Hey People...I guess everyone wants to know what made that young mind of Jim O'Leary click, way back when...Well, of course, sports, no doubt, was beyond huge, collecting baseball cards and Wacky Packages and such, were very cool...but I wouldn't call it an obsession...
Now, on the other hand, when 4th Grade rolled around, and I walked down about 15 steep, dark steps into the large basement at Eddie Bar's house...and saw his enormous beer can collection....boom...right there, I knew I had to get my own BEER CAN COLLECTION going...
There, me & Eddie B and some buds like Slim and Moodo and Johnny Murph and Neil and Marty...oh yeah, Fitz too...all built like toothpicks, bounding down those steps, after playing some brutal basketball in Eddie's backyard court, checking out Eddie's beer can collection which stretched across about a 25 foot glimmering, colorful sea, of aluminum, about 4 stacks high...maybe even further. Yes, it was incredibly, mind-blowing...
So my adventure of collecting began, as Eddie just gave me a few extra rare, kick-ass, beer cans, he had piled up, somewhere in his basement, whispering to me...Don't let my brothers find out, ever, or they will kill me...!!!...
I ran back home and instantly, cleared off a corner in my bedroom, on top of my desk, where both me and my brothers, were supposed to study...(at least they were)...but our minds would instantly wander to the stack of beer cans, 2 feet in front of them, stacked up so high...
I could hear the sizzling sound of popping open a brewski and all the various funky flavors of malty brews...as I glared & stared with delight...
What were those inital illustrious cans...???...
Possibly an Iron City Pittsburgh Steeler Can that had a 1975 team photo emblazoned across it, with legends like Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleir, Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene...all looking back at me...
Other rare cans, were the gold/black label, Budweiser Malt Liquor, so rare and so cool looking. Old Frothingslosh, was a hoot, with a large buxom, beauty queeen, lady from yesteryear, on its label...The little 8oz cans of the metallic green Rolling Rocks, a favorite, of mine, also...
I could go on and on, because my beer can collecting became an obsession, overnight, and I had to keep reminding my family members, to keep an eagle eye out, for any cool cans...Even my Dad, had a bit of fun, because, my Mom, of course, would stumble upon a display of rare beer cans, on one of her always famous, shopping jaunts.
And these little aluminum gems, were still filled with lots of luscious beer...yummy, yummy beer, so my Dad would drink a few of these rare beauties, in our basement, as we were watching some sports or old black & white, 1930's Popeye cartoons, (his favorite growing up) on our old Zenith color TV...
I can even remember my Dad, anxious to try a can of Knickerbocker beer, from the East Coast, because my Dad said, he drank some of that stuff, back while he was in service, in World War II.
I think my Dad, even slightly delved into his past, a thing he never did, as he took a sip after sip, just harking back to a bygone era...Even on a rare out-of-state trip for a family wedding up around Detroit, there I was, digging thru dirty garbage cans, looking for cool beer cans, like the popular Rolling Rocks, up around eastern Michigan...
I'm sure some of my brothers and sisters can remember their contribution to my collection began to take off and rise up to around 150 rare and everyday cans...I do remember my sister, Joan, coming home with a bunch of Naragansett beer cans which was made in Rhode Island. Instantly. I grabbed the sack of a dozen cans, and hustled out our door, ready to trade them with my rabid, rowdy, bunch of friends...
Digging along the railroad tracks, in the hot sun, with Neil Krull and Marty Eck, up around 79th Street was awesome, too, because we'd find old, ancient rusty cans beyond compare, expensive cans of cone-top Strohs...amidst the meandering, menacing, wild grass, that stood high and wild, all over the place...behind the Firestone tire facility...
These damn frightful relics, older than old, maybe from the 50's, we'd come across, were as rusty as can be, holes and dents, gnarled into them, just a smidgen of the old label still recognizeable. Evilly wicked cans, nobody in their right mind, would even touch, but that didn't stop us...
And also, on Sundays, the flea market was open at our local drive-in theatre, next to the Zayre, off 75th & Western. The beer can craze was in full force there, with all kinds of vendors, piling up rare cans, along their displays as we wandered like misceivous fools, all about...
Marty even had a bit of flair, stealing a few cans, now and then, because he just couldn't go home, without those rare commodities, sometimes. He just had a whimsical knack for devilish things...
It truly was a huge obsession for all us kids, as you can tell and I believe all of us, young and old, back in the mid 70's got a huge chuckle, from adding some kind of crazy new can, every so often...Sure, the John Travolta craze was in full gear, disco blaring away, movies like Paul Newman's SLAPSHOT or the ever scary, CARRIE, horror classic, was up on the screen, at our theatres...
Nobody was finding some bizarre correlation between teenage drinking & beer cans, yet. It was as harmless as beanie babies or Cabbage Patch dolls or even Wii consules...
Sadly, as the 80's crept in...inevitably...out of the blue...we eventually sold the illustrious 86th Street house...
Such a sad, sad day for me, as I packed up my beer can collection, holding back tears, ever so gently and ever so slowly, placing these momentos into a huge cardboard box, to be set aside and sold at our garage sale, we held, days before we left the 86th Street, South-Side, for good...
My mind just wandered back to the exact moment, I had found each memorable beauty, each can a treasure of sorts, with a little bit of fun and adventure attached to each and every one...
Today, sadly enough, beer can collecting, is almost gone...Only my good friends, Karla & Eric, still have a giant can collection...in their basement on the North-Side on Warrick Avenue. Karla, so, so proud, she had kept her childhood collection, up to snuff...
And me and Eric and Karla, can't help laughing at how crazy all of those cans, made us go nuts, back when we were young kids...Just a hoot and just a great, great time...looking upon those cans...stacked behind their bar...for everyone to oooh and ahhh...over.
Maybe, it lost its charm, to some, but to me, I'd stack up a beer can collection, somewhere, someway, in a second, if I had room somewhere, in our Lake House, in Williams Bay, today....
Hey....Those were MY & all us kooky 70's kids, delicious, nutritious, beer cans...!!!...
We drank em'...We stuck em' up in stacks aplenty...and we looked foreward to stacking them all the way up to the ceiling...if we could...and we nearly darn did...
Each and every one of those beverage containers...gnarly or pristine...dented or faded, obscurely rare or common as common gets. It was cooler than cool, no two ways about it. All us kids from then, would agree double, maybe triple, with those sentiments...
We were a loud and proud bunch...even us quiet ones...back then, whenever, the topic of beer cans...arose...And we grew up with an extra-special, greater appreciation for all the various cultures & places, stretched across our nation...and even across our globe...wherever BEER was BIG...
Fosters from Australia...Sapporro from Japan...LaBatts from Canada...Dos XXX from Mexico
That's almost everywhere you go...naturally...to us...Exploring our notion...that beer brought everyone together... forever...
I am getting a bit thirsty...reading all this...pondering all of the compelling aspects of BEER CAN COLLECTING...I guess I'm still a wee bit obssessed. Why not be...???...
It was alot of fun...and I'm still looking for the entire 14 collector can series of Scmidtt beer of Philadelphia that was impoosible to attain...Betcha it cost a fortune on e-Bay nowadays...
So now you know...a little more...a funny, funny, forgotten fragment of history, a neat little nook of nostalgia, locked away, from so long ago...which you all can laugh and laugh about...because our innocence & stupidity...were in abundance back then, for sure...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
My Niece---Colleen
Rumbling thru the empty streets of the quaint farm city of Davenport, Iowa, there, nestled along the Mississippi River, amidst the Quad Cities...Joe Howard, rushed my sister, Patsy to the hospital, past the billboards featuring "Iowanna Ice Cream" and such. They did reach the hospital on time...and shortly thereafter, Miss Colleen Howard...was ready to party...brimming the scales at 9 pounds...
All of us, back in Chicago, were kinda out of the loop...Patsy so far away...It felt like you were getting a call from Europe, when the birth announcement came...one quiet early December night back in 1969...We were all ecstatic, of course, the first "girl" grandchild...to join the pack...
But it wasn't until her Christening when we all packed up and drove 4 hours to Davenport...to see Baby Colleen, in action...Joe & Patsy were in Iowa because Joe was wrapping up college at St. Ambrose, and we all waited with baited breath for them to move back to the Windy City...
Right out of the box, Colleen showed just a huge burst of knowledge...She was way ahead of the pack...in that regard...As she grew, she only got smarter, and me & her, would be fast friends for life...as I'd go, toe to toe, with this little rambling dynamo...just exuding a sparkling energy, that shows to this very day...Even though we were 6 years apart, we'd bicker like brother & sister...
I can recall, one time, when Colleen was living up in Lake Geneva, over by the Dairy Queen, off Motel Road, on Lake Geneva Boulevard...Colleen had turned on some lame cartoons...Well, it was play-off football season...and I had my heart set on watching some great match-up between AFC foes....
....boooomm...
A little tiff erupted...and before you know it...Colleen had managed to wrestle away control of the TV...and she had this deliciously wicked smile like, I don't even like these cartoons, but you lost this round, ol' chum...That kinda showed me, right there, this little girl, was gonna be a pure handful, if you weren't on your toes...
And, of course, I would mark my revenge later on, when I forge the notion, that peanut butter, was actually crazy glue, that would seal your jaws tight, forever, if eaten.....leaving Colleen petrified of peanut butter, to this very day...
We didn't always fight, one of my all-time fave photos, is standing in the backyard, of our Lake House, in 3 feet of snow, together....one early April day, back around 1974...Me & Colleen, standing besides a huge, 6 foot, Easter Bunny snowman, my sister Patsy, had created...
Just a stunner, the intricacy of those big floppy ears of snow, on that Snow Bunny, with a basket of colorful eggs, in its lap...We were sky high, to see so much snow, so late in April, and I never, ever seen an Easter Bunny of snow...since...quite as good...
Colleen, of course, became a big sister, to Carrie & Kate, as time flew by and they were as close as sisters will ever be...And it was Colleen, who was always in the forefront, either in the classroom or out on the basketball court, that she led her little sisters, by example...
From her silly days, growing up on Francisco Ave. in Evergreen Park, about 92nd Street...where you could see Colleen whirling around on her PURPLE BICYCLE, up to when they moved out to Palos Park, where Colleen was only a block away from Sandburg High School...
And that move, was rather telling, because Sandburg High School, is not only an excellent high school, but Colleen went on to become a stand-out Captain of the basketball team, leading her team to the play-offs...time and again...a fearless leader...in a pint size package...
There Colleen was, the important basketball game winding down, as the little fiery point guard, took the ball, and just kept it nice & safe, as the opposing players hacked away at her down the stretch. There, at the free throw line, Colleen just hit every single shot...sealing a big, big victory for Sandburg...and that was a big thing in her life(leading her team to a 26-3 record)...for all of us...as we read it in the newspaper the next day...
For later on, when she graduated from the University of Illinois, Colleen went back to Sandburg and became a very inspiring teacher and coach of the girls basketball teams(coaching the sophmores to 24-0, in 2007)...She is there, to this very day, inspiring the youth of the Palos community...
Whether she is teaching Honors History & Economics, or the preparing the brightest for the important college entrance exams...Colleen instills knowledge and substance...an incredible insight, she provides, to shine down, on making those kids their very best...And alot of those kids do go on to the top schools in the country...
