Doggie Name Change - Kenny Man!

Introducing ... Kenny Man! 

 

Sadly the word ICE has taken on a tyrannical gestapo meaning of late, not fitting for such a sweet and friendly dog like this one, so 6.5 years into his life we are pulling a Prince and calling him Kenny Man, Kenny for short. The artist formerly known as Ice Man is now Kenny Man. He's good with it. He didn't like everyone saying Fuck Ice. He's a good boy who loves immigrants 🐶❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🤎🖤🤍🩷

Beach Boys Salute July 4, 1983 Atlantic City NJ

 Vintage 1983 Beach Boys July 4 Atlantic City ringer t-shirt

 

Unbelievably, Chuck Darrow, journalist for the Shore County News, wrote all about the fascinating history of the event this t-shirt commemorates, just this past summer. It has it all - Ronald Reagan, the wrong element, Wayne Newton, a link to the recording of the concert, which would be the last one where all 5 original Beach Boys would perform together. Dennis Wilson died a few months later. 

"The Beach Boys hit the beach - 

The Beach Boys have been one of the most popular headline attractions of Atlantic City’s legal-gambling era. So much so that it would be difficult without a good deal of research to list every local appearance the legendary pop-rock unit has made during the past 47 years (they were likewise no strangers to Steel Pier in the pre-casino days, having performed there in July 1969). But next week will mark the 42nd anniversary of what was without question their highest-profile local gig ever, which took place on the beach on July 4, 1983.

Although the program stands as the largest, free entertainment event ever staged on the local strand—the New York Times reported that an estimated 200,000 people were there–it was not originally on Atlantic City’s July 4 “to-do” list that year.

The story begins not in Atlantic City in July, but in April, 1983 in Washington, D.C., where the group had been booked for a free, Independence Day concert set for the National Mall. But then fate, in the form of James Watt, then the nation’s Secretary of the Interior, intervened.

Watt, who died at 85 in 2023, was an ultra-conservative Pentecostal fundamentalist whose political and social views were extreme by any measure. For instance, he once declared all environmentalists to be “Nazis.” It was his department that had jurisdiction over the National Mall.

The Beach Boys had performed Independence Day shows at the landmark site in 1980 and 1981; Watt, citing what he described as “high drug use, high alcoholism, broken bottles, some injured people [and] some fights,” decided to cancel the concert. To drive home his point, he declared the Beach Boys (the Beach Boys, for goodness’ sake!) were not appropriate for the venue because they would draw the “wrong element” to the site (ultimately, that year’s D.C. celebration would showcase Wayne Newton and the U.S. Army Marching Blues Band).

“We’re trying to have an impact for wholesomeness,” Watt said, according to a 2023 article posted at theguardian.com. “July 4 will be a traditional ceremony for the family and for solid, clean American lives. We’re not going to encourage drug abuse and alcoholism as was done in the past years.

“The reason for the arrests and other trouble, we concluded, was that we had the rock bands attracting the wrong element, and you couldn’t bring your family, your children, down to the Mall for a Fourth of July picnic in the great traditional sense because you’d be mugged by…the wrong element, whatever is the nice way to say it.”

Watt’s move engendered vociferous responses, especially in the media. Among those in the anti-Watt camp was the New York Times, which compared Watt to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini because of the ban on Western popular culture Khomeini instituted when he took power in 1979.

According to the Guardian’s website, the Beach Boys’ official response to the cancellation included a reminder of a July 4 performance that had taken place five years earlier:

“The Soviet Union had enough confidence in the Beach Boys to invite them to perform in Leningrad [on] July 4, 1978,” read a statement released on their behalf. “Obviously, the Soviet Union, a much more controlled society than our own, did not feel the group attracted the wrong element.”

Watt’s boss, President Ronald Reagan—whom Watt later described, per the Times, as “a friend” of the band, called Watt on the carpet for his actions, and the message was received: He subsequently appeared before the press on the White House lawn holding, of all things, a plaster foot which had what was presumed to be a bullet hole in it (an apparent acknowledgment that he had figuratively shot himself in the foot).

“Obviously,” offered the clearly chastened cabinet member, “I didn’t know anything to start with. The president is a friend of the Beach Boys. He likes them, and I’m sure when I get to meet them, I’ll like them.” And thus, the decision to ban the Boys was rescinded. But the Beach Boys’ ship (the Sloop John B?) had already sailed from the nation’s capital.

Offers from other locales were quickly received by the group, which was determined to do a July 4 show somewhere on the East Coast. Among the suitors was what was then known as Caesars Boardwalk Regency Hotel & Casino (now Caesars Atlantic City), which partnered with Chevrolet on the winning bid.

