Found Note: Fight of the Two Dogs

Found note:

Imagery: 
The fight of the two dogs.

Remembering 4th Ave.

At the Gaslight w/ Dale.

I don't spend much (actually, any) time in bars these days, but I used to when I lived in Anchorage. I wish I had half the money I've pissed away in Anchorage bars.

My favorite spot was the downtown 4th Avenue district; they had a great selection of working-class dive bars there, never mind the occasional shooting. If you got kicked out of one, or if you were just bored, you could walk down the street and hang out at a different one.

In my mind at the time, 4th Avenue was a magical place where anything could happen. I used to have a ton of 4th Avenue bar stories, but I've forgotten most of them. They were never all that great anyway, once sobriety set in.

When there was music at all, it wasn't too loud, so you could better eavesdrop on people talking shit to each other, which I appreciated.

I'd always tell people how great the 4th Avenue bars were, then they'd join me and nothing interesting would happen. That's about when I realized my ton of 4th Avenue bar stories was more the result of my hanging out there constantly, rather than anything to do with the character of the bars themselves. If you hang out anywhere day and night, you're bound to witness a few interesting occurrences.

Anyway, the 4th Avenue dive bars were a lot of fun at one time, and they gave me something to do in Anchorage, but I probably did persist with it past its prime. Oh well.

Gilliom Heritage, pt. 1

[Compiled from various posts on the Gilliomville message board, contributed by various Gillioms and Franks]:

The Old Gilliom Farm House.
Photo courtesy of Ross Frank.

It was all started back in the old country of Switzerland by Adam Gilliom (who my [Rick’s] Adam was named after). Adam’s wife's last name was Roetlishbarger. They had a son John, whose wife's name was Elizabeth Schneck. John and Elizabeth had two sons named Christian and Abraham, who came to America in 1823. Abraham Gilliom was born on Mount Munster, Canton, Bern Switzerland Sept.14, 1811. At the age of 12, he and his family immigrated to Wayne County, Ohio. Isaac was born in Ohio.

They moved outside of Vera Cruz between 1845 and 1847 to a farm of about 330 acres which the present Harold Isch was part of. Isaac married Melanie Hanny. She was born in Canton, Bern Switzerland on May 3, 1836. She came to America in 1844 with her family. They were French. I met a strange little photographer in Sedona AZ when I was running my meat route and when I told him my name was Gilliom, he said. “You’re Swiss.” He said our family name is a "registered name" in Bern Switzerland and that it was a Swiss Gov thing. Possible cause: the Swiss Gov taxes everything!!

He also told me that "Canton" was or is another name for mountain. With Switzerland a neutral Country, many people were there from many other countries:  France, Germany, Italy etc. I don't know why our name is registered...if we were within the law or outlaws and just a bunch of German hillbillies. This is from a family tree written by Grandpa Orel. Aunt Dula lent me copy back in 1986 or ‘87 and I haven't kept it up to date. I think I gave Jon a copy.

Isaac Gilliom, 1833-1873 was the first Gilliom that belonged to the Apostolic Church. I have no idea what religion they were in Switzerland. Isaac had a brother, Jacob, who went West in 1854 and was never heard from again.

Orel Gilliom.

I was talking to Uncle Roy last Sunday and he told me a good story about great grandpa Orel. When Orel decided to ask for his first wife's hand in marriage, he followed the church's tradition of visiting the church elder to request a proposal be sent to his prospective wife. Apparently when he did, the elder said, "Well, my Lizzie has feelings for you.” So Orel married Lizzie instead of the person he originally had intended to ask for. I guess sometimes a sure thing is better than a chance of first choice.

The spelling of "Orel" has been corrected [changed from “Oral”] in Gilliomville’s online photo gallery.

I did a genealogy project in college. Cousin Carol from Michigan told Mom that Peter Meyer met his wife at a square dance when his fiddle got caught in her skirt. Sounds scandalous to me.