And Colleen is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, running the Homecoming dance & Pep Club, every year, for so long, making it a truly unique & memorable experience, for those happy girls & boys, to cling on, in their budding memories, for years & years.
There are so, so many funny Howard Girl stories, of them growing up, because they were a kooky bunch, who kinda bounced from Lake Geneva to Evergreen Park, then out to Palos....always some of the most popular & fun girls in their class....We are definitely gonna have to look at some of those, as the Caring Carrie & Killer Kate stories...rock into these blogs...
Today, Colleen is married to Sean Mulcahy, with a little boy wonder, Conor, in tow...They live blissfully downtown, amidst the skyscrapers, in the Printers Row area of the South Loop.
She had met her young husband, Sean, out on a softball field, in Grant Park, downtown, one sunny day, and from there on, the happiness & hilarity, that fills their hearts, is always, a joy to behold...
Sure, Colleen will probably be bouncing out to the Suburbs, with her new family, by her side...but deep down inside, she's gonna always be the little dynamo, that came out of nowhere, out of the far reaches, of Davenport Iowa...to electrify our hearts, with her brimming endess, energy, and super-happy smile...And you can see that smile, in her little boy Conor, too, who now takes over as the little dynamo, to watch...
Colleen is truly, truly...one of a kind...and I'm pretty lucky...to remember her growing up...all these years...
All of us, back in Chicago, were kinda out of the loop...Patsy so far away...It felt like you were getting a call from Europe, when the birth announcement came...one quiet early December night back in 1969...We were all ecstatic, of course, the first "girl" grandchild...to join the pack...
But it wasn't until her Christening when we all packed up and drove 4 hours to Davenport...to see Baby Colleen, in action...Joe & Patsy were in Iowa because Joe was wrapping up college at St. Ambrose, and we all waited with baited breath for them to move back to the Windy City...
Right out of the box, Colleen showed just a huge burst of knowledge...She was way ahead of the pack...in that regard...As she grew, she only got smarter, and me & her, would be fast friends for life...as I'd go, toe to toe, with this little rambling dynamo...just exuding a sparkling energy, that shows to this very day...Even though we were 6 years apart, we'd bicker like brother & sister...
I can recall, one time, when Colleen was living up in Lake Geneva, over by the Dairy Queen, off Motel Road, on Lake Geneva Boulevard...Colleen had turned on some lame cartoons...Well, it was play-off football season...and I had my heart set on watching some great match-up between AFC foes....
....boooomm...
A little tiff erupted...and before you know it...Colleen had managed to wrestle away control of the TV...and she had this deliciously wicked smile like, I don't even like these cartoons, but you lost this round, ol' chum...That kinda showed me, right there, this little girl, was gonna be a pure handful, if you weren't on your toes...
And, of course, I would mark my revenge later on, when I forge the notion, that peanut butter, was actually crazy glue, that would seal your jaws tight, forever, if eaten.....leaving Colleen petrified of peanut butter, to this very day...
We didn't always fight, one of my all-time fave photos, is standing in the backyard, of our Lake House, in 3 feet of snow, together....one early April day, back around 1974...Me & Colleen, standing besides a huge, 6 foot, Easter Bunny snowman, my sister Patsy, had created...
Just a stunner, the intricacy of those big floppy ears of snow, on that Snow Bunny, with a basket of colorful eggs, in its lap...We were sky high, to see so much snow, so late in April, and I never, ever seen an Easter Bunny of snow...since...quite as good...
Colleen, of course, became a big sister, to Carrie & Kate, as time flew by and they were as close as sisters will ever be...And it was Colleen, who was always in the forefront, either in the classroom or out on the basketball court, that she led her little sisters, by example...
From her silly days, growing up on Francisco Ave. in Evergreen Park, about 92nd Street...where you could see Colleen whirling around on her PURPLE BICYCLE, up to when they moved out to Palos Park, where Colleen was only a block away from Sandburg High School...
And that move, was rather telling, because Sandburg High School, is not only an excellent high school, but Colleen went on to become a stand-out Captain of the basketball team, leading her team to the play-offs...time and again...a fearless leader...in a pint size package...
There Colleen was, the important basketball game winding down, as the little fiery point guard, took the ball, and just kept it nice & safe, as the opposing players hacked away at her down the stretch. There, at the free throw line, Colleen just hit every single shot...sealing a big, big victory for Sandburg...and that was a big thing in her life(leading her team to a 26-3 record)...for all of us...as we read it in the newspaper the next day...
For later on, when she graduated from the University of Illinois, Colleen went back to Sandburg and became a very inspiring teacher and coach of the girls basketball teams(coaching the sophmores to 24-0, in 2007)...She is there, to this very day, inspiring the youth of the Palos community...
Whether she is teaching Honors History & Economics, or the preparing the brightest for the important college entrance exams...Colleen instills knowledge and substance...an incredible insight, she provides, to shine down, on making those kids their very best...And alot of those kids do go on to the top schools in the country...
And Colleen is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, running the Homecoming dance & Pep Club, every year, for so long, making it a truly unique & memorable experience, for those happy girls & boys, to cling on, in their budding memories, for years & years.
There are so, so many funny Howard Girl stories, of them growing up, because they were a kooky bunch, who kinda bounced from Lake Geneva to Evergreen Park, then out to Palos....always some of the most popular & fun girls in their class....We are definitely gonna have to look at some of those, as the Caring Carrie & Killer Kate stories...rock into these blogs...
Today, Colleen is married to Sean Mulcahy, with a little boy wonder, Conor, in tow...They live blissfully downtown, amidst the skyscrapers, in the Printers Row area of the South Loop.
She had met her young husband, Sean, out on a softball field, in Grant Park, downtown, one sunny day, and from there on, the happiness & hilarity, that fills their hearts, is always, a joy to behold...
Sure, Colleen will probably be bouncing out to the Suburbs, with her new family, by her side...but deep down inside, she's gonna always be the little dynamo, that came out of nowhere, out of the far reaches, of Davenport Iowa...to electrify our hearts, with her brimming endess, energy, and super-happy smile...And you can see that smile, in her little boy Conor, too, who now takes over as the little dynamo, to watch...
Colleen is truly, truly...one of a kind...and I'm pretty lucky...to remember her growing up...all these years...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
At The Movies
Well......It really doesn't matter, who you are...All of us can remember, going to the movies, when we were youngsters....It was a big, big deal, let's face it...We didn't have cable tv, we didn't have DVD's or VCR's...Our primary form of entertainment back then, was kicking rusty, old beer cans, down an alley...and going up to the drug store on 87th, to steal candy...
So, getting the mega $3 or $5 from our Mom's to venture out of the neighborhood, to the various theatres across the South Side of Chicago...was a huge treat...
My first movie, I saw, was a Disney movie...I'm guessing it was JUNGLE BOOK-not such a great movie-but who cares, I had the attention span of a fruit fly back then. My dear sister Joan took me to the swanky CORAL THEATRE out around 93rd & Cicero, in Oak Lawn(which is long-gone now).
I made my sister, go with me..right up to the front row, of the theatre, because I wanted to see that damn movie, as big as life...Afterwards, Joanie took me to the soda fountain/ice cream shop across the street, next to the Walgreen 's...(right near the White Castles)...which was even better than the movie...
Next movie, I remember, vividly was WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY...at the Evergreen Plaza, in Evergreen Park(95th & Western)...Me and a few 86th Street chums, clumsily trodded along the railroad tracks from 87th out to 95th Street...because it was our secret railroad wilderness trek...like adventurous new explorers of the free world...
There we were...Throwing rocks at squirrels, scampering all about and if an occaisional train came running down the tracks....We'd all lay down a penny or a nickel or a quarter on the railroad steel rails and watch....as the force of the train's wheels would pulverize our coins into demented slabs of funny looking metal...Oh yes, just an endless hoot of silliness to contend with, as we made our way to THE PLAZA...(evergreen park plaza, a huge mall)...
As we got closer, say about 93rd Street along the tracks, we came across this hidden pond, right behind The old Martinique...(where a whole slew of my family held their wedding receptions)...It was like stumbing onto a lost paradise, frogs, fish and fowl, everywhere...We just about came un-glued stumbling upon this rare gem...but we had to press on, cuz' the movie started in 20 minutes...
It was funny, when we finally settled in for Willy Wonka, the movie is all about CANDY, and as a crazy kid you were drooling out of your mind...watching the whole giant candy themes come boldly jump, right out, at you...
So as the movie ended...You wanted to immediately run out of theatre and chow down on some candy bars...ASAP...And oddly enough, the Evergreen Plaza Theatre had a special concession stand set up...after the Wonka movie, with all kinds of special Willy Wonka stuff...
Willy Wonka chocolate bars, and Ooompa Loompa Peanut M&M's...Just a great big bunch of candy, that you frenzily bought with every last dime you had and stuffed it into your pockets with supreme glee...
Another great flick from my aspiring youth was TOMMY...The WHO's rock opera, starring Ann Margaret & Roger Daltrty and a bunch of big stars...Me and the Howland Boys were really, really kind of mesmerized by the weird and strangeness of the storyline...which sucked...but the music was out-of-this-world, exciting with a huge spectacular mega-production of the classic PINBALL WIZARD...rabidly rocking things out of control...
As I got older, I got a little more adventurous, the G rated movies, were long gone, from our radar and I was skipping the PG movies, totally,and sneaking into the R rated movies, at about 3rd or 4th or 5th Grade...
I can remember, sneaking back into the Evergreen Plaza Theatre with my good friend, Johhny Howland(HOP) and maybe Danny Casey, as we saw a great Steve McQueen movie called PAPILLION...
It was this wild prison movie, also starring a very young Dustin Hoffman, that had Steve McQueen escaping from all these unbelievable exotic prisons, off the French Coast...Just some mind blowing stuff...Anyway, me & Hop had a great time, first wandering thru the Mall, munching caramel corn, devouring giant chocolate soft-serve ice cream cones, jumping on the escalators, like they were carnival rides...maybe even dropping a goldfish into the coin fountain....goofy kids stuff like that...
But then, as we got in our theatre seats and watched the movie unfold...we are scratching our heads, wondering, why is this movie rated R...???...There was no swearing, nothing beyond intense, that you wouldn't see in a PG movie...Where is the good stuff...???...
But then about 3/4 of the way thru, Papilion(McQueen) stumbles thru a dense jungle and comes upon this isolated, pagan jungle tribe, and all the women are completely naked...(for a good 10 minutes).
So, surely, when we rushed back to our ol' stomping grounds of 86th Street, grinning from ear to ear, we gave Papillion a huge thumbs-up, and said this R rated movie stuff...is gonna be on our agenda, quite a bit, from there on out...
Johnny "Hop" Howland was such a kooky, crazy, cool kid...He just had a wacky, wry, non-chalant, sense of humor...even at a young age...He was the one Howland boy, always catching the blame, from his parents, it seemed, but Hop, had his funny way, of rationalizing...any situation, in his pissed-off, who gives a damn, attitude...
