OGYN #41 Pop Spain aka Spain Squared

Thank everyone very much for listening. I trust we are all laughing together. Please share with a friend, right now! Visit joespaincomedy.com for standup shows. Love and Respect. 

In this episode Joe Spain Jr tells Joe Spain III about his life. Father and son talk about everything from 1948-1977. California living, Vietnam, Marriage and Life are all laughed about. Right up until Hurricane Joe Spain is born!

     Joe and Izzy chop it up and tackle all the tough issues with comedy. Live Show tix joespaincomedy.com 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Hey Pop.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Lovely. Oh my gosh. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Yeah, man. So we get to be honest on here. So as we get more comfortable, I might say some dumb shit. Don't call me out. Um, California. You're born in California, right? You got it. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Now let me welcome everybody to the wild wild. You were born in California, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

I was born in California. But I'm saying, in when you were born in California, is it because your dad was in the military, right? My dad was in the Navy, that's correct. So how long did you live in where were you born, first of all?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Long Beach. Long Beach.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

How far from where I was born?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Five miles. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it was real close. Between houses. Uh no, we were actually living in Lomita when you were born. Uh-huh. Right. But, you know, that's like five male miles away from where I lived when I lived there, right? You know, I lived on the famous West Side. West Side. Yes. Do we go? Sorry, couldn't this? The West Side of Long Beach, right? It's a whole it's a whole different community because it's separated by what what we refer to in Long Beach, the flood control, which other people call the Los Angeles River, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Which is that concrete thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yes, the concrete thing where the water flows all around of downtown Los Angeles through Long Beach to get to the ocean. Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

So all the sh um I read somewhere that all the shit is. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. All the shit from LA runs down that thing right into the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

No, uh actually, what runs down there is uh wastewater runoff. So I mean like uh rain, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I'm talking about like bum shit. Um I don't mean like sewage, I mean like carts and oh and bodies.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Yeah, yeah. Everything everything comes down that uh the LA River. And when it's low, which is most of the time, because you know, uh Southern California is an uh uh desert, an arid area, because they get less than 15 inches of rain a year, right? So as a result, the river is generally just a little canal in the middle of this huge concrete basin. I remember that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

And like on Greece. Like racing on Greece.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, I was gonna say. So so there are uh ways to get down on that concrete. Uh-huh. Uh you have to you have to enter through a fence that so you know, people take their their cutters, you know, and cut the chain and they go down there and they run up and down until the police come, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

You know, and probably people just hang out down there too, right? Yeah. Like when it floods, do people get fucked up? Like, do they die? Does it take some bombs and stuff?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

No, there's nobody that lives down in the I mean, not like, you know, uh homeless people or bums or you know. Is that different? That's a different, I mean are bums and homeless people different?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Hey, is it you know is a hobo, is a hobo still different yet? Uh it is, ain't it?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

You know, they're three, yeah, yeah, the three, you know, hobos. I mean, you know, hobos gotta be by a train track, right? Well, uh yeah, because that's how they travel. That's right. That's right. I mean, you know, we used to go out to go out and visit the hobos, right? You know. And my uh my mother, she didn't like that, right? You know, because they were dangerous, right? You know, but they were hobos, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:34

They, you know. They probably learned you a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

They were living life, you know. Oh my, I gotta catch the four o'clock in the LA or you know, they go to Sacramento. I mean, they they're all over the I mean, they travel all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

You think they still exist? You think hobo's still a thing?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

I I think I think people still jump trains, even though security-wise, they've tried to eliminate that. They don't do that, they still get on a train.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

I mean, there's a lot of places, like a lot of towns where the train is just right there.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, and they have to slow down, right? You know, so you can jump a train and you can.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

I can't run that fast anymore.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't run at all, right? You know.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

I ain't jumping a train.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

I'm a walker, right? You know, the quickest I ever ran was to pick up my water bottle at the golf trip in the hall valley we went to, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Do you remember um when we lived in the mansion, quote unquote, the mansion out by Bridgeville, Delaware?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

And the train tracks went behind there. Yeah. We used to tape things. I'm sure you've done that at some point. Put things on the train tracks and let it flatten it out.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Absolutely. Pennies. Pennies, yeah. Yeah, man. But we didn't do nickels, dimes, and quarters because you know, but we did pennies, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:46

You know, nickels get weird when you do them.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Well, no, we didn't do them because that was a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Yeah, I was surprised.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I mean, you know, I could probably buy Coke for a dime, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:57

You know, they probably made a real silver then, too.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know. We everything up more than a penny we cherished, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:06

You know, I still save my silver, man. So um in 19, so when did they pave that? The Army Corps engineers did that, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Oh, it's been no, it's been paved. I'm gonna have to say for um it's been paved maybe 75, 80 years.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

It was paved your whole life. My whole life.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. I thought actually I thought it was post-World War II that they paved that damn thing. Well, that they concentrated it.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

There could have been parts of it that was maybe your yeah, yeah, right. So the part coming out of LA has been paved for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

What's the benefit of having concrete as opposed to just like a creek bed? Because nothing well, because they don't have to worry about erosion. And I guess they can kind of direct it.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Well, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah. I mean, they they made that river, right? You know.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

It was never a river there to begin with. It was a creek, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

You know, little teeny. Yeah, but but the but they had flooding problems in LA.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

I I'm saying because there's mountains on the other side, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah. So everything that so yeah, 50 miles away is uh where the mountains are, right straight across LA. Yeah right, you know. So um they had problems with in in the downtown area of LA when it rained hard, uh, which was unusual, but it but it flooded the streets to where you couldn't pass certain intersections and stuff. I mean, when when I was growing up, when they would people would try to go through those things, they'd flood out their cars. Right. And we would, because it was warm, we would get out there barefoot in a pair of shorts and push them out.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Probably weren't many needles laying around then either.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

No, no. Uh-huh. Yeah. There were some, but not in the yeah. So we we would push them out and charge them money.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Oh, that's what's up. That's fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It costs you a dollar, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Get them while they're in there.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yeah. Oh no, right there. They're they're they're in the they're trapped, right? You know, yeah. And some of them won't get out of their car. Right. Even though it's seeping in through their door and everything, right? They're not getting out of their car. Freak out. They think they're going to be washed away or something, but it's standing water. Yeah. You know. So so we would push them out, and if they said uh and they'd have to pay ahead of time, right? You know, because we weren't having any uh, you know, because you push them out and the car starts, they drive away, right? Yeah. So anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

It's getting higher. You better give me that money.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Right. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Um, so how long did you live in LA before your dad moved? So I lived in Long Beach. I mean in Long Beach.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

So I was born. Yeah, there's a distinct, you know. Uh like today's weather, right? It's it's it's 92 in LA and in Long Beach it's 79. I mean, you know, because they have the ocean breeze and you know, and everything else.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

So is it the Santa Ana?