I think it was Grandpa Ed and Grandma Flonie that meet at the square dance. (Now there is a name for someone in the family to carry on - Little Flonie Fern).

There was an Obed, son of Orel. Obed was John's brother that was killed in a wagon/car accident in his late 20's. Obed was in the wagon and the car hit him. Some of the family were on their way to the hospital and had an accident themselves. I have no idea who was driving but I know Aunt Vi had a head injury and was unconscious for several days.

Ask Kenny Gilliom about the story about the car wreck, I think he was thrown through the window. And Ralph was driving, "after a night at the Bluffton Street Fair."

While the era of the horse-drawn wagon is indisputably over, I am proud to be of a line to stick with them even into the era when it was dangerous to do so. God bless Great Uncle Obed!

I don't mean to make light of Gillioms' past tragedies, but personally, I always thought a horse would be a safer way to get around drunk. On one hand, I hate to hear about folks dying no matter how it happens, but on the other hand, something about Obed's departure sounds so close to home -- almost predictable.

Library Interaction: Kill the Imbeciles

Lady upset about recent terrorist attack:

"It's in their religion. They want to kill all the imbeciles."

I'm sure she meant, "infidels," but whatever.

Ceiling Tile Art

In Los Angeles, we were invited to paint on the ceiling tiles of a band practice room.

Here are my contributions:

New Sweater.

Introducing Red.

Welcome.

Bok Bok.

Grass.

Bonus:  Here is a photo of a knife stuck in the ceiling of that same band practice room:

Knife in the band room ceiling.

Found Photo

Found laying around in a public area in Fort Wayne, Indiana:

Found photo.

Fort Wayne is for lovers.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, June 23, 2004]

Amish Tendencies

My family's ancestors were Anabaptists during the protestant reformation. Over time, schisms within the Anabaptist movement gave rise to groups like the Mennonites, Amish, and others. My direct line came from a later Anabaptist splinter group in Switzerland known as the Apostolics. So, I share some common ancestry with Amish folk.

Our family’s lineage can be traced back to Adam Gilliom, who emigrated from Switzerland to Indiana in the 1800s. At that time, we were Apostolic. A few generations later, my father became the first member of our family to leave the church entirely—a decision he made on his own. He’s mentioned that it was a tough time because none of his friends were allowed to talk to him anymore, and he deeply missed hunting and fishing with one of his cousins.

According to my parents, when I was a little kid, I had a memorable encounter with an Amish buggy. One passed by our house, and I took off chasing after it without a word. My mom was frantic when she realized I was missing; she even called the police.

Eventually, someone reported seeing a little kid running down the road after a buggy, yelling, "Horsey! Horsey!" The police found me and brought me home. When my mom asked what I was doing, I told her with great determination that I wanted to be “an Amish” when I grew up.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Feb. 20, 2004]

Eat More Gyros

Gyros signs of southern California: "Eat more gyros."

OK!

Laguna Beach.

Los Angeles.

Chinatown Sticker Machine

This is a sticker sheet depicting me and Kelley trying to figure out this Japanese sticker machine in Chinatown. We accidentally snapped the photo while sifting through border options.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Dec. 19, 2003]

111 for 1

Probably the only existing image of the short-lived, homemade, 
campground bar. Valdez, AK; Summer, 1991.

One fish-less day in Valdez, when work was slow, some campsite entrepreneurs whipped up a homemade bar out of pallets and scrap plywood.

They bought a bunch of cheap beer, a few bottles of whiskey, and a big can of loose-leaf tobacco; then announced the following offer to everybody on the campground (and passing tourists):

One beer, one shot, one cigarette - One Dollar!

What a great deal! Everybody was so happy.

There was no proper shot glass, but huge shots were being poured into an awkward plastic vessel, which I think was the cap from a can of spray-on deodorant or shaving cream.

They wouldn't roll your cigarette for you; you had to roll your own. But at that price, nobody cared. Some people just ignored the cigarette and considered one beer and one shot for one dollar a bargain in itself. It was fun for the few hours it lasted until the police put an end to it.