Gosh...we had such a blast...all us 86th Street kids...stealing cigars, too, back then, from John's Liquors & Grocery, chomping on those stinky stogies as we built countless numbers of forts...playing ball like madmen, until the sun went down and of course...getting out of the neighborhood...to play miniature golf on 95th Street(then always stopping off at the Jack-In- The-Box for greasy, yummy, fried tacos) or catch a fun, fun movie, every now & then...Endless, endless hilarity...
Next 2 movies I saw as a kid, as I got older, are quite famous...JAWS & the EXORCIST....at the Ford City Cinema...around 6th Grade...with Slim, Eddie B, Johnny Murph, Fitz & Fees, Joey Devlin, maybe Bucky, probably Moodo, Don, Neil(Krull), Marty(Eck), Kevin(Ryan), Denny (Cusack), Bob(Kross)...
Oh yes...there's more...Tommy Duffner(Duff), Mike Mulligan, Jimmy Curley(Curls), Marty Rogers, Mike Powers (Pows), Jimmy Disbrow(Dizz), Jimmy Bandyk, just a whole crazy bunch of us, countless of others too, from our age group...from around Tommy More...could have been with me, the somewhat infamous, Jimmy O's, that day...
We all had to walk all the way to the other side of the neighborhood to catch the 79th Street bus...that took you...riding over beyond Bogan H.S. to the Ford City Mall...As the bus, let you off, you still had to walk about 5 blocks to get to Ford City...so we were quite exhausted from our adventures to and from Ford City...(but it was well worth it...)
JAWS...Wow...Jaws....what can you say...???....Just about the biggest, hyped movie of our time. The line to get into that movie was by far as I'll ever see...just wrapping around the block...Of course, we managed to sneak in at the door...and ran for our seats....and sunk in and watched the Shark terrorize the sleepy little ocean-side town...
It was an incredible rush, as everyone in the theatre had their hearts pounding, scared to death, that damn shark, was gonna devour everyone who came 15 feet within the water...Just an awesome movie, with that spooky, unrelenting shark music...pulsating thru you...transfixed on the mysterious shark that doesn't show up on the screen until well over an hour into the movie...
Egad...next up...The Exorcist....another movie, hyped to the gills...Suddenly, all the news was about demons and evil and such...And I'll say right now, if that movie pops up on my TV, I turn it off, in an instant...How scary was it...???....Terrifyingly scary...
When that possessed little girl, had the glowing, evil eyes, with the distorted evil voice, spinning her head in circles and spewing out a blast of green pea soup vomit...You pretty much, wanted, to cover your eyes and start praying that never, ever happened to you...
A very, very funny side note to The Exorcist...I came home that night...and was surely spooked out of my mind...I eventually climbed into bed and hoped I didn't dare dream about that crazy stuff...Anyway, I woke up, about Midnight and went to the bathroom...
It was pitch-black when I got back to my room as I was just about to throw myself back into bed....Suddenly, my brother Joe...(remember James Bond)...well, he was laying on the floor, besides my bed, and grabbed hold of my ankles, like a vice grip, squeezing as tight as he could...
Well, much to my dismay, I thought I was being visited by some demonic force, wickedly about to send me into an Exorcist-like demonic rage....I was so, so scared, I couldn't scream, and I was pretty close to peeing on myself...
There I was, a frightened mess, as all I could do was muster up a tiny whimper of a scream...when my brother, Joe, jumped up and covered my mouth and dropped me onto the bed, and started laughing and laughing and laughing....
It was utterly hilarious...thinking back now...I don't even think Joe knew I saw that Exorcist movie that day...It was just perfect timing...on his part...
I also really felt lucky to hop on the Kedzie Avenue bus, with my buds, and head a mile north to the gritty, seedy, Marquette Park area, too, to the old, dilapidated Colony(59th street) and Marquette(63rd street) theatres...just crumbling old dinosaur movie theatres built way back in the 1920's...
Movies at those 2 theatres were only $1 and the movies were tepid, lack-luster, B-Flicks....like the Vincent Price horror movies, or the Richard Pryor movie, CAR WASH or more horror stuff, like PHANTASM & ORCA THE KILLER WHALE. We didn't care...That stuff was top-notch in our books...
I'll cover those theatres, more extensively, later on...as my teenage years progress...hopefully...
Most excellently, I saw plenty of great, great movies back then, with me and the Howland Boys, then me & my fellow chums from Tommy More grade school, too...Just an endless amount of exciting movies galore...that always left us always wanting some more.
For it wasn't just the movies, that held us in awe...It was getting out of our comfort zone, beyond Tommy More, and wandering new areas, across the whole south-side of Chicago, seeing new things...and yes, finding ourselves in plenty of mischeivous trouble...from time to time...along the way...
I didn't even get to mention great movies I saw like...
THE STING
BUTCH CASSIDY/SUNDANCE KID
TOWERING INFERNO
POSEIDON ADVENTURE
AIRPLANE
APOCOLYPSE NOW
KILLER TOMATOES
and on and on and on...
oh well, maybe we'll recall some of those later...(I'm sure we will...) because these memoirs have us merrily rolling along...and who knows...what will pop up next...
So, getting the mega $3 or $5 from our Mom's to venture out of the neighborhood, to the various theatres across the South Side of Chicago...was a huge treat...
My first movie, I saw, was a Disney movie...I'm guessing it was JUNGLE BOOK-not such a great movie-but who cares, I had the attention span of a fruit fly back then. My dear sister Joan took me to the swanky CORAL THEATRE out around 93rd & Cicero, in Oak Lawn(which is long-gone now).
I made my sister, go with me..right up to the front row, of the theatre, because I wanted to see that damn movie, as big as life...Afterwards, Joanie took me to the soda fountain/ice cream shop across the street, next to the Walgreen 's...(right near the White Castles)...which was even better than the movie...
Next movie, I remember, vividly was WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY...at the Evergreen Plaza, in Evergreen Park(95th & Western)...Me and a few 86th Street chums, clumsily trodded along the railroad tracks from 87th out to 95th Street...because it was our secret railroad wilderness trek...like adventurous new explorers of the free world...
There we were...Throwing rocks at squirrels, scampering all about and if an occaisional train came running down the tracks....We'd all lay down a penny or a nickel or a quarter on the railroad steel rails and watch....as the force of the train's wheels would pulverize our coins into demented slabs of funny looking metal...Oh yes, just an endless hoot of silliness to contend with, as we made our way to THE PLAZA...(evergreen park plaza, a huge mall)...
As we got closer, say about 93rd Street along the tracks, we came across this hidden pond, right behind The old Martinique...(where a whole slew of my family held their wedding receptions)...It was like stumbing onto a lost paradise, frogs, fish and fowl, everywhere...We just about came un-glued stumbling upon this rare gem...but we had to press on, cuz' the movie started in 20 minutes...
It was funny, when we finally settled in for Willy Wonka, the movie is all about CANDY, and as a crazy kid you were drooling out of your mind...watching the whole giant candy themes come boldly jump, right out, at you...
So as the movie ended...You wanted to immediately run out of theatre and chow down on some candy bars...ASAP...And oddly enough, the Evergreen Plaza Theatre had a special concession stand set up...after the Wonka movie, with all kinds of special Willy Wonka stuff...
Willy Wonka chocolate bars, and Ooompa Loompa Peanut M&M's...Just a great big bunch of candy, that you frenzily bought with every last dime you had and stuffed it into your pockets with supreme glee...
Another great flick from my aspiring youth was TOMMY...The WHO's rock opera, starring Ann Margaret & Roger Daltrty and a bunch of big stars...Me and the Howland Boys were really, really kind of mesmerized by the weird and strangeness of the storyline...which sucked...but the music was out-of-this-world, exciting with a huge spectacular mega-production of the classic PINBALL WIZARD...rabidly rocking things out of control...
As I got older, I got a little more adventurous, the G rated movies, were long gone, from our radar and I was skipping the PG movies, totally,and sneaking into the R rated movies, at about 3rd or 4th or 5th Grade...
I can remember, sneaking back into the Evergreen Plaza Theatre with my good friend, Johhny Howland(HOP) and maybe Danny Casey, as we saw a great Steve McQueen movie called PAPILLION...
It was this wild prison movie, also starring a very young Dustin Hoffman, that had Steve McQueen escaping from all these unbelievable exotic prisons, off the French Coast...Just some mind blowing stuff...Anyway, me & Hop had a great time, first wandering thru the Mall, munching caramel corn, devouring giant chocolate soft-serve ice cream cones, jumping on the escalators, like they were carnival rides...maybe even dropping a goldfish into the coin fountain....goofy kids stuff like that...
But then, as we got in our theatre seats and watched the movie unfold...we are scratching our heads, wondering, why is this movie rated R...???...There was no swearing, nothing beyond intense, that you wouldn't see in a PG movie...Where is the good stuff...???...
But then about 3/4 of the way thru, Papilion(McQueen) stumbles thru a dense jungle and comes upon this isolated, pagan jungle tribe, and all the women are completely naked...(for a good 10 minutes).
So, surely, when we rushed back to our ol' stomping grounds of 86th Street, grinning from ear to ear, we gave Papillion a huge thumbs-up, and said this R rated movie stuff...is gonna be on our agenda, quite a bit, from there on out...
Johnny "Hop" Howland was such a kooky, crazy, cool kid...He just had a wacky, wry, non-chalant, sense of humor...even at a young age...He was the one Howland boy, always catching the blame, from his parents, it seemed, but Hop, had his funny way, of rationalizing...any situation, in his pissed-off, who gives a damn, attitude...
Gosh...we had such a blast...all us 86th Street kids...stealing cigars, too, back then, from John's Liquors & Grocery, chomping on those stinky stogies as we built countless numbers of forts...playing ball like madmen, until the sun went down and of course...getting out of the neighborhood...to play miniature golf on 95th Street(then always stopping off at the Jack-In- The-Box for greasy, yummy, fried tacos) or catch a fun, fun movie, every now & then...Endless, endless hilarity...
Next 2 movies I saw as a kid, as I got older, are quite famous...JAWS & the EXORCIST....at the Ford City Cinema...around 6th Grade...with Slim, Eddie B, Johnny Murph, Fitz & Fees, Joey Devlin, maybe Bucky, probably Moodo, Don, Neil(Krull), Marty(Eck), Kevin(Ryan), Denny (Cusack), Bob(Kross)...
Oh yes...there's more...Tommy Duffner(Duff), Mike Mulligan, Jimmy Curley(Curls), Marty Rogers, Mike Powers (Pows), Jimmy Disbrow(Dizz), Jimmy Bandyk, just a whole crazy bunch of us, countless of others too, from our age group...from around Tommy More...could have been with me, the somewhat infamous, Jimmy O's, that day...
We all had to walk all the way to the other side of the neighborhood to catch the 79th Street bus...that took you...riding over beyond Bogan H.S. to the Ford City Mall...As the bus, let you off, you still had to walk about 5 blocks to get to Ford City...so we were quite exhausted from our adventures to and from Ford City...(but it was well worth it...)
JAWS...Wow...Jaws....what can you say...???....Just about the biggest, hyped movie of our time. The line to get into that movie was by far as I'll ever see...just wrapping around the block...Of course, we managed to sneak in at the door...and ran for our seats....and sunk in and watched the Shark terrorize the sleepy little ocean-side town...