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Well, the Santa Ana comes down off the mountain. Oh, okay. That's hot. Gotcha. Hot and dry, right? So when you have Santa Ana winds, it dry, it sucks it right out of you. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

I had it backwards.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

It's it's like yeah, it's like living in it's like living in the desert at that point in time.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

You know, which which you know, before LA was built there, which was a gazillion years ago, right? It it was a desert. Right. Right, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

It might be a desert soon.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Well, they're you know, I fifty five blocks now. They're they're they're sucking all that uh water out of the Colorado River and everybody's fighting about it. I know, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

You start making water worth something, we're in trouble. Friggin' 55 blocks. Did you hear that? No. The new count on uh I heard it on a podcast a while back that it was 51 blocks. But recently I looked into it for a joke. There's 55 blocks of skid row. Of skid row in LA? In LA, yeah. Oh, okay. It has swelled to 55 blocks. Holy shit. That's like a burrow, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

I mean, that's a that's a no, that's a that's a big area, that's a stretch of territory. Five miles.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, man. That's big. Like if you were in the middle of it, you would have to r run until you were tired and take a break and run again to get out of it.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

You know what I mean? Oh no, that's right. But the but the but the skid row isn't a scary place.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

No, we went down actually last time when we went to LA with Joseph with my son, yeah, we took him down there. You mean you mean the fore. Yeah. We took him down there and uh we handed out water and talked to people and you know what I mean. Did uh took it, used it as a teaching moment and spent some hours down there. I mean, you know, it's hour You know, I mean it ain't somewhere I want to hang out, but it's not like Kensington. No. Kensington's fucked up right now, man.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

You know, yeah, it's not it it's I mean it's Skid Row. Right, you know, but but it's not as I repeat it, it's not a dangerous area. I agree. Right. I mean, you know, you gotta be in uh other parts of LA to where uh just like being in some parts of of Philadelphia or Baltimore or or Chicago or or uh East St. Louis or you know, I mean that those are not safe zones, right? If if you have any brains, you really shouldn't be out there if you're not from there.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And sometimes you shouldn't be out there if you are from there, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:44

You know, I like to go right on the edge and do comedy.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Joe, you shouldn't be in that Popeye's after dark. Yeah, yeah. What do you mean, man?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah. They'll tell you that. You know, I I tell the story about Baysemore. We were in uh we were in uh West Baltimore to look at a house when we were flipping houses and we we pulled down uh off of uh 40, we pulled down into West Baltimore to go look at this house. And in front of us, you know, open air wise, there was somebody that had his Cadillac SUV with the backup and and they were selling drugs out of the back of his SUV. And and there was someone standing up on the sidewalk who uh was locked and loaded, right? You know, I mean protecting the transaction zone. What year do you think this was? Oh man, this was uh this was 2005. Okay, so not that damn long ago. Oh no, 20 years ago. And uh so I'm getting ready to go down. Basemore says, Don't go down that street. I said, He said, You see how that guy's looking at us? I said, Baysemore, yeah, but you're black. I'm okay. Oh no, you're not okay. I'm not okay, right? So we turn around, right? Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Well, I'm saying if it was summertime, they might have thought you were black too.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Yeah, that's right. You know? Uh-huh. Well, you know that. They didn't believe I was your father, right? I know. A lot of people do that.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Every time you're at a show, they're not your dad. Yeah, it is. But um, how many, how many, you say you so you had, um, I was wanted to get back to your family. Your brothers were Uncle Bud, Uncle Bill, Uncle Leroy, who I never met, and Roberta, your sister.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Lenora.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Lenora.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Roberta's her daughter. Correct. Gotcha. Yeah. So Uncle Bill is how much older than you?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Uncle Bill is 83.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

That doesn't help me. How many years?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

So, so wait a minute, you do arithmetic, buddy, right? You know, he's five years older than me. All right.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Uh-huh. So when you guys were kids, did he was like, you move when you move with your dad, were all the kids together? How did that work? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Explain to me how that works. So we so we were, um, so Leroy and Bill are actually my half-brothers from the same mother.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Okay. Right. Your Hispanic mother.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Correct. Yeah. Yeah. No, she wasn't Hispanic. She's Mexican. She was Mexican, right? She she didn't go by the Hispanic term. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. Then, right, you were Mexican or, you know, whatever. Puerto Rican or Cuban or, you know. I dig it. But uh, you know, they didn't encapsulate everybody into Hispanic, right? I dig it. You know, even the Hispanics don't like uh you know, to be, you know. Nope. I mean, that's like that's like the Cubans don't like the Mexicans. That's right. You know, or vice versa, right? You know. You know, and even if you get a little closer, white, the the Guatemalans don't necessarily like the Hondurans. Yeah, they don't like anybody. So yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. So they'll tolerate them, but if you're Guatemalan, you're okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Still better than a white.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

So so you guys, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

So so so I was born in Long Beach, and when I was so my dad was in the Navy, right? And I say that because um we when I was uh three, we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Oh right, and and when I was two actually, and we lived in Corpus Christi, Texas for two years. And then he had to go to subschool in uh Newport News. He was in a submarine Well, part part of his training was because he was a torpedo man. Holy shit. Right, you know, so we we went to um he had to go to school in Norfolk, right? Virginia. You know, I said that right, Norfolk. Pull that mic a little closer to you. Okay, so he said that in Norfolk, uh right. So we were only there six months, and then we came back to Long Beach and we were in Long Beach until So you lived on base? No. No. We never lived on base. We lived in um um when we were in when we were in Corpus Christi, we lived in Navy housing off base. Which which are really really kind of ratty, right? You know. I mean none of the housing was, you know, upscale, right? You know. In Long Beach we lived in in uh um public housing. And then in when we were you know, when we were young, and then we lived in navy h Navy housing in Corpus Christi, and then we lived in an apartment in uh Norfolk, right? And then when we went back to Long Beach, we moved into Navy housing. And I lived there um on the west side until I was uh until I graduated in the ninth grade. Because uh you know, got left the ninth because junior high school was seven, eight, and nine at the time. And we went to Vallejo which which Valleo was a was Vallejo is right outside of San Francisco. It's a navy base. Okay. So we went to the Vallejo for two years. Uh and then I came back to Long Beach to graduate from high school my senior year at Long Beach Poly. Now you know Long Beach Poly is is is many Long Beach Poly has has more uh NFL players than any other high school in the United States. Oh shit. Yeah, and but it's famous now because Snoop Dogg graduated from he's a little bit younger than you, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tad, right? You know, uh-huh. Of course, he's probably pushing 50, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

No, man. I think he's 60.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 18:08

I could be wrong. I'm not gonna look it up because I'm not gonna look it up. I don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Somebody will look it up. Yeah, somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Uh-huh. He's I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah, so he so he graduated 20 years after me. Right. Right, you know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Who else is for Polly? Who else is yeah, like NFL player? Do you know do you remember?

