He Blew them all by Himself

The Best and Brightest

Dewey,Cheatem&Howe with Client The Streaker

The Streaker

Eskimo Pie

I saw an ice cream truck today.I don't like ice cream trucks.You know why?It's because of Dragnet.On Dragnet every time an ice cream truck was involved the guy was either selling drugs from the truck or a pedophile.It amazing they let these scum on the streets.Dragnet set us right on that.What about drugs?If you were to believe Dragnet they're bad.Every time they entered a house with a young couple smokin the bone the kids were sitting naked at the kitchen table no food the place looked like it had never been cleaned and after Joe Friday gives him the 411 the dude says something like"Hey Man Maids Day Off" and how about kids bringing drugs to school.It's "My dad got it in TJ,TJ's a swinging town.Sure its so easy to blame Mexicans.Today I saw a tv ad forMy Little Pony.The announcer says it's"Tea Time in Ponyland".Now a kid heres it like that, someone like Rusty or Scott A . might here it as "Tee Time in Ponyland" but if Dragnet has colored your worldview you hear"Teatime"(Party Time) in "Ponyland" ,Joe Friday in your head Skank,Brown Sugar,Mexican Wedding Powder,Smack,H,Heroin however you say it it's a one way ticket to the morgue.Cue Theme Music...

Townies

The reason I started this blog was cause I had to register as one to post a response in the Pittsford Blog of the D&C on Schoen Place and the over population of ducks and geese there.I recall that in the 70's Schoen Place was pretty much no mans land.There were some stores there but no one hung out along the canal except guys like us when we partied out behind thirstys in the area that would become a little park.Who knew we were pioneers?.That one winter some of the guys living at Richie C's worked at the Ski Hut down there.We had the Brow Party at his house over X-Mass the one my brother taped some of.Hey Jeff L. if you ever decide to run for office we DO still have that video of you holding that piece of glass with all those little white lines on it.Anyhoo that small park behind thirstys has tables and all nowdays.Tom B. told me years ago he, the wife and young daughter went down there for a picnic on a warm summer eve.As they were eating the late(Steady) Eddie Beers comes walking down the hill strips to his underwear and jumps into the canal basically to bathe.Then he gets out and walks away.It turns out he was offspring of one of the very first families to settle in Pittsford.Those townies were a strange eccentric bunch to us suburban Pittsfordites.You had R.C. and Hutch running one end of town and the Boland brothers the other.Numbers,Racketts,Acey Ducey you name it they had a finger in it.Then there was the crowd from Sherwood.It's a wonder they aren't all in prison or Design School teachers.I believe it was a July 4th parade down Main Street one year when Terry Huntoon turned a corner on his cycle and all of a sudden was leading the parade.Lets not forget Bob Wurt... who was shot at by a drug lord/country club exec and has modeled the orange jumpsuit.After the parade that day I went over to Bill F's for the first time and we were out in the back of his house rolling a bone when his mom wanders out and makes some crack about smoking dope and Then he introduces me to his mother.There are still areas of the village I won't go after dark.You just don't feel safe like out in Suburban Pittsford.Maybe it's the water that made townies act so strange.

Fate

I was going to write something else tonight but I just realised that today is my old friend Joe Filbrichs b-day.I haven't spoken to him in years but if it wasn't for him and his family we never would have moved to Pittsford.He and I were best friends going to St.Margaret Marys in Irondequoit and for the second half of 8th grade he commuted in from Pittsford every day where they had moved in Jan onto Old Forge Lane.We went out to visit in late winter and my parents who had looked in Webster loved the area.Soon we were building our house right below on Railroad Mills.So because of him I got that quality Pittsford education all the friends I have now and the hundreds of Pittsford chics I went out with.Plus I got to become a Parkrat.It's funny cause we fell out over a girl not long after we moved to Pittsford.Anyhoo one of the best times we had was in Nov of 1969.We took Joe along with my grandmother down to my uncles hunting camp in Canisteo.This place was an old farm house no heat,outhouse a real hillbilly heaven.Myself two of my brothers and Joe played Euchre all night drinking springwater and soon after we were in bed upstairs listening to the mice run around in the walls the owl hooting on the roof and talking and laughing I found I had to go.Since it was Nov I had no intention of going outside to the outhouse so I found a cup on the ledge took a leak and tossed it out the window.A few minutes later my brother Larry asks me what I went in.When I tell him a cup on the ledge he says"Grandmas dentures were in a cup on that ledge" So off went the three Abel brothers and Joe creeping downstairs and out the front door out onto the frosty lawn looking for my grandmothers teeth and getting a good laugh over it.After about five minutes with no luck we figure her teeth must have been in another cup.Going back to the door we find it locked and have to bang on it which brings my father off the downstairs couch he was sleeping on to let us in .When he opens it it sets off my uncles alarm which is a loud ringing bell.He wants to know what the hell all four of us are doing outside at that hour and I don't recall our excuse but we snickered about it for another half hour listening to the mice in the walls and the owl on the roof.

