We are here obviously because of our great love for all things "monster". It might be fun to share some of the things your passionate about outside of the classic monster world and see what you may have in common with others here at UMA. From weight lifting to gardening and everything in between...(please remember the UMA rules!) I'll start...
Outside of monsters I love to lift weights, work out and be active. I play some adult rec sports here and there..street hockey, softball and as we speak I am trying to get a 7 man tackle football team together for an upcomming tournament. I also have trained in mixed martial arts, brazillian jiu jitsu, muay thai and escrima. WAY back I used to ride dirtbikes and play paintball..I love to play!!
I am a huge fan of music and am the vocalist in a hardcore/metal band. I literally listin to everything from AC/DC to Afrika Bambatta...Slayer to Nat King Cole. 90% of the time Im listining to some form of metal or hip hop.
Huge sports fan and ESPN head...The Philadelphia Eagles are in my blood. I enjoy Yankee baseball, Devil hockey and playoff basketball both NBA and NCAA.
Outside of collecting classic monster memoribilla and films I am a fan of Marvel and DC comics, Lionel Trains, G.I. Joe and anything NFL and MLB related..mostly hats and jerseys.
What about you? Lets see how many of us quote each other and find they have something other then monsters in common!!
I love to read, mainly Fantasy books( D&D), I also RPG in Dungeons & Dragons/Boothill/RECON.
Some other Authors, I enjoy are Ted Dekker, Frank Perreti, Louis L'amour, Dean Koontz.
I listen to a variety of music, but most the time it's 80s Metal and Pop, but I do like Big Bands, 50s Rock, Classic Rock.
My favorite band right now is Nightwish, Finnish Metal opera, is the best way to describe it.
I collect Military Memorabilia, I have a WWII 1942 England civil defense helmet, a Korean 1954 Brittish helmet, Vietnam American helmet,
Iraqi helmet(brought back from the war by my nephew), Itallian WWII bayonet, WWII Japanese Arisaka Rifle, and a few nazi currency.
I also collect Hot Wheels, I have about 300 or so, I used to collect comics, but they started getting expensive.
Like to go out at the pond, and shoot guns with my friends, we also have remote control Rock Climbers, and thats pretty fun too.
I live in the country, by choice, cant stand the noisy city.
I am a huge Wrestling fan, I started watching wrestling when I was 9 years old.
I watch RAW/ECW/AAA/TNA/AWA.
I spend alot of my time on the internet, you can find me either here, or at Caws.ws, wrestling site.
I also like playing video games, I own a xbox 360, and love playing D&D type games,Wrestling, and shooting games.
Quote from: Dr.Teufel Geist on June 02, 2009, 07:29:18 PM
I also collect Hot Wheels, I have about 300 or so, I used to collect comics, but they started getting expensive.
I used to collect Hot Wheels...I kept 2 of my treasure hunts and a handfull of others, but the bulk of it went to Toys For Tots....def had a good time with them though!
For more posts about Who We Are, have a look at the home page, upper part--green letters--the GUEST BOOK. 40+ pages more of what members have posted about themselves! We're sure a varied group!
Ack!!! Stupid mistake and totally missed it! Sorry about that!!
I too am a die hard Phila Eagles fan. Used to go to their training camp when they were out at West Chester University. I was also a guest on the Randall Cunningham TV show.
I used to collect football cards but they became too exspensive to collect. I also used to collect 54MM 21/2" American Civil War figures and paint them until my sight went.
My interest now besides being a horror nut is being on the computer,playing role playing games,taking care of my dog and building models.
I like the idea in this thread.
Besides monsters, I like painting (duh!), and am an avid reader. Some of my favorite authors include Frederick Buechner, Soren Kierkegaard, Robert E Howard (you gotta read his boxing stories!!), and Ray Bradbury. I used to collect comic books until they all started looking alike and costing an arm and a leg. I am a huge music fan, mainly progressive rock from the 70's, some classical (Bach), and blues. I enjoy collecting autographs of people whose art/music has touched me in some way. I spend way too much time on the computer, hunting down music and books!!
Mike
Quote from: toysoldierman2001 on June 02, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
I too am a die hard Phila Eagles fan. Used to go to their training camp when they were out at West Chester University. I was also a guest on the Randall Cunningham TV show.
I think we chatted about that once before?? Just a heads up McFarlane toys released a Randall Cunningham figure in the new wave of QB's...he looks GREAT...and I'm sure you know OTA started today!!!
Quote from: toysoldierman2001 on June 02, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
I too am a die hard Phila Eagles fan. Used to go to their training camp when they were out at West Chester University. I was also a guest on the Randall Cunningham TV show.
I used to collect football cards but they became too exspensive to collect. I also used to collect 54MM 21/2" American Civil War figures and paint them until my sight went.
My interest now besides being a horror nut is being on the computer,playing role playing games,taking care of my dog and building models.
what RPG's do you play?
Outside of monsters and horror:
- Comics! I stated before I am a huge fan, everything from Punisher, Batman, Wolverine, Unknown Soldier, Criminal, Black Panther, New Avengers, all types of horror, war and indie comics etc etc...
- Avalon Hill/SPI War Games: Play about once a month with a few guys (some retired military). The Russian Campaign is my favorite. Also play: Panzer Leader, Third Reich, Panzer Armee Afrika, 1776, Onslaught!. Looking for a copy of Panzergruppe Guderian.
- I have been teaching Elementary School Physical Education for 13 years. Did Personal Training for a couple years on the side (early 2000's). Try my best to keep in shape by hitting the Gym 2-3 times a week (its harder the older I get!). Basic strength training with some cardio.
- Love to read. In my teens it was mostly fiction, my 20's alot of Cornel West, Bell Hooks, various Latino writers, poetry, my 30's mostly military history. Right now in the middle of Alan Clark's "Barbarosa: The Russian-German Conflict 1941-1945". Also reading "Aleister Arcane" by Steve Niles. Also still read the daily paper.
- Love music. Everything from Metal, Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, Spanish, Blues, Rock and being from the DC area our own home grown Go Go.
- Washington Redskins fan all day here! Love them and football (played from age 8-21 LB/DL). Also like playoff basketball, sports in general.
- I love my wife (it will be a year this August!), our home ( we do alot of work ourselves) and soon our family (God willing).
- Lastly, love to eat, drink good wine, my Remy' on the rocks and have fun.
I love to go hiking in the woods, I love to collect rocks and fossils and I go horseback riding at any opportunity. I ride English and at the age of (unintelligible) last year I jumped a two foot fence on horseback.
I love to spend time with my boyfriend and go on trips (mostly to monster conventions but also to California) with him to see sites of interest to movie historians) and I got him riding horses last year too!!
I have eclectic tastes in music, save country & hip-hop (w/a few exceptions). I love Queen, Beatles, & Jethro Tull to scratch the surface. I experienced a chance of a lifetime singing lead vocals (metal) on a CD for a musician friend & fellow monster kid in 2001.
Life-long Dallas Cowboys fan, having lived there in my formative years; KC Royals fan, as most of my relations reside there, spent a large part of my adult life there also. The Kansas City metro area's one of my favorite places on Earth, as cities go.
I do a lot of long-term care outreach for my church, love to explore practical spirituality.....not getting "religious" , or saying I'm a nice guy..... this is what I do.
I love reading, "the arts", & all things nostalgia, also love folklore & mythology, lots of things that segue to/from monsters.