It was an incredible rush, as everyone in the theatre had their hearts pounding, scared to death, that damn shark, was gonna devour everyone who came 15 feet within the water...Just an awesome movie, with that spooky, unrelenting shark music...pulsating thru you...transfixed on the mysterious shark that doesn't show up on the screen until well over an hour into the movie...
Egad...next up...The Exorcist....another movie, hyped to the gills...Suddenly, all the news was about demons and evil and such...And I'll say right now, if that movie pops up on my TV, I turn it off, in an instant...How scary was it...???....Terrifyingly scary...
When that possessed little girl, had the glowing, evil eyes, with the distorted evil voice, spinning her head in circles and spewing out a blast of green pea soup vomit...You pretty much, wanted, to cover your eyes and start praying that never, ever happened to you...
A very, very funny side note to The Exorcist...I came home that night...and was surely spooked out of my mind...I eventually climbed into bed and hoped I didn't dare dream about that crazy stuff...Anyway, I woke up, about Midnight and went to the bathroom...
It was pitch-black when I got back to my room as I was just about to throw myself back into bed....Suddenly, my brother Joe...(remember James Bond)...well, he was laying on the floor, besides my bed, and grabbed hold of my ankles, like a vice grip, squeezing as tight as he could...
Well, much to my dismay, I thought I was being visited by some demonic force, wickedly about to send me into an Exorcist-like demonic rage....I was so, so scared, I couldn't scream, and I was pretty close to peeing on myself...
There I was, a frightened mess, as all I could do was muster up a tiny whimper of a scream...when my brother, Joe, jumped up and covered my mouth and dropped me onto the bed, and started laughing and laughing and laughing....
It was utterly hilarious...thinking back now...I don't even think Joe knew I saw that Exorcist movie that day...It was just perfect timing...on his part...
I also really felt lucky to hop on the Kedzie Avenue bus, with my buds, and head a mile north to the gritty, seedy, Marquette Park area, too, to the old, dilapidated Colony(59th street) and Marquette(63rd street) theatres...just crumbling old dinosaur movie theatres built way back in the 1920's...
Movies at those 2 theatres were only $1 and the movies were tepid, lack-luster, B-Flicks....like the Vincent Price horror movies, or the Richard Pryor movie, CAR WASH or more horror stuff, like PHANTASM & ORCA THE KILLER WHALE. We didn't care...That stuff was top-notch in our books...
I'll cover those theatres, more extensively, later on...as my teenage years progress...hopefully...
Most excellently, I saw plenty of great, great movies back then, with me and the Howland Boys, then me & my fellow chums from Tommy More grade school, too...Just an endless amount of exciting movies galore...that always left us always wanting some more.
For it wasn't just the movies, that held us in awe...It was getting out of our comfort zone, beyond Tommy More, and wandering new areas, across the whole south-side of Chicago, seeing new things...and yes, finding ourselves in plenty of mischeivous trouble...from time to time...along the way...
I didn't even get to mention great movies I saw like...
THE STING
BUTCH CASSIDY/SUNDANCE KID
TOWERING INFERNO
POSEIDON ADVENTURE
AIRPLANE
APOCOLYPSE NOW
KILLER TOMATOES
and on and on and on...
oh well, maybe we'll recall some of those later...(I'm sure we will...) because these memoirs have us merrily rolling along...and who knows...what will pop up next...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Nephew---Eddie Haggerty....
Oh yes, gather yourself up, for the way-back machine, and zoom back 40 years ago, to the birth of my great little nephew, Eddie...Eddie Haggerty...He got his little intro to this world, back on July 2nd, 1969...and he never looked back...
I can remember Eddie, being quite a young, 6-month-old, toddler, at his Mom & Dad's(my dear sister, Kathy & Ed's) funky Marquette Park apartment...There, he defied the odds, by lifting himself up, off the ground and doing his little baby steps, by grabbing ahold to all of the furniture, to stabililize himself, as he did a complete circle around the entire room...His Father declared Eddie, a genius, and at that point we were expecting Eddie to grow up and be a Rhodes Scholar or an Astronaut.
Eddie, even way back then, had a bright, bright, happy smile and an equally bright and happy disposition. His thick & wavy blonde hair, big eyes and big, big, rosie cheeks...made him one of the healthiest looking babies around...
The following year, Eddie, was followed by his brother Mike, and then quicky Pat, jumped onto the Haggerty Wrestling team...and from there...the hijinx and madness...never ended...
I do wish I could just focus on Eddie, but the whole crazy crew of Eddie, Mike and Pat...were inseperable, and they just about ran all of us into the ground, with their boundless energy.
How boundless...???...Young Eddie, was up before the sun rised every day...Eddie was up before the moon disappeared...before the cows even yawned in the muddling dusk...even...
Boooom...!!!...
Eddie Haggerty, was up, bright-eyed, and bushied tailed, waking up his cohorts, Mike & Pat, demanding the day to get off to a wild, walloping start...Oh gosh, sometimes, we'd be all up at the Lake House, and sure enough, you'd hear this thunderous roar of tiny footsteps, bounding down the stairs, from the bedroom, into the kitchen, at 5:30am...where their Mom, Kathy, had to whiz up some Captain Crunch with Blueberries or Cocoa Puffs or Fruit Loops for her young hungry, urchins....in nothing flat...Kathy truly was a living saint, with this wild bunch keeping her buzzing, going completely bonkers, doing an endless mad scramble, trying to make things roll as smoothly as possible...
I'd finally roll out of bed at 10AM...and go downstairs, and I was met, with the powerhouse, Haggerty tag team, attacking me, ready to roughhouse, right out of the box, piling on top of me, or just throwing themselves at me, so I'd have to pick them up, off the ground, and throw them onto the blue, living room, couch, crashing, one at a time...on top of each other...
Me and the young Haggerty's had such a blast...because they were truly, non-stop, wild boys, just bursting with their trademark energy...with usually Eddie...plowing straight ahead, with a great big smile...
How crazy were these 3 boys...???...Eddie & Mike & Pat...
It was not unusual for me to show up at their house, over on 79th & Artesian, in Tommy More, and find the entire refrigerator, completely, torn apart...Mike, throwing pickles around like little mini green frisbees and Pat, using yellow mustard to paint some Picasso creations on the wall...
Where was Eddie...???...Eddie, was there, wandering around, chomping on a stick of butter, like it was a Snickers chocolate candy bar...Yes, butter...and yes, just not one stick of butter, but the whole damn carton of 4 butters, were clearly on Eddie's snack menu, that day...
MMMMmmm buttterrrrr.....!!!!!!....
This next story, is the truth, I cannot tell a lie...just like George Washington...We were up in Lake Geneva, middle of summer, the Haggerty boys about 8, 7 and 5 years old at that time...and they grabbed ahold of these croquet mallets, and began bashing away at our giant lilac tree in our backyard...
Now you are thinking...Croquet mallets...They are not a good choice to try to cut down a tree, because they are flat and dull, wooden hammers...but these 3 lumberjacks, were not buying that philosophy as they whacked away at that beautiful lilac tree, until they broke thru the bark, and then got excited and bashed away until they heard a SNAP....and there the lilac tree...took a tumble...timmmbbbbberrrrr....to the ground...
Gramma came running out...mortified, her beautiful tree that smelled so beautiful was a casualty of war...but I personally was glad, because that Lilac tree, always attracted bees with its pungent flowery smell...and its location was right next to the hitter's box for our special whiffle ball games in the backyard...You could always see all of us kids, swinging our bat, hoping to smack a bee in mid air.
(....batter up.....bbbbbzzzzzzz.....!!!....get away from me...you stupid, stupid bees....!!!...bbbbbzzzzz....!!!...Smmmaaccckk...!!!...)
Oh there's more...I can recall, Eddie, just getting a crazy notion to tear out all my tomato plants along side the Lake House...Ripppp...Ripppp....Ripppp...Ripppp...Ohhh, how I loved those tomato plants because I'd soak those suckers everyday with lots of water & Miracle Grow...
uuuhhhh ohhhh....One by one, the large bountiful plants came up, roots and all...but Eddie, didn't realize I was coming barreling down, in a psychotic rage towards him at warp speed, ready to unleash a beating, like no other.
There Eddie stood, smiling, quite amused, then his amusement turned to horror...
...HOLY CRAP...!!!...IT'S UNCLE JIM...!!!...
BOOM...Eddie takes off screaming & screaming & screaming for dear life and I'm like Dick Butkus, ready to pummel him into the ground...but honestly...You really couldn't hurt Eddie, cuz' he was rock solid muscle...Needless, to say, Eddie and all the Haggerty's were great, great fun. We had such hilarious riotous times, doing crazy things...
I gotta stop there with the crazy Haggerty stories...and save some...for Mike and Pat...
Eddie...today...believe it or not, is an outward, gregariously fun guy, a Precinct Captain for the Saint Cajetan's area on the South Side...He was just elected to be on the board for the highly prestigious South-Side Irish Parade wearing a super special, green blazer...when he was inducted last week...The huge Irish parade, of hundreds of thousands of people, itself, runs every March, down Western Avenue, only 4 blocks away from his house, where he lives with his wonderful wife, Megan and their 3 adorable rug-rats...Meara, Phelan & the mighty, might, Griffin...who reminds me exactly of Eddie so much...
Eddie is the biggest White Sox fan and me and him, can be found bidding on White Sox stuff on E-Bay all the time...He throws that huge Saint Paddy's Day party every year, for one and all, before the parade, where the cold & frothy Guinness & stinging Jameson Irish Whiskey are flowing at 6am, that day...
By the way...I have this cool 2005 photo of Eddie, shaking hands with Mayor Daley, while he's got his White Sox cap on...at some lakefront ceremony...only a few days before the Sox won the World Series...
And in that photo, it shows that both Eddie & Mayor Daley, are on cloud nine, brimming with delightful smiles, drinking in the wild excitement of World Series action, we all had never seen before...on the South-Side...
Anyway, Eddie is now an Electrician these days, in charge of the lighting for the city that runs along the Chicago lakefront and can be found, digging thru the mess of electrical wires inside Buckingham Fountain, quite often, making sure, it remains a jewel of the city...for all the visitors...to stop by...and take their picture, there...
Oh yeah...Don't be surprised, if you are listening on the radio...and hear...Eddie Haggerty, you were our 12th caller and have won tickets for a weekend getaway to a water park or tickets to a movie...Eddie just loves that kinda stuff. He just has a knack for winning silly stuff over the radio...Surely, me & Eddie, are truly crazy and think we gotta shot...every single time,,,
Eddie Haggerty, South-Sider, Family Man & Sox Fan...and also just one of my many, many kooky little nieces & nephews who grew up, alongside me...so long ago...Well, we won't say when...will we...???...
I can remember Eddie, being quite a young, 6-month-old, toddler, at his Mom & Dad's(my dear sister, Kathy & Ed's) funky Marquette Park apartment...There, he defied the odds, by lifting himself up, off the ground and doing his little baby steps, by grabbing ahold to all of the furniture, to stabililize himself, as he did a complete circle around the entire room...His Father declared Eddie, a genius, and at that point we were expecting Eddie to grow up and be a Rhodes Scholar or an Astronaut.