According to archive.org, the group performed 24 songs that day, among them such signatures as “California Girls,” “God Only Knows,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda” and “Good Vibrations” (audio is available at archive.org/details/beach-boys-live-on-atlantic-city-beach-caesars-1983-07-04).

Then-Mayor Michael Matthews declared the event a raging success, telling the media: “I think that Secretary Watt was wrong in his evaluation and the people proved that. [The audience] was orderly, they were a good audience, they were an enthusiastic audience.”

Indeed, it was a peaceful, wholesome day, with but two arrests–for public drunkenness and attempting to access the stage–reported.

However, the concert’s historical significance didn’t end with its backstory and the huge attendance: What no one—including the group’s members—could have known at the time was that the show would be the last one in which all five founding Beach Boys—Brian Wilson, who died earlier this month, his brother Dennis, who accidentally drowned in December, 1983, their brother Carl Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine—would perform together."

Check out the promo t-shirt from Atlantic City bar TK's Pub & Lounge here on Etsy

 

 

  Screen Stars Tag

 

 

 (It no longer exists, but in 1983, TK's Pub and Lounge was apparently owned and operated by Thomas Kepner, All-American football player for Villanova, who played for the Green Bay Packers and then opened a bar in Atlantic City - via Thomas Kepner Obituary).

 

Wear a piece of history! Vintage Beach Boys Salute July 4 1983 Atlantic City NJ TK's Pub t-shirt

 

The Original Bobby McGee's Conglomeration

 70's The Original Bobby McGee's Conglomeration t-shirt

 

 

From the back of a 1987 Menu: "A MESSAGE FROM THE PROPRIETOR Bob Sikora

Welcome to Bobby McGee's! We are proud to serve you and hope that your visit will be completely enjoyable.

Since we opened our first restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1971, we have been committed to the idea that our guests will always receive only the best of everything that we offer.

Our promise is to deliver you quality food, outstanding service and unequalled value. We also want to ensure that you are comfortable, have a lot of fun and enjoy the Magic of Bobby McGee's."

 

 

From an early 90s Menu:  "In 1971 I started Bobby McGee's based on two basic ideals: Outstanding Service and Upbeat Environment"

 

 

From the Bobby McGee's USA Alumni and Friends FB Group:  

"It started in 1971 when Sikora was in LA to buy antiques for his new concept that would become America's first fully themed restaurant and nightclub ~ The Original Bobby McGees Conglomeration. By happenstance he saw a Hollywood costume company with a "Going out of business" sign. He bought everything.  What costumes did you wear?"

 

 

 

Check out the vintage Bobby McGee's Conglomeration 70s tee shirt now at  SHV Etsy

Monterey Bay Aquarium vintage sea otter tee

You guys like Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otter tees? I have one in my personal collection from 1987! 

Apparently Taylor Swift wore a vintage 1993 Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otter tee in a movie last week and now the aquarium is reprinting them. 

Honestly mine is way cooler so if Taylor Swift wants it, I would sell it to her for $2M and donate half to sea otter conservation 🦦🤝🦦

"For a Free Six Pack of Beer Wear this Shirt...

 ...to Philadelphia Hash House Harriers 500th Run" reads the printed paper tag sewn onto the bottom of the Stedman Hi Cru label on the tee shirt from the 1987 event:

 

"FOR A FREE SIX PACK OF BEER WEAR THIS SHIRT TO PHILADELPHIA H H H 500TH RUN"

 

 

 

 

I've never seen a t-shirt promotion like this. Free beer for wearing a tee. It probably belongs in a museum! 

 

 

The Hash House Harriers seem like a spirited bunch - billing themselves "A Drinking Club with a Running Problem," "the (HHH or H3) is an international group of non-competitive running social clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Run, or a Hash Run. 

Hashing originated in December 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, (now Malaysia). A group of British immigrants began meeting on Friday evenings, to run in a fashion patterned after the traditional British game of hare and hounds, in which one or two "hare" runners scatter a trail of cut paper for the "hounds" to track. Apart from the excitement of chasing the hare and finding the trail, Harriers reaching the end of the trail would partake of beer, ginger beer, and cigarettes." 

The objectives of the Hash House Harriers as recorded on the club registration card dated 1950 are:

• To promote physical fitness among our members
• To get rid of weekend hangovers
• To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
• To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel   - Wiki

 

Back to this deadstock vintage 1987 Philadelphia Hash House Harriers tee shirt with the free 6-pack promotion tag sewn onto the label. On the back is a colonial flasher on Victorian house under  "Expose Yourself to Philadephia." So extra. Imagine the thrill of someone handing you a six free beers due to the t-shirt you're wearing.  