Quote from: LundyAfterMidnight on June 03, 2009, 10:12:29 AM
. I experienced a chance of a lifetime singing lead vocals (metal) on a CD for a musician friend & fellow monster kid in 2001.
Lundy that is great that you were on a CD is the music signed/known stuff?? If you dont want to post feel free to PM me, I'm a metal vocalist as well!
Hi BlackLagoon! I'll PM you! Not that I don't want to share, I just might ramble. Let me know if/when you get it. My system's goofy, sometimes I double click w/out knowing too.
Me?
I like music and I always seem to have a song in my head. I used to even sing the Lost in Space Theme to the kids when I'd pass a dish of something at the kitchen table. I know there's no words, but I sing a lot of do do do's. I play piano. I collect Chatty Cathy, Liddle Kiddles, and other dolls from the 60's. I'm now into my monsters, I love my mini monsters. I redress and reroot poor Liddle Kiddles that have yucky hair and no clothes. That's really good because the results for the most part are nice. I hate cooking. I like to read biographies. I just read a book about Helene Keller and a book about Marie Curie. I love reading the technical info in books like Marie Curie and I love watching that kind of programs on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel.
I recently got an email from a friend that was having 4 Kiddles rerooted and the person quit right when some of the harder work came up. So my friend asked me if I'd finish the work up. That'll be a challenge because there are different types of rooting methods and they don't always work together. I'll get those girls to look cute again.
I'm glad I found all of you. It's a nice club. You have all been very nice to me. I enjoy reading the threads and look forward to the posts after mine. Thank you for having me among you all!
I take care of my 77-year old father who is in advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis.
Someone asked about what RPG'S I played well I play D&D,Rune Quest,Conan to just name a few.
Quote from: ChattyLMS on June 03, 2009, 02:34:54 PM
I'm glad I found all of you. It's a nice club. You have all been very nice to me. I enjoy reading the threads and look forward to the posts after mine. Thank you for having me among you all!
I agree with that statement 100%!!! Beautiful post, I'm glad you shared!!
Quote from: Monster Bob on June 03, 2009, 02:47:06 PM
I take care of my 77-year old father who is in advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis.
Thank you for sharing this. My heartfelt thoughts to you & your father.
Hi. My names Mike and I'm an al... oops wrong group.
Aside from monster stuff I am one of those people that over the years have had sooo many interests/collections that I had to sell one to get into another. That being said I won't post ALL of them but have been into 70s G.I Joes/Redline Hotwheels / Tin wind-ups/Tonkas/ old playsets etc etc. See what I mean. I finally had to make a decision on what I REALLY want to be into and sold off a TON of stuff. I'm rambling here,back to square one.
Into music,mostly various forms of metal . Mostly Goth/Black Sympho/Viking/Power/Industrial and old school stuff like Savatage/Carnivore/Pile Driver/Metal Church etc. Some Early punk. On the other hand I like 90s rave/trance and bands like Delirium and Enigma. DEspise country especially old stuff like Dottie West and Conway Twitty. HATE Gangsta rap. I have been known to sing along to The O'Jays or Monkees.
I've been lifting weights pretty regular aside from injuries for over half my life. I have many perm injuries from doing stupid stuff and usually go with higher rep stuff now. Not as strong as I was 10 years ago but I can still beat anyone at my work on things like feet elevated diamond P.Us and bar dips done on a fork lift. Not bad for a guy 1 year shy of 50 :o.
Movies and TV. Prefer above all else 50s to mid 70s cop/crime shows. M-Squad/Dragnet/Mannix/Highway Patrol/Starsky and Hutch/Cannon/Lawless Years/Gangbusters etc
Also enjoy the old westerns both TV and movies. Johnny Mack Brown and Hopalong Cassidy to Steve Mc Queen in WANTED Dead or Alive to Daniel Boone.
I have painted at least 200 54-60 mm figures over the years. Mostly cowboys/Indians/pioneers but also Vikings and soldiers.
My eyes are done with stuff that small aside from some Marx Nursery Rhyme figs I promised my wifeI would do one of these days.
OTR especially the crime/cop stuff from the 40s but a few other things as well.
BEER. I am a member of Ratebeer.com and have rated close to 600 different beers. My preference on style changes with the seasons but over all I would say 1. Belgian ale especially tripples. 2 IPA's. 3. Strong European Lagers. In the depths of winter I enjoy a good Impy stout. (I'm sure this is greek to many of you). What with the economy and all my stuff I used to drink quite often is now a treat for a Saturday of holiday. Can;t afford $12 for a six pack so I am now drinking Icehouse and cheap Canadian Whiskey.
Skin art. My dream was to have a full sleeve a 3/4 sleeve full upper back and 2 full calves. Again economy sucks and I don't have 4Gs to finish it out.
I also enjoy working in my yard doing landscaping , planting flowers and such. All the while drinking good beer. It's a motivator. ;D
Later
Quote from: LundyAfterMidnight on June 03, 2009, 04:25:47 PM
Thank you for sharing this. My heartfelt thoughts to you & your father.
Same here Bro.
I was in a sorta similar situation a few years ago with my Mom.
QuoteI take care of my 77-year old father who is in advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis
You're the best Bobby! It's a hard job, and I no your dad really must appreciate your help. Hang in there, OK?
I collect autographs and old cameras, love all types of movies, I'm an avid reader and a huge Oakland Raiders fan, love animals, I'm one of those lucky SOBs who can pick up an instrument and, for the most part, figure out how to play it. I play guitar, drums, bass, some keyboards, a bit of et. Very eclectic music tastes; Beatles, Cars, Neil Young, Benny Goodman, Rob Zombie, PFM, Woody Allen, Matthew Sweet, Three Days Grace, Chambers Brothers...
Quote from: toysoldierman2001 on June 03, 2009, 02:59:18 PM
Someone asked about what RPG'S I played well I play D&D,Rune Quest,Conan to just name a few.
2nd edition or 3rd edition or 4th edition or all three?
I am of course a Universal Monster collecter and fan. I consider myself a self proclaimed student of film. I like to study and watch old movies. I am a model builder (monsters of course) but instead of 99 cent pieces of plastic they are now about 150 to 200 dollar pieces of resin. But it is relaxing. I like going places and doing things with my family. I also just got my own XBox 360 so I don't have to use my sons all the time. I do spend a little too much time on it. My favorite game is an old one. Call Of Duty 2. I am facinated by it. The controls are easier to work than the newer versions. I play it online on XBox Live. My screen name is Wolfman1941 if any other gamer would like to play. Oh yeah, I also run a Universal Monster website that is going to be 10 Years old this September. I like to work on it when I have the spare time which is rare lately.
Quote from: Monster Bob on June 03, 2009, 02:47:06 PM
I take care of my 77-year old father who is in advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis.
I hear ya', Monster Bob and I
sure do understand! We've talked about this before of course. Yes, "advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis" for my 55 year old wife too(chronic progressive).
For me, I'm not sure how this is going to play out but it will end very badly. I know that.
Monster Hugs to your father, Bob! (and you!~ Being a caregiver is tough)
Richard
Quote from: Richard on June 07, 2009, 10:52:15 AM
I hear ya', Monster Bob and I sure do understand! We've talked about this before of course. Yes, "advanced stages of Multiple Sclerosis" for my 55 year old wife too(chronic progressive).
For me, I'm not sure how this is going to play out but it will end very badly. I know that.
