Attack of the 50 Foot Blog – Page 5

First Time Out with the Guys

It was January of 1978 and I was a sophomore in high school. One of my closest friends had just turned 16 and had his driver’s license. Another friend had his permit and a car. The guys were ready to get out for the first time on our own. I told my parents that we planned to go out on Friday night. Our plans were sketchy at best. We might go see a movie. We would definitely ride around town. One of the big activities for a lot of teenagers my age at that time was to ride down the main drag in our small city of Alamo. The house where I lived was on this main drag so if my parents were wondering what I was doing, they could usually just wait a few minutes and see us ride by the house. Riding the strip as high on our agenda and that took up some of our time. At some point, we decided to go to Jackson to the movies. When we got there, we were late to see the early showing of Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety. We decided we would hang out until the late showing. In the meantime we went to a bowling alley and hung out. We didn’t bowl. We were trying to cram everything into this night that we could like we would never be allowed to hang out together again.

Movie Decisions

It was late 1979 and I was a senior in high school. Most weekends my buddies and I decided to go to the movies and there were a couple of films that we were considering. I was driving so I took the lead in deciding we would go to see Apocalypse Now. It had been released earlier in the year but had just made it to theaters in our area. My friends were not as excited about seeing it as I was. I didn’t really know that much about it, but I knew there was a lot of buzz around it. I knew it was a war movie so that was the angle I would use to sell the idea to my friends.

Elvis Double Feature

Elvis Presley’s last feature films that weren’t concert films were released in 1969. Some people probably think I’ve seen a lot of Elvis movies in theaters. I only remember going to the theater once to see any of these films. I don’t remember exactly when this happened, but my Aunt Della took me and her son Don to see an Elvis double feature at a theater in Humboldt, Tennessee, probably in the very early 1970’s. When we showed up at the theater, The Trouble With Girls had already started. The main thing I remember about this film was a carnival and a scene involving out of control fireworks.

Gigantic Popcorn

When I was in high school, my friends and I went to the movies a lot. Almost every weekend, we went to see something. Part of this experience was getting popcorn and a soft drink. I liked getting the biggest popcorn and drink they offered. This was in the days before they had the combo deals on popcorn and a drink. I began noticing that when I would order the large popcorn and drink, they would always go over and pick up the popcorn container and ask, “this one?” just to confirm that I wanted the largest one they had. I could see this being their default response to asking about it because there would be no reason to dirty up one of those largest containers unless someone truly wanted that size. So, I because familiar with their routine. I also thought I would try to make my desire for the largest size clear so they wouldn’t have to get clarification from me. On one visit I tried this out by declaring I wanted a “GIGANTIC” popcorn and a “GIGANTIC” Coke. The young lady behind the counter replied in a snarky voice, “We only have large!” I told her to just give me the large and I mumbled my own snarky comments to my friends. They weren’t loud enough for her to hear but she knew I was talking about her. I got my snacks and didn’t think anything else about it until my next trip to the movies.

The Backroads of South Carolina

On our recent cruise, we traveled into South Carolina to get to the port in Charleston. It’s common for us to use our GPS to navigate our trips and this one was no different. While it is more desirable to take as many major roads as possible, GPS software will usually take you through some less traveled areas in an attempt to find a shorter and/or faster route. It is not unusual to see a GPS take you off of the main road even for a short period of time in the name of taking you the shorter route when it would have been faster just to leave you on the main road. If you are like me, these shorter routes usually lead through neighborhoods or narrow roads with anything from speed bumps to school zones that seems designed to slow you down. So, I was suspicious on this trip when we were told to turn off a major interstate and directed down a two lane highway. My wife looked at an overall map and assured me that staying on the interstate would take us a more roundabout route than this South Carolina shortcut.

SOS from the USS Sunshine

Overnight on the third evening of our cruise to the Bahamas, my wife was awakened by my voice coming from the bathroom of our cabin. “Can someone come help me!” was the plea that she heard. I wasn’t yelling, but I was speaking in a voice louder than what I usually use. She got up, came to the bathroom, and opened the door. Looking into the bathroom from our cabin, there was a shower to the left, the sink and a toilet to the right and a grab bar mounted on the wall across from the door. I was tugging on the grab bar like I was trying to open a locked door. She spoke to me waking me up. I don’t remember ever being a sleepwalker before this night. But there is an explanation for what I was saying.

Fingerpicking

My parents encouraged me to learn how to play a lot of different instruments over the years. At some point, I picked up a harmonica. This came natural enough that I would play it at churches with my cousin Sammy accompanying me when we performed at churches. Another instrument that I got around this time was a banjo. I found it a frustrating instrument and I didn’t pick it up easily. It occupied a place in the corner of my room, then got tucked into a closet to be forgotten until another cousin expressed interest in playing around with it. The banjo was a failed experiment.

Guidance from Don and John

After I started writing a few songs, I had a chance to play some of them for a couple of friends who were professional musicians. Don is a professional piano player who has accompanied many well-known artists. He was also one of my mom’s piano students when he was first getting his start. He suggested to me that I might consider recording some of my songs. It was relatively easy to do without much investment. I had played around with some home recording before and had been happy with the results. But I knew there were many advancements that had been made in the years since with digital recording and I thought it might be worth looking at.

Birthday 2023

In keeping with my tradition, I’m sharing this list of gifts that I received from my wife for my birthday month. I admire her creativity in her diversity of items on the list. I help her along with suggestions, knowing that she is going to do this each year and trying to steer her to things I need or things I would have bought for myself anyway. Thank you for another outstanding birthday celebration.

1 – Cream Soda sampler

2 – Red plaid button-up short sleeve shirt

3 – The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler Blu-ray set

4 – Blue button-up short sleeve shirt

5 – Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon

6 – Khaki shorts

7 – Green button up short sleeve shirt

8 – Solo Stove Bonfire heat deflector

9 – Blue shorts

10 – Solo Stove color packs

11 – Charcoal gray plaid button-up shirt

12 – Super Slinky electric guitar strings.

13 – Speaking of Harpo book by Susan Marx

14 – Tickets to An Evening with Groucho starring Frank Ferrante at the Halloran Centre

15 – Selected Short Subjects Book by Leonard Maltin

16 – Lewis Black at Graceland concert tickets

17- Groucho and Cavett documentary dvd

18 – 100 calorie packs of Pistachio nuts

19 – Presonus audio box studio ultimate bundle recording equipment

20 – Root Beer sampler

21 – Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon

22 – Woodford Reserve bourbon cherries

23 – Elvis ‘68 Comeback Special 50th Anniversary cd/blu-ray set

24 – Bittermilk Cocktail bitters

25 – Ghirardelli intense dark chocolate 72% cacao

26 – Parker ox horn safety razor

27 – Colonel Conks shaving soap

28 – Cocktail shaker set

29 – Elixir Phosphor Bronze Medium acoustic guitar strings

30 – Carton of Whoppers

31 – Cruzan Coconut Rum and Libby’s pineapple juice

My Son’s First Guitar

I mentioned in an earlier post that my son had a good guitar before I had one. When he got the guitar bug, he wanted an electric guitar. We bought him a Red Squier Stratocaster starter pack with the upgraded amplifier. He had enough natural music talent and drive to be able to learn what he wanted on his own. I was also able to show him some chords and techniques. Not having access to a good guitar never bothered me that much. I was comfortable playing guitar even though my skills weren’t that developed. In college, there always seemed to be an extra guitar around the fraternity house if someone wanted me to entertain. I enjoyed playing these better instruments but wasn’t motivated enough to get one for myself.