My New Venture

I was thinking today about starting a new buisness.I could call it Fortune Nookie.The main line would be Fortune Cookie Condoms.So far I have 4."You are going to get Lucky","Defective?what is that strange new itch?","One size does not fit all" and"Not use me?Baby makes Three" In addition to the fortune cookie condoms I'd have a few other lines.One would be for Bars"I got lucky at Thirstys,Pittsford,N.Y." or "I got lucky at the Purgatory Room,Provincetown,Ma"(that one was for Richie C.) then just think about those boring old matches you get at weddings. What if the male guests got condoms"I got lucky at Bob and Marys Wedding,June 16th,2007"or events"I got lucky at the Mercy High Dance" or reunions"I got lucky at the class of 1974 35th reunion." Then there could be ones to promote a place"I got lucky at St. Monicas Bingo" and list the phone number or"I got lucky at Shady Elms Nursing Home".The possibilities are endless and you would have the condom in your wallet just like a buisness card.Now there's another one.Buisness Card Condoms.

More Lizards

One little thing I forgot.I have a friend named Henry who at the time was the Art Director for a record company.I used to carry his card in my wallet in case I saw anything artistic I could call him.One night at Tootsies RP and his friends were urging me to pretend I was Henry and show the dancers "my buisness card" telling them I could put them on an Album Cover if they wanted to party afterwards.I told the guys I could not betray my friend Henrys trust in me by using his card to take advantage of these poor girls.Henry reads the blog so I hope you appreciate what I did for you Henry.

Lizards

Well I used to spend Xmass and some summer weeks at RP'S in Fla.One trip rp and a few of his friends took me to a place called"Tootsies" I thought it was an odd name for a bar and upon entering I was dismayed to find it was one of these "lap dance" bars.Now I pretended to enjoy myself so to get along with the guys.I usually sat at the bar and read the sports page while rp and his gang did the hoochie koochie thing."Squinsh Down" was one of his favorite sayings as the dancers I guess told him to do this to get lower in the chair.One night a friend of his buddies from Chicago came with us.He was wearing shorts and had a big cigar in his mouth.When he got up from the lap dance it looked like chuck had a large cigar in his shorts.That was amusing.Another night I looked up from my reading to find rp waving my American Express card and yelling"More Chips!" I found out that these purchased in place of money were used for the"lap dances"How rp got my American Express card I'm not sure but he and my brother had picked my pocket after I fell asleep at a New Years eve party at Russ Smiths house years before and taken my little jar of snuff and all my cash so he has fast fingers.Anyhoo at RP'S house there were all these little lizards running around by his pool humping each other on the chairs on the rocks just about anywhere.One morning his brother Tom and I were lounging by the pool and witnessed a lizard three way.I remarked to him that the lizards were getting more action than RP and his group of deviants.

Frogs

I see in the Monday D&C the paper Foss called "The Demunist&Comucrat" that a warning is out for drivers to be careful tonight cause the first rain in warm weather usually brings about the emergence of Spring Peepers in large numbers looking for love or whatever frogs do.I recall a spring night in 1973 when Teg Jones and I were cruising Railroad Mills in the convertible after dark with the top down when our headlights hit thousands of the peepers right before Railroad Mills ended by Faith Cowgills house.It was incredible and though we swerved way over and moved very slow we may have squashed one or two.A lot of the swampy areas along Railroad Mills are gone.When we first lived there there was always a small pond at the end of the street each spring heading towards Powdermills.One day Wildman was down there with his model rockets and we decided to send up a"Manned" flight.We caught a small frog from the pond put it in the nose capsule and launched the rocket.When it crash landed with the parachutes that never seemed to open all the way we found froggy melted inside.We sort of felt bad cause we didn't think the top would get hot enough to fry froggy plus he was way to small for us to enjoy the frog legs.