After the bar was shut down, we tore it apart and burned it on a bonfire. The above photo is probably the only evidence of its existence.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Apr. 15, 2004]

Michiana Comicon

Wow - $1.00 comic con admission. This was 1983-84 in the midwest, so it was nothing like today's Comic Cons. They even spelled it as one word: "Comicon." Our friends John & Dickey invited me and brother Todd to go with them. It was amazeballs at the time. I forget what city it was in. Maybe Elkhart?

Admit One: $1.00.

Todd got a copy of G.I. Joe #10 signed by the artist. I bought a bunch of titles I couldn't get anywhere else, like Judge Dredd, or obscure independent titles Johnny Nemo. A lot of them weren't all that great, but I was all about seizing an opportunity to encounter something new and weird that I might not find anywhere else. 

Johnny Nemo image taken from an eBay ad. I bought these three same issues.

Hit 'Em Again

At the time of the 9-11 attack on New York's World Trade Center, I was working the night shift in a San Bernardino gas station. The maintenance guy (Tony) used to come in at all hours and get drunk in the adjoining mechanics' garage since it was closed down in the evenings. There are a lot of funny memories around that situation, but I thought the funniest occurred the day after the 9-11 terrorist attack when everybody was driving around with American flags on their cars and reveling in lust for revenge.

The day after the attack, Tony was getting drunk in the garage like usual and a friend of his kept coming into the station and asking me, "What's Tony doing? Getting drunk?"

I don't know why he gave a shit, but it was really bothering him. Eventually he returned and said, "We should write something fucked up on Tony's truck since he's in there getting drunk." I didn't have anything better to do, so we threw around a few ideas, finally going with a pro-Bin Laden slogan.  After a little brainstorming, Tony's friend came up with the perfect thing.

As Tony pulled out of the parking lot later that night, his car displayed the phrase, "Hit 'Em Again, Bin!" printed across his tailgate in white shoe polish.

It was pretty funny. He later said people were honking at him and yelling at him all the way home. He assumed it was because he was driving drunk, so he'd slow down and then they'd pull up next to him, flipping him the bird, and yelling at him.

In retrospect, I'm surprised he didn't get shot.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Dec. 14, 2003]

Gill Bros: Brushes with Greatness

Me & Stan Lee, Los Angeles, 2012.

Todd & Charo, Oahu, 1996.

G-ville Keywords

Keyword searches that brought people to Gilliomville in the mid-2000s:

amish in California

bend it like beckman photos

bras for full figures that of

breaded cheeseburgers

cocaine in germany guestbook 2004

dan haggerty look alikes

Distressed Camels

fart in a skillet

fay wray s tit shot

fish care for piranahas

fish processing chat room

fort wayne coney island sauce recipe

george foreman bratwurst how long

goldmine-between-your-legs

grandma is shitting

haunted houses and mesquite

history of menenites

how to bullshit a customs officer

how to gig frogs

Hulk Hands

immitation penis with clean urine

in rubber pants

irish goat

john-holmes dukes hazzard

K-Mart Closing Sale

nick nack shelf

peeing

poptarts commercial song

preventing nocturnal erections

raising piranha

Rick Hazel

scary mask

Shooting Wolves

space shuttle clean up

The Arctic Fox

the mule of grizzly adams

Todd's shoes

what is the best road pavement

Cheap Video Reviews: The Doors: The Soft Parade, A Retrospective

Doors: The Soft Parade.

Boz sent me this VHS tape. It consists of live performance footage shot for PBS, interspersed with archival footage of the band hanging around backstage and some other miscellaneous live performance footage. It is perhaps better appreciated by die-hard Doors fans. It contained nothing substantial or very interesting. The film makers were likely just making a buck off of some footage they had.

Door with groupie.

The film kicks off with footage of the band sitting around backstage with groupies, then quickly goes downhill from there.

