And a friend of mine sees some frat boy passed out on a corner across from another friend’s apartment. The guy that saw him is all like, “Dude, I’m gonna kick that guy.” I’m all like, “Okay, I’ll hold the door.” Next thing I know we’re carrying a passed out frat boy into the apartment. I went to high school with the guy.
Have you ever hit the intarwebs in search of a really good, high quality Halloween costume only to discover that the only costumes made these days are of the type shown here? Plus, you find 6,274 online stores selling a Captain Hook outfit but every store is selling the exact same product. By the way, that piece of shit is $80. I actually bought that one once. It looked kinda nice and it was called the Captain Hook Prestige costume. Prestige. Nice. Must have.
When I got it I was so disappointed I nearly stabbed my roommate upon opening the package. The fabric was spun plastic shit that was so thin you could see through it, the yellow sash thing was about 18″ long, the plastic hook was so small my fingers alone couldn’t fit inside the black “bell” part. The shoes were some 3″x3″ plastic covers. The jacket was open down the back. And the best part… this adult “one size fits all” costume was so small I couldn’t even get my hands through the cuffs.
So here I am trying to find a costume only to once again be completely and utterly disappointed. What has happened to quality of product? Why can’t I find a decent costume anywhere? Everything is made so cheaply. Nothing has value. Nothing lasts anymore. My parents had costumes they kept for years, made of real fabric. Costumes made so well that I was able to wear them as a kid. This piece of shit pirate getup wouldn’t last through a full night of partying! Plus, one would think that for $80 it would at least be real fabric or have elastic in the cuffs.
So I’m left with one solution. Make my own. A friend will help me. She knows more about this than I, a simple monkey.
Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges is an icon in Memphis. He’s an icon in my life. When I was abandoned in my childhood by my biological parents, Prince Mongo took me in and sheltered me in his castle. He taught me all about the thieves that run the city! He taught me all about the planet Zambodia! He taught me about sticking it to the man! Most importantly he taught me all about creating a myth around myself and about hiding the source of my finances.
The man is an asshole who just likes to piss people off.
“The Books” and My Sudden Realization
Ok, first listen to this track.
This band is one of my all time favorites. They’re called “The Books” and the band consists of two guys, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong. As far as I’m concerned their geniuses. They’re music is strangely experimental incorporating found sounds, field recordings, movie