Eddie, even way back then, had a bright, bright, happy smile and an equally bright and happy disposition. His thick & wavy blonde hair, big eyes and big, big, rosie cheeks...made him one of the healthiest looking babies around...
The following year, Eddie, was followed by his brother Mike, and then quicky Pat, jumped onto the Haggerty Wrestling team...and from there...the hijinx and madness...never ended...
I do wish I could just focus on Eddie, but the whole crazy crew of Eddie, Mike and Pat...were inseperable, and they just about ran all of us into the ground, with their boundless energy.
How boundless...???...Young Eddie, was up before the sun rised every day...Eddie was up before the moon disappeared...before the cows even yawned in the muddling dusk...even...
Boooom...!!!...
Eddie Haggerty, was up, bright-eyed, and bushied tailed, waking up his cohorts, Mike & Pat, demanding the day to get off to a wild, walloping start...Oh gosh, sometimes, we'd be all up at the Lake House, and sure enough, you'd hear this thunderous roar of tiny footsteps, bounding down the stairs, from the bedroom, into the kitchen, at 5:30am...where their Mom, Kathy, had to whiz up some Captain Crunch with Blueberries or Cocoa Puffs or Fruit Loops for her young hungry, urchins....in nothing flat...Kathy truly was a living saint, with this wild bunch keeping her buzzing, going completely bonkers, doing an endless mad scramble, trying to make things roll as smoothly as possible...
I'd finally roll out of bed at 10AM...and go downstairs, and I was met, with the powerhouse, Haggerty tag team, attacking me, ready to roughhouse, right out of the box, piling on top of me, or just throwing themselves at me, so I'd have to pick them up, off the ground, and throw them onto the blue, living room, couch, crashing, one at a time...on top of each other...
Me and the young Haggerty's had such a blast...because they were truly, non-stop, wild boys, just bursting with their trademark energy...with usually Eddie...plowing straight ahead, with a great big smile...
How crazy were these 3 boys...???...Eddie & Mike & Pat...
It was not unusual for me to show up at their house, over on 79th & Artesian, in Tommy More, and find the entire refrigerator, completely, torn apart...Mike, throwing pickles around like little mini green frisbees and Pat, using yellow mustard to paint some Picasso creations on the wall...
Where was Eddie...???...Eddie, was there, wandering around, chomping on a stick of butter, like it was a Snickers chocolate candy bar...Yes, butter...and yes, just not one stick of butter, but the whole damn carton of 4 butters, were clearly on Eddie's snack menu, that day...
MMMMmmm buttterrrrr.....!!!!!!....
This next story, is the truth, I cannot tell a lie...just like George Washington...We were up in Lake Geneva, middle of summer, the Haggerty boys about 8, 7 and 5 years old at that time...and they grabbed ahold of these croquet mallets, and began bashing away at our giant lilac tree in our backyard...
Now you are thinking...Croquet mallets...They are not a good choice to try to cut down a tree, because they are flat and dull, wooden hammers...but these 3 lumberjacks, were not buying that philosophy as they whacked away at that beautiful lilac tree, until they broke thru the bark, and then got excited and bashed away until they heard a SNAP....and there the lilac tree...took a tumble...timmmbbbbberrrrr....to the ground...
Gramma came running out...mortified, her beautiful tree that smelled so beautiful was a casualty of war...but I personally was glad, because that Lilac tree, always attracted bees with its pungent flowery smell...and its location was right next to the hitter's box for our special whiffle ball games in the backyard...You could always see all of us kids, swinging our bat, hoping to smack a bee in mid air.
(....batter up.....bbbbbzzzzzzz.....!!!....get away from me...you stupid, stupid bees....!!!...bbbbbzzzzz....!!!...Smmmaaccckk...!!!...)
Oh there's more...I can recall, Eddie, just getting a crazy notion to tear out all my tomato plants along side the Lake House...Ripppp...Ripppp....Ripppp...Ripppp...Ohhh, how I loved those tomato plants because I'd soak those suckers everyday with lots of water & Miracle Grow...
uuuhhhh ohhhh....One by one, the large bountiful plants came up, roots and all...but Eddie, didn't realize I was coming barreling down, in a psychotic rage towards him at warp speed, ready to unleash a beating, like no other.
There Eddie stood, smiling, quite amused, then his amusement turned to horror...
...HOLY CRAP...!!!...IT'S UNCLE JIM...!!!...
BOOM...Eddie takes off screaming & screaming & screaming for dear life and I'm like Dick Butkus, ready to pummel him into the ground...but honestly...You really couldn't hurt Eddie, cuz' he was rock solid muscle...Needless, to say, Eddie and all the Haggerty's were great, great fun. We had such hilarious riotous times, doing crazy things...
I gotta stop there with the crazy Haggerty stories...and save some...for Mike and Pat...
Eddie...today...believe it or not, is an outward, gregariously fun guy, a Precinct Captain for the Saint Cajetan's area on the South Side...He was just elected to be on the board for the highly prestigious South-Side Irish Parade wearing a super special, green blazer...when he was inducted last week...The huge Irish parade, of hundreds of thousands of people, itself, runs every March, down Western Avenue, only 4 blocks away from his house, where he lives with his wonderful wife, Megan and their 3 adorable rug-rats...Meara, Phelan & the mighty, might, Griffin...who reminds me exactly of Eddie so much...
Eddie is the biggest White Sox fan and me and him, can be found bidding on White Sox stuff on E-Bay all the time...He throws that huge Saint Paddy's Day party every year, for one and all, before the parade, where the cold & frothy Guinness & stinging Jameson Irish Whiskey are flowing at 6am, that day...
By the way...I have this cool 2005 photo of Eddie, shaking hands with Mayor Daley, while he's got his White Sox cap on...at some lakefront ceremony...only a few days before the Sox won the World Series...
And in that photo, it shows that both Eddie & Mayor Daley, are on cloud nine, brimming with delightful smiles, drinking in the wild excitement of World Series action, we all had never seen before...on the South-Side...
Anyway, Eddie is now an Electrician these days, in charge of the lighting for the city that runs along the Chicago lakefront and can be found, digging thru the mess of electrical wires inside Buckingham Fountain, quite often, making sure, it remains a jewel of the city...for all the visitors...to stop by...and take their picture, there...
Oh yeah...Don't be surprised, if you are listening on the radio...and hear...Eddie Haggerty, you were our 12th caller and have won tickets for a weekend getaway to a water park or tickets to a movie...Eddie just loves that kinda stuff. He just has a knack for winning silly stuff over the radio...Surely, me & Eddie, are truly crazy and think we gotta shot...every single time,,,
Eddie Haggerty, South-Sider, Family Man & Sox Fan...and also just one of my many, many kooky little nieces & nephews who grew up, alongside me...so long ago...Well, we won't say when...will we...???...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
My Nephew--Charlie
It's time to kick back the way back machine, to get a fresh reminder, of who, started the kiddie revolution, in the O'Leary family...See, on June 10th, 1969, a savior, was born unto this world, and his name was Charlie Gries...
Well, let's not get carried away, Charlie wasn't the Christ child, but he did get the royal treatment for being the first grandchild born...See, Charlie, was born a South-Sider, out of Little Company of Mary Hospital. He got to spend his first year living with us on 86th Street, with his Mom, my sister, Maureen, while his Dad was off in Vietnam...
There, he was held a plenty...just as good a baby as any. Even his Mom, would leave Charlie, on the basement floor, on a blanket, as an infant, and zoom up to John's Grocery & Liquors, up on 87th Street...
I, only 6, was left to babysit, little Charlie, and I can remember, intensively studying, his every move, scared to death, something bad, would happen, while his Mom, was away, probably picking up baby food or diapers...
I was practically holding my breath, expecting him, to start choking, or take a dump or start crying...my ability to cope with a baby in the house, was put to the test, quite often, back then...
Young Charlie, probably never realized how much, he got the royal treatment from his Gramma & Grampa, who were beaming to be grand-parents...And my Dad, was certainly glad it was a boy, I bet, establishing a new pattern, for the Grand-kids, of not being all girls, right out of the box, like his 5 initial daughters being born...
There we all lived, a quaint existence, with one of those special Stars, in our front picture window, to signify, that someone, his Dad, older Charlie, was off, fighting in the Vietnam War.
Inevitably, older Charlie, did come back, a year later, and the young family, moved out to Blue Island, near a huge, railroad yard...It was a very spacious, big apartment, but you could hear the train whistles, blowing, quite loud, off in the distance...
As little Charlie grew, he developed his own little personality. Always, a little destructive little tyke...who actually called his Mom, Mooo-weeen, instead of Mommy...He got into heaps and heaps of silly little troubles, back then, and led his brothers and sister, down many an adventure, as he grew and grew and grew...
I can vividly remember Charlie, being about 6, himself, living in Arlington Heights, just tearing that house apart...I was out on their screened in porch, one day, and I sifted thru all the toys, strewn about, and dug out, one of my favorite, old stuffed animals, Toto, the monkey.
My sister, must have brought with her, when she moved out of our house...Yikes, Toto, looked, like he got, run over by a garbage truck, and then some, all mangled and distorted...About 5 minutes later, I found another, one of my old favorites, an original version of Winne the Pooh, and its eyes were dangling out of its head, missing an arm and stuffing bursting at the seams...
I thought these little Gries kids, were savages...the loud & proud Thomas, the spunky little squirrell, Michelle, and the youngest, perky Patrick... Those crazy kids left those gentle stuffed toys, in such horrible condition...because they just had a more wild pattern, of ripping things apart, back then...I can remember, one time...things got a little crazy...
Young Charlie actually took his little brother, Thomas, and hid in the basement, while his parents, and all of us, desperately searched for them, because we had to get to the church, because his little brother, Patrick, was being baptized, that day...
We searched and searched and searched, no luck...The whole family, finally, threw up their hands, and raced off to the church, while I was left behind, alone, to search more, for the two little missing beasts...
Suddenly, the mischeivous two emerged, with big smiles, laughing and laughing, thinking they had pulled off a huge feat, getting us to be unable to find them, down in the basement, behind a big stack of old clothes...
Little did they know, their Mom and Dad, had quite a little awakening for them, when they got back, from the church Christening...Egad...I think big Charlie, had to be angrier than ever, and their mother, Maureen, mortified, but relieved, they hadn't been kidnapped, or something.
Time moved on, and little Charlie and I had some awesome memories, playing whiffle ball up in Lake Geneva, in the backyard...He vividly can recall those tussles, better than I can, believe it or not...
He remembers, me screaming out, Walt-no neck-Williams, was up to bat for the Sox and the pitcher was Vida Blue of the A's...Stuff like that, are hilarious...as we did romp about the funky little yard, for some endless, baseball games, in the Lake Geneva sunshine, so long ago.
Just a flood of old memories, of all the young Gries kids, running all about, up at the lake, their beat up old, grizzly old faded, cherry red Ford, station wagon, out back, with its back-side rusting off, almost completely. A far cry, from the Mercedes Benz, they drive today...
It's so, so funny, to laugh about those fun times, when Charlie was a bit of a handful, endlessly ruling his little brothers and sister around...And along with their cousins, grew and grew and grew, because time could not stop them, from growing up quick, and growing up strong...