Monster Hugs to your father, Bob! (and you!~ Being a caregiver is tough)
Richard
Dang! Its a small world. My wife has MS. She was diagnosed in 1976 and it has been in remission until lately. She started having seizures about a year ago. Under control now, thanks to Tegretol. She is still mobile, but is pretty unstable and tires easily. Big problem seems to be memory loss.
Dave
Best wishes to all of you who are caring for family members with MS. I don't have any personal experience with MS, but we cared for my mother-in-law through Altzheimer's and I know it's very difficult to look after family with chronic illness. You are all in my thoughts.
I grew up listening to big band music (I forget which post, but my Dad sang with the Merv Griffin Orchestra during WWII). My personal favorite type of music is Bach Beatoven etc. and '70's soft rock (Eagles, Bread, James Taylor etc. I play et and Bass guitar and used to sing in church until I began having trouble with my vocal cords (long story).
Before I began to have health problems, I was involved in Martial Arts. I earned a 1st degree black belt in an eclectic style of Karate called American Combat Karate - think karate's version of Kung Fu's Jeet con do. When my son was abt. 12 yrs. old, he wanted to learn karate style , so together we took leasons in traditional Okinawan Go Ju Ru.
I like watching old style Western movies and horse back riding. And I like working on computers, especially upgrading and repairing (I'm working on repairing a Acer Laptop now. It is a new style that came out this year, at least twice as expensive as most Acer laptops and hard to get replacement parts! I also like reading and writing poetry.
Quote from: Toy Ranch on June 07, 2009, 11:11:01 AM
Best wishes to all of you who are caring for family members with MS. I don't have any personal experience with MS, but we cared for my mother-in-law through Altzheimer's and I know it's very difficult to look after family with chronic illness. You are all in my thoughts.
I echo what Bobby said here... my best to those of you caring for loved ones, and likewise to your loved ones grappling with illness. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Quote from: Toy Ranch on June 07, 2009, 11:11:01 AM
Best wishes to all of you who are caring for family members with MS. I don't have any personal experience with MS, but we cared for my mother-in-law through Altzheimer's and I know it's very difficult to look after family with chronic illness. You are all in my thoughts.
I also send best wishes to any of our members taking care of chronically ill family members and hope you find the strength in whatever your belief/faith may be to deal with it.
My mom passed on Oct 10 2004. She was living in a BIG house in the burbs about 20 miles from me and the wife. My dad passed on in 83'.We talked her into moving into a nice apt. literally 3 mins from me so if she needed anything I was just a phone call away. She had arterial sclerosis ,severe arthritis a leaky valve in her heart and had a few minor strokes. We did the Hospice thing which was a blessing.
She passed away with 3 of her 6 kids by her side. I was the last earthly thing she saw before she passed.
Mike
Outside of monsters.......I do a lot of different things. Let's see. I work out, am a personal trainer, police officer, I study history, am going to school for secondary education, collect comics, listen to old time radio, watch old movies and serials, play paintball, Dungeons and Dragons, and video games. I'd like to start writing as well, maybe horror or fantasy. I'm also a conspiracy theorist, Constitutionalist, and truth seeker. In the summer I love to hike, camp, and kayak.
Outside of Monsters - I collects books by Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein & H.P. Lovecraft, music by Frank Zappa, Weather Report (Joe Zawinul &
Wayne Shorter) & Tom Waits - there's lots of others, but these are guys I'm a completest with.
I love Post War California & Googie architecture & '50s/'60s Roadside America. '50s Sci Fi movies & Film Noir. Lowbrow art (especially Robert
Williams, Todd Schorr & Xno) as well as art by Mati Klarwein. I love cartoons, comic books & highways...
Roofed houses for over 30 years (retired now), have the grooviest wife on the planet, raised up three boys (& now have two grand kids),
an old cat (the last one left of three brothers) :( , and a big, goofy dog.
I've held a variety of jobs, an elecrtician in the Navy, worked at an electrical supply warehouse, as a government contractor in supply for 14 years, installed home security systems for a few months when I first moved to Arkansas, then worked in a control room for a tire manufacturer plant, and now I repair copiers.
The only sport I watch is football.
Every other Sunday, I give the sermon at the church I attend. I get to choose the subject and write the sermon. I haven't been asked to stop in over 7 months, so I guess the people like them.
Outside of the love of horror.... I run and workout every morning been a Deputy Sheriff for 18 years and married with two boys. I also collect old Stickley furniture and ride my old Triumph when I can. My favorite author is James Ellroy and a big Nick Cave fan.
I fish when the mood hits me. I dont own any poles, or boats or such. But whenever I am around folks who do---I fish. I was married for 17 years before my father in law discovered this about me. We had a family get together around the 4th of July. The kids were all fishing with bobbers. No one got a bite.
I asked my kid if he wanted to catch the first fish. We took the bobber off, put sinkers on, put a nightcrawler on the hook...and dipped him in vanilla extract. Then pitched him in. Kaboom. 10 lb. catfish less than 5 minutes from cast to reel in. So, yeah---I fish. 8)
I'm an ordained minister in two different churches: the Church of Gospel Ministry in Chula Vista, CA, and the First Church of Atheism in Langhorne, PA. In 1984, I almost had to baptize my own godson, when the minister was delayed in a 3 hour traffic jam.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk
But how can you be a minister in both the Church of Gospel Ministry and the First Church of Atheism? Are the beliefs of the two denominations not in stark opposition?
???
I have a few things I enjoy besides Scifi and Monster movies and collecting. Enjoy tinkering with 60s American iron, my Fords, along with friends Fords, GMs and Mopars. I collect vintage car model kits, boxes, built-ups, and junk! Love all sports, but baseball has always been my game, huge fan and collector of anything San Francisco Giants. Spending time with family and friends and enjoying good food and a good ale.
In addition to monster and other collectibles, I'm also heavily into music and sound equipment. Here's the story of how I got into buying records:
It was August of 1967 and I was fifteen years old. I had my first summer job - on a tobacco farm near Delhi in southern Ontario. This meant of course that for the first time in my life I'd have a real wad of disposable income - and my plan was to get some of those records to which I had been grooving on the radio. Some of the tunes that stood out in my mind from 1966-67 were:
Paperback Writer - Beatles
Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles
Penny Lane - Beatles
Paint It Black - Rolling Stones
Mother's Little Helper - Rolling Stones
Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow? - Rolling Stones
A Well Respected Man - Kinks
Sunny Afternoon - Kinks
Wild Thing - Troggs
I Can't Control Myself - Troggs
California Dreamin' - Mamas and the Papas
Monday, Monday - Mamas and Papas
Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel
Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon and Garfunkel
It's My Life - Animals
I Fought the Law - Bobby Fuller Four
Red Rubber Ball - Cyrkle
Over and Over - Dave Clark Five
I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night - Electric Prunes
Come on Down to My Boat Baby - Every Mother's Son
Let's Live for Today - Grassroots
Lies - Knickerbockers
Time Won't Let Me - Outsiders
96 Tears - ? & the Mysterians
Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters
These Boots Are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
Hanky Panky - Tommy James & the Shondells
Happy Jack - Who
I was also quite familiar with the music from earlier in the decade since the radio station to which I had been listening was CHLO in St. Thomas which devoted weekends to a Souvenir Safari wherein every second selection was an oldie.
