Graven at the Elmdale Tavern

This is a little video that French and I made.  The Graven boys had a little show down at the Elmdale Tavern.  French's girlfriend bought him a Flip cam.  It is a little HD video camera the size of a cell phone.  I have a black one.  French's is pink.  Pancake was riding French all night about that one. 

Things didn't go south; even with all the cracks about the pink cam.  French was enjoying the tasty Beau's Beer that was on tap.  That does help to keep one's spirits up.  We shot a bit of footage and we hammered it out during lunch.  Bit of quick edit, but the gig was just last night - check 'er out.

French has missed a few of Graven's local gigs; so I'm glad he caught the show.

Rum and Coke

I'm just coming off a nice March break.  Maybe a little too nice.  It is hard to get around the garage...too many empties.  Beau's Beer came out with a delicious seasonal called Beaver River I.P. eh.  That tasty India Pale Ale accounts for some of the empties.  Nowadays I have to keep myself in check when I'm having a few cold ones. Back in my more party oriented days we had a signal that we had imbibed too many.  When rum and cokes came in to play we agreed to pack it in.

If someone started drinking this mix we just knew something bad was about to happen.  Rum and cokes for us equalled:  broken noses, and broken hearts.   Once French made out with Mean Dean's girlfriend at a party.  I came upstairs and saw French and a girl called Buffy-Jo really going at it.  All the while French was drinking and spilling a rum and coke.

I had to head Mean Dean off at the stairs and and then I sent Buffy-Jo one way and then stumble walked French the other way; back to his shed.  A fight between these two heavy hitters would have wrecked the whole house

Bloody rum and coke.  It was always like that.  Pancake came up with the rule.  It was a good rule and I'm sure it kept us outta trouble. 

Then again, pretty much every night back then ended with Pancake buying a whole tray: "one for each of  yahs and couple more for the ladies."

Of Short Hauls and Long

I was asked recently if I'd ever lived an adventure?  Who hasn't eh?  Taking a couple of rides with Pancake's dad in his rig comes pretty close.

Sometimes Pancake would have a "tricky back".  He'd limp around holding his lower back and screwing up his face. His back would get real tricky if his father asked him to come along on a haul.  I'd get to replace him; for me it was a treat.  Pancake's dad would swing by in his rig, hold his box of cassettes out the window and ask me if I could help him make a delivery.

Pancake's dad did a few little short hauls of food, but he also did some longer trips as well. 

The short hauls were fun because he new everybody.  You'd meet some real characters at 3 am in a grocery story loading bay.  Once we pulled up and four guys were singing "we are the walrus you are the egg man koo koo ka choo".  They sang it over and over again as they unloaded eggs.  One guy was singing it through the store's PA system.  They sang that every night when the actual egg man pulled up. 

The best part was the challenge.  Pancake's dad would challenge me to play any song and he meant any song, and he would name it and give you the artist to boot.  Bruce Fish would try to help.  He found this case in the dump and gave it to me for a trip down to Toronto. 

I'd bring my tape case as well.  We once drove to Sudbury and back and he got 174 in a row.  I'd be amazed, but he said  "it is no trick, just 25 years a driving truck".

Skipping School With Pink Floyd

Lotta talk about skipping, and ditching at school these days.  Whadya do with 'em?  Why do kids skip?  What gives?  Kids are changing.  Teens are different today..the usual staffroom banter.

French and I laugh it off.  We once skipped due to Pink Floyd.  Try writing that down as an excuse.

We were standing around at lunch once when I was in grade 10; and I made a pretty dumbass, or at least naive comment.  The lads were talking about Pink Floyd the Wall.  I said: "who is Pink Floyd?  (At that point I was into Skid Row, Whitesnake, Cinderella et al. )  French scowled at me and said "you better be kidding".  I thought Sweaty was gonna smack me.  I wasn't just playing dumb.  The only classic rock I listened to was Led Zeppelin. 

French insisted that we ditch school and remedy this travesty.  Sweaty came along; he kept trying to kick me in the ass on the walk to French's shed.

He got out his box of tapes and pulled out a double cassette.  It was really beat up.  French slid it into his ghetto blaster and cranked it.  We listened to the whole album.  Then he made me listen to it again; just to be sure my lesson stuck.

Great album, and it sure beat the hell outta Math and Geography.

Pancake and the Early Morning Coffee Club

Back in school we had an club: the Early Morning Coffee Club.  We'd always get to school early because French would offer us a little drop of rye in our coffee in the wee am.  First, we'd swing by the caf, and order "a  cuppa joe".  We'd always say this is a very big over emphasized Lanark county accent.  The caf-lady did not like us; she looked slightly horrified everyday when we placed our order.  Then it was off to French's locker; he would top us up.  We'd stroll back to the caf and chat and sip this fine hot beverage.

On just such a day Pancake got his name.

Later the special coffee was done and we were bored.  French was silent.  Sweaty kept saying this girl or the other was hot, Bruce Fish played solitaire, Jimmy (the future Pancake) was hungry, I listened to the lads and observed a long line forming.  There was a group of teachers and  board of education bureaucrats at the school for a big conference, and pancake breakfast.  The smell was driving Jimmy crazy.

Jimmy said: "Fuck if I couldn't go for some a them fucking pancakes".

The line moved along a bit.

Jimmy said: "Ima fucking serious, I fucking love pancakes".

I said: "Go get some bud".  French sat up, laughed, and said: "Yeah Jimmy, go snag a stack".

Jimmy replied: "I fucking will".

He did.

Jimmy got in line.  Waited.  Moved  along.  Some of the bureaucrats looked at him quizzically, but he just smiled back, and kept hold of his tray.  Our old caf-lady looked really horrified.  She gave him two.  Jimmy gestured for more.  He came back with a huge stack, maple syrup, butter and seven sausages.

Bruce Fish said: "Hey Pancake can I have one a them sausages?"