It was twenty years ago today

Well, actually it was one year ago today.
One year ago today I wrote my first blog. I've attached it to the bottom of this post..for old times sake.

63 posts...that's more than one a week. That's more times than I've vacuumed the house in the last year, For reals.


I've had a few decent blogs...two of my favorites were both two parters (and since I've never been shy about shameless self promotion) I'll share them with you now. In case you missed them the first time, enjoy. If you've already read them, treat it like a library book, and take it out again.

First, my day with Christopher Walken
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-day-with-christopher-walken-part-one.html

and part two...
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-day-with-christopher-walken-part-two.html

Then there was the infamous hold up story...another two parter
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-one.html
and this
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-one-twoor-this-is-one-tooor.html

and for good measure, maybe the one about my good friend Stephen King and the Boston Red Sox (who are currently not my good friends)
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/12/whos-guy-that-writes-those-books.html

So that's it, a bit of rehashing, which, come to think of it has been a fairly common thread through most of these.

Anyone want to lay odds on me making it to September 15 2013?
The smart money is on probably not.



Almost forgot....here's my post from one year ago.....
___________________________________________________________
Going to give this a go.
Nobody has ever said to me, "why don't you write a blog?" I never even considered it until my lovely wife asked me last night, "What's that song that goes - I really love your peaches want to shake your tree?" After my quick answer (music trivia has always been a personal strength - some folks can build things, I can tell you Badfingers top three hits). When I got to the pompatus of love line I thought to myself, "now that's a great word and doesn't get nearly the play it deserves", hence, this ridiculous endeavour on my part. That's how my brain works. Maybe at some point I'll actually bother to learn how to create a layout beyond the kindergarten level that is this first crack. So it goes.

Don't know what to expect, how often I'll post, or if I'll have anything interesting to share. A few things I do know...this will suck for awhile...I expect nothing beyond rank amateurism for quite some time..probably won't land on a theme or style (other than the parentheses and dot dot dot...that I obviously use as my fall back punctuation).

Sure there will be the occasional flash of genius - like the awesomeness of the name of my blog- but more often than not it will be the meandering and noodling style that I'm currently employing, but all things considered...who doesn't love to meander and noodle once in awhile.
Speaking of noodles, here's what Mr. Noodle does with a banana...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBOsz03ZZZ0

(the sole reason for that was to see if I could execute a link)

Anyway, don't know how to share this...if anyone would read it anyway...or if this is my first and last.

dot dot dot

My day with Christopher Walken - part two

In case you didn't read part one...you need to ...now, or this will make no sense to you.

http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-day-with-christopher-walken-part-one.html

...and just to help you visualize how the rest of the story goes, picture this every time Chris speaks. This is exactly how he sounded EVERY time he spoke...that off kilter delivery..the slightly odd pronunciation. All the time. All day long.

So here's the scene. Chris Walken and I sitting together in the front seat of a classic black cadillac parked at the end of Custom House Wharf. Saying nothing. Just sitting and staring out the front window. He hasn't even started the car yet. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable....

Chris' eyes are closed, but they're fluttering. He's moving his head like he's having a conversation with himself, then he starts gesticulating like he's punctuating his thoughts ...moving his shoulders...pointing his fingers. This is enough for me so I start to slide across the seat towards the door and I reach for the handle. Just then he opens his eyes and speaks.

"Donut time".

I say, "Donut time"?

He says, "Donut time. You know? Time for donuts". 

"Where do we get a good donut in this town. I'm not talking about no Dunkin Donuts...no Krispy Kreme donuts...no grocery store donuts. I'm talking honest to God donuts. You like a good donut, don't you pal?" (He would call me pal all day).

So I say, "Well there's Tony's Donuts. It's a little bit across town....."

"Stop", he says. He points at me and says, "Tony's it is. Let's roll"

Chris starts the car. He pushes in an 8 track tape. Yes, an 8 track. It's the soundtrack to "Liza with a Z". Kid you not.

"You like music, don't you pal"?, he says as we pull out on to Commercial Street.

"Sure I do", I say.

Chris then talks about Liza Minelli for the rest of the ride to Tony's Donuts. I don't say a word, other than occasionally answering with a "yes" or "no" when he sometimes ends one of his long dialogues in a question.

Something like this...(time to picture Christopher Walken in that video clip).....

