Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to the podcast that’s still running from the devil.
This week: Nina comes but once a year; arresting development; Nina know Les Miserables now; vax hacks; medal performance; library lovin’; nuts for Peanuts; spirit of generosity; we re-litigate The Devil and Daniel Mouse; the ejaculate show; Hell hath no jury; change fruit; I now pronounce you…; metric bugs; monkey business; Tokyo drifting off to sleep; world play; Jagger off; Dune patrol; quiz kids; costume department; happy anniversary; Shandlingfreude; the origins of Dogman; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; he wishes it could be Christmas everyday; sibling ribaldry; spinster classes; the elephantine prophecy; animayhem; never a doll moment; bee movie; horror marathon; riff raff; the mess-ter of horror; shear terror; red hat/blue hat; vinegar pusses; and, finally, PDA party.
Question of the Week: Have you ever had a run in with the cops?
Sub-question of the Week: How have you changed over a ten year period in your life?
Thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This one time in the 80s, I was driving with Christine Lippa to the Arts Club Lounge on Seymour in my little old Beetle. I was trying to turn right onto Richards Street, but back then that block had become a female sex workers’ stroll. Men in cars would line up in the turning lane waiting to go around the corner to hire a companion. That fateful evening, I turned right from the middle lane to bypass all the idling cars. A few seconds later, I heard the “blurp” of a police siren. A young officer pulled me over and told me I’d made an illegal turn. I’m usually a meek person around authority figures, but irked by the circumstances I said to him sharply, “You know why I did that.” The constable was taken a bit aback. I then referred to the cars blocking the turning lane to pick up women. Before he could reply, a drunk guy came staggering down the sidewalk, held up by his less-drunk buddy. He yelled to the officer, “Why are you hassling those girls when those whores up the block are selling their c***s?” Well, compared to open soliciting and public intoxication, my minor traffic violation must’ve seemed rather insignificant. Or maybe the officer just felt embarrassed that two sweet-looking 20-something women in a tiny car had to hear such foul language. Little did he know that we were both hardened comedy professionals, especially Lippa. He let me go with the advice, “Next time, go down to the next block to turn.”
Speaking of the 80s, new Sneaky Dragon commenter Robin Mossley also portrayed the title character in Phil Savath’s “A TheatreSports Hamlet”, the first original VTSL play. It set the stage, so to speak, for the many other semi-scripted and improvised formats we were able to create for the company. Including “Star Trick” which I only mention (again) so I can bring up Ed’s planned visit to the Star Trek convention. I hope he has some Mount and Peck encounters to report.
Funny you should ask that Louise! Not only was I able to go to this Star Trek convention on Sunday, November 17th, but did I mention it was only about 15 minutes from my house?! I had no idea what to expect and I’ve been to many Star Trek shows over the years, some that were huge and others that were limited to only one guest so I was prepared for anything. This place near me is the new place to have shows and cons, it’s a shiny Marriott Convention Center and Hotel one town over from me. I walked into this place to the most undersold and quiet convention I’ve ever seen for a mere $20.00. No lines, a very modest dealer’s room and about two dozen Star Trek guests including Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Christina Chong….with no lines. I walked right up like the “Take my money” meme from Futurama for my autographs then spent the next few hours chatting casually with the most friendly guests and fellow Trekkies ever. I couldn’t believe how informal this all was compared to past conventions. There’s some photos but because selfies cost as much as an autograph these days, most of my photos are from the panel featuring Mount and Peck, which was terrific.
The good news is that I was able to enjoy a wide open Star Trek con with very little crowds, the bad news is they probably won’t bring this back to my area due to the low attendance. To be fair, Creation Entertainment, the company in charge really didn’t promote this show that well. So many only heard about this show during or after it was being held with a real desire to attend, I only found out about it right before the weekend myself.
I have photos! I’ve uploaded them to my Flickr page if anyone would like to see.
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBSsFU
Two run-ins with the police come to mind, both were only circumstantial with no issues or arrests.
About 35 years ago I was driving down a crowded interstate near the town I grew up in and it was pouring rain. A large piece of wood was being tossed around by traffic and headed straight for me. I couldn’t avoid the wood and it flew beneath my car only to be shot out behind me right into the headlight of a police car. Of course he pulled me over but not because I was in trouble for the incident but for a statement and my info to prove what had happened. I was never contacted about it after that, I guess my statement and his story was enough to explain a shattered headlight to his superiors.
The other run-in was about 10 years ago. It was about 4:00 in the morning and I was following a co-worker to his parking garage, I was leaving my car there so he could drive us to an early flight to Milwaukee. I was driving slow because he was driving slow trying not to lose me. On the way to the parking garage a policeman pulled me over thinking I was driving like an over-cautious drunk in the wee hours of the morning. It took about 30 seconds to explain to the officer what was happening and showed him my ticket for the flight and that I was very sober. Meanwhile, my co-worker was nowhere to be seen, he’d pulled around a corner due to the fact he’d had some pretty serious run-ins with the police in the past and decided to avoid any more.
I’ve always received the “You haven’t changed in ______ years Ed!” so maybe I really don’t change all that much over time. That’s not to be confused with growth and development which comes from experience but my personality seems to go unchanged according to those who’ve known me most of my life. I’m pretty happy with myself, so I guess that consistensy is a good thing.
Be careful my fellow Sneakers! Stay away from large pieces of wood on the highway and don’t follow your work friends at 4:00 am…
Warp factor nine! See everyone after Thanksgiving!