There's some performance footage from a PBS special, which is ok, but nothing special. Jim Morrison is wearing a thick beard and the spaced out organ player is smoking his cigarette down well past the filter.

After the concert, we're treated to an interview with the band in which they ramble all over the place, speaking just above a whisper to the Village Voice interviewer, who is apparently some kind of greasy hippie himself.

The Doors being interviewed by a greasy hippy.

In the interview, the band is taking themselves way too seriously which I expected; but what surprises me is how seriously the interviewer and everybody else seem to be taking them as well.

The interview discusses the Doors' live concerts as a "religious experience". They're seriously talking about a "communion" that occurs and how great it would be if that communion occurred in the larger outside society as well. WTF.

Jim Morrison talks about himself as a "rock shaman" and you can almost see that he even annoys his band mates when he starts in with that nonsense. The interviewer is eating it up though.

Then there is more footage of girls flirting with Jim Morrison followed by a backstage improvised composition, Ode to Friedrich Nietzsche, which Morrison composes spontaneously on a piano and he's almost manic. It's funny to see Jim Morrison bobbing around all giddy for a change.

Next, there's a long performance of The Unknown Soldier which is interspersed with real war photos as well as footage of the doors walking around on a beach. Just to be as pretentious as possible, Jim Morrison is hanging on a cross in this footage. This footage goes on for what seems like an hour or two.

Some of the best footage was shot in the recording studio. The organ player's head hovers just an inch or two above the organ keys.

Closing credits.

Then there is an older intellectual gentleman who is talking about religion with Jim Morrison. The gentleman is almost giddy when the singer tells him he will give him his address for future correspondence.

The video ends with the Doors performing "Hello, I Love You" while a lady dances and the credits roll.

I greatly prefer Doors songs to NKOTB songs, but I greatly prefer the NKOTB video to the Doors video. For that matter, I prefer almost all the videos I've reviewed to the Doors video (except for Samurai: Reincarnation. I prefer the Doors to that because, at least the Doors video takes up less than an hour of time to view).

[ Reviewed late 2006. ]

Blood Shot Bill

Blood Shot Bill, the one-man rockabilly band, July, 2013.

Blood Shot Bill.

Patriot Haircut

If anybody remembers the World of Warriors gun shop photo I posted last summer, you might recall the next door barbershop with a giant American flag painted on their storefront. Well, later that summer, the barbershop's owner also gave a patriotic makeovers to the parking berms directly in front of his shop as well. I kind of like that he goes all out like that. It's like some people with their Christmas decorations.

Patriot Haircuts.

[Originally posted on Rebel Leady Boy, May 9, 2006]

Valdez Pat

Forgot about this guy:

Pat.

 We met Pat in Valdez, Alaska, after our roadtrip from the midwest. He used to smoke pot out of a hollowed-out deer antler.

Pat samples Laura's campfire cooking as YaYa laughs (right)..

I remember him telling us his first ancestor to arrive in America spent their first night in America in jail. He said that as soon as land was in sight, his ancestor grabbed the first mate and threw him overboard because he'd been giving him shit during the entire journey.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Feb. 24, 2004]

Fork Fangs

Cousin Ross taught me this at Long John Silvers in Fort Wayne, IN during the late 1970s and I've never forgotten it. Fork Fangs are an example Hoosier ingenuity at its best.

It's an easy way to entertain yourself and others in a public dining area for no extra cost while your parents are talking for hours. 

Directions:
1. Start with a standard disposable plastic fork.
2. Break off the handle and center prongs.
3. Flip it upside down.
4. Place it in your mouth, and....ta-daaaa - Vampire fangs.
5. Fun time!

Recreating the Fork Fangs experience as an adult..

Year in Facebook Status, 2011

The year 2011 as recorded in Facebook posts:

2011.