SPEAKER_00 18:27

No, I mean Mark Muller McKeever and uh and then we had uh uh anybody like around your age, your class? Oh, I don't I don't remember. You don't remember. I mean, you know, one guy all all we called him was bullet head, right? Because he didn't have any hair, right? Or he shaved his hair like some people I know, right? And it was shaped like a bullet, right? Right. And and he was a running back, right? And uh uh D Andrews, uh he went to school with us, right? Uh he's NFL running back and that's cool. Yeah, so so there was a you know, I mean they're still they still uh are athletically known and when you when you make all CIF, all California inner Classic for Federation, that's their sporting background over the top of the whole state. Uh-huh. When you become CIF champs, you you know, and and Polly has done it a number of times. Nice. So and they have basketball players that have gone to the NBA and but no damn hockey. I'd imagine not. They don't they don't even know about hockey. I guess not. And they don't know about lacrosse. Yeah. Right? And we never played soccer, right? Really? I mean football, basketball, and baseball.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

What was the demographic when you were in school there?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Is it a lot Hispanic or a lot black or so so when I lived in Long Beach, Long Beach Long Beach Polly, uh right behind Polly is uh a street called California Avenue, and that was predominantly black.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Right. So the the mix at school really even was only like uh uh 30% African American, right? Uh and probably 20% Hispanic collective, right? Mostly Mexicans, right? You know. And uh and then the rest were uh Caucasians, right? So there was you know, I mean forty percent Caucasian, right? So I was but when I went to Balay, was about uh 70% African American.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

So that was where you went from 10 eleven.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

1011, correct. Yeah. We had a fun time. Um sure. Oh, I mean, because we lived uh those are rough years too to be a good thing. Oh, we lived in a community. No, no, we lived in a community um that uh was McDougal Heights, right? And and it wasn't uh Navy community, that's where we lived off base, right? Not Navy housing, right? And um I had this little Irish guy uh who I grew up with, right? Um in tenth and eleventh grade, right? Well it it's really strange because we were the minority and and they were afraid of the minority. And I mean the African American contingent of the school. Yeah, the majority. Well the majority was afraid of the minority because we all stuck together. Where as the majority they were kind of, you know, different little groups and stuff, right? But you know like the Democrats and Republicans. Yeah, yeah. We're yeah, yeah, yeah. But we're we're a group of uh of you know 20-30 percent right right who and a knot we all we all carried knives you know chinotes yeah yeah you know and while we didn't really carry knives but you know that was a story and then and then this uh I was gonna tell you this friend of mine he he actually so we had a big fight at school right which was common right I mean uh we fought on the railroad tracks and we fought in school and we you know well he was in a fight and he grabbed this chain that one of the big chains that go across the street to keep cars from going down the alley right I mean he grabbed this chain he was swinging it around beating the hell out of people I mean putting lumps on them and everything else because you know they were gonna gang up on him right you know and so the next day he wore a sweatshirt to school cut the sleeves off cut the neck out right and it's it said it said Smith the cannibal killer right he wore the damn thing to school right I said oh yeah he got on the bus right and I said oh yes oh yeah we're we're in for it today right he was asking for he was he was but you know what yeah they stared clear of him I bet it's kind of crazy in his eyes yeah that's exactly right you know so anyway so we came back to Long Beach and I graduated uh from Long Beach Polly and uh did Uncle Bill graduate from the other one Uncle Bill didn't graduate he didn't graduate no Uncle Bill dropped out of school uh when he was 15 uh right just before he went to high school for about two weeks gotcha and then decided that it wasn't for him right right so he became a uh a bus boy right he worked in a steak restaurant and uh he would bring he would bring home uh leftovers every night nice you know cu yeah because people you know it's a pro in in expensive restaurants at that time you know they would order a steak and take two bites and well he'd come home and and his brothers would devour it right yeah like we didn't have much steak right you know so well that's cool we had healthy food beans and rice right right you know like little nice little Mexicans uh you know give us those pinto beans or those pink beans you know oh man I don't like those oh yeah just like they're just like pinto beans it's like the I don't like the way they look they're like little little pickled eggs or something no no pink beans are are black just oh that's not what I thought you were talking about yeah no no you're talking about those other ones little shiny pink ones on the oh no we we didn't eat those right we had all whether there would be black beans pinto beans or pink beans right and uh so every time you guys moved to a new place that's four times right yeah all the kids were in tow yeah everybody was in tow man that's what's up uh and then and then Leroy went in the Marine Corps right and he lasted uh oh I I'm thinking about a year and a half really and that's when he was diagnosed with lupus oh right you know and he got real sick right and uh so then and he was five years older than Uncle Bill uh he was four years older than Uncle Bill four years so he's nine years older than you yes uh huh so he he he lived uh until he was uh thirty so you know because back then they didn't have uh uh uh treatment for lupus right right where people today have lupus and they live until they're 90 or whatever their natural life span right so uh he he passed away in uh 1970 so he was twenty he was thirty one and you graduated high school in sixty sixty six yeah so you were back from Vietnam oh I I was back from Vietnam and actually when he passed away I was here in Maryland uh visiting your mother okay so let's back up a little bit so you graduate high school yeah when did you meet mom uh so when I went in the army uh right I was uh I went in the army in uh 68 that you enlisted April 68 uh I enlisted they had started the draft in 68 they had so I was so so what I did was coaching from my father right was if I joined the army you joined for three years and he and if you volunteered for the draft which is kind of enlisting right you only had to guarantee them two years and my dad said you know if you like it because my dad was a lifer as they call it right he said if you like it you stay if you don't like it you get to get out after two years. Right right you know yeah so that was good coaching and you were probably gonna get drafted anyway right yes yes I had a I had a low number right right right so so it was nice to have some control at least a little time time wise right you know so uh because I was I was working in a um uh a mechanics place where they sold my car services right you know plus tires plus so I I was learning all of that right gotcha and I decided on you know they're I'm gonna get drafted anyway so I'm gonna d decide what the time frame is. Did that have any bearing on where you went no I think uh that it's proven out that most people from the lower income areas went to Vietnam I mean in Vietnam as far as within the Vietnam conflict if you enlisted like if you said okay I'll go did you get to control a little bit of where you went over the person that they drafted and they threw them in the meat grinder?