A Wise Man Once Said

"You Dance with Mary Jane you get Your Toes Stepped On"

Earth Science

This little story ends in front of Mr.Dudleys house our old science teacher from Pitts-Mendon whom once we found out where he lived on Railroad Mills was often greeted with hearty and very loud chants of"Hey Mr.Dudley,What's going on" with much blowing of the horn in the wee hours whenever we passed by the house which was quite often.One Pretty Pittsford summer night Wildman and I were doing our best"White Punks on Dope" act.We'd eaten some mushrooms drank whatever we had and decided around 11p.m. we wanted to drive to Durand Eastman and look out at the lake.The Vega Wagon was low on gas and in our "Schroom" state we hit on a brilliant idea as we passed Church Street.Richie C's mom had at the time a pale yellow Vega Wagon and we figured that another Vega Wagon was the only car we couls steal gas from.So lord knows how but I managed to just get a small taste of gas and we borrowed some from Mrs.C.We drove to the lake and sat there about ten minutes giggling like idiots and then drove back to Pittsford.Coming up out of PowderMills toward our houses and going god knows where Bob suddenly exclaimed pull over man I have to puke.I started to pull over when out of the corner of my eye I saw the passenger door open and Wildman fall out.In my schroom state it took about 100 yards for me to react so I stopped backed up and there was Bob lying in the gravel in front of Dudleys house making spitting noises."Dude are you okay"I asked to which Bob replied"Yeah I'm okay, I'll walk home from here" as we were right near Old Forge.Wildman and I have a history of him falling out of autos I was driving but this was the first time it happened.

Jimsonweed

This post is a bit more normal than the others.I have been emailing Mr.McGowan about plants on Nantucket that aren't native as Marty is the Landscaping King of the Island.I found a link for invasive plants on the Island last night that is quite interesting.One is Jimsonweed which here in L.A. one hears at least one news story every year about some kid getting his stomach pumped after trying to get high on it.The thing is another name for Jimsonweed is Moonflower.The thing is Jimsonweed is in the Datura Family.There is another Moonflower in the Morning Glory Family"Ipomea Alba"which is a huge night blooming white morning glory.Now why do two different plants have the same generic name the first nasty the second one not so despite Wildmans past attempts at Morning Glory Milkshakes from the Luellens back yard.These science guys need to get their act together.

More Postcards

I do recall now the second postcard was from a box of fudge at work.The cut up fudge box read."We took the fudge factory tour today.It's really interesting how they pack it.I can't wait to show you when I get home,Bruce."

Postcards

Some years ago I sent our friend RP some postcards a few months apart.I can't for the life of me recall the second one but for the first one I cut up a "Prep H" box into postcard size and wrote"We took the factory tour today.It was fascinating!I thought about you a lot.Love and Kisses,Bruce".The third one I cut up a Hersheys Kisses box and wrote"We took the Hersheys tour today.It was a lot of fun but there were no hotel rooms in town so we had to stay out on the highway!.Love and Kisses,Bruce"

F85

One can't forget some of the better moments in Foos's F85.He always had that freakin Jerry Lee Lewis tape with "Wine Spodeeodee" on it.Going to the first Mendon/Sutherland soccer game at Sutherland we had a keg tapped in the trunk.The trunk lid was up for most of the game in the parking lot on the hill above the old Sutherland field and after the game we picked up two guys hitchiking to Victor on Route 96.We dropped them off on the road off 96 that led to JK'S house and after smoking with them we sent them on their way by opening the trunk and pouring them each a draft.Then there was the favorite Foos pastime of "Mailboxing" but that was better in one of his dads brand new wagons off the lot.Especially when it also involved taking road signs another Dave favorite so we could rip holes in the interior ceiling of his dads brand new wagons.I recall one easter morning when my parents were out of town Dave decorated our front lawn with road signs.This was the same night he and Doug Turner had managed to put a chair through one of our front windows while wrestling and Doug greeted one of the young Della Villas who was our paperboy with beer in hand and a hearty"How Ya Doing!"as he handed doug the Sunday Morning paper.My fave with Dave though happened one winter sunday night when all five of us in the F85 seemed to have joints lit and Dave cruised through the Monroe Ave./Clover Street Intersection coming towards Brighton from Clover and pulled into the gas station on the corner before we could even react.He rolled the window down and a huge cloud of dope smoke hit the gas pumper in the face and he backed up a little as Dave said'Two Dollars Please".

