The Dirty Tee Shirts

The first band I was in was called The Satellites. But the best high school band I was in was called...are you ready?...The Dirty Tee Shirts.

We had been playing at some local parties and dances and didn't have a name. Upon coming home from a vacation to Gatlinburg Tennessee our drummer Stew Williams and his mother brought us all grey shirts that said Dirty Tee Shirt on the front. So that was the name that stuck.

The Dirty Tee Shirts were made up of myself on lead guitar, Stew Williams on drums, Dave Kohl on rhythm guitar. Doug Abbott was our first bass player. But Doug was a very good bassist and went to play in another band. Our next bass player was Lyn Percival. Dave and I sang, however our designated lead singer was Bill Hesch.

This picture is from the Ft. Thomas Fourth of July Parade from about 1968.

Waving Guy

My sister-in-law's brother has a large family. So I suppose by virtue of marriage I am somehow related to the waving guy as he is the son of my sister-in-laws brother.

I've known Brent since he was a little guy. He's a nice kid. He was going to the local university for a while. He works at a nearby restaurant. Brent was my nephew's best friend for many years, until my nephew moved away and got married.

Recently his folks became very concerned about this behavior. My own Mother mentioned to me, "Something is wrong with Brent and his family is concerned. He walks up and down the street waving at cars. He's nuts." This was the consensus among the rest of the family.

Brent walks up and down U.S. 27 waving at passing cars and yelling, "You're Awesome."

You may not be aware but in some parts of rural Kentucky, it is very acceptable to wave at passing cars.

My wife's parents lived in California, Kentucky, which is about 30 miles from here as the crow flies.

If I gave directions to their old home I would tell you to head south about 10 miles, then turn left and drive to the Sticks. When you finally arive in the Sticks, if the weather is nice you drive past people sitting on their front porch and they will wave at you.

Even if the car was driven by Fidel Castro with Hitler, Bin Laden and Mousolini as passengers, these nice country folks would still wave. The proper protocol is for you to wave back. They do this because they are afraid you may be someone they know or kin to someone they know and they do not want to give the appearance of being impolite. I'm sure this is the norm in other parts of rural America.

So my family was very concerned about Brent's behavior. I wish they would have sought my advice. For I lived through the 1960's and early 1970's and consider myself an expert on this subject. Brent is not sick. Brent is a Hippie.

The newspaper report from yesterday confirmed my diagnosis. Brent has changed his name to Karma Jen Soulace. He states that his philosophy is to fight evil with a smile and wave.

This change reminds me of folks that lived around the University of Cincinnati and used to hang around Eden Park. During Summerfair colonies of these folks emerged. They all smelled of patchouli and burning hemp. They ate a macrobiotic diet which kept them looking malnourished. Usually they were named Sunshine, Rainbow or Moon boy. They were Hippies. Sounds like Brent, doesn't it?

Poor Brent was born about 40 years out of sync with his people.

Most of the hippies eventually got whacked in the head with reality, went back to school and got a job in marketing or as stock brokers. So Brent's folks need not worry. He will turn out alright.


In the meantime, Keep on truckin' Brent.

The New GM

Presenting the 2012 GM Automobile line up:

Marc's Rules Of Life

In my observation of humanity, I've come across some unchangable life rules that occur in every culture. See if you agree with me.

1. Everyone must wear the Monkey Suit.
Sometime you will find yourself dressed in a costume that you would otherwise never wear. You may even wear it willingly and enjoy it. Perhaps you are only a few days old and there you are wearing the Monkey suit. Your parents have the pictures to prove it. I know it's odd, but trust me at some point in your life you will wear the Monkey Suit. It is a mandatory obligation.





2. People like funny things on their heads.
Headgear can be functional, but it is usually ridiculous.








3. The cage door is often left unlocked.
This explains why the world is a dangerous place.






4. Creeps creep among us.
There are those that are just plain rude, crude and don't mind letting you know.








5. If you seek power, someone will always be more powerful than you.
You might think you're Superman, there's always a guy with kryptonite standing behind you.






6. Old days were not really better.
Life was safer. We had clean air and blue skies. Public transportation was cheap and accessible. There was much less violence. Products were cheaper On the other hand there was polio, iron lungs, racial inequity, higher mortality rates. Television had only 3 channels and was in black & white. Most homes had no air conditioning. Salaries were low. And cigarettes danced.







7. Some people must be crusaders.
I know several folks that at one point decided to lead the attack as natural born, born-again Christians. Ten years later they became disallusioned with their perception of Christianity and crusaded against it. I don't mean to imply this is strictly a Christian issue. The crusader menality can be applicable to any zealot with a cause and without a clue. For the crusader the cause itself is not important to these folks. It is the crusade that matters.



8. Children rebel
This happens in degrees depending on your child. This is just a test of independence. Reality eventually whacks them upside the head and your kid reemerges.









9. You WILL turn into your parents
Get used to it. Your parents had a lot of redeeming qualities. Well, I hope they did.




10. Plagerism is the most sincere form of flattery.
The main component of music has always been repetition The composer sets forth a theme and then repeats it in differing variations. If you think about it life, art, products, most ideas are all variations on common themes that have been taken from others' themes.