SPEAKER_02 28:19

No. It just didn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

No no but what happens is when you were when you go in the service uh you you take a whole battery of tests right right and that and and that whole battery of test uh they can tell um or what direction that they can utilize you. Understood right so if you do well like like like I did uh for some reason because you know I never went to high school hardly right you know uh I mean you know I mean my my um junior year at high school uh I missed uh 49 days damn you know I would leave the house in the morning and not make it to school right well you cut the I would cut no no no we we were uh we were uh not going to school gotcha all right we were we were getting into trouble right you know or we you know we I think the statute of limitations is up yeah yeah yeah uh huh it wasn't good stuff right you know all right anyway I didn't mean to interrupt you I'm sorry no that's okay we we uh we did a lot of different things right you know okay so where were you we were talking about what the fuck was I just talking about no we were talking about uh uh the military the military and you not being able to really control where you went that's what we were talking about that's correct yeah you really couldn't I mean they might no matter what they might send yeah for first of all you couldn't control what job you were gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Right because it's what they saw fit.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Yeah it's what they it it's it's what their needs were right and uh I mean that's where it started and how you test it out. Gotcha right you know because I test it out real high they ought actually offered me to go to officers candidate school so I took why would you go to Canada School? Candidate candidate candidate school candidate yeah man what a traitor OCS Office at candidate school right so uh to be an officer right uh and st and probably still go to Vietnam but so I I told them that uh I could I would go to OCS uh if I could be a pilot you too damn tall no no what's the problem I could I I'm colorblind no so I didn't know that yeah they gave they gave me this thing to look into uh and it had all kinds of leaves in there you know you look down this tube oh man that's a movie mistake to look at it had all kinds of leaves I mean orange yellow green you know all this and they sit they said so what number do you see I said there's no number in there oh this is a trick question right and then they lift the back real bright and you saw that there was a three there should have guessed I said well I didn't get that one right you know let's do the next one right so they they did another one right and I guess six I said I said I I don't see the freaking number right you know and then they said okay okay let's go to the next test right so they went to the test and and you look down a tube again and there's there's two little men down there and you have to move the sticks back and forth to where they're standing right next to each other.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

They're doing some gay shit.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I flunked that bitch also right so they said you can't be a pilot I said well I'm not going to OCS because if you went to OCS you had to you had to give them six years.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

So I was I was ready to do that if I could be a pilot. Right but since I couldn't be a pilot I'm not doing that. Yeah that's ridiculous yeah so so I just went to basic training and where'd you go to basic in Fort Meade California which no longer exists it's now a uh a state park really right yeah uh a big state park and uh I got some of your tears in the dirt yeah yeah uh huh that's right uh so so I went when I went into service I was dating this woman uh Lucille Nieto right oh Hispanic yes yeah absolutely I was almost Hispanic oh but all the way yeah yeah yeah but she but she was a uh uh she was a tremendous speed freak I mean 45 years old she dropped those bennies you know like I mean she started off dropping maybe two or three to get her going in the morning oh my goodness before that we'd have to buy a jar of a thousand right yeah from Mexico you know I mean so and we literally get a jar with a thousand in there right you know and she would be eating thirty or forty a day oh my God that can't be good for you oh wow you know and so she wanted to get married oh yeah right I she said oh you know you're going in the service we don't know what's gonna happen to you right I said uh I'm not doing that right you know first of all did she make it longer than you did she make it till you got back she alive she she actually so so she actually married my best friend wow I mean like three months after I was gone for her and they have uh three kids oh they're still alive she's still alive you know yeah uh you know I haven't contacted them in about 15 years or so well even 15 years ago that's good yeah so she but she didn't have any teeth right you know oh yeah yeah you know all all of those uh baby calf style baby yeah yeah that's exactly right so anyway so you didn't get married so you went in the military went to military went to went to uh Fort Meade from Fort Meade um so that Fort Meade California not Fort Meade Maryland uh I'm sorry Fort Ord might might slip up so I went to Fort uh Ord did my basic training went to advanced infantry training and uh then they said well you qualify to go to communication school I said oh good communication that's better than being a grunt right you know because um that there were people shipping out at that point going directly to Vietnam so I said well I'll take an opportunity I'll go to communication school so along the way because I did you go into service and you're uh you're an when you get out of basic training you're an E1 unless you did real good at basic training uh then some people very few uh they give them another stripe and you're an E2 right so I got a stripe. Oh nice and then I went to I went to communication school in Fort Gordon Georgia with oh yeah the red the red dirt country right you know with the big ants oh I hate it. Oh you know it was it was really uh it was really a life experience because you know I I will say when I grew up in California I was always in a very uh mixed group yeah I mean the West Side we you know I go through we had you mean ethnically ethnically we had African Americans we had guamanians Filipinos uh I don't know what a Guamanian is from Guam oh okay from Guam Samoans uh we we had uh Puerto Ricans Cubans Mexicans right uh Japanese West Coast baby you know so we were a real melting pot over there but you're from the West side right so you know you fought against Wilmington and San Pedro and you know and and you represented the West side right so when I when I got to Georgia we had a weekend off and we decided to go to Jacksonville Florida on the beach. So so four of us got in a car and we drove to Jacksonville Florida while on the way uh we were hungry and we saw the sign for this chicken place right so so there were um there was myself and and uh another guy from I that grew up on the west side right and uh then there was uh a a gentleman from um uh um arkansas right and then there was a a black gentleman uh that was actually from Georgia right so so we got out of the car and we're going up to this chicken place and and he said well you know I'll meet you guys back in the car so well where are you going? He said I'm going up to the walk-up window I said where are you going to walk up window come on he said I can't go in there I said what do you mean you can't go in there I said you're gonna go to Vietnam that's what we always used to say right I said of course you can go in there he said no I'm telling you I can't go in there I said come on and I opened the door and I went in there and the lady pointed right at him he can't come in here what the fuck some good old boys down there you know so what year was this oh that was 1868 yeah at tracks yeah so it was uh uh yeah it was an awakening for me I'm surprised they let you in there you know well yeah they weren't letting him in so we all went to the walk up window right word and and we got our food went down to a little park and ate right you know right good for you all yeah and went to Jacksonville and had a great time and then uh from uh from Fort Gordon uh I got orders to go to Fort Meade. Oh okay yeah and that's that's when uh I was in the barracks and the phone rang uh and there was nobody around I picked up the phone and there was this young lady on the phone and she wanted to talk to this guy named Velin right while while Veland was from was from uh New York right and he was an asshole right I mean he was this uh he he and I didn't mix well you know oil and water you know whatever uh we always had words you know I always invited him outside and you know and uh and he was he was tough but he wasn't tough enough to go outside you know so you know so anyway so she wanted to talk to Breland while I said you don't want to talk to Breland oh yeah I've talked to him a number of times right I said you don't want to talk to Breland right well then about a week later um you know I the we had a where I worked when I was there which the building is still there but nobody knew what it was it really wasn't on Fort Meade it was right off of Fort Meade and it was uh it was the communication center for all the missiles up and down the east coast because you know all around here Davidsonville I mean you know Wheaton are silos there are silos that you don't even know that's there right that has you know missiles nuclear warheads in them and stuff right you know so so we we were the communications center between Florida and Massachusetts we were the centralized communication center where you're like yeah we did that occasionally yeah uh yeah but we had you know we had uh teletype machines that went oh man I was kidding I was making an old joke and you're real no that's right so we had all of those right and and then uh uh so so when I when I left um when I left uh Georgia uh uh so there were 5000 people in these different communication uh genres you know and I say that some of them were switchboard operators some were wirers some of them were uh uh you know different they did different specialties right so out of all those people that were in school uh I graduated number two oh nice so I got another strike oh so now I'm an E3 right and I I come to Fort Meade right and um and so we work twenty four hours a day so I was working the swing shift you know from from four to midnight right and Vreland uh came to relieve and and the place was was so well guarded you had to go through three security checkpoints that were all in a chained tunnel right so you went in you got searched you know you signed in they they checked your like you're going to see my brother oh worse than that yeah worse than that right you know I mean yeah so and so when you got in there you're in the communication center and uh I was uh uh working uh and Vreland relieved me right so he came in and I went and talked to somebody else you know I have a habit of doing that right you know and I went back to to make sure he got settled and everything and there he was with his little spoon heating up his you know yeah why and he had a and he had his his needle right and he's getting it heated up and he's he's getting ready to mainline it right you know I so I left right quickly right well about three o'clock in the morning the we live in an open bay barracks uh right three o'clock in the morning the the lights come on and and the military police come in they pull me out of the rack right you know and and arrest me uh and take me down to the to the captain's office and they wake the captain up who he's pissed in the middle of the night right I mean because he lives off base right right and and they I said uh what what what is going on here well you know it's a you know you're being charged with a federal offense right I said a federal offense he said yeah you abandoned your duty in a you know high security area right your your work's I said I what right and so the captain got in there right and they you know they were pushing me around and you know I'm in handcuffs right you know and everything else and the captain come in there and they took me into the captain's office and I so I I he said what do you have to say for yourself I said well I I I'm gonna say one thing I said you need to check the logs the security logs okay and he calls us first sergeant in and he said uh did you check the security logs he said well no Freeland told us that he got sick and and he left told Spain he couldn't work and you know and he left and you know so anyway so they checked the security logs and they saw that I left at Freeland came in at eleven fifty two right I left at twelve twenty right and Reeland left at at two fifteen Right. So so they said, get the cuffs off that man, right? Oh man, good shit. Yeah, yeah. So I I was cleared and they took Reeling away. We never saw him again.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