Dirt Roads

I see I have received a comment on my Mustang Convertible post from an "rp" on my track record on dirt roads.I do believe that "rp" owns a chain of Driving Schools these days.He certainly has done things behind the wheel no one else thought of before.I will post soon a story about "rp" and I and a dirt road in the Bristol Hills which stars my late 1975 Vega Wagon of which I have a small books worth of stories.I've also sent "rp" some interesting post cards over the years which will be a future post.Back to hoops.Fight The Power!!!

Mold

I can't recall exactly when it was but does anyone recall the period when we buried our bags in damp places so mold would grow on the herb.It was supposed to improve the buzz.I remember some very moldy pot but don't know if it really worked.It looked cool though.

Mustang Convertible

I saw a really mint 73 mustang convertible tonight while talking to my neighbor out front.I had a hardtop version for awhile but everytime I see a convertible I think of the one Teg Jones parents had.He used to go down to Dansville early sat mornings and go up in gliders.During the spring of 73 I used to go with him.We left Pittsford at like 6:15 and got to Dansville early.The great part for me was Teg used to let me take off in the Mustang for a few hours even though I had no License.I would put the top down no matter how cool and cruise back roads the tunes blasting.One morning around 9 I was up in the hills above Dansville cruising a dirt road smokin a doob.I see no one for like half an hour and then out in the middle of nowhere on this back road are parked two black caddies one with the trunk up.I start slowin down to see what's up and about fifty yards off in a farmers field I see six guys in dark suits who look like and ad for The Godfather.Two of em are holding shovels and I'm staring at them and they are staring back at me real close.I'm thinking in my head"I don't see nuthin here" while one guy pulls his glasses down and gives me a LOOK.Thats enough for me and I punch it spitting up dirt and getting the hell back down to Dansville quick as I can.The whole time I'm checking the rearview mirror and all morning at the glider lot I keep waiting for a caddie to pull into the lot but I never saw them again and have no idea what they were doing up there but it wasn't planting vegetable seeds.

Up in Michigan

I saw an article tonight on The Bay City Rollers suing their record company for like 25 years of royalties.They have a lot of nerve.It's us who should be suing them for being forced to listen to their tripe.Even Stoned on good lumbo they sucked.It was like a whole band of Shaun Cassidys.They have to be the absolute worse thing to come out of Scotland besides Haggis and Scotsmen wearing Kilts without underwear*.I still recall Joe K's version of the chorus for Saturday Night I'd rather not print here. Though they did have a song called Shag-A Lang I don't recall Tim having their poster on his wall. The only good thing to come of them was the Nick Lowe song"Rollers Show" which made fun of their fans.It was on Pure Pop for now People here in the states but in the U.K. the album had a different cover and cooler title"Jesus of Cool". .On a like note the best thing to come out of Scotland was The Three Stooges episode in which they guarded the castle."I'd like you lads to meet my niece,tis Lorna Doone"Shemp"Hi Lorna How You Doin?" *(See Grounds Keeper Willie)

Brownies

Does anyone make real Brownies anymore.I don't even recall the amont of weed to add into each batch but Dave Foss was a master at it.I recall one night at my parents house where we ate a batch of his brownies after eating windowpane an hour earlier.It was the giggles stage of the acid and the brownies kicked in.A fine double blast.Foss went around the first floor of my parents house in a circle kicking up rugs and I went around the house smoothing them out.I did this for like twenty minutes before I realised what he was doing.Then there was his Bristol Blue homegrown the fall we lived down at Cand Lake.The stuff was awful smoked but made great brownies.One day Rusty and I came home to see a huge plume of smoke leaving our chimmney.The smell of pot was strong all down the road and Foss was inside burning the stalks from pounds of homegrown.He had a shitload of the stuff.In fact our other roomates little brother Chris spent a winter break with us in the cottage when he was in 7th grade and Rusty and I gave him an ounce of the stuff to do like two weeks worth of dishes.I don't think Kevin F. ever found out.

