Chapter 1: The Birth of a Genius
Greg Russell was born Robert Gregory "Nun chuck" Russell in 1981 to loving parents Barbara and Steve "Boxwood Jerry" Russell. He was mostly a typical child, other than his extraordinary tee-ball skillz. Considered one of the all time great tee-ball first basemen, he flourished as a triple threat for his team the Bulldogs. Lead by Coach Davis (father of Nathan), he, alongside southpaw and all-around tee-ball powerhouse Paul Madewell, put Aledo Athletics tee-ball on the map.
Eventually, the young rocker became disenfranchised with the "moneyed interests" that began to influence Aledo Athletics. So he moved on to bigger and better things: Aledo Athletics Basketball. It was hard to believe for many, but Greg was ousted his first year of basketball (1993) by Russ Morris. Russ, considered a giant back in the day, took the center position under Coach McGuffy (father of Shaun). The team was eventually a success without the help of Greg thanks to the talent of young basketball prodigy Josh Torres.
Greg eventually became sickened with the prospect of having to play basketball for the fascist pigs of Aledo Athletics. He did, however, make a triumphant return to the sport his senior year of high school. You can read further upon this subject in my book Ruben Sierra: Kick Ass Baseball Player and Friend of Greg Russell.
You may be asking, "what happened to old Greg in Middle School?" I’m sorry to say that the records of his Middle School Years were consumed in the Fire of 1994. It can be said, based on oral reports, that his Middle School Years consisted of hanging out with Jeff Alsop and a great deal of being ignored by women.
Back to the subject at hand: High School. Greg entered the hallowed halls of Aledo High School in the year of our lord 1995. He made an immediate impact upon the older students of the school. A good example of this was documented in an excerpt from a letter Greg wrote to Saved By The Bell star Mario Lopez:
"...there is this one upper-classman who accosts me every day as I leave my math class. He claims that I stole his green and white Tommy Hilfiger shirt. I swear to god, Mario, I didn’t steal that shirt. My mom bought it for me. Help me Mario...."
It was later found that Mario did, in fact, not help Greg. The "green and white hilfiger shirt" crisis quickly escalated when the upper classman that had been doing the harassing brought his friend Mike Peacock (a.k.a. Peacock) into the fray. The ribbing continued well into the second semester of Greg’s freshman year, until it ceased in February of 1996. Perhaps the elders got tired of the ceaseless ribbing, but it is most likely that the torture stopped when it was found out that Hilfiger shirts were gay.
The rest of Greg’s High School life was pretty standard fare as far as an acne-riddled 6’-5" teenager goes. There were near-lethal doses of video games, and an absence of alcohol and women. There was, however, Rock and Roll. Greg purchased his first guitar from Doc Holiday’s Pawn Shop one day before he went to Brandon Maha’s birthday party at Putt-Putt. After learning several Zeppelin riff, Greg was forced to sell his treasured Ibanez Roadstar to his brother. Why you ask? It was a morning just like any other morning. Greg and long time companion Mac Wolf were practicing their marksmanship by shooting 7-Up cans with Mac’s Daisy bb-gun rifle. Several events took place, and in the end, fellow Aledo student Katherine Hackleman’s back window of her car was shattered and inside lay a freshly discharged bb. Accusations flew, phone calls were made, and Greg was forced to fork over quite a few pesos. The Ibanez was sacrificed to the gods of broken car windows.
Several years later, Greg purchased another fiddle courtesy of Josh Jackson. This time it was a Yamaha. Sadly, Greg was too encapsulated with the video game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time to concentrate on fine-tuning his musicianship. This time, Greg sold his axe to Tyler Smith’s cousin Tommy. Greg now had money to throw together a ramshackle drum set with the help of dear friend and long time collaborator Tyler Smith.
The time was now right for Greg to rock...Filthy Reds Style.
love,
Ruben Sierra