Really? I wonder if they ground him up in a cheeseburger.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

I don't know, man, but you know, so so that left an open window.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

No, to get the mama.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Yeah, that's exactly right. Oh, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

You know what I never heard that story all the way.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Yeah, no, that that was so so we uh so I was invited to the house for Thanksgiving dinner.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

That quick?

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Well, I mean, you know, here it is within a month. Right. Right. So uh so I had I had met your mother on the slide away from the house. Uh right. Which uh she'd have gotten a lot of trouble for. Right. Because, you know, her her father was this really control freak of the girls.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

Plus, you were she was like 12, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:57

No. She was 14. Was she 14 or 15? Yeah. She was 14. 14. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. So, so uh, which I didn't know to tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

Well, I I believe that. Well, regardless.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

No, I mean I I didn't uh so so anyway, uh I was invited to uh the house for Thanksgiving. Nice. And and actually, um, actually uh your grandmother, right, Mary, right, was very polite, right, and nice.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

That surprises me.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Oh no, she was, you know, and your grandfather, Sam, okay, was not polite at all. That doesn't surprise me. He wanted to know, he wanted to know what nationality are you? Uh-huh. So what are you? Yeah, what are you, right? So my god. So I wasn't white, right? Right. I was I was in the army, uh-huh, right? I was I was considerably older than his daughter. Uh-huh. Right, right. And uh, and I was a Californian.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

I forgot about that one. So all of those. I mean, you know, and and then and then uh and then your uh Uncle Sam showed up. Ooh, right, you know Big Brother. Yeah, the big brother, right? The big brother, that's exactly what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

I bet he was swollen he was swolled up too.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Oh my god, yeah. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Like a banny rooster, you know.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

I mean, uh uh, you know, accomplished football player, you know, and everything else, right?

SPEAKER_02 46:50

So was he younger than you by one year. Oh, so you guys are basically the same age.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Yeah, yeah. Basically the same age, right? You know my god. Yeah, so so he is uh puffing his chest out, and you know, and and then the so they had a Doberman pincher that was chained to a tree outside, right? And the dog was mean, right? So, so Mary, your grandmother, right, uh, she did a she made a bucket of food up, right? Literally a bucket, right?

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Like table scraps and shit.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Uh yeah. Yeah, you know, yeah, and dog food, table scraps and dog food. I gotcha. And she said, uh uh Sam, you know, Uncle Sam said, This needs to go out to to King, right? And I said, Oh, I'll take it. Oh, no, no, no. I said, No, I'll take it, right? So I carried it out there. Well, you know, the dog is growling and snarling and everything else, but I got the bucket of food.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

That's right. You know, so so I put the bucket of food in front of them, and you know, because at the chain length, right? And then I just walked in and you know, and he followed me in, and I poured the bucket of food in there, and you know, and he's growling the whole time he's eating, and everybody is really surprised, right? Well, stop Sam stops me outside because you know they had woods all behind where Agnes and Kathy live. Yeah, absolutely. So they had woods all back there, and he said, uh, I want to talk to you for a second. I said, Okay. This will be the last time I'm gonna see you at this house. I said, What? He said, I'm telling you right now. He said, I see you again, I'm gonna kick your ass. Well, you know, I am from the west side. Right right now, I only say that. I reached over and pulled up this log about three inches around, right? I said, you know what? I will crack your head open right at this instant, right? You know, I said, bring it on, right? You know, and he said, Oh man, I like you.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

Was he bigger than you?

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Uh you know, he was about two inches taller than me. But thinner. He was pushing about six five, right? But uh he probably weighed about uh, oh, he probably weighed about 220, right? And I was about 240. Right.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

So you were around the same size.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

About the same size, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:28

That's like uh you went over there and fuck with the dog who eats out of the bowl first, and then you had to deal with him who eats out of the bowl first.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

That's just how it goes.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

Yeah, yeah. So we we ended up being real good friends.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

That's what's up.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Real good friends.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

And then uh, so you went back to California because I was born in California. So how did you end up back in California?

SPEAKER_00 49:52

So so when I got out of the service when I came home from Vietnam, I actually uh decided to go to college. So I I enlisted enlisted, I enrolled in college in 70 in the winter term. So I got home in January, right? And so I did one term and then that that first summer, uh, Uncle Bud came home from Vietnam, right? Um no, I lied, right? So I so uh I went one semester and then I worked in the summer and then I came to Maryland and and visited your mother.