 

 

The promotion came amidst a giant Hash party weekend as an international "Americas Interhash" was in Philadelphia the same weekend. This other deadstock vintage 1987 tee shirt documents that weekend, apparently held from September 4 - 7, 1987:

 

 

The Hershey Hotel is implicated as is the Liberty Bell 

 

 

 

 

This one is printed on a blank tee shirt from the famed Melrose Los Angeles punk store - The Village Mews - the tag reads "Village Mews - Clothes for Heroes - Los Angeles, California" : 

 

 

I acquired 4 other Philadelphia Hash House Harriers vintage 80s t-shirts in this collection. They are: 

 

1. Another 1987 Philly HHH 500th Run tee, no free six-pack tag, just normal, officially dates the run to Saturday, September 5, 1987:

 

2. A bright yellow vintage March 1 1980 Philly Rumson Joint Hash tee:

 

 

3. A light blue vintage 1983 Philly HHH 300th Run tee:

 

 

And 4. A vintage 80s Chickenman Sunday HHH Run 689 Cum On On tee:

 

 All these tees are available at Skippy Haha Vintage Etsy!

 

Hinckley house

We have sold the Hinckley house! For the past 8 years I lived in what was John Hinckley Jr's last known address at the time he attempted to gain Jodie Foster's favor by shooting Ronald Reagan. 

It was his parents' house. His dad was an oil exec from Texas and they relocated to Evergreen about 5 years earlier. Immediately after Junior shot his shot, his parents moved out to a neigbors' house and never moved back in, lines of TV vans sat outside for weeks and a secret service helicopter landed on the lawn. The address was printed in the NYT.

We didn't know this before buying but also weren't upset upon learning. An oldtimer neighbor who had been there and lived through it told me when she saw me at the mailbox in the first month we were there.

Jeffco summoned Junior to jury duty in 2017. We got the notice in the mailbox. My thought on that is someone in the county office has the address flagged and every time it's sold they summon him in the following year to alert the new owners. It makes zero sense otherwise. 

He was released from prison while we lived there. That was kind of weird. By all appearances now he is a peaceful folk singer. 

There were some attempted assassinations (I think? Still not sure) this summer and the NYT ran a feature profile on Junior on the cover of their magazine the week we put his house on the market. 

We closed on the house 8 years to the day from the date we bought it. Both times trump was brand new president elect. The cycles are pretty bizarre.

Anyway after a wonderful 8 years we are officially out of the Hinckley house and Evergreen and onto more coastal pastures in Oregon and Florida for the next few months as we find a place to land.

Horns for Health!

 

The concept is very simple - turn negativity into laughs.

The method involves bicycle/clown horns. 

Rule 1 is Everyone Consents. 

 

Only 1 Rule because it may only take 1 honk!

Everyone gets a horn that makes a funny honk noise. 

 

Everyone agrees to honk the horn when someone else says or does something that is ______ (this is what you all consent to beforehand.) 

Common honk reasons are for "negativity" or "being unnecessarily critical." 

 

Instead of holding resentment, honk away negativity!

The honk noise may make pets flinch. A 1 inch magnet at the horn's end - aka Pet Mufflers - will muffle the sound.

 

 

Lanyards may be helpful to carry the horn around. 

 

Happy honkers Greta and Clark Walker endorse H4H!

 

HORNS FOR HEALTH!  

 

Horns available at many places online and in dusty garages around the world!

 

COMING SOON: A very limited number of new branded Horns for Health horns may possibly be available for purchase in May 2024.

Improvised Sunglasses

"Snowblindness is caused by brilliant reflections or glare from the snow. It can occur even on foggy or cloudy days. The first warning of snowblindness comes when you no longer detect variations in the level of ground, followed by a burning sensation of the eyes. Later your eyes pain when exposed to even a weak light. Prevention is the best cure, but if you are stricken, complete darkness is your best medicine. Wear your sunglasses or other material with narrow eye slits cut in it (fig 185)."

Improvised sunglasses x 3

 Using an iPhone, banana peel, and concert ticket

 

 

Adapted from US Army Field Manual 1970 "Survival."

Safety third! Everyone be careful with the eclipse tomorrow!

True Crime Jesus Trinity

"Luminol don't lie"

"The husband did it"

And

"Lie detectors are bullshit"

These are three universal truths gleaned from years of true crime watching 

All 8x10 acrylic on canvas 

Skippyhaha studihohos. 

Pants as water wings

✨💜🩵

"Pants as water wings." Acrylic on canvas 11x14

Adapted from the 1969 US Army Field Manual "Survival, Evasion, and Escape" 

#skippyhaha #studihoho #obviouslynotAiArt #happyeaster2024 #pantsaswaterwings

Elk Meadow Winter Sunset

 

Acrylic on canvas, 8x10

Victory Garden for a Family of Five

 

 

Acrylic and ink on canvas, 8x10