Tape title stories

  Hey Ted!      There are only fragments of the lives of Ben, Charline and pals in the 1930's but some of the tales remain in my now foggy noggin. It was easy to get John Sheehy to spill out the lore of LA back in their day but occasionally the combination of the two gents would yield the really great stories they never told us for reasons involving role modelling. Yet, some seeped through like the return trip from Indianapolis through Utah with Wilken Family whiskey aiding in the jorney or the tale of "Bloody Dick" Smith. Then, there was the tale of young Ben and John bonding during a supposedly 77 beer and a few tamales at Finley's on foot and farting between watering the landscape out in Florence. What we know is that the country was suffering the terrible depression with a third of the men in America out of work. It seemed like the end of the world as these youngsters set out on their own. Yet, they seemed to find adventure and fun alongside these dire circumstan...

  While we cannot compare with the Ziesings for nicknames I wanted to remember a few we used to call Katya for posterity's sake. Pookie was a name that just popped up and stuck. Pookie was a little lion puppet who was a favorite on the Soupy Sales show and that may have been the inspiration.  It stuck at least until the divorce for me. Sometimes it was extended to "Pookie Wilson" after Mookie Wilson, the baseball star for the Mets. Her Mom still uses the word to describe her while it was mostly her idea to begin with. Ponnyenu - Katya was always quite independent and creative when playing by herself as she was forced to do with the circumstances in a neighborhood not loaded with other kids. Even in both families there were very few kids of her age and her Creason cousins were much older. Ponnyenu was a name she pulled out of her imagination and declared it to be her alter-ego. I also called her Ponny sometimes. Shabbadee - was a variation on the name of a break dancer Sh...

      He Comes to Make Love to Me of All  People!                                                   Tania and Nadia  Ostroff     This little story is about a dear lady who was a large but humble part of my in-law family and another reason why they were the best part of my marriage. Auntie Teresa Kronsberg was the sister of my mother-in-law and these siblings had a rough beginning coming from Russia to America as girls named Tania and Nadia. There is much more to this tale including their refusal at Ellis Island, a sojourn to Cuba and their coming to Los Angeles. The immigration lawyers changed them to Naomi and Teresa that worked out well enough that they both managed to succeed in the big city and control pretty good estates when I knew them. Even though they were completely assimilated Auntie Teresa still kept a rich chunk...

 Mother's Little Helper      When I was a kid people did not seem to talk about the dark places we all live in occasionally. No one "drank too much," or "got rough on the wife" or "could not seem to hold onto a job." The adults just pretended nothing was wrong asd lit another cigarette or had a drink of something. Many of my friends had alcoholic parents but no one thought it was that bad because it was the norm and not some aberration. There was a nice Dad in our circle who became very feminine when he had second drink but being closeted was just as foreign an idea as you could find in blue-collar South Gate. Our next door neighbor Tom had a buxom wife who stayed home when he walked up Annetta avenue to Continental Can on Firestone where he worked in the factory. At about noon, gentlemen would arrive and "visit" with Olive and be long gone when the mousy Tom returned from work around 3:30 with a six-pack of Brew-102 under his arm purchased a...

 Buckner You Fucker!      1974 was a complicated and frustrating year except on the diamond at Dodger Stadium. Our beloved men in blue had an exceptional year lead by fan fave Jimmy Wynn backed by pitching stars Don "Sonny Boy" Sutton and Andy Messerschmidt. The team was bolstered by a prick relief pitcher named Mike Marshall and good hitting by the solid infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey along with handsome outfielder Bill Buckner. Billy Bucks was Timo's favorite and was a fine hitter and fielder before he messed up his ankle the following year. Despite his one fatal error Buckner was a terrific ballplayer who won batting titles and gave his all to win ballgames. Meanwhile out in Brentwood on Church Lane I was renting an apartment where the fellas often sat in beat up furniture watching a portable TV turned up loud to overcome the roar of the nearby San Diego freeway. October 17 was a Thursday but every day was Sunday in those care-filled days on the West si...

 I declare love...       June 14, 1970 might as well be 1912 for this look over my shoulder at this personal history. It is so far away that I recall only snatches of events through a kaleidoscopic, psychedelic glass. The place, stangely enough was Anaheim Stadium and the event was THE rock concert of the time featuring the Who, thumping the tub for one of the greatest albums of all time "Who's Next." How we got the tickets or exactly who planned the event I cannot recall but I was transported in Ed Carroll's VW with Johnny Knowlton and I would assume Zeke but that part is cloudy. I do remember the enhanced adventure was that I had procured some tablets of "psilocybin" from Craig Felch and we were going to try to be total hippies in this crowd of 30,00 unwashed cats and groovy hippy chicks. We dropped out in the parking lot and headed into the venue that was general admission "festival seating" for five bucks which put us on the grass out in deep l...