Having fulfilled our quota relatively early one Saturday afternoon, some of the older fellows (very cool twenty year olds from Montreal!) were given permission to take the farmer's car into the big town, that being Simcoe, and the even bigger metropolis of Brantford! At the 100 plus mile per hour speed at which they drove the car (no, no seat belts), it didn't take us very long to get to those places.
Of course we stopped at a record shop. The new exotic Beatles' album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", was on prominent display and I decided to make it my first purchase when I got back home in September.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BeatlesS.jpg)
The other album that I remember catching my eye was "Flowers". The cover picture featured a more decadent and vaguely threatening looking group of young fellows. "Are these the Rolling Stones?" I wondered. I hadn't yet seen the Stones on TV but my guess was of course correct.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/RollingStonesF.jpg)
The new psychedelic sounding Rolling Stones single "We Love You" was just hitting the airwaves when I returned home just before Labour Day. I listened raptly and marveled at the sound I was hearing.
I went through with my plans and made "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" my first record purchase. I quickly followed up this purchase by acquiring the Beatles' first three Canadian albums in order, "Beatlemania", "Twist and Shout" and "Long Tall Sally".
I then stepped outside the box in October and bought "Big Hits - High Tide and Green Grass" by the Rolling Stones. I was floored! I found the Stones' record far edgier than the comparatively tame Beatles' albums. Then of course there was the innovative for the time booklet of their pictures included within the double sleeve.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/RollingStonesH.jpg)
I wasn't entirely sure which Stone was which at the time but the brooding, mysterious Stones appealed to me in a way the Beatles did not. I went out and added "Flowers" to my swiftly growing record collection within a couple of weeks. Here are the Stones performing a track from "Flowers" on the Ed Sullivan Show:
Lady Jane - Rolling Stones (https://youtu.be/XirG-qwMCMc)
I think the "Best of the Animals" may have been the first non-Beatle or Stone album I bought. "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had been a popular chant at the boarding school I had attended in Kennebunkport, Maine for grade nine although my favourite Animals' tune at the time was "It's My Life". The "Kinks' Greatest Hits" may have been the next.
I took to reading the record/music review sections of "Time" magazine to which we had a subscription and "Stereo Review" which I could find at the library to get an idea for new, cutting edge bands that weren't necessarily being played on top forty radio.
My musical horizons had already been expanded earlier in 1967 when the Doors released their signature hit, "Light My Fire". When I heard the dark melodic strains on the kitchen radio for the first time I was fascinated. I loved it! It was like nothing I'd heard on the radio to that time. I knew that the boundaries encompassing rock had just been dramatically expanded and that rock had left its period of youthful innocence behind.
But it wasn't until I saw their performance of "Light My Fire" on the Ed Sullivan Show on September 17th that the Doors actually became one of my very favourite bands. Jim Miorrison appeared wearing tight leather pants which must have caused appalled parents' jaws to drop across every single living room in North America. I certainly expected expressions of horrified disgust in as many as two languages from my very old school father. He must have been too shocked though, or maybe he too was hypnotized by the seductive organ riff behind Jim's throaty vocals. Much to my surprise he just sat there in silence. All I know is that I watched the performance intently in almost rapt disbelief. These fellows made the Beatles look like innocent schoolboys! They were a step above and beyond whatever else was happening in rock at the time. Here's the video:
Light My Fire - Doors (https://youtu.be/EqcMAz7xQ5g)
Interesting too is that Ed Sullivan had demanded that the Doors change the words of the song from "Girl we coudn't get much higher" to "Girl we coudn't get much better" as a condition of performing. You see it was actually illegal to use the word "higher" as a drug reference on American TV at the time. The Doors had agreed but when it came time to sing the line, Jim clearly enunciated the word "higher". Ed Sullivan was understandably furious and banned the Doors from any further appearances on his show. When told that the rest of the band's five scheduled appearances on the show had been cancelled, Jim reportedly said "Hey man, so what? We just did the Ed Sullivan Show!"
I just love that type of insolence. Stick it to the straights I still say! I may be a stockbroker and a "respectable" member of society these days, but I still take delight in offending those more straightlaced than myself. And woe to any bureaucrat or corporate suit who annoys me and finds himself in my company!
I bought their debut album a couple of months later - and let me tell you I was well and truly hooked on the Doors within a couple of plays. The music just drew me in.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Doors.jpg)
When I played it for one of my buddies, he stayed uncharacteristically silent - but bought his own copy a few weeks later. He later confessed to me that the Doors sounded so moody and Satanic to him the first time I played the record that he never thought he'd be able to like them! He's remained every bit as much of a Doors fan as I am to this very day.
By January of 1969 I had progressed to buying albums by the Who, Yardbirds, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. All these I played on the Seabreeze suitcase stereo with detachable speakers that I bought in 1969 to replace the family record player. My father condemned my purchase as shamelessly profligate since the existing mono record player that we'd purchased used in 1962 still functioned!
Now of course I have hundreds of record albums and 45s as well as a steadily growing collection of CD's which I play on a very nice stereo sound system indeed. (My father would be aghast I suppose.) My musical tastes are many and varied - but, nevertheless, after all these years I'm still very much a Stones and Doors fan.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/AStyxstereo2.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Arecord3.jpg)
8)
I love the music too Hep you have a sweet vinyl collection. Sorry to say my hearing has gone down the pooper...depressing
Quote from: Hepcat on April 14, 2014, 08:50:46 AM
But how can you be a minister in both the Church of Gospel Ministry and the First Church of Atheism? Are the beliefs of the two denominations not in stark opposition?
???
Technically, but it doesn't matter to me. I'll perform whatever type of ceremony you'd like. The Church of Gospel Ministry ordination was in 1984, when I was still a Christian. The church itself is now defunct, but those ordinations never expire. After becoming an atheist roughly 20 years ago, I got the First Church of Atheism ordination last year. It's an interesting group, and their reasons for forming a "church" for something that isn't a religion are pretty compelling.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/15/ugyhaja8.jpg)
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk
The New York World's Fair opened its doors fifty years ago this month. The Vatican City pavilion at the fair featured my uncle's bas-relief sculpture on the outside:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/nywf-vatican-triad_zpse9476b01.jpg)
After the fair, the sculpture was transported to the grounds of St. Anthony's Franciscan monastery in Kennebunkport, Maine where it still resides to the present day:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Francis_zpsbff516e1.jpg)
I attended St. Anthony's Lithuanian boys' boarding school on the monastery grounds for grade nine in 1965-66. The school was converted to a guest house for tourists in 1970 and still functions as such. This album contains pictures of the monastery together with its lovely grounds, as well as the chapel built in 1965-66 that features my uncle's stained glass windows and other bas-relief sculptures:
Kennebunkport Photoset (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ngaila/2722480808/in/photostream/)
Here's a good picture of the interior of the chapel at St. Anthony's Franciscan monastery:
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/2017/09/28/NPOH/ghows-SO-5a453555-924c-2333-e053-0100007fa712-7ab35c31.jpeg)
My uncle's works adorn sixty churches in the United States, Toronto, Australia and Europe, with the concentration in the northeastern part of the United States from Maine to the Mississippi River.