SPEAKER_02 50:42

Sweet read.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

And then and then when I was going home, right, Sam said that he told me that your mother was going with me. Well, we 'cause cause she and I had not talked about that. Right, you know. So I I said, what? Right? Said, yeah, why well he had he had bought her for her 16th birthday a uh red Mustang Mustang.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Mom always talked about that Mustang. Right until the day she died.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

She had she had he had bought her this red Mustang, right? So uh when we left, okay, he handed me a coupon book, okay, which was for the payments for the car. And he said, Okay, you need to take care of this now. Oh he didn't really buy it, he financed it, right? And had this coupon book. So I inherited this uh, you know, coupon book. So we we lived in California for about six months, right? And then we had this uh huge argument, right? But sh well she really didn't like California. She didn't like California in the least. The only thing she liked in California was in in our front yard, we lived in a flag lot, right? Where you went past the driveway, plastic one house, and the house was in the back, right? What we had this huge avocado tree that just produced hundreds of avocados. And at first she wouldn't eat them. It was green and it was ugly, and so I made some guacamole up. Oh, yeah. She had avocados every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from then on, right? Yeah, man. I mean, you just go out to the tree, the ones that just dropped, they're perfect, right? You know, she we had avocados and salad, we had avocados and and scrambled eggs, we had we had avocados every, as I said, every day, right? And I would take bags of avocados into work, right? Because I worked as an electrician part-time.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Out there.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Out there.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Well, I I mean I would say electrician. I was a helper.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 53:19

Right. For electrical contractor. And I went to school. So so she was, you know, here I Where'd you go to college at this point? Um, I I went to uh a two-year college, like at a rundown community college.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

Gotcha, like a junior college.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 53:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

So um so so I had gone to college before I went in the army for one semester, right? And uh played football.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

But back then, back then they had a uh a JV squad. In college. In college. It it really so they didn't let uh they didn't let f uh freshmen play varsity football. You had to do you had to do at least one year in junior varsity.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

Gotcha, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

So I mean that was the rules back then, the NCAA rules or whatever. Right. So um, so I did that while I didn't do very well. Right? You know how the grading system is uh one is a D and two is a C and three is a B and four is an A. Well, my my grade point average was 0.9. Oh yeah, yeah. So you know, so I got put on probation, uh athletic probation.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

So I started the second semester, you know, it was all about partying, right? So I started out not doing very good, so I withdrew, right, and went to work full time. And then uh so I worked and and went to school. Went to school, and it was um a difficult environment for a woman who grew up in Maryland in a rural area and loved the eastern shore of Maryland and and because there are people everywhere. Right. There were lines everywhere, there were people everywhere, and we just happened to be there in a time period to where we didn't have any rain for six months. So it was sunny every day, it was in the 70s, there's no, I mean, every everything you could think about, there's no seasons, there are no everything she could think about, right? Why to hate California, she hated California.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

What a nice season.

SPEAKER_00 55:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, but really she missed her family. I gotcha. Right, you know, so we had this uh tremendous argument, uh-huh, right? And she finished it up with saying, well, uh and it wasn't physical in any way whatsoever. Right. She finished it up with, well, the only reason you can talk to me like that is because I can't go home. Oh. So right at that moment there was no delay. Right. I went into her closet and just got her clothes together and went and put it in the trunk of the car. I went to her drawers and pulled them out and put them in the back seat. I her shoes, I put everything in the car, and I said, get in the car, we're leaving. Right. And then I stopped by Carl Patton's house, which is a friend of mine, right? And I picked up a little uh sample of Benny's, right? And we got in the car, and I drove from Long Beach, California to Kent Island because they were living in uh Bay City Bay City, right, in 46 and a half hours. Damn! Right, coast to coast, and I pulled the car up, put it in the driveway, and walked out of Bay City and hitched tight to BWI.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

Did you really and flew home? No wonder I'm so hard-headed.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

You know, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:09

It's a no wonder, man.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Yeah, so I went home and then the and then the summer of 71 was when Terry Buckley and my brother Bud and I uh did our road trip. You know, when school got out in June, we got in Bud's pickup and we drove, we drove, first of all, we went to the we went to the Colorado River because that's where all the college students went. So we spent a couple days there, had a wonderful time, right? And then we went to Phoenix because I had a cousin that lived in Phoenix. Her husband was uh the fire chief for Scottsdale, Arizona. Oh, nice. So we stayed there for a couple days, and then we decided, well, let's go ahead and go to Paplar Bruff, Missouri, and visit dad, right, who lived in Papa Rough at the time, right? Because my mom and dad got divorced, right? So we drove to Popper Bruff, and then and then Terry said, Well, you know, I got a friend in New York.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

Is that where you met Tracy? When you met Tracy?

SPEAKER_00 58:18

Yeah, yeah. Tracy was the first time I met Tracy, correct.

SPEAKER_02 58:23

That's cool. Was your half brother?

SPEAKER_00 58:26

He was he was like five years old or something. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

That's wild. You know, Uncle Trace. Five or six.

SPEAKER_00 58:33

Yes. Uh-huh. My stepbrother.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

Yeah. Stepbrother. That's right, stepbrother.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

Yeah. So so my so Terry said, I got a friend, I got a Navy friend, because Terry went in the Navy. You know, he said, I got what Terry did was, um if you went if you went in the s if you go in the service even today, before you're 18 years old, you only have to do three years. Right. So that's what Terry did in the Navy.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 59:03

Otherwise, you have to do four years. Right. So I said, Well, okay, let's go to New York. Right. So we stopped in Tennessee because he had a friend in Tennessee also. And we spent several days in Tennessee. Uh and and walking into the mountains.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

How were you? Do you just have money from I mean, in a bank account, or were you sucking dicks on corners, or were you printing t-shirts? How were you guys getting down the road? No comment.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

So so everybody had a little bit of money.

SPEAKER_02 59:36

Gotcha. Yeah. So you just pulled it and just got where you could get.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

Yeah. That's what's up. I know. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 59:42

So easy rider style.