Ow, my head. Happy New Year! - Sudoku time! - Tacodawg food truck has reached another level of greatness with their new & improved Reuben Dog (now with pastrami). Best hot dog ever. - Off to San Bernardino today: birthplace of the first McDonalds, Taco Bell, and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club.  Other attractions include Randy Rhodes’ gravesite. That’s about it. - Spending tomorrow in L.A. - WINNING is the new losing. - Runescape Night! Indian Food!! - I was just told by an elderly library patron that I look like a young Liberace. She meant it as a compliment. - Enjoying Germany immensely. Had my first taste of steak tartare and am addicted. Must find a tartare connection when I get back to the U.S. - I received the best compliment ever: I can drink like a German. - We did a ridiculous amount of laundry today. - Today’s Huntington Beach summary: Breakfast at the Longboard, rented a tandem peddle car, watched some street performers, got some sun, held an albino snake. - Checked out the Long Beach Pirate Invasion today. - Watching Hallmark channel’s “Golden Girls” marathon w/ Sandra. - I’m home from work and playing handyman today. Just repaired two door issues, both related to limiting cat access. - Off to see Daniel Tosh in Anaheim soon. - MMmmm: fermented pear cider. - Alright! I’m in st louis with bro todd. Visiting jon sr tomorrow - Alright! Chipotle gave me my barbacoa bowl for free tonight. Just for being a regular customer. - I’ve taken on the Library’s eSupport duties this week. Any difficulties with hour eBooks or eAudiobooks, I’m the guy to talk to. Yep. - Cro-Mags! - Feeling pretty German: reading Gunter Grass’s “The Tin Drum” and drinking Gluwein (mit Kraken). - Geez: I’m turning into a caramel corn fiend. - Finishing the year out in style: homebound with an upper respiratory infection.

Something You Don't See Everyday

Somebody set up this shrine in our local dog park:

The sign reads, "In Memory of All Dogs Killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Dec. 14, 2003]

Found Photo

I found this one in Anchorage as well:

Anchorage is for lovers.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Dec. 29, 2003]

PS -

I spruced this photo up a bit for Valentine'd Day, 2020:

Fortress of Solitude (Presto Magix)

Does anybody remember Presto Magix? You would get a background with a sheet of objects and characters that you could permanently transfer wherever you wanted them.

The best Presto Magix kits included a large variety of characters, but there were some duds like Superman's Fortress of Solitude that didn't give you much to work with. The only way to entertain yourself with these duds was to make inappropriate half-assed creations like this one that I found in a box of old personal items some years ago.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Feb. 3, 2004]

Good Times

Enjoying a turkey leg in Missouri.

Missouri turkey leg.

Meet Donald Kilbuck

This is Donald Wy. Kilbuck:

Donald Kilbuck eating a tortilla in Homer, AK.

I met Donald in Valdez, Alaska, and was surprised when he told me he'd just been released from prison. I guess at some point in the past, his brother-in-law had been violent toward Donald's sister, so Donald went after him with a knife. During the trial, the judge asked Donald if he had any remorse, and Donald replied, "Yes. I wish I would have done him in." He then laughed out loud about it, so he got the full extent of the sentence. He says his jail cell gave him a really good view of Mt. Redoubt's volcanic eruption in 1989.

Here we are (with my friend James, in the back) in Cordova:

Donald, James, & me in Cordova, Alaska.

Donald led us to believe he knew people who would put us up in Cordova, so we took the ferry over with him. Cordova is inaccessible by the highway system, so it was a unique chance to visit a place that isn't terribly easy to reach. We weren't very welcome when we showed up at the local preacher's house during dinner. He looked very surprised to see Donald but did not invite us in. Instead, we spent the night in a tent, in the rain, then explored town the next day.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Feb. 6, 2004]

U.S. Invasion of Panama

I don't know why I recorded this information or why I typed it up, but it is an account that brother Todd and I recorded in December, 1989, as we stayed up late watching news accounts of the U.S. invasion of Panama.

Roger "I'm two floors up" Sizemore.

"The president is still awake...I think he'll need some sleep."

Secret objective.