Among his other works my uncle did ten or so sculptures in aluminum. I'm the very proud owner of one of them. Here from my living room is a photo of Diana, goddess of the hunt:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/09e8f9e1-f162-4b45-a86f-14af40a71d45_zpsd528dede.jpg)
A bittersweet story involving my uncle Vytautas was when my sister and I met him on my first visit to Lithuania in 1987. The Soviet state treated him as a visiting dignitary and a museum for his art was being opened in Druskininkai, a spa town in southern Lithuania. As a result, he was provided with a chauffeur and car in which he took us to the old family homestead on what was once the Prussian border near Kudirkos Naumiestis. He found it, and lo and behold an old woman emerged from the house and it was Ona, who had been the family's servant girl between the wars! There were six sons and only one daughter so they needed Ona to help with the woman's work on the farm. Ona looked at my uncle and said "Anthony!" He said "No, I'm Vytautas but these are Anthony's two children." A touching deeply emotional moment in my life. It still saddens me that my parents never got to see independence restored to Lithuania. They never got to see their son walking freely and confidently through the streets of Vilnius and Kaunas as if he owned the place.
For what it's worth now at this late stage, I'm also big into comics. My first exposure to comics was in the comic section of the Saturday London Free Press in the late fifties. My family didn't have a TV yet so print media was very important to me. The Uncle Remus and his Tales of Brer Rabbit strip may have been the very first to capture my attention:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/BrerRabbitstrip.jpg)
I'm still a fan of the Uncle Remus characters after all these years and I have dozens of copies of the strip in my collection today.
The first comic books I can remember reading in the spring and summer of 1959 featured Felix's Nephews Inky & Dinky. I recall my buddy and I from across the street thought that Dinky was a very cool name! They were of course rather beat up and I have no clue as to the actual issue(s) but here's one from my collection today:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/03-07-201152115PM.jpg)
The first comics I can recall buying were the Cicero's Cat 1 and 2 in the summer of 1959. I bought them at Ken's Variety on Wharncliffe Road in London, Ontario and I very clearly remember my father initially telling me to take #2 back because he thought I already had a copy!
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/CicerosCat1.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/CicerosCat2.jpg)
Though I was already familiar with Superman and Batman comics from the barber shop or wherever, the first superhero comics I distinctly remember reading were the Adventures of the Fly in early 1961. I remember reading them at Lamont & Perkins drugstore a block away on Wortley Road before they chased me out, at which point I'd head for Tyler & Zettel's pharmacy a few blocks away. I believe they only stocked Archie, Dell and Classics Illustrated comics in these drug stores which is why the Fly was the first superhero to catch my attention. I'm not sure whether it was issue #11 or #12 of the Adventures of the Fly that first captured my attention:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_Adventures_of_the_Fly_11.png)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/06-08-201182826PM.jpg)
In any event, I very clearly remember seeing these ads in Adventures of the Fly 13 heralding the introduction of Fly Girl and the Jaguar:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/02-06-201181947PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/02-06-201181940PM.jpg)
I also read through the Adventures of the Jaguar 1 when it first hit the newsstand:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/31-05-201174146PM.jpg)
It included this dandy ad for the mysterious Fly Girl:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/24-04-201380317PM_zps0e246512.jpg) (http://"http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/Comics/24-04-201380317PM_zps0e246512.jpg.html")
A copy of Space Adventures belonging to the older brother of a buddy of mine featuring the powerful Captain Atom further whetted my appetite for the pajama brigade. The memory of these pages featuring a Nikita Khrushchev like character has never left me:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/24-04-201380256PM_zps7a5d29c1.jpg) (http://"http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/Comics/24-04-201380256PM_zps7a5d29c1.jpg.html")
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/24-04-201380303PM_zps49d45dbe.jpg) (http://"http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/Comics/24-04-201380303PM_zps49d45dbe.jpg.html")
The first DC superhero comic I can specifically remember reading was Green Lantern 11 in the spring of 1962 which a buddy on a farm outside of London had. I still remember how it filled me with a sense of awe and wonder at the time.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/GreenLantern11.jpg)
A copy of Justice League of America 8 that I read at summer camp a couple of months later that same year clinched the deal:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/21-08-201182441PM.jpg)
When I got home from summer camp, I marched right down to Les' Variety on the corner to check out the comics on the spinner rack. The first superhero comic I bought was Justice League 14.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/02-07-201164237PM.jpg)
I eventually succeeding in trading for all but a couple of the issues of Justice League down to issue #4:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/02-07-201164222PM.jpg)
The other superhero comics I bought off the spinner rack at Les' Variety as part of that first batch included Detective 307 and Batman 150:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/02-07-201264827PM.jpg) (http://"http://media.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/Comics/02-07-201264827PM.jpg.html")
An Adventures of the Jaguar and a Superboy or a World's Finest were also part of that first batch which soon ended up in the trash when my older sister convinced my mother that comics would surely corrupt me. And of course she was right. They have!
But my appetite for more comics had already been whetted by DC house ads such as these (although I haven't a clue as to where I first saw them):
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Atom1Jun-Jul1962_zps85fe96de.jpg) (http://"http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/General%20Album%203/Atom1Jun-Jul1962_zps85fe96de.jpg.html")
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Superman1561962_zps1b420ed4.jpg) (http://"http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/Balticprince/media/General%20Album%203/Superman1561962_zps1b420ed4.jpg.html")
Within a few months I was back to buying comics again!
These comics had a lifelong influence on me, as did the bubble gum cards I also collected and model kits I was building. Despite the fact that my boyhood treasures all went by the wayside at some point in time, I never completely lost interest in these things. Throughout high school and university I always wished I still had my comics and cards.
My first job after university was in 1977 and by 1979 I was back to collecting. Big time.
I collect comics from 1945 to 1980. My concentration is Silver Age DC such as Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom, Hawkman, Mystery in Space, Sea Devils, Challengers of the Unknown, Metal Men, Wonder Woman, Tales of the Unexpected, Teen Titans, Fox & the Crow etc. I'm just about solid in my main titles going back to 1962. For example, I have all the Justice Leagues going back to 1960 with the exception of issues 5, 6 and 47.
I also collect other titles such as Adventures of the Fly, Adventures of the Jaguar, Black Cat, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Space Adventures, Gorgo, Herbie, Turok, Doctor Solar, Lone Ranger, Gold Key Phantom and many Atom Age Jungle and Adventure titles including Sheena, Jumbo, Space Western and Commander Battle & the Atomic Sub. I have a few Harveys such as Casper, Wendy, Spooky, Little Dot, Little Audrey and Hot Stuff and quite a few Dell Funny Animal comics.
I also have a very good collection of the car humour mags such as Drag Cartoons, Hot Rod Cartoons and CARtoons. I also collect the Warren horror mags such as Creepy and Eerie and the Skywalds. I have a collection of several dozen Mad magazines from the late fifties and early sixties as well.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ComicRoom.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ComicsLeftSide.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ComicLeftFileCab.jpg)
8)
I just happened upon this topic, and I have really enjoyed reading about all of you. :) I wish it was this easy in real life....I truly enjoy learning about my fellow humans. You Monster Kids are some really cool people.
Quote from: jimm on April 14, 2014, 12:59:31 PMI love the music too Hep you have a sweet vinyl collection. Sorry to say my hearing has gone down the pooper...depressing.
Yeah, I guess my hearing has declined with age as well.
:(
But I still enjoy my stereo and records!
:)
I have 6 toes on each hand!
Doesn't that make it difficult for you to write?
???
Quote from: Hepcat on October 17, 2017, 04:10:45 PM
Doesn't that make it difficult for you to write?
You get used to it.
