Though his death was overshadowed by that of someone else, I would say that in life he had a far greater impact. I would wager that more people heard, "My bologna has a first name....It's O-S-C-A-R...." than heard that other little ditty, "Beat it..."

But anyway, before I make any jokes I figured I better ask if anyone here is experiencing a deep and profound loss.

Not me as their Weiner game never played that well here in Eastern Canada. However the family seems to have done well over the years. The old guy lived to be 95. Neat and him being a Weiner man and all. Their family seems to have lived the American dream while others were being torn apart by each other.

Seriously my husband might have a problem with this one. As a kid he met the weiner mobile. Still talks about it. Maybe I won't tell him and will deter him from online news sites and TV today.

Well here's your chance to get him back for the MJ disrespect.

Heh. Revenge is a dish best served disguised.

In early April he decides to turn our dining room into an office, as the small cubby he was using as his office off the living room was overflowing with shit and he was out of room. He's like a hoarder with magazines, newspapers, clippings, etc. in addition to all his dive equipment including tank leaning up against the wall, tons of gun stuff, 6 rolling filing cabinets packed like sardines with mountains of papers on top of each one, 3 huge flight cases (picture a metal suitcase on wheels that King Kong would use - these are used by magicians and musicians to wheel their stuff around concert venues), etc. etc. So he takes some of this overflow into the dining room, sets up a laptop on our beautiful teak table, keyboard, computer CPC and cables under the table, desk light, office chair, tangle of cords, CD holders, 2 rolling filing cabinets and one of king kong's suitcases rolled into a once beautifull decorated corner plus other shit. My dining room decor was trashed/eliminated, 4 dining chairs up against the wall, crowded ugly space which I had to walk through in order to get to the kitchen otherwise I'd put crime scene tape around it and stay away. Since this was set up in early April, he's not once sat there and utilized the space. The cables were never hooked up, nothing plugged in. He stayed in his cubby. This morning I announced, not once, not twice, but three times (so what if the third time he was on the toilet in the bathroom with the door shut) that I was turning it back into a dining room. I was elated and surprised to not hear a peep from him in protest. It took me about an hour. He was doing other stuff and out of my way. I still have the king kong suitcase in the corner, but the furniture is back in its place, the centerpiece on the table, it looks perfect and almost what it once was. In walks my husband as I was wiping off the last of the Pledge from the table. He called me an asshole. And soon left. Out and about doing errands, haircut. He's acting like I took his office and chair out from under his ass but it was a STAGED office, not for real and a terrible eyesore. He's still out and about town and I called him and got the cold shoulder. Actually, I didn't do it with MJ in mind - I'm not a vindictive person. Except for animal abusers. So, was I wrong?

You shouldn't mess with his things. Those are important to him, no matter your opinion. How utterly callous of you. Compassion my eye.

He messed with my things first. I was gracious and considerate to allow him to take over the dining room for his office in the first place. But he never did. He just moved shit into it. And KK's suitcase is still there I could have rolled it out to the curb if I was a real bitch.

So you reneged on your permission to make the dining room into an office.

You're not making your case very well.

And office that he was supposed to move into. He reneged.

No bullshit, I remember vividly the very first time I saw the weiner mobile. Likely becase I heard people talk about it for years and years without seeing it and had placed it in the same category as the tooth fairy (my wife laughs that as a kid I assumed the ice-cream man was a cruel fable)

I was on Broad Street in Richmond traveling east and I saw an unreal shape on the horizon. My heart sang as the shape became more distinct. And then there it was, a fleeting glimpse, the weiner mobile. I was somewhere around 20 years old when I passed that contraption, and for a second I believed in Santa Claus again. A mythical creation sprag to life and vanished again before my very eyes.

I've seen it several times in the decade since -- and this has a lot to do with be being a total deprived hillbilly and less to do with the mobile itself -- but I remember seeing that thing for the first time.

Totally off topic, but you would have liked the first band up at the street fest tonight, XXMag. They had a fiddle and a banjo. They played Jerry Jeff Walker and Little Feat among other things... and a country-ish bluegrass-ish version of "Breathe". They kicked my ass to the extent that I drank way more beer than anyone on a motorcycle should. But like I always say, they ain't made the bike yet that can get the best of me.

And it's up against the wall, redneck mother...

Did they play Billie Jean?

Damn it Grace


That sounds like a cool band, RF.

I did suggest my hope that they play some MJ. The crowd within earshot didn't think much of my suggestion.

I once saw a punk band cover that tune. A little strange.



A bluegrass arrangement of Beat It would be hilarious.

More hilarious would be MJ singing Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother. But alas....

Wow. I suddenly feel that deep sense of deprivation and loss.

I heard Billie Jean this morning on the radio, the first time in probably ten years. That would make a cool bluegrass cover if you could arrange the music right. That hypnotic bass riff propells the song, hard to a similar effect with a doghouse bass. You get around that and it would make a fine country song, it's an interesting lyrical narrative.

I think Grace might have something there.

And there must be such a thing as bluegrass groupies...

XXMag

Did it make you bop your head and tap your foot on the pedal (subconsciously even?)


XXMag

Arrange the music RIGHT? It can't get any righter so don't go messin with it not even in your head with some hokey pokey corn pickin banjo. ugh. The horror! The horror!


PS - never heard of a bluegrass groupie. Maybe you meant grouper?

In my head, the synth stabs over the bass at the beginning are mandolin. The banjo doesn't kick in till later.
I'm trying to nail down that bass line. I've got to sneak off to this Thursdays jam down the road and feel that suggestion out. That can go one of two ways, and one ain't very pretty. But that cover is so ridiculous it's brilliant. And so what if they hate the idea, they already think I'm crazy.

With a washtub?

I’ve actually never seen a washtub bass, but they interest me. I think I understand the physics of the contraption and I’ve contemplated trying to make one before, I’m a nerd that way, but I don’t have a galvanized washtub laying around.

I beat my clothes against a rock down by the crick…


I know as much about bluegrass albums as any of the guys I sometimes jam with. But I play an electric bass and drag in a honkin’ cabinet and amp into the little place where we play. I'm a fraction strange in my musical tastes -- and now that I think of it, just generally weird -- so I'm the outcast there. But we all have a great time playing music.

They’re a little bit country, and I’m a little bit rock and roll…

You guys need to post a youtube video.