Little Charlie, the first kiddie to kick things off...back in 1969...some 40 years ago...It still does seem like yesterday for me...but Charlie now, is quite grown, with a wonderful wife, Christine and two beautiful young girls, precociously shy & oh so sweet, Kaitlyn & Emma, living in, where else, Arlington Heights...
I can remember when Charlie started dating his wonderful wife, as they were, living in Ukrainian Village...on the West Side...Charlie, back then with the largest CD music selection, I ever seen, strewn about their apartment, in an old brick structure, on a quiet street surrounded by great ethnic places to eat...They were so happy, back then, and they didn't have much, if anything, but that really didn't matter to those two...
Charlie...Well, he's got the world by a string, nowadays, a consummate sports junkie, teaching the local kids, Physical Education (gym), up at the elementary school and venturing off for various soccer clubs, he coaches or plays for...as the day, turns into night...
You see, Charlie grew up to be, quite the soccer player, once scoring 55+ goals, one season, in high school...for Saint Viator's...and that passion for soccer is truly always gonna be a huge passion, of his, even when he does quite playing...He'll still be watching those European & World Cup soccer games, intensely, over the Fox Soccer cable T.V station...whenever he can...
I was just with Charlie, a week ago, when we went down, to a DePaul basketball game. It was a great time, to go see a game together, which we always do, at least once a year. And as we drive to and from the game, many an old memory will pop into our heads, and have us laughing of those old days, some 40 years ago...
I'm sure we'll have some more of those old stories, about all the Gries kids, as we slide along. Because each and every one of my nieces and nephews, every single one of them, hold a special place in my heart.
And I know, they feel the same way. We had such a ball, growing up together, just endless laughs from day to night. And it's a shame, we couldn't have captured, all of those times, on film, because those glorious times, were unbelievably fun...for each and every one of us...
Well, let's not get carried away, Charlie wasn't the Christ child, but he did get the royal treatment for being the first grandchild born...See, Charlie, was born a South-Sider, out of Little Company of Mary Hospital. He got to spend his first year living with us on 86th Street, with his Mom, my sister, Maureen, while his Dad was off in Vietnam...
There, he was held a plenty...just as good a baby as any. Even his Mom, would leave Charlie, on the basement floor, on a blanket, as an infant, and zoom up to John's Grocery & Liquors, up on 87th Street...
I, only 6, was left to babysit, little Charlie, and I can remember, intensively studying, his every move, scared to death, something bad, would happen, while his Mom, was away, probably picking up baby food or diapers...
I was practically holding my breath, expecting him, to start choking, or take a dump or start crying...my ability to cope with a baby in the house, was put to the test, quite often, back then...
Young Charlie, probably never realized how much, he got the royal treatment from his Gramma & Grampa, who were beaming to be grand-parents...And my Dad, was certainly glad it was a boy, I bet, establishing a new pattern, for the Grand-kids, of not being all girls, right out of the box, like his 5 initial daughters being born...
There we all lived, a quaint existence, with one of those special Stars, in our front picture window, to signify, that someone, his Dad, older Charlie, was off, fighting in the Vietnam War.
Inevitably, older Charlie, did come back, a year later, and the young family, moved out to Blue Island, near a huge, railroad yard...It was a very spacious, big apartment, but you could hear the train whistles, blowing, quite loud, off in the distance...
As little Charlie grew, he developed his own little personality. Always, a little destructive little tyke...who actually called his Mom, Mooo-weeen, instead of Mommy...He got into heaps and heaps of silly little troubles, back then, and led his brothers and sister, down many an adventure, as he grew and grew and grew...
I can vividly remember Charlie, being about 6, himself, living in Arlington Heights, just tearing that house apart...I was out on their screened in porch, one day, and I sifted thru all the toys, strewn about, and dug out, one of my favorite, old stuffed animals, Toto, the monkey.
My sister, must have brought with her, when she moved out of our house...Yikes, Toto, looked, like he got, run over by a garbage truck, and then some, all mangled and distorted...About 5 minutes later, I found another, one of my old favorites, an original version of Winne the Pooh, and its eyes were dangling out of its head, missing an arm and stuffing bursting at the seams...
I thought these little Gries kids, were savages...the loud & proud Thomas, the spunky little squirrell, Michelle, and the youngest, perky Patrick... Those crazy kids left those gentle stuffed toys, in such horrible condition...because they just had a more wild pattern, of ripping things apart, back then...I can remember, one time...things got a little crazy...
Young Charlie actually took his little brother, Thomas, and hid in the basement, while his parents, and all of us, desperately searched for them, because we had to get to the church, because his little brother, Patrick, was being baptized, that day...
We searched and searched and searched, no luck...The whole family, finally, threw up their hands, and raced off to the church, while I was left behind, alone, to search more, for the two little missing beasts...
Suddenly, the mischeivous two emerged, with big smiles, laughing and laughing, thinking they had pulled off a huge feat, getting us to be unable to find them, down in the basement, behind a big stack of old clothes...
Little did they know, their Mom and Dad, had quite a little awakening for them, when they got back, from the church Christening...Egad...I think big Charlie, had to be angrier than ever, and their mother, Maureen, mortified, but relieved, they hadn't been kidnapped, or something.
Time moved on, and little Charlie and I had some awesome memories, playing whiffle ball up in Lake Geneva, in the backyard...He vividly can recall those tussles, better than I can, believe it or not...
He remembers, me screaming out, Walt-no neck-Williams, was up to bat for the Sox and the pitcher was Vida Blue of the A's...Stuff like that, are hilarious...as we did romp about the funky little yard, for some endless, baseball games, in the Lake Geneva sunshine, so long ago.
Just a flood of old memories, of all the young Gries kids, running all about, up at the lake, their beat up old, grizzly old faded, cherry red Ford, station wagon, out back, with its back-side rusting off, almost completely. A far cry, from the Mercedes Benz, they drive today...
It's so, so funny, to laugh about those fun times, when Charlie was a bit of a handful, endlessly ruling his little brothers and sister around...And along with their cousins, grew and grew and grew, because time could not stop them, from growing up quick, and growing up strong...
Little Charlie, the first kiddie to kick things off...back in 1969...some 40 years ago...It still does seem like yesterday for me...but Charlie now, is quite grown, with a wonderful wife, Christine and two beautiful young girls, precociously shy & oh so sweet, Kaitlyn & Emma, living in, where else, Arlington Heights...
I can remember when Charlie started dating his wonderful wife, as they were, living in Ukrainian Village...on the West Side...Charlie, back then with the largest CD music selection, I ever seen, strewn about their apartment, in an old brick structure, on a quiet street surrounded by great ethnic places to eat...They were so happy, back then, and they didn't have much, if anything, but that really didn't matter to those two...
Charlie...Well, he's got the world by a string, nowadays, a consummate sports junkie, teaching the local kids, Physical Education (gym), up at the elementary school and venturing off for various soccer clubs, he coaches or plays for...as the day, turns into night...
You see, Charlie grew up to be, quite the soccer player, once scoring 55+ goals, one season, in high school...for Saint Viator's...and that passion for soccer is truly always gonna be a huge passion, of his, even when he does quite playing...He'll still be watching those European & World Cup soccer games, intensely, over the Fox Soccer cable T.V station...whenever he can...
I was just with Charlie, a week ago, when we went down, to a DePaul basketball game. It was a great time, to go see a game together, which we always do, at least once a year. And as we drive to and from the game, many an old memory will pop into our heads, and have us laughing of those old days, some 40 years ago...
I'm sure we'll have some more of those old stories, about all the Gries kids, as we slide along. Because each and every one of my nieces and nephews, every single one of them, hold a special place in my heart.
And I know, they feel the same way. We had such a ball, growing up together, just endless laughs from day to night. And it's a shame, we couldn't have captured, all of those times, on film, because those glorious times, were unbelievably fun...for each and every one of us...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Early Slim
Once upon a time...there was a young boy named Patrick Farrell...Slim was his knickname...a rambunctious wirey tall young lad...from 84th Street...who enjoyed all his sports to the fullest...I'm sure he thought he was gonna be the next Roger Staubach, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys...throwing that deep, Hail Mary bomb...to wide receiver, Drew Pierson...
And certainly don't rule out, Slim, dreaming with the idea of taking over for Ron Santo at 3rd Base, of the Cubs, someday, either, or even taking over for his idol, Tony Esposito in the nets for the Hawks...truly one of his greatest passions...And if you hung with Slim, inevitably, you were gonna be having lots of fun...that was just a given....
Slim, you see, was very much, his own man, from an early age...While most of us were true, blue White Sox fans...Slim was the absolute biggest Cubs fan...And yes, the Dallas Cowboys, were the team for Slim, completely...How could you not wanna root for them Cowboys...???...if you hung around with Slim......way back when we were 8 or 9 or 10 years old...
If you entered Slim's house back in the day...you were usually met by Slim's Mom, who was simply a joy to be around...She did treat all of Slim's friends like we were truly something special, when we all knew, we were, nothing but a bunch of budding little monsters...
And then, all of Slim's sisters, would pop up around each and every corner...Katie, Colleen, Mary, Maureen, Jenny & Betty...all at various ages...all happy, little go-getter, girls...so very Irish looking...all just like their Mother...who teased and tattled on Slim...endlessly...
I know Slim must have looked up to his Dad, rather woefully, on more than one occassion, and asked his dear Dad, why did you have to have so many girls...???...
How I did dread Slim's situation, because he above all others, had a deliciously mischeivious side to him...and in the early years...his little madcap hijinx...took quite a few hits...as it wasn't uncommon to hear one of Slim's sisters to call out...
Mom...Pat is doing this again...!!!...Mom...Pat is doing that, again...!!!...
It certainly drove him crazy...being the only boy, amidst all those girls...but he was undaunted...just plowing ahead...and doing completely funny & crazy stuff...and worrying about the damning consequences, later...
To take you back to early Slim, you'd see him...shuttle us past his sisters, in his neat bi-level deluxe home, as quickly as possible, down to his room...where he knew it was safe...to conduct his private hobbies & endeavors...
He'd shut his door...but not before one of his sister's would yell out...
Mom, Pat has friends in the house...!!!...And their shoes are all muddy...!!!...
Slim did slam that door behind him...and the only one who could enter was his dear dog...Blue...
Blue, was an odd mutt...if there ever was one...a black & silvery & even blue, Scottish Terrier, I'm guessing...and he'd just maul anyone...for attention...until you had to beg Slim, to get his crazy mutt...off of us...
There, within his room...Slim would reveal his brand new baseball cards and then later on, look around, very slowly, as if the C.I.A. may be watching, then pull out his Parley Cards...once he thought the room was absolutely safe...and the coast was clear.
What are Parley Cards...???
See, Slim ran a gambling operation amidst us 5th & 6th Graders...getting his Parley Cards from a neighbor kid...a local bookie...who I'm guessing...actually did have ties to the mob...I know it sounds silly but it really was quite fun...and when its all said and done, Slim got a nice piece of the pie...from his efforts...