As a child, Mother had me reach the tiny parts in her sewing machines to retrieve, re-install, and finally I could fix the units entirely. At Age 10, the IBM PS/2s arrived and Father brought one home, along with the magical 2nd Hard Drive, which I installed when he wasn't around. I've been an equipment tinkerer since my youngest cognitive years.
I was a model from age 13 to 21 when I married this chap from Texas, which is our home-base.
I own a downtown boutique, eventually bought the city-block it was on, then bought the adjacent block, too, on my way to mogul-dom, I suppose.
My husband turned me into a huge Old Time Radio Fan early in our marriage, and while I'd seen American comics, his collection let me enjoy them completely and improve my own drawing skills (for fashion designs). His musical heritage (and band) have let me learn guitar, piano, other stringed instruments and performance, but I actually enjoy flailing away at the drums if our band's drummer takes a break.
We have one or sometimes two weekly gigs for 4 months a year, down from year-round, then 6 months, because other bands are worthy of ongoing financial support from such gigs, too. We keep the atmosphere more vibrant with more working musicians, not less.
With two children, we decided to start school-volunteering because of the argument "Why tell kids 'school is important' when we can show it, by being there, by helping?" We are in year 9 of that experiment, two mornings a week.
We do blood-donations every other week, lately designating the Harvey-damaged small churches southeast of Austin so those ministers can spare some hospitalization expenses for their congregations, and then to three small clinics scattered across Puerto Rico, and of course the latest, Sutherland Springs.
For 12 years, we've worked at Meals On Wheels from Sept thru December, and five years ago we installed beehives around our park and donated 8-10 quarts of honey each week. And either sell or consume the rest.
I'm an avid history reader, particularly 19th Century onward, trying to understand why our world is the way it is. I have some interest in 9th Century-and-Beyond Europe, mostly in answer to the religious and economic forces that flexed their muscles.
I sometimes get into True Crime readings but those are results of focused questions like, "What made this serial killer into his incarnation?" Or "What was Manson REALLY thinking, himself? He had a REAL reason for the two most heinous crimes, and those had nothing to do with the Helter Skelter nonsense he tricked 'his Family' into spewing. Why Cielo Drive? Why that LaBianca address?" (Ed Saunders' THE FAMILY answered those questions for me.)
My questions in life remain:
(1) Why are Jews picked on? They're always a distinct minority wherever they've settled and, if they really secretly ruled the world since ?? 4th Century onward ??, why aren't they living in Hawaii? I mean - really - if I was going to rule the world, I'd do it from Hawaii. Wouldn't you? I used to think they were picked on because of the Big Lie about their economic networks, fomented by The Pope(s), but apparently I'll never get an answer.
(2) What do Muslim farmers do with pigs? According to some devout Muslims, pigs aren't allowed on farms since they can't be eaten and can't be raised to be sold to infidels. However, I've yet to hear from Muslim farmers, so those 'experts' who've answered my emails are necessarily degraded. I keep thinking of SE Asia, fairly ripe with Musilim heritage but also an area where pigs are common.
And finally,
(3) Why do I like the films I like? For every axiom I develop, I discover as many exceptions to those as I do subscribers. Understanding "Why I like what I like" seems to be a question I'll carry forth for the ages.
Quote from: ChristineBCW on November 08, 2017, 05:43:20 PM
(2) What do Muslim farmers do with pigs?
What do you do with things you have no use for?
Quote from: ChristineBCW on November 08, 2017, 05:43:20 PM
(1) Why are Jews picked on? They're always a distinct minority wherever they've settled and, if they really secretly ruled the world since ??
Simple stupidity arising from religious fanaticism. The two phenomena are closely intertwined. First Christians, then Muslims, resented Jews for refusing to embrace their version of the "truth".
::)
The curtain coming down on the past year prompted me to look back at the "significant" events of my own life from the year that ended fifty years. I completed tenth grade in the spring of 1967, and it was a year of further refocusing away from the things of my childhood to the things that would occupy my interests in my early adult years. (And here I'm not talking about the girls aspect because that's the obvious one.)
During the school year I maintained the study habits I'd developed at boarding school in Kennebunkport, Maine the previous year. I was equally good at both number crunching and the humanities and I was put in the grade eleven "brain" class. That meant we were the class out of eight at the school "privileged" enough to take an extra credit, either Geography which I took or Spanish, in addition to English, French, Latin, History, Mathematics, Physics and Phys-Ed. My single minded focus was to get the best marks in the class (which I succeeded in doing in grade twelve). I was quite simply a bookish nerd and hung around at school with the other nerds. The prodigious feats of info absorption of which I was capable such as memorizing word-for-word several pages of definitions from the back of my science textbook now make me cringe when I think back on it. While I suppose my academic aptitude probably served me well into my adult life, I can't say it was a happy time in my life. It was simply nothing but a grind.
One happy side effect of my devotion to my studies though was that I had all exemptions from my final exams meaning that I finished the school year in May a couple of weeks earlier than most students. Most of the summer I spent hanging out on the street or at Thames Park with the other neighbourhood kids including the girls. I had the best radio, a really large strap-held transistor radio with which we listened to CHLO in St. Thomas which was the local Top 40 radio station! By then of course I was much too old and sophisticated to play baseball like some little kid.
The only comic I bought in 1967 was Doctor Solar 21 and that was the last comic I would buy until mid-1972.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/26-08-2012104752PM.jpg)
Nor did I renew my subscription to Warren's Eerie magazine when it expired.
What I read in their place was the local London Free Press newspaper. And we had a subscription to Time magazine which I absolutely devoured from cover-to-cover. To this very day I know who the leaders of the countries in the news such as Vietnam, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria were in 1967 and even many of Canada's cabinet ministers but by a few years later I'd completely lost track with all the changes.
I continued to read for recreation. I can't recall what I was borrowing from the local library, but I took up buying and saving all the Pan James Bond paperbacks:
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3168) (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3167)
I wanted to be like James Bond of course with all these gorgeous women draped all over me! I didn't realize at the time how troublesome that would likely prove.
I'd lost interest in most of my other childhood pursuits although I still built the occasional model plane. I believe that the last three I built were in 1967:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Revell%20Dambuster_zps61acajne.jpg)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3165)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3164)
Both my Monogram Ferrari 330P/LM slot car and Cox Spitfire with the .049 Thimble Drome engine just sat gathering dust, however.
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/CoxSpitfire_zpsb219cdd5.jpg)
TV still wasn't a big part of my life. I'd watch the televised games during the CFL season but there were no more than two or three per week and I'd watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I'd usually watch the reruns of Wild Wild West after school and often The Beverly Hillbillies and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and sometimes Bonanza or the Ed Sullivan Show Saturday and Sunday evenings but that was it.
I did get to take the train to Montreal to visit Expo 67 in the company of twenty or so other Lithuanian kids from the London area. Everything about the trip was a thrill. I stayed at a grownup second cousin's house in the Montreal neighbourhood of Westmount and thoroughly enjoyed both the world's fair and the entire experience.