SPEAKER_00 59:43

So while we did we did some we did some grunt work in Tennessee where you got paid real well.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 59:49

Hauling stone, right? I mean, carrying stone. They had this little quarry.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

And that's what we saw. We call selling crack rocks.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Yeah. So yeah. So okay. So we so we had to we did that. And then we uh uh then after we did Tennessee, he said, well, let's get on the road to New York, right? And I said, Well, you know, uh I'm gonna I'm gonna go to Maryland, you know. See this girl. See this girl, right? So they didn't even take me to her house. You know, that they came up um they came at the time they came up uh 81, interstate 81, and dropped me off. And then I hitchhiked, you know, through DC and across the bridge, you know, hitchhiking back there. It was done a lot. And then and then they went to New York, Bud and Terry. And then I stayed probably a week uh in Maryland, and then I hitched up hitchhike up to New York, right? And then we hung out a few more days in New York.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

My mom probably thought that was insane too, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

No, no, we because we just did it. Yeah, right. You know, so we hitchhike to New York. She used to flip out when I did it. Yeah, yeah. Well, that it was different. And then uh uh when we were in New York, we said, well, let's go to Canada. So we went up to we went to um Niagara Falls first. Oh my gosh, that was uh that was wonderful. We had a wonderful trip to Niagara Falls. We're sitting there, you know, you can walk down to the lower level and the mist is, you know, all there and everything. And we took mescalane, you know. Bud uh so Bud's steering wheel, uh his center cap, he had a he had a racing type stinner sitting on the truck. You'd undo the racing, and he would have his private drugs under there, right? You know. So well, well, to this day I will, oh, that was raining, different colors and you know, I mean, it was just like uh it was a pretty nice experience, right? You know, and then we went on to Toronto. We spent a couple days in in um in Niagara Falls camping out in the park.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:06

Nice, right? You know, hippie style.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:08

We didn't we didn't have any uh you know, we slept in the back of the truck or out on the ground. So we got to Toronto and uh boy, we were you know, we were just whipped, right? Right. So there was out of mascaline. Yeah, yeah. We were whipped, right? So there was this big park along some river. I don't even know the name of it, but it it ran the whole length of this river like a few miles, and and it wasn't like it was uh just grass, right? A couple trees here and there, right? So we pulled up there and pulled out the sleeping bags and and we'd also been drinking beer and you know, and and went to sleep, right? Well, about five o'clock in the morning it was still dark, and uh never so so there there's this bright light, right? Yeah, you know, I kind of can just barely open my eyes, right? And here's this horse standing over the top of me. What? And this mounted Canadian mounted blue kind of this flashlight in my eyes, right? You know, and I was very I said, get that damn light on my and he took it away, right? You know, and and Terry was talking to him, and the next thing I know, he said, Well, you gotta be out of here at at daylight. And they went away and left us alone. Nice, right? Yeah, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:33

You can't sleep on the side of the road anymore, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

Oh, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

You get your booty hole touched.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:38

Yeah, well, you know or get abducted.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:42

I thought you were gonna say an alien on a horse came and got it.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:46

Yeah, I thought it was an alien. Yeah, I bet you did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:49

So so then you and mom, so you stayed in Maryland for a week, and then when did mom come back to California to have me?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:00

So so we got back to uh we spent the whole summer traveling, and we got back a week before school started again. Right. So so I did uh um one more semester, right? And then I came back to Maryland in the very beginning of uh uh Christmas of 71. I came back to Maryland. And that's when my brother passed away. So I f I flew home uh for his services and then I decided, well, I'm gonna go back to Maryland, right? So I came back to Maryland and in January uh we got married. Went to the went to the courthouse and yeah, yeah, yeah. We got we we hooked it up, right? Yeah, that was us, right? So anyway, we had a we had a uh uh and then and then we lived in uh uh Bay City for a little while, you know, like a month and a half. Oh I and I went to I went to work uh with Sam and Sam for Baltimore Gas and Electric. BG and E. Yeah. So so I went to work. Uh so we drove every day from Kent Island uh to Baltimore on Light Street.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:29

That's where it's where their truck headquarters is, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

Is it still there?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:33

I believe so. Yeah. Yep, that BW uh lot there, b uh BGE lot there. So so we would drive every morning. Right. Well then uh on the weekend for that month, um we would travel around the eastern shore. Well, we found this little house for rent. Uh On Tanyard Road.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:01

That's right down by the water.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:03

Uh-huh. In Preston.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:04

Preston, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:05

Well uh no, the little house is not by the water.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

I mean, it's a quarter mile from the water. Maybe less.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:11

Maybe a lot. Maybe a mile.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:13

I can't remember. I've watched it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:14

Well, anyway, so it's a there was a little house there.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:17

Uh uh, and so we rented that house, and man, it would, you know, it was sixty dollars a month. Man. You know, I mean it was a ball buffer. Man, you know. Uh-huh. But my car payment was still $170.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

You still had that fucking red mustache.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:33

Paid it off, yeah, right. Yeah. But we only had a few payments left, right? So I was looking forward to that, right? Right. So I'm um so then I got a high paying job, you know, because uh I was making working at Baltimore Gas and Electric, right? I was making like $225 an hour or something like that, right? You know. And then uh I got offered this job. So so now I'm dry because Sam lived down there in the house that was a quarter of a mile from the water.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:07

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

He and his wife lived down there. Um and so she wanted to go back to West Virginia.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:17

I figure she's from West Virginia.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:19

Yeah, so yeah. So so I so I wanted to uh um I didn't want to drive because we drove from Preston to Baltimore every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

Yeah, that's a trip. That's an hour and a half hour.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

And and we would be to work at five thirty in the morning. Right. Right. So, you know, and then we'd have to come back across the bridge. Right. You know, which really wasn't really wasn't a problem because every day after work they want to have a they want to go to a pub, right? 'Cause Baltimore has those great corner pubs, right? You know. So we would find a pub and you know, we'd get a couple other guys from work and you know, everybody'd buy around and before you know it you have six or eight beers and you know, and and then we would shoot pool, right? And we'd make money, uh, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

Then you go home and sleep and then do it again.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:12

Do it again, yeah. And I so so I said, No, that that's that's not working well, right? 'Cause I would get up at four o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:20

Right, you know, to shower and get ready and drive to Baltimore and then turn around and come back, right? At seven o'clock at night, right? You know, seven thirty, whatever. And so I went so I got offered this job with Fourny Electric. I don't know if I don't know if they still exist in Easton.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:38

Eastern Maryland. Fourny?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

Fourny. F-O-R-N-E-Y.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:43

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

And uh so I went to work for them and they paid me uh three dollars an hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:52

Shh pow balling three dollars an hour. Three dollars an hour, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:57

You know uh and then and then they got slow and and and I don't know if this cut so then uh they were gonna lay people off and Seacreast electric in Cordova, Joe Seacreast, I don't know if he's still alive or anything, because he was probably ten years older than me, right? Offered me a job to come and work with him, right? Which which was good. And and he and he paid me three dollars an hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:26

Three.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:27

Three.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:27

So you're stuck on three.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Three, right? You know. So I I I worked I worked with him, and uh then um what year is this? What year?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:39

Uh now you're how fucked up is it that I made $4.25 in 1996 and you're already up to three three dollars, man.

unknown 1:09:48

You know, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:49

You're already up to three, and it's 1974. Four or five, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:54

Four, right? Dang inflation's a bitch. Yeah, and and then uh uh uh John Titer.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

Yeah, he's still around.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:04

He he offered me a job, right? The old man. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:08

Oh, he's not still around.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:09

You know, I I actually I met him in uh uh w what what do you call that place um where you get electrical stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:16