See...Parley Cards, had a breakdown of the odds...for every NFL & many college football games that week...And all of Slim's buddies, including me, were hooked immediately...We took great pride on slapping down our $3-$5...for a chance at beating the odds...and circling our various choices, for each week...
Damn...we all thought we were Jimmy the Greek, back then...taking a stab...at winning...a nice big chunk of change..for us youngsters...We'd grab ahold of those tiny sheets of paper, embosesed with the teams and the odds...rabidly and quickly, buckling down...
We'd be measuring each possible bet, with a tremendous flair of reasoning...in which we felt...was gonna get us that jackpot...every time...and sure...I won a few...myself...
Slim took great pride, in keeping his little gambling venture secret...and in true Slim style, never got caught by anyone...That young Slim was a slickster, thru and thru...Like I said, we'd be down in his room...and you'd clearly see his Dallas Cowboys bed-spread and garbage can...Cubs & Bears & Blackhawk stuff...all about...and baseball mitts and bats and hockey stuff & trophies...in every corner...Truly, he was a mega-sports-junkie...(as most of us...his friends were...too...)...
I'll let you slide back, right now...slip back to one of those typical Slim adventures...as we rode our bikes, like hell on wheels, up to the funky, skunky little paradise lost...known as The B....near my house...which had this very high chain-link fence...to keep trespassers out...like us...
Suddenly, Slim, would jump off his bike and make a mad dash to the fence...He just remembered, that he had a new windbreaker coat on...and getting over that fence...may be a little tricky...No matter, Slim...ascended the fence...getting to the very top...Well, that seemed easy, enough, then...laughing at all of us...up at the top...
Rrrrrrippppppppp...!!!...
There was suddenly a giant rip in Slim's new coat...so suddenly...so completely, ruining the damn thing, cuz' it got stuck on some little barb wire thingie at the top...You could see that look in Slim's eyes, almost able to hear his sister's screams...
Mom, Pat's got a giant rip in his coat...!!!...
Or...
Mom, look at Slim's coat, he's gonna need a new one...!!!...
Slim slid back down, no longer in a jovial mood...just staring at this giant tear...just hanging down, rendering the coat, useless...ready for the bottom of his Cowboys trash can...in his room...
But oh no...the story, does not end there...For about a week later...we cruised aimlessly and shamelessly, back up to, where else, The B...again...And again, Slim, got to the top, with a reckless abandon...and damn...it happened once again...Call it Deja vu'...call it what you will...
Rrrrripppppppppp....!!!...
Egad...Slim...don't look down...I believe you did it again...You ruined another brand new windbreaker. Slim, at this point was a bit mortified...saying...
My Mom & Dad are really gonna kill me...this time...!!!...
Oh yes...Slim knew the doghouse...not only awaited Blue...sometimes...He too...was there, quite a bit, also, from time to time....himself...unfortunately...But just chalk this one up as one of Slim's more dubious moments...Surely, he was pretty darn smooth...and he took it all in stride...
But who can forget...Just that funny, funny look of horror, which came across Slim's face, hearing that..Rrrrippppppppppp...!!!!..
Oh yeah, that happened, in some way, to all us kids, back then...always crashing & bashing forward...so recklessly, never thinking, we could be stopped...until something beyond mystifyingly, crazy would happen...that would end our reign of terror...for that day...
Most definitely, I could go...on and on...cuz' Slim was the enigmatic, elite master of hi-jinx...who made it almost a nightly ritual to sneak out, crawling out of his window of his room...into his backyard...late at night...to wander all about...looking for trouble...
He'd always try to grab Eddie B or the Murphy Boys or Davey Scalise...out with him...into the danger zone...playing well past curfew...having as good a time...as any little crazy fool could have had back then, and surely enough...Slim never got caught...so, so much of the time...
The one and only, Patrick Slim Farrell...A bit of a rascal...a bit of a daredevil...and a bit of the crazy man...who would grow up along side me...and along side of all of my crazy buddies...for some mad-cap adventures...that are truly hilarious, truly unique...and sometimes truly unbelieveable...
And yes...for all of you...to enjoy...only a few pages away....into the Twilight Zone...So do stay tuned...
(On a side note....I spoke to Slim and he said Blue his dog was actaully an Irish Kerry Blue Terrier, not a Scottish Terrier...Murph's, a block away, had an Irish Kerry Blue Terrier too...one more, rather amusing side note...Jim O'leary had a penchant for selecting CLEMSON every week on my football Parley Card...and it covered its points...every single time...which baffled Slim to no end...Of course, I had no idea, that Clemson even existed...I just always liked to cling to something, bizarre and off the wall...that defied logic...to some extreme...I still follow those bizarre hunches, that make no sense to others...I just fly that way...When it works, you look like a genius...and if it doesn't...it's something to laugh about...A win-win to me...no doubt...)
And certainly don't rule out, Slim, dreaming with the idea of taking over for Ron Santo at 3rd Base, of the Cubs, someday, either, or even taking over for his idol, Tony Esposito in the nets for the Hawks...truly one of his greatest passions...And if you hung with Slim, inevitably, you were gonna be having lots of fun...that was just a given....
Slim, you see, was very much, his own man, from an early age...While most of us were true, blue White Sox fans...Slim was the absolute biggest Cubs fan...And yes, the Dallas Cowboys, were the team for Slim, completely...How could you not wanna root for them Cowboys...???...if you hung around with Slim......way back when we were 8 or 9 or 10 years old...
If you entered Slim's house back in the day...you were usually met by Slim's Mom, who was simply a joy to be around...She did treat all of Slim's friends like we were truly something special, when we all knew, we were, nothing but a bunch of budding little monsters...
And then, all of Slim's sisters, would pop up around each and every corner...Katie, Colleen, Mary, Maureen, Jenny & Betty...all at various ages...all happy, little go-getter, girls...so very Irish looking...all just like their Mother...who teased and tattled on Slim...endlessly...
I know Slim must have looked up to his Dad, rather woefully, on more than one occassion, and asked his dear Dad, why did you have to have so many girls...???...
How I did dread Slim's situation, because he above all others, had a deliciously mischeivious side to him...and in the early years...his little madcap hijinx...took quite a few hits...as it wasn't uncommon to hear one of Slim's sisters to call out...
Mom...Pat is doing this again...!!!...Mom...Pat is doing that, again...!!!...
It certainly drove him crazy...being the only boy, amidst all those girls...but he was undaunted...just plowing ahead...and doing completely funny & crazy stuff...and worrying about the damning consequences, later...
To take you back to early Slim, you'd see him...shuttle us past his sisters, in his neat bi-level deluxe home, as quickly as possible, down to his room...where he knew it was safe...to conduct his private hobbies & endeavors...
He'd shut his door...but not before one of his sister's would yell out...
Mom, Pat has friends in the house...!!!...And their shoes are all muddy...!!!...
Slim did slam that door behind him...and the only one who could enter was his dear dog...Blue...
Blue, was an odd mutt...if there ever was one...a black & silvery & even blue, Scottish Terrier, I'm guessing...and he'd just maul anyone...for attention...until you had to beg Slim, to get his crazy mutt...off of us...
There, within his room...Slim would reveal his brand new baseball cards and then later on, look around, very slowly, as if the C.I.A. may be watching, then pull out his Parley Cards...once he thought the room was absolutely safe...and the coast was clear.
What are Parley Cards...???
See, Slim ran a gambling operation amidst us 5th & 6th Graders...getting his Parley Cards from a neighbor kid...a local bookie...who I'm guessing...actually did have ties to the mob...I know it sounds silly but it really was quite fun...and when its all said and done, Slim got a nice piece of the pie...from his efforts...
See...Parley Cards, had a breakdown of the odds...for every NFL & many college football games that week...And all of Slim's buddies, including me, were hooked immediately...We took great pride on slapping down our $3-$5...for a chance at beating the odds...and circling our various choices, for each week...
Damn...we all thought we were Jimmy the Greek, back then...taking a stab...at winning...a nice big chunk of change..for us youngsters...We'd grab ahold of those tiny sheets of paper, embosesed with the teams and the odds...rabidly and quickly, buckling down...
We'd be measuring each possible bet, with a tremendous flair of reasoning...in which we felt...was gonna get us that jackpot...every time...and sure...I won a few...myself...
Slim took great pride, in keeping his little gambling venture secret...and in true Slim style, never got caught by anyone...That young Slim was a slickster, thru and thru...Like I said, we'd be down in his room...and you'd clearly see his Dallas Cowboys bed-spread and garbage can...Cubs & Bears & Blackhawk stuff...all about...and baseball mitts and bats and hockey stuff & trophies...in every corner...Truly, he was a mega-sports-junkie...(as most of us...his friends were...too...)...
I'll let you slide back, right now...slip back to one of those typical Slim adventures...as we rode our bikes, like hell on wheels, up to the funky, skunky little paradise lost...known as The B....near my house...which had this very high chain-link fence...to keep trespassers out...like us...
Suddenly, Slim, would jump off his bike and make a mad dash to the fence...He just remembered, that he had a new windbreaker coat on...and getting over that fence...may be a little tricky...No matter, Slim...ascended the fence...getting to the very top...Well, that seemed easy, enough, then...laughing at all of us...up at the top...
Rrrrrrippppppppp...!!!...
There was suddenly a giant rip in Slim's new coat...so suddenly...so completely, ruining the damn thing, cuz' it got stuck on some little barb wire thingie at the top...You could see that look in Slim's eyes, almost able to hear his sister's screams...
Mom, Pat's got a giant rip in his coat...!!!...
Or...
Mom, look at Slim's coat, he's gonna need a new one...!!!...
Slim slid back down, no longer in a jovial mood...just staring at this giant tear...just hanging down, rendering the coat, useless...ready for the bottom of his Cowboys trash can...in his room...
But oh no...the story, does not end there...For about a week later...we cruised aimlessly and shamelessly, back up to, where else, The B...again...And again, Slim, got to the top, with a reckless abandon...and damn...it happened once again...Call it Deja vu'...call it what you will...
Rrrrripppppppppp....!!!...
Egad...Slim...don't look down...I believe you did it again...You ruined another brand new windbreaker. Slim, at this point was a bit mortified...saying...
My Mom & Dad are really gonna kill me...this time...!!!...
Oh yes...Slim knew the doghouse...not only awaited Blue...sometimes...He too...was there, quite a bit, also, from time to time....himself...unfortunately...But just chalk this one up as one of Slim's more dubious moments...Surely, he was pretty darn smooth...and he took it all in stride...
But who can forget...Just that funny, funny look of horror, which came across Slim's face, hearing that..Rrrrippppppppppp...!!!!..
Oh yeah, that happened, in some way, to all us kids, back then...always crashing & bashing forward...so recklessly, never thinking, we could be stopped...until something beyond mystifyingly, crazy would happen...that would end our reign of terror...for that day...
Most definitely, I could go...on and on...cuz' Slim was the enigmatic, elite master of hi-jinx...who made it almost a nightly ritual to sneak out, crawling out of his window of his room...into his backyard...late at night...to wander all about...looking for trouble...
He'd always try to grab Eddie B or the Murphy Boys or Davey Scalise...out with him...into the danger zone...playing well past curfew...having as good a time...as any little crazy fool could have had back then, and surely enough...Slim never got caught...so, so much of the time...