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3166)
The summer of 1967 also heralded the start of my working life when my father placed me on a tobacco farm just north of Delhi in late July for a five week stretch. My horizons were further expanded when I got my trembling hands on the September issue of Playboy in the bunkhouse:
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Playboy%20Sept_zpskel79gqr.jpg)
As the gatefold attraction the issue featured the luscious Angela Dorian, a.k.a. Victoria Vetri, who went on to become the Playmate of the Year:
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3162&t=1)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3161)
When I got back home just before Labour Day, I had $495 in my bank account and I was fully intent on buying some of the records to which I'd been grooving on the radio. I went ahead and made the new exotic Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, my first purchase at Bluebird Records in downtown London. I quickly followed up this purchase by acquiring the Beatles' first three Canadian albums, Beatlemania, Twist and Shout and Long Tall Sally. I then stepped outside the box in October and bought Big Hits - High Tide and Green Grass by the Rolling Stones. I was floored! I found the Stones' record far edgier than the comparatively tame Beatles' albums. Then of course there was the innovative for the time booklet of their pictures included within the double sleeve:
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/RollingStonesH.jpg)
I wasn't entirely sure which Stone was which at the time but the brooding, mysterious Stones appealed to me in a way the Beatles did not. I went out and added Flowers to my swiftly growing record collection within a couple of weeks and then a few more Stones' LPs. By December I believe I'd bought these LP's by other groups as well:
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3163)
(https://img.discogs.com/n5E1JuUhZUi_V79L0V1MjN89HQM=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-784777-1346776253-9977.jpeg.jpg)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/imageproxy.php?url=http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Zombies%20Greatest%20Hits_zpshz1tvvmj.jpg)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3170)
(https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/download/file.php?id=3169)
Note the absence of bands such as the Monkees whom I knew had been created to target pubescent girls. My intent was to buy the LPs of only those groups/artists that fit my category of "serious" rock musicians. I pursued my record buying, collecting and cataloguing with the same intensity and focus that I'd previously applied to my bubble gum card and comic collecting efforts. As a result within a year I had a shelf of records far exceeding that of any classmate or kid in the neighbourhood.
I also immediately aspired to replace our family's little mono record player that had been bought used in 1962(?) with a Seabreeze stereo(!) record player with detachable speakers. But my father was adamantly opposed to such a profligate waste of money since we already had a "perfectly good" record player so I put that project on hold for the time being. It would be resurrected though!
And now here I am today, still very much a fan of the Rolling Stones, blues-rock in general and hi-fi stereo components as well as monster model kits, comic magazines and the other sundry kid stuff from my formative years!
8)
Well here it is at 2:00 AM and dealing with massive insomnia for mos I found this old thread.
To look at me,I literally look like an aging biker,you wouldn't guess that I am a pretty big fan of the old Little Lulu comics.
Even have a few volumes of the Another Rainbow HC editions.
Point is,never ever judge a book by it's cover.
WL
I don't remember precisely where and when I encountered my first pinball machine but it must have been over sixty years ago and I've loved them ever since.
As a youngster in the early sixties I was usually required to attend supplemental Lithuanian language classes Saturdays between 4:00 and 5:30 PM during the school year. These classes were in the basement of St. Peter's elementary school just north of downtown London on Richmond Street by the cathedral. Dreadfully inconvenient to be sure.
There was a silver lining though. I'd be given $0.50 or so to go see a movie downtown prior to classes plus bus fare there and back. But St. Peter's was only about a mile and a half away from where we lived in Old South London. So I could walk there anyway. The bus fare I could then spend otherwise!
Sometimes I would indeed take in a movie. But often I'd elect to deploy my cash in other ways.
One temptation was a pinball machine at a diner that was right across from the Wishing Well Beverages bottling plant on Richmond Street which was on the southern edge of the downtown area about halfway to St. Peter's. I believe that it was this Gottlieb Sweet Hearts machine released in 1963:
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20sweet_back_zpst34jj225.gif)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20SweetHearts_zpsxs9sh199.jpg)
Gottlieb Sweet Hearts in action (https://youtu.be/yVEjdj8AbJE)
But pinball machines were then banned in Ontario as "illegal" gambling devices" until January 1976. But when the new student recreation center at the University of Western Ontario was completed in 1971, it had five pinball machines! One of them was the Gottlieb 2001 released in 1971 which ended up becoming my own gateway machine to a lifetime of sordid pinball degeneracy.
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb2_zps18fb0965.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb1_zpscad71e14.jpg)
Gottlieb 2001 in action (https://youtu.be/pWPkhluOAqM)
Now I was never short of cash as a student and so I fed many a quarter into that machine. But it couldn't last. You see under the law it was an "illegal gaming device". Accordingly a City of London police officer appeared at the rec center after about three months, played the machines for two or three hours to satisfy himself that they were indeed illegal gaming devices which could very well corrupt students, policemen and whoever else for life, and the machines were gone for good the next day. Yes, seized they were by the fascist State!
While the draconian law was repealed a few years later, I've never forgiven the bastiches. Smash the State I say!
When pinball machines were legalized in my environs in 1975 or so, two specific machines acted to set me on the path to permanent pinball degeneracy. These were both to be found at the York Hotel in downtown London directly across the street from the CNR passenger train station. The first was the Wizard released by Bally in 1975:
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard1_zps80733847.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard2_zps1739fd18.jpg)
A very well designed game, it sold over 10,000 units which smashed Bally's previous production record of 5254 for a pinball machine. I had the game completely mastered and built up a total of nineteen free games on a single quarter one afternoon before I succumbed to fatigue.
The other game was in the other room by the old fashioned greasy spoon lunch counter attached to the York Hotel. (How I miss those greasy spoons now!) It was the Royal Flush machine which Gottlieb released in 1976:
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/RoyalFlush1_zps24ba6afb.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal1_zpsec1852e2.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal3_zps1ab32c97.jpg)
Gottlieb Royal Flush in action (https://youtu.be/0SF5uccdQzQ)
I had my best run ever on this machine one afternoon. I'd hit everything and I had the machine lit up like a Xmas tree. I was already up to five or so free games but I wasn't even targeting the free game hole. My timing was so good that I was hitting the silver ball hard enough to propel/bounce it right off the glass and I just wanted to keep hitting. And then believe it or not but a hippie watching me with astonishment leaned on the machine so hard that he tilted it thus ending my best run of all time. I wanted to belt him!
So no, I've never needed drugs or alcohol. Pinball, model kits, comic mags, gum cards and other baby boomer kids' stuff, muscle cars, and rock music and stereo equipment were all it took to set me on the path to ruin. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.
;)
Quote from: Wicked Lester on May 19, 2018, 02:03:38 AMTo look at me,I literally look like an aging biker,you wouldn't guess that I am a pretty big fan of the old Little Lulu comics. Even have a few volumes of the Another Rainbow HC editions.
Post some pics from your collection then!
8)
Avid tennis player. Been playing since I'm 16. Gonna be 64 next month, and still playing 4 to 5 times a week. A USTA rating of 4.0, which is a pretty competitive level. Also like going to the gym. Love watching football (big Browns fan), baseball (big Red Sox fan) and tennis (big Nadal fan). I also have a pretty big vintage sports card collection. Love listening to music also. Love classic rock along with music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's.
JP
Quote from: Wolfman on November 17, 2020, 10:48:39 AMLove listening to music also. Love classic rock along with music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's.
You might therefore want to check out the mangy mutt's show here:
https://www.crf2.com/showthread.php?t=66468&page=18 (https://www.crf2.com/showthread.php?t=66468&page=18)
:)
Quote from: Hepcat on November 17, 2020, 11:12:09 AM
You might therefore want to check out the mangy mutt's show here:
https://www.crf2.com/showthread.php?t=66468&page=18 (https://www.crf2.com/showthread.php?t=66468&page=18)
:)
Cool site!
JP
Quote from: Wolfman on November 17, 2020, 10:48:39 AMI also have a pretty big vintage sports card collection.
What sports and which years?
Quote from: Wolfman on November 17, 2020, 10:48:39 AMLove listening to music also. Love classic rock along with music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's.
What are some of your favourite bands then?
???
Quote from: Hepcat on November 14, 2022, 07:58:22 PM
What sports and which years?
What are some of your favourite bands then?
???
Baseball, basketball, football. Some rookies I have include Aaron, Banks, Kaline, Koufax, Maris, Gibson, McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Brett. Also have Mays 1st Topps card, but not his rookie, and Mantle 2nd Topps card. Basketball rookies I have are Chamberlain, West, Baylor, Oscar Robertson, Pettit, and a bunch of '69 rookies, but not Alcindor or Maravich. Football rookies include Jim Brown, Deacon Jones, Butkus, Sayers, Bob Hayes, Barry Sanders. I also have the complete 1965 Topps baseball set, and a lot of various cards across all the sports.
Quote from: Hepcat on November 14, 2022, 07:58:22 PM
What sports and which years?
What are some of your favourite bands then?
???
Zeppelin #1 for me. Bowie, CCR, Elton John, Purple, Sabbath, Three Dog Night, The Rascals, Stones, Beatles, etc.
Quote from: Wolfman on November 15, 2022, 09:32:39 AMBaseball, basketball, football. Some rookies I have include Aaron, Banks, Kaline, Koufax, Maris, Gibson, McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Brett. Also have Mays 1st Topps card, but not his rookie, and Mantle 2nd Topps card. Basketball rookies I have are Chamberlain, West, Baylor, Oscar Robertson, Pettit, and a bunch of '69 rookies, but not Alcindor or Maravich. Football rookies include Jim Brown, Deacon Jones, Butkus, Sayers, Bob Hayes, Barry Sanders.
Do you go after the checklists and wrappers though?
When it comes to baseball, my focus is on getting more cards plus wrappers as opposed to "star" cards. I have hundreds and hundreds of baseball cards now from the 1954-65 period. Here are some scans/pictures:
Topps 1958(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245551PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245556PM.jpg)
Topps 1959(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/baseballcards2.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BaseballCards-1.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245541PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245545PM.jpg)
Topps 1960(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245531PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245534PM.jpg)
Topps 1962(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/15-07-201235808PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/15-07-201235815PM.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_Topps_wrapper_1962.webp)
Topps 1963(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245506PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245524PM.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/August110001_zps7a939b6c.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/1963Wrapper_zps8a7c8cd2.jpg)
But I'm a Canadian. The main focus of my sports card collecting is therefore on CFL and hockey cards. Here are some scans from my present day collection. First these 1959 CFL cards which were the first cards I ever bought as a kid:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/baseballcards.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Topps201959_zpsztggcpzk.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/CFL201959A_zpsqfhjidag.jpg)
(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/CFL201959B_zpsutjgjvca.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/08-07-201382432PM_zps5653b0c2.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/08-07-201382439PM_zps13e1fe65.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_Topps_1959.webp)
Then here are some of the Topps 1958-59 hockey cards from my collection:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/HockeyCards-1.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245449PM.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245452PM.jpg)
I found four of those cards on the street on a grey snowy day in late 1958 or early 1959. The first three were Red Wings, but the fourth was a Blackhawk! I couldn't read yet, but that big Indian head absolutely enthralled me and I've been a Blackhawk fan ever since.
8)
Nice cards!
I'm a big Hank Aaron fan, so I have his 1954 (rookie psa 4), 1955 (Beckett 5.5), 1957, 1959 (psa 6), 1961 (psa 8), 1961 (all-star), 1962, 1964 (regular version & giant size), 1965 (psa 6.5 & psa 7), 1966, 1967. Also have a 1964 or 1965 coin & mini poster that were extras in the packs of cards. And lastly, I have 2 signed baseballs by him!
JP
Quote from: Wolfman on November 15, 2022, 03:40:33 PM
Nice cards!
I'm a big Hank Aaron fan, so I have his 1954 (rookie psa 4), 1955 (Beckett 5.5), 1957, 1959 (psa 6), 1961 (psa 8), 1961 (all-star), 1962, 1964 (regular version & giant size), 1965 (psa 6.5 & psa 7), 1966, 1967. Also have a 1964 or 1965 coin & mini poster that were extras in the packs of cards. And lastly, I have 2 signed baseballs by him!
JP
Forgot that I also have a Mitchell & Ness 1957 throwback Aaron jersey.
JP
Quote from: Wolfman on November 15, 2022, 09:32:39 AMI also have the complete 1965 Topps baseball set....
The 1965 Topps Baseball cards had a really nice design:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Topps-Baseball-Hank-Aaron.jpg)
They were the last baseball card set I ever collected as a kid. Just like the previous three years, however, cards beyond the first three series (cards above #264) were pretty well impossible to find in variety stores in my neck of the woods.
Quote from: Wolfman on November 15, 2022, 03:40:33 PMAlso have a 1964 or 1965 coin & mini poster that were extras in the packs of cards.
Metal baseball coins were an insert in the 1964 Topps packs sold in the United States:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Topps_1964_coins.jpg)
But the All-Stars, i.e. the red coins and the blue coins, were the following year inserted into the 1965 Topps baseball cards packaged and distributed by O-Pee-Chee in Canada.
:)
Quote from: Hepcat on November 15, 2022, 07:07:39 PM
The 1965 Topps Baseball cards had a really nice design:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Topps-Baseball-Hank-Aaron.jpg)
They were the last baseball card set I ever collected as a kid. Just like the previous three years, however, cards beyond the first three series (up to #264) were pretty well impossible to find in variety stores in my neck of the woods.
Metal baseball coins were an insert in the 1964 Topps packs sold in the United States:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Topps_1964_coins.jpg)
But the All-Stars, i.e. the red coins and the blue coins, were the following year inserted into the 1965 Topps baseball cards packaged and distributed by O-Pee-Chee in Canada.
:)
1965 is my all-time favorite set. Beautiful design, and great clarity on the photos. Yep, the 6th and 7th series were short prints, and almost impossible to find.
JP
Quote from: Wolfman on November 15, 2022, 09:18:55 PMYep, the 6th and 7th series were short prints, and almost impossible to find.
Well at least the fourth and fifth series were available in your neck of the woods. We weren't so lucky. I remember only one instance between 1962 and 1965 of a fellow showing up in the school yard with fourth series 1963 cards which prompted a flurry of excitement and wonder. We never did learn where he got them. Perhaps the variety store in his neighbourhood or maybe a weekend trip with his parents to Port Huron, Detroit or Buffalo.
:-\
I wrote a children's novel. (https://a.co/d/4GwFjy7) As well as a three-part follow-up you can read for free.
Part 1: https://www.deviantart.com/mister-haro/art/SUPER-BABY-KIMMY-ADVENT-OF-THE-BABYSITTER-Act-1-1237098063
Part 2: https://www.deviantart.com/mister-haro/art/SUPER-BABY-KIMMY-ADVENT-OF-THE-BABYSITTER-Act-2-1242014581
Part 3: https://www.deviantart.com/mister-haro/art/SUPER-BABY-KIMMY-Advent-of-the-Babysitter-Act-3-1248290856
Quote from: CountWolkoff on October 13, 2025, 05:58:53 PMI wrote a children's novel.
(https://a.co/d/4GwFjy7)
I did
not know that about you! :)