"Liza Minelli, now that's some real talent. She was the total package...sing, dance, act. She was it. Cabaret is my favorite movie. You know, I was there the night they filmed this (pointing at the 8 track). May 31, 1972. Lyceum Theater on Broadway. Jesus, the costumes she wore. She was a real trooper. Best show ever. I mean EVER. You've seen this show, haven't you pal"?

"Yes"

"Sure you have pal. You know, I have a donut every morning. It's my one vice. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I don't stay up late. I allow myself one donut every morning, but it's got to be a good one. I'm partial to donuts with a little something extra. Not just your plain or your chocolate. I'm looking for something more out of a donut. Glazed...sprinkles...crunchies....filled...(he emphasizes each type of donut, slow and methodically). I don't do the powdered though. No powdered for me. Do you like powdered donuts pal"?

"No"

"Of course you don't. Too messy. Who wants to eat a messy donut".........

Get the picture?

Ten minutes later we pull into Tony's. Come to think of it, I never had to give him any directions. Somehow he just knew where to go.

"No eating in the car", Chris says. "Let's roll".

We get inside and instead of racks of dozens of different donuts the only thing we see are powdered donuts.

Chris says to me, "What is this some kind of a joke"?

I say to him "Oh geez, what's the date"?

He says, "April 1st"

APRIL FOOL'S DAY !!!

Did I get you?

Now go and get someone else.....

Peace and love.

My day with Christopher Walken - part one

Let's try this one...

My friend Christopher Walken

What you are about to read is unequivocally...indisputably..irrefutably..100% accurate or my middle name is not Francis.

FIRST - THE MEETING

I got to spend a day with Christopher Walken once. My first year out of school I was interning for Simon and Schuster. Their big name author was Steven King at the time, hence the need for a local boy on the roster. I would do things like send out photos to fans, read through his fan mail and pass on the occasional letter that I thought he would like to see (remember, this was the early 80's, people still had to write letters), but mostly I would pick people up either at Logan, Portland, or Bangor and bring them to his house...wait until their meeting was done...and bring them back to the airport. Usually I wouldn't know the person, but occasionally it would be a celebrity.

Most were decent, fairly friendly, and were cool as long as you didn't bother them and minded your own business. Chris Walken was different. Not bad, not unfriendly (actually the extreme opposite), just different.

This is how the day went.

I was told to be at the airport at 6:00AM. The odd thing was that I wasn't supposed to deliver my passenger to the King's house (which was not being reverential...just a shortened version of "the king of horror" that he was labelled with at the time) until 5:00PM. It only took two hours to get to Bangor, which is where the King lived.

When I asked what I was supposed to do with the additional nine hours I had to kill, the answer was, "Your guest has some things he'd like to see". Good enough. I was never told who I was picking up until on my way to the airport. The instructions were always the same when picking up a passenger in Portland.. Go to the Maine Aviation private terminal, park at the front door, go in to greet the guest, take their bags, and bring them to the King's house.

On my way I found out I was picking up Christopher Walken. "That's cool", I thought. He was a great actor and seemed like one strange dude. Little did I know how strange.

So, I get to the airport, and within five minutes Chris walks off the plane. He has no luggage. He comes straight to me, extends his right hand, and says, "Good morning. I'm Dr. Michael Anthony Brace"

OK......

I didn't know until later (much later) that he liked to go by the name of his last character that he played for seventeen days after filming wrapped up. That was the name of the character he played from the last movie that he was in. Why seventeen days, who knew, but that would be one of the more normal occurrences from that day.

So, we get into the car and Chris says to me, " Do you know where the Porthole is?" I say I do. "That's where we're going." Not knowing why, I drive to the Porthole. Oh, and by the way, Chris is sitting in the front seat with me. Not just with me, next to me...literally...right next to me. His left leg is touching my right...his left arm is pressed against my right. Strange. I say nothing. Neither does he. I get to the Porthole and Chris says, "Park the car right over there". He points to an open space at the end of the wharf that the Porthole sits on. I do.

"OK, this is where we get out. See that car over there?" He points to a pristine black Cadillac. Black on the outside, black on the inside. All the chrome had been taken off of it except for the bumpers. It looked like a bullet. "That's my car. That's what we're taking. I'll drive and you be my wing man. Are you ready to have some fun?". So that was that. Christopher Walken had arranged to have his car delivered to a pier on the waterfront of Portland Maine so that he could drive it up to Bangor. 

This was the beginning of a big adventure.

NEXT- THE ROAD TO NOWHERE.......