The one and only, Patrick Slim Farrell...A bit of a rascal...a bit of a daredevil...and a bit of the crazy man...who would grow up along side me...and along side of all of my crazy buddies...for some mad-cap adventures...that are truly hilarious, truly unique...and sometimes truly unbelieveable...
And yes...for all of you...to enjoy...only a few pages away....into the Twilight Zone...So do stay tuned...
(On a side note....I spoke to Slim and he said Blue his dog was actaully an Irish Kerry Blue Terrier, not a Scottish Terrier...Murph's, a block away, had an Irish Kerry Blue Terrier too...one more, rather amusing side note...Jim O'leary had a penchant for selecting CLEMSON every week on my football Parley Card...and it covered its points...every single time...which baffled Slim to no end...Of course, I had no idea, that Clemson even existed...I just always liked to cling to something, bizarre and off the wall...that defied logic...to some extreme...I still follow those bizarre hunches, that make no sense to others...I just fly that way...When it works, you look like a genius...and if it doesn't...it's something to laugh about...A win-win to me...no doubt...)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Playground Days
Who doesn't fondly recall...jumping all about...running and screaming outside...during recess...in our younger days...It's hard not to imagine...those times...not being some of the most care-free, joyous times we all look back upon with a chuckle or two...during our immensely fun Playground Days...
And my days, for those recess times, that spanned 20-30 minutes, at Saint Thomas More...out in the parking lot...a hard, blacktop surface, that seemed to stretch endlessly...never, ever appeared anything less than an oasis...from our drudgery of daily school life...
Sure, other schools may have had grass...or maybe swings or even monkey bars...but it really never phased us one single bit...because, once out there, the laughter and happiness of being a kid, took over, and propelled our imagination, our strong legs and arms...and our endlessly loud, howls at each other...all creating a symphonic bit of a frenzy...not one single one of us...can now...re-enact...but do vividly recall...
All of us...such a bundle of energy...scattering, battering, screaming all about, here and there...some of the girls playing jump rope, some of the boys playing tag...It was rather simplistic...but there was never a dull moment...in our early, early years....
As we grew taller...our spirits and wits only grew higher...and our boundless energy...made us quite a bunch to control and corral...as our recesses would fly by, ever so quickly, then wind down...in no time at all...during our middle grades...
One of the things, that was quite unique for our school recess time...at Saint Thomas More...was a game for us boys, we called, Smear The Queer...a mashed mix of rugby, football & hooliganism...at its finest...This faded blacktop, sometimes snowy, sometimes filled with puddles,became our battleground...feet pounding...people chasing...shirts ripping...mouths bleeding...One second, you are scott free...running wild...frantically scampering...
Then suddenly, running out of breath...within seconds...looking all about...realizing you are cornered...and expecting to be smothered with clash of elbows and fists and bodies colliding in a furious motion...of activity...scaring you with a bit of horror and pain...
All the girls could do...is look on...and cringe...and laugh...and cover their eyes...and by all means, stay out of our way...as us thunderous herd of boys, came perilously close to death, in a funny kind of playground madness...
Most of the time...there we were...starting off our recess...we'd roll up a winter cap...into a ball...and just throw it up in the air...and off...the chase was on...We all had our moment in the sun...smashing, crashing, breaking loose...and forging past...a brick wall of kids all vying for that curled-up winter cap...It was a tremendous feeling of exhileration, beyond wild compare at the time...And it was more often, than not...a hellacious battle between some of the tougher kids, getting mean and ornery, would erupt...if the tangled melee got a little too rough and dicey...
Surely...Punches flew, angry glances shared and usually a bit of wild laughter resulted when it was all said and done...as we plodded back into the school...our clothes in tatters and our minds a clouded haze of rage...sometimes bleeding, sometimes not...but everyone of us, felt like we just ran a damn marathon...and could easily pant and gasp...for at least, another good 5 minutes...to just wind down...
Inevitably, the beat-downs of Smear, subsided, as the teachers tried to introduce us to more civilized activities...KICK-BALL was introduced...as a game for both girls & boys to play with, at the same time...which was quite fun...in around the 6th Grade...I do remember being out on the black-top, during kick-ball, playing Second Base...when the rather large red ball came quickly bounding directly at me...awkwardly catching me off-balance...My eyes were forced to look down at the ball, locking it in, as it punched into my gut...
and then suddenly...WHAMMY...this brazen, tom-boy, of a girl, a freaking runaway train called, Kathy Callahan, came barreling into me, Pete Rose style...wiping me out...forcing the ball to drop out of my hands...and sending me sprawling, flat to the pavement, scraping my knees, and knocking the wind out of me...leaving me endlessly...quite embarassed a mere girl, had just cleared me out...completely...
I did manage, to stagger, then, stand back up, at that moment...a little woozy, a little dizzy...but mostly the utter red, red, red, embarrassment, was the most startling thing I do recall from such an encounter...There Kathy stood back up, on Second Base, victoriously, with a very big smile on her face...and I think all the crazy kids were cracking up...because the trainwreck collision was quite a doozy...and I always did manage to keep a close eye on Kathy Callahan, from that point on, expecting her to try something like that again...
Then for a brief time...we tried to play...QUARTERS... a fun little bit of magic...tossing coins between cracks on the pavement...It was quite a hoot...cuz' we all had the potential, to toss a ripe quarter into a crack...and maybe win...a few bucks...and the undeniable pride...of being just about as cool as it gets...back then...
As our final year, out on the pavement, came winding down, our 8th Grade teacher Mister Sullivan, made us play soccer...We all thought he was crazy...Soccer...????...What the hell is that...???...But he made it his passion to get us to play our hardest and eventually we did catch on and it was a blast...making Mister Sullivan, very happy...he succeeded in introducing this new sport, soccer to us, to understand and enjoy...
Well....recess is over...I hear the bell...ringing...and ringing....and ringing...
Yes...stop now...stop playing...it's over...QUIT PLAYING!!!...Did you hear me...???...March back into here...right this very second...You heard me...
Awwwwww...not already....Yuuuuccckkk...I don't wanna go back to school...
Yes....You said that then...but now realize...you'd jump at a heartbeat...to go back in time...to those illustrious...Playground Days...all of us...every single, one of us...who cherishes...and holds, those moments, so near and dear, to our hearts...
And my days, for those recess times, that spanned 20-30 minutes, at Saint Thomas More...out in the parking lot...a hard, blacktop surface, that seemed to stretch endlessly...never, ever appeared anything less than an oasis...from our drudgery of daily school life...
Sure, other schools may have had grass...or maybe swings or even monkey bars...but it really never phased us one single bit...because, once out there, the laughter and happiness of being a kid, took over, and propelled our imagination, our strong legs and arms...and our endlessly loud, howls at each other...all creating a symphonic bit of a frenzy...not one single one of us...can now...re-enact...but do vividly recall...
All of us...such a bundle of energy...scattering, battering, screaming all about, here and there...some of the girls playing jump rope, some of the boys playing tag...It was rather simplistic...but there was never a dull moment...in our early, early years....
As we grew taller...our spirits and wits only grew higher...and our boundless energy...made us quite a bunch to control and corral...as our recesses would fly by, ever so quickly, then wind down...in no time at all...during our middle grades...
One of the things, that was quite unique for our school recess time...at Saint Thomas More...was a game for us boys, we called, Smear The Queer...a mashed mix of rugby, football & hooliganism...at its finest...This faded blacktop, sometimes snowy, sometimes filled with puddles,became our battleground...feet pounding...people chasing...shirts ripping...mouths bleeding...One second, you are scott free...running wild...frantically scampering...
Then suddenly, running out of breath...within seconds...looking all about...realizing you are cornered...and expecting to be smothered with clash of elbows and fists and bodies colliding in a furious motion...of activity...scaring you with a bit of horror and pain...
All the girls could do...is look on...and cringe...and laugh...and cover their eyes...and by all means, stay out of our way...as us thunderous herd of boys, came perilously close to death, in a funny kind of playground madness...
Most of the time...there we were...starting off our recess...we'd roll up a winter cap...into a ball...and just throw it up in the air...and off...the chase was on...We all had our moment in the sun...smashing, crashing, breaking loose...and forging past...a brick wall of kids all vying for that curled-up winter cap...It was a tremendous feeling of exhileration, beyond wild compare at the time...And it was more often, than not...a hellacious battle between some of the tougher kids, getting mean and ornery, would erupt...if the tangled melee got a little too rough and dicey...
Surely...Punches flew, angry glances shared and usually a bit of wild laughter resulted when it was all said and done...as we plodded back into the school...our clothes in tatters and our minds a clouded haze of rage...sometimes bleeding, sometimes not...but everyone of us, felt like we just ran a damn marathon...and could easily pant and gasp...for at least, another good 5 minutes...to just wind down...
Inevitably, the beat-downs of Smear, subsided, as the teachers tried to introduce us to more civilized activities...KICK-BALL was introduced...as a game for both girls & boys to play with, at the same time...which was quite fun...in around the 6th Grade...I do remember being out on the black-top, during kick-ball, playing Second Base...when the rather large red ball came quickly bounding directly at me...awkwardly catching me off-balance...My eyes were forced to look down at the ball, locking it in, as it punched into my gut...
and then suddenly...WHAMMY...this brazen, tom-boy, of a girl, a freaking runaway train called, Kathy Callahan, came barreling into me, Pete Rose style...wiping me out...forcing the ball to drop out of my hands...and sending me sprawling, flat to the pavement, scraping my knees, and knocking the wind out of me...leaving me endlessly...quite embarassed a mere girl, had just cleared me out...completely...
I did manage, to stagger, then, stand back up, at that moment...a little woozy, a little dizzy...but mostly the utter red, red, red, embarrassment, was the most startling thing I do recall from such an encounter...There Kathy stood back up, on Second Base, victoriously, with a very big smile on her face...and I think all the crazy kids were cracking up...because the trainwreck collision was quite a doozy...and I always did manage to keep a close eye on Kathy Callahan, from that point on, expecting her to try something like that again...
Then for a brief time...we tried to play...QUARTERS... a fun little bit of magic...tossing coins between cracks on the pavement...It was quite a hoot...cuz' we all had the potential, to toss a ripe quarter into a crack...and maybe win...a few bucks...and the undeniable pride...of being just about as cool as it gets...back then...
As our final year, out on the pavement, came winding down, our 8th Grade teacher Mister Sullivan, made us play soccer...We all thought he was crazy...Soccer...????...What the hell is that...???...But he made it his passion to get us to play our hardest and eventually we did catch on and it was a blast...making Mister Sullivan, very happy...he succeeded in introducing this new sport, soccer to us, to understand and enjoy...
Well....recess is over...I hear the bell...ringing...and ringing....and ringing...
Yes...stop now...stop playing...it's over...QUIT PLAYING!!!...Did you hear me...???...March back into here...right this very second...You heard me...
Awwwwww...not already....Yuuuuccckkk...I don't wanna go back to school...
Yes....You said that then...but now realize...you'd jump at a heartbeat...to go back in time...to those illustrious...Playground Days...all of us...every single, one of us...who cherishes...and holds, those moments, so near and dear, to our hearts...
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