E D supply?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:18

Yes. I met him in E D supply and he's he was very nice. And he said uh and I don't know where he got this, he said, you know, people saying people are saying good things about you. Uh-oh. I said, Well, thank you, Mr. Titer, because I knew who he was, right, you know. And he said, How'd you like to come work for me? Well, you know, he had he had 200 people on the payroll. Damn. And I said, Well, it depends on, you know, uh oh. He said, uh, well, I'll give you 325. That's it. Oh there. Monday morning, right? You know. 325. Yeah, and then that's when I met all my uh my John Tider buddies. Yeah. Right. So so I worked there until uh 70 the beginning of 77. And uh and I was a German electrician, you know. And uh I actually uh had a crew, right? And ran jobs, right? You know, I did the bay model. I did the Bay model, right? And then uh I said, well, you know, I I'm gonna go back to school. I mean, you know, I'm uh I'm not gonna be an electrician forever, I know that, right? You know. So I'm gonna go back to I'm gonna go back to college, right? And I went to the University of Maryland for some reason, I don't have I don't remember why, right? But they weren't gonna transfer all my credits.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:46

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

Yeah. So that were earned at the community college in California.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:50

Call me Pinko, Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I said, well, I'll just go back to California. So that's when we got loaded everything up.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

So was she pregnant when y'all loaded everything up? Not that you knew of.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:04

Nope. The determination was it happened in root. In root in root, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:09

Man, so I was conceived in who knows where, born in California.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:14

Exactly right. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:17

It had to be in root.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

Yeah. At some point in time was the greatest gift I ever had.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:23

I love it, man. So I can claim that I was I was conceived in like any state in between Maryland and California.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:28

That's exactly right. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:30

I got roots, bitches, all across the country. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

And it took us five days to drive from uh Maryland to California. And we and we were towing a trailer. We had a we had the trail.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

I was conceived in a trailer?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:44

Yeah, oh no. Oh no, a little a little U-Haul trailer. Oh, I gotcha. Yeah. No, no. We it was probably out on the ground somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:52

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:54

With the ants. Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. So so that so then um you you were we lived in Lomita. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:05

And and that's when uh uh And then we moved to Maryland when I was four or three.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

We moved to Edgewater.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:11

Edgewater.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:12

When you we were you were four.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:13

Four.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:14

And Justin was Justin was born in Annapolis. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:19

Yeah. Okay, I got that right.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:20

Yeah. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:22

In 80, Ocho.

unknown 1:13:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:25

Ocho, Ocenta. All right. So now I'm born. That's all I care about. As long as I get born.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:32

Uh-huh. And the rest is history.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:34

And the rest is history. Yeah. I was going to call Isaiah, but he's not out of work yet. So I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up. We'll do another one some other time. And you start from when I was born. Would you do that?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:47

When you were born?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:48

Yeah, because we're up to me being born. And just back in Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

Let's talk about that for a second. All right, let's do it. Because it's just an exciting moment.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:57

So, so in California, now we're in California, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

So, so we um we tell the the um the gynecologist, okay, that uh I want to participate in the birth. Right? And she says, okay, right? So we your mother goes into labor, right? We get her to the hospital. I don't call anybody at that point in time, right? Just her and I, right? We're in California. So we go to the hospital, and they they you know, she's laying in the bed, right? And she's having, you know, the contractions. Multiple.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:47

And uh she says, so we had been to we had been to birthing class together.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:52

Oh, the what's it called? Laman's?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. So, so I'm saying, okay, breathe, sweetie. She said, No, I gotta push. And well, we had a woman in our birthing class that pushed too early, and the baby got stuck in the birth cut. Oh, Jesus. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

So I bet that baby's dumb looking.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:09

So I so yeah, so I was so I was afraid of. I said, do not push. She said, I gotta push. I said, do not push. So I got down in her face, uh-huh, right, and I said, do not push. You'd think it was the exorcist, buddy. She grabbed me by the throat with those nails, right? And they she's got and she says, I gotta push.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:37

And I said, Nurse!

SPEAKER_00 1:15:41

Well, when she let me go, the blood was literally running down my neck. Oh man. So so the nurse came in there and we're very condescending. She said, What, dearie? Oh man. She said, I gotta push. She said, You were just five centimeters, you know, a minute ago, right? And she turned to walk away, and your mother grabbed her wrist. She said, I have. So with one, with one arm being grabbed by her, she lifts up, you know, the sheet, right? And she's, oh my God, we're going in, right? You know, so she threw off, she threw me the the things I had to wear, the scrubs, right? So I ran down to where all the other fathers were sitting, and I there there's it's a little room like, you know, 10 by 10 or whatever, right? And there's a bathroom in there. So I went to grab the bathroom door and somebody was in there. Well, I don't I don't have time, so I got naked right there. Right. Right. You know, threw my can't c clothes in the corner. I didn't even take them, put on the scrubs, right? And the one guy says, You have an emergency doc?

unknown 1:16:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:51

No, no, my child's being born, right? You know, so I ran into the room and and the and the uh the lady who was who is the doctor said uh, so uh she wasn't there. Who the the gynecologist wasn't there. So Dr. Walserwald, okay, yes, he said, I understand you know you you're participating. I said, Yes, sir. He said, Well, get on down there, right? So they put me down between her legs, uh-huh, and they put this, they was a surgical cloth over my knees and made a platform between my legs, right? And he said, Okay, now this is it. He says, When that baby comes out and I'm looking in there and I can see your hair, uh-huh. Right, you know? He said, when that baby comes out, he said, you put one hand under the neck and you put the other hand right between the legs. I said, Okay, I got it. I'm sitting on a stool, right? I said, I'm ready, right? He said, Okay, well, I wasn't ready for this. He reaches over the top of me with those stub-nosed scissors and goes, Oh yeah, yeah, I said, I got a little lightheaded. And he said, Here it comes, right? So I'm into action, and and out you come, buddy. You know, and then I that we we clip the umbilical cord, uh-huh, and I take you over to the little uh stainless steel basin and I clean you all off, and then I put you in your mother's arms.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:34

Man, ain't that beautiful?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:36

Tears running down both of our eyes, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:39

Isn't that beautiful?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:40

It was absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:41

That's a perfect place to end this podcast. Okay. I love you, Dad.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:45

I love you, dad.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:45

Thank you for helping me as much as you helped me, man. Thank you for being there for me all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:49

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:50

I love you, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:51

I love you, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:52

And now we got another one. Don't forget Baltimore Comedy Festival coming up first of September. I'm actually a judge on a uh show at uh Dream Big Venues. Dream Big Venues Festivals next weekend. It's gonna be good times. Shows Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm the middle show on Saturday, but all of them are gonna be good. Check it out. Thank you guys for listening. Thousands of downloads. Do you believe that shit? 41 episodes and thousands of downloads.