Other Friends

If any of you have emails for other old friends I don't have in my email book like Andy Ash,Framer,Farley,Flynn, Jeff L. etc,etc please send on the link.Thanks the Parkrat

The Barn Party

Anyone on the "A" list who spent summers in Pittsford during the mid 70's recalls The Barn Party at the Crowther estate on Church Street.It was an ongoing thing night after night as long as his parents were in Canada.The Barn Party attracted the"Smart" crowd who could wander in an out of Thirstys and over to the barn.The theme music was Commander Cody,Southbound,House of Blue Lights, Boogie Man Boogie,etc,etc and Richies cat was the coolest.I don't recall a lot of harder drug use there but we may have dropped a hit of acid or two or ate some mesc.Nothing like the Trip Fests.The Barn Party was more of a stop each night on the social scene.

Rochester Americans

I see the Amerks are stumbling down the stretch this year.I went to Amerk games off and on growing up but it wasn't until the 74-75 or 75-76 season I went to a lot of games.Marty McGowan had season seats and somehow I wound up going to games on a regular basis with him.Marty was an avid fan and had some great lines for Amerks and opposing players alike.Ray Maluta for the Amerks was one of Martys best targets with the great line of"Hit em with your purse Maluta" and"There's a bus leaving for Providence at midnight,be under it" I'll never forget though the playoff series two straight years with The Nova Scotia Voyageurs who were the Montreal Canadiens farm team and a thug they had by the name of Gilles Lupien.This guy had 316 penalty minutes his rookie year when hockey was still played by real men and he had the build of Randy Johnson.Big Bird became his moniker and I have never seen such fun invective hurled at a player by Amerk Fans.I had a great time with Marty at those old time hockey games.

Basketball Jones

There was a story in the L.A. Times sports page on the song last week and it brought back the fine memory of Wildmans most famous night.It was winter of Senior year and a bunch of us went to see Pittsford Mendon play E.R..We went to watch that wild eyed afro star Bill Moser the white wonder and of course to party.There were two rows of us high up in the bleachers and guys like Deacon were in the front row shielding us as we sucked on beers and those goat skin flasks full of rotgut wine.Right before halftime we looked around and noticed Bob was no longer with us.Someone pointed out that Bob was now sitting on the end of the Mendon Bench next to Mose in his winter cap and Tocque.At halftime Bob wander into the lockeroom and asked Dick Heffernan while he was yelling at these guys.They were his friends man.Well Bob was escorted outside and we smuggled him back in by switching outfits.Bob actually quit partying for a few weeks after that but was soon back sucking the wine and smoking the Devil Weed.

Gone Fishin

This blog will be more than about the park once I figure out what to put up here but one of the funniest park stories was spring of our senior year when Bill Morin loaded his canoe on top of his van at 2a.m. and went fishing.Trouble was he went fishing in the big holding pond at the hatchery in Powdermill.Thats where the Monroe County Sherrif found him and his canoe at around 2:45 a.m. He had a six pack some doobs and several fish in the canoe when the spotlight hit him.Bill was also the discount stereo guy for awhile as Flynn will well recall.

Speaking of Powder Mills park has any one noticed that the place is now like a ghost town? You have to have a freakin permit to do anything there.The road to Shady Rest is closed for good it appears which means the Townies would never be able to play with their hippie toys on that big lawn while they smoked townie weed.We would never have been able to park up in the trees smokin a doob or made those great fires in the fall with Old Mr. Boston Blackberry Brandy as a warm up against the chill the firewood masking the dope smell when we went home to our parents."The Woods are full of wardens" nowdays

What is Parkrat

Parkrat comes from Powder Mills Park in Rochester,N.Y. .During our high school years in Pittsford N.Y. the park was our living room.Being the 70's a lot of good things went down there mostly illegal.When several friends were "detained" after a misunderstanding at a local bar one summer night the judge asked if we were "Parkrats" hence the name.