MUSIC FOR NIMRODS with REVEREND DAN - CHILDHOOD HEROES
MUSIC FOR NIMRODS with REVEREND DAN
CHILDHOOD HEROES
Every kid has got to have role models, and these were MY heroes before I reached the age of 18. The dates after each name indicate the prime years of hero worship
Growing up in the Los Angeles area (Long Beach to be exact), my own personal Jesus was Sheriff John. Every weekday at lunchtime, KTTV Television announcer John Rovick would put on the old lawman's outfit and show the kids of Southern California "Crusader Rabbit" cartoons. This alone would be enough to send the good Sheriff to heaven a thousand times, but he did so much more. Sheriff John was a kind-hearted figure of a lawman who reached through the screen and made us feel safe in our childhood years. He'd teach us about safety and drinking milk and every day he celebrate our birthdays, singing the immortal "Put Another Candle On My Birthday Cake" song each and every day in an amazingly sincere baritone. Real farm animals would show up from time to time, adding to the rural feel of the show. Best of all, during a time when our mothers were all having their 19th Nervous Breakdowns and/or taking their Mothers Little Helpers, Sheriff John took their kids off their hands every day for an hour. We were in good hands.
One of the original Mercury Astronauts, Alan Shepard became a hero after I saw my first rocket launch on television. I had never seen anything so cool in my life, and I immediatly began to search the family's World Book encyclopedia for all things 'space' related. When I learned that Alan Shepard was the first American in space, I had a new hero. In the movie "The Right Stuff" he was portrayed by Scott Glenn...how freakin' cool is that! He was also one of the very few people to have walked on the Moon. When he took a piece of equipment and hit a golf ball across the lunar landscape, I knew it was a classic moment in the space program. Not because I love the game of golf (for the record, I only enjoy miniature golf), but because Alan Shepard did something goofy that we would all have liked to do if we had gotten the chance to go to the moon.
Dick Martin made me laugh. He didn't even have to say anything, because he looked like a man about to reveal the punch line to the funniest joke in the world, and the thrill of being able to tell it was making him giddy. With his partner Dan Rowan (one of the great straight men, Dan was George Burns to Dick's sex fiend Gracie Allen), he hosted "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", a sixty minute comedy barrage that literally assaulted the viewer with gags. As the tuxedoed hosts, Dan and Dick were the anchor to all of the mayhem, and while Dan did try to keep a lid on things, Dick failed at his job wonderfully. The man just reeked of chaos. I saw him on an episode of "Third Rock From the Sun", and the bastard made me laugh all over again.
Seymour was the coolest. Ever. Every Saturday night, Seymour would emerge on my television screen to show horror movies both classic and crappy. Known as "The Most Sinister Man to Walk the Face of the Earth", Seymour would insult everything, from the movie, to the commercials, even the viewers. Every now and then, he would interupt the movie just to insult one of the characters on the screen. I ate it up. I had my very first anti-hero, and I was getting one hell of a great education in Psychotronic movies. Click here and view Seymour's Certificate of Demerit!
No kidding...Gary Collins. At the time, I was having a tough go at Stanford Jr. High, and like many a bitter pre-teen, I took up an interest in things metaphysical...hypnosis, esp, fortune telling, witchcraft. Gary Collins was the star of "The Sixth Sense", which was kind of an ESP detective show. I quickly became a regular viewer of the show. Every week, Gary's character would use his powers of ESP to help some poor schlub, and I thought that was a very cool thing to be doing. And check out the titles of each episode during the show's 13 week run...I found this list of episode titles at EPGUIDES...it reads like a set list by the Misfits...
Original
Episode # Prod # Air Date Episode Title
____ _______ ________ _______________________________________________________
Pilot 1971 ABC
1- 0 2 Oct 71 Sweet, Sweet Rachel (90 min)
1st Season 1972
Episode 1 15 Jan 72 I Do Not Belong to the Human World
Episode 2 22 Jan 72 The Heart that Wouldn't Stay Buried
Episode 3 29 Jan 72 Lady, Lady, Take My Life
Episode 4 5 Feb 72 The House That Cried Murder
Episode 5 12 Feb 72 The Man Who Died at Three and Nine
Episode 6 26 Feb 72 Can a Dead Man Strike from the Grave?
Episode 7 4 Mar 72 With This Ring, I Thee Kill!
Episode 8 11 Mar 72 Witch, Witch, Burning Bright
Episode 9 18 Mar 72 Eye of the Haunted
Episode 10 1 Apr 72 Echo of a Distant Scream
Episode 11 8 Apr 72 Whisper of Evil
Episode 12 15 Apr 72 The Shadow in the Well
Episode 13 22 Apr 72 Face of Ice
Episode 14 23 Sep 72 Coffin, Coffin, in the Sky (aka: Flying Sepulcher of Death)
Episode 15 30 Sep 72 Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death
Episode 16 7 Oct 72 Witness Within
Episode 17 14 Oct 72 With Affection, Jack the Ripper
Episode 18 28 Oct 72 Once Upon a Chilling
Episode 19 4 Nov 72 Through a Flame Darkly
Episode 20 11 Nov 72 I Did Not Mean to Slay Thee
Episode 21 25 Nov 72 And Scream by the Light of the Moon, the Moon (aka: Candle, Candle Burning Bright)
Episode 22 2 Dec 72 If I Should Die Before I Wake
Episode 23 9 Dec 72 Five Widows Weeping
Episode 24 16 Dec 72 Gallows in the Wind
Episode 25 23 Dec 72 The Eyes That Wouldn't Die
The first album I ever bought in my life was George Carlin's "FM & AM". The year was 1971. I told my mom that I wanted to buy a record (at the Two Guys departent store at the Los Altos Shopping Center) and that it would probably be an album by Cheech & Chong. She raised her eyebrows at this, but sent me off with her blessings. While I rummaged through the comedy section, I stumbled upon George's records. I had seen him a few times on the Ed Sullivan show, where he always had floored me. He was a (relatively) young, hip comic, adept at character schtick (Al Sleet the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman) and observational humor, with a delivery that grew up on rock and roll radio. I had seen him do an amazing appearance on the Flip Wilson show, so his performance was fresh in my mind. He was really starting to push his material, connecting with the audience on a personal level and forcing them to think about everything around them. I gave up on the Cheech & Chong and took George to the register. Mom was not exactly thrilled when I proudly brought home my new purchase (she was concerned about the four-letter words), but she allowed me to keep it. I quickly went to my bedroom to hear it, and I've been listening to George ever since.
I've always wanted to be a disc jockey, and the reason is less that I need attention (although that is a reason) and more that I love rock and roll. I take it real serious, but with a sense of humor. I loved bands like Cheap Trick, The Ramones, Todd Rundgren, Sparks, Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith...Creem magazine was my bible. And Bruce was special...he seemed to feel about music the way I felt about music. Like it mattered more than anything else, because everything else was just out of reach. When I turned 18, I searched the classified ads for my ideal guitar: a Fender Telecaster, just like my hero's (true, he played a Fender Esquire, but it looked the same). I play it daily.
