The Priest They Called Him

William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain
Lawrence, KS (1993)
This photo was taken at Burroughs' home while Cobain was visiting.  The two collaborated to produce a spoken word version of a short story called The Junky's Christmas, which was written by Burroughs in 1989.  The nearly 10 minute recording featured Burroughs reading his story with Kurt playing a very trippy Silent Night and To Anacreon In Heaven.  It was called The Priest They Called Him, and it was given a limited release on 10" vinyl twenty years ago today.  You can listen to it here.

Tie On A Passing Breeze

Out Run hand-painted tie
Created by Maya Pixelskaya
Source: It8Bit.com

Introversion

Introversion
Lucie Byron (Luchie)
Absolutely brilliant comic that I relate very strongly to.  Check out the rest of this work, as well as all of Luchie's other comics, on Tumblr.

Before Hells Bells Ever Rang

Trevor Hoffman
1993 Topps - Card #572

Twenty years ago today, one of the most dominant relief pitchers in the history of the game was traded by the Florida Marlins to the San Diego Padres.  At the time, it was seen as little more than a part of the Padres salary dump.  Throughout the summer of '93, the Padres traded Roger Mason to the Phillies, Fred McGriff to the Braves and Gary Sheffield in this deal to the Marlins.

These deals were highly criticized at the time because it was obvious that it was a purely cost-cutting move.  The Padres traded away their best and highest paid players and the general consensus was that they didn't get much in return.  The only prospect that looked like they might develop into a star player was Melvin Nieves who came from the Braves, and he really didn't pan out.

Trevor Hoffman wasn't really considered much of a prospect.  He was originally drafted as a shortstop by the Cincinnati Reds in 1989.  He was converted into a pitcher in their minor league system, but the club left him unprotected during the 1992 Expansion Draft, and he was taken by the Marlins with the 8th pick.  Dad and I were living in Boynton Beach at the time, and we went to quite a few Marlins games in their inaugural season, so we got to see him pitch twice before the trade.  On May 19th, 1993, we saw him come into the game in the 8th inning against the Phillies, and a few weeks later on June 11th, he pitched the final two innings of the Marlins 11-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The future closer would go on to spend the next 15+ years with the Padres before moving on to spend the last two years of his career with the Milwaukee Brewers.  He retired after the 2010 season with a remarkable 601 career saves (second only to Mariano Rivera for most of all-time).  He was a seven time All-Star, and an almost certain induction to the Hall of Fame.

More Drive In Announcements

Man Of Steel and The Hangover 3
Laurel Drive-In - Hazleton, PA
I've been going to the Laurel Drive In for over 20 years.  The first movie I've ever watched here was The Karate Kid II when it was a first-run feature.  I love this place.  It's open 7 days a week during the summer, the food is pretty awesome and very reasonably priced, plus you get to see two movies for $7 without having to deal with people screaming or using their cell phone in the theater.

However, despite all of this, one of the most enjoyable parts of the Drive In is listening to the owner's announcements.  He really gets excited about the cheese in his nachos dispenser, and I think he likes to scare the hell out of everyone when he announces the intermission.

I shared a recording of his announcements a couple of years ago, but that was during Opening Weekend when they were operating on a limited menu.  This recording is a compilation of his announcements from last night's screening of Superman: Man Of Steel and The Hangover 3.

Public Square in the 50's

Public Square and Market Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA (1953)

Take A Peep At This

Peeps & Company
Sands Bethlehem Casino - Bethlehem, PA

There's a store in the mall attached to the Sands Bethlehem Casino dedicated to Marshmallow Peeps.  I guess that shouldn't have surprised me too much considering the fact that they're made by a company called Just Born who have their headquarters in Bethlehem, but it was still something I didn't expect to see.

The store is filled with Marshmallow Peeps, Mike & Ikes, Peanut Chews, and other snack foods and merchandise inspired by the products produced by Just Born.

I didn't buy anything because I didn't want to have to run all the way back to the car or hold a bag through the whole concert, but this t-shirt was pretty tempting.  I love the equality sentiment that's being expressed here, but I'm even more amused by the idea that we're all filled with marshmallow fluff.

An Extra Terrestrial Served On A Pile Of Reese’s Pieces

Far East
Sands Bethlehem Casino - Bethlehem, PA

We stopped here for something to eat before the Billy Idol concert.  I didn't see any space aliens on the menu, so I'm guessing that the word at the end was "etc" before the last letter broke off.  ET or no ET, this is a pretty darn good place to grab a bite to eat.

My wife had the sesame chicken with white rice and an order of seared tuna from the sushi bar, and I had a bowl of Roast Duck Ramen that was a lot larger than I was expecting, especially from a restaurant in the food court of a casino.  Everything was delicious!

It's A Nice Day To Start Again

Billy Idol
Sands Bethlehem Event Center - June 9, 2013

There aren't many artists whose music I enjoy more than Billy Idol and I was extremely happy that we had the opportunity to see him live in concert.  Angie even caught a guitar pick at the end of the show!

I'm deliberately mindful to not experience concerts through a camera lens, but at the same time, my memory is kind of lousy so I want to make sure that I have something that helps me to remember that we were there.  In retrospect, I think that I took way too many pictures during this show.

Here is the setlist from the show.

The Turning Point

John Mayberry Jr. hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Marlins 7 - 3.  Let this be the turning point for the Phillies this season.

Recreate The Hart / Luger Finish In 16 Bits

Royal Rumble SNES Flyer
Sears (1993)
One of the fun wrestling games of the 16-bit era is turning 20 years old.  The Super Nintendo version of this game was released in June 1993 with a roster that includes five wrestlers who are not present in the Sega Genesis port that was released three months later: Yokozuna, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, Tatanka, and Ric Flair, who stopped working for the World Wrestling Federation four months before the game was released.

What's New, Mr. Governor

What's New, Mr. Governor
WVIA (May, 1973)
When my dad was a kid, he was one of the students who was invited to speak with Governor Milton Shapp on WVIA tv.  He's the one wearing glasses on the far right.  He's as big as the governor, and he looks a lot older than the kids around him, but he's really not.  He had just turned 14 years old a few weeks before this photo was taken.

I found the photo last year when I was cleaning out my grandparent's attic.  It was in a manila envelope with this signed letter from Governor Shapp, which is how I was able to tell where and when it was from.  It also gave me a starting point to see if I could find anything on newspapers.com.  From there, I was able to find another photo of my dad on the show and a tv listing that shows when it aired.

It looks like Dad's appearance aired 40 years ago today, on June 1st, 1973.  This was a Friday evening in the summertime, which is a pretty rough timeslot.  He also had some stiff competition from Bert Parks and Young Dr. Kildare.

I keep meaning to ask him if he remembers anything about this show.  Hopefully I remember to ask next time I see him.

Boss Roll

My friend Tiffany knows a place near our office that delivers sushi, and she insisted that we try the Boss Roll.  It's not on the menu, but they'll make it for you if you ask.  It's got shrimp tempura, crab, avocado and mango, and it may be the best sushi I've ever had in my life!

Indy Wrestling and Fun Dip

I work on the social media team for Nestle confections, which includes Wonka branded products.  Sometimes, I can slip one past our rules of engagement and have a little fun.  I was able to interact with Chikara wrestler Tim Donst a few times recently.  Maybe we will inspire him to use Fun Dip as a foreign object against Gavin Loudspeaker at Aniversario.

The Colonel Catches The Fever

Pac-Man Stickers
Kentucky Fried Chicken (New Zealand)
Source: Steve Williams
Thirty-three years ago today, Pac-Man made its debut in Japan.  It first appeared in Japanese arcades five weeks before I was born, and it came to the United States nearly six months after I was born, so I've grown up with Pac-Man as a part of my life.  Rarely have I ever passed a machine in the wild where I didn't pop in a quarter and enjoy a game.

Pac-Man was a phenomenon that inspired tons of licensed products and partnerships throughout the world.  These stickers were given away by Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in New Zealand in the early 80's.  They were shared by Steve Williams, who has an incredible Flickr account of vintage products and packaging from the island nation.

I Find Your Lack Of Sunlight Disturbing

Castle Dracula
Wildwood, NJ (1979)
It doesn't get much more awesome than Darth Vader standing at the entrance of Castle Dracula on Midway Pier.  May the Fourth be with you.  [source: Joseph Stevenson - Wildwood365]

Do A Barrel Roll

Super Starfox Weekend
Nintendo (April 30 - May 2, 1992)
One of the coolest contests Nintendo ever held began twenty years ago today.  Gamers across the country gathered at the approximately 2,000 participating retail locations to compete for the top score on the Starfox Official Competition Cartridge.  The SNES cartridges that were used in the contest were later made available for sale through Nintendo Power for $45.  They now sell on eBay for hundreds of dollars, as do the pins, t-shirts and flight jackets that were given away as prizes.

A Winner Is You

An artist named Rick Dries has customized seven M.U.S.C.L.E. figures to represent the characters from the NES classic Pro Wrestling.  From left to right, they are: King Slender, Kin Corn Karn, Giant Panther, The Amazon, Fighter Hayabusa, Star Man, and Great Puma.

Strawberries And Cream

Strawberry Pop Tart Ice Cream Sandwich
Carl's Jr (2013)
We don't have a Carl's Jr. in Northeast PA.  I'd take a road trip to try one, but it seems like a fairly easy thing to just make at home.  [source: FoodBeast]

Richie Havens

"I looked at the poster for that first show and it said, 'Richie Havens -- folk/jazz singer.' I went, 'Really? Is that what I am? Is that what I do?' I just went into any situation the put me in, and people seemed to like it."

- Richie Havens  (January 21, 1941 - April 22, 2013)

The wold has lost a true legend.  Richie Havens, a musician who raised the world's consciousness and who brought a little peace and happiness to millions has passed away yesterday of a heart attack.  He was 72 years old.

Mr. Havens became known all over the world when he opened at Woodstock.  He was originally scheduled to go on fifth and play a 40 minute set, but 5 pm came on August 15th and the other performers were stuck in traffic.  He ended up playing for three hours.  Festival organizers kept asking him to go back out and keep singing because no one else was ready to take the stage.  After two and a half hours, he performed all of the songs he knew, including cover songs.  With nothing left to play, he drew on some of the lyrics from an 1899 spiritual hymn called "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" and improvised Freedom on the spot, live and in front of a crowd of 400,000 fans.  It became an iconic song that captured the spirit of Woodstock and of the 60's.

Happy Earth Day

That's the most useful situation I can think of.

Dunkin Bananas

Dunkin' Donuts
Route 309 - Mountaintop, PA
I don't think that these bananas are in any danger of selling out.

The Last Bookshop

The Last Bookshop
Richard Dadd and Dan Fryer
This short film imagines a future where physical books have died out.

Inside The Park

Hagerstown Suns at Lakewood BlueClaws
09 April 2013 - Bottom of the 7th
Phillies prospect Roman Quinn hits an inside-the-park home run. In fact, he scores before Hagerstown can even get the ball out of the outfield. Incredible!

Stylin' Robot

Found at Black Diamond in the Schuylkill Mall - Frackville, PA.

Head Trauma

How could you go wrong for a buck?

Introvert - Party of One

This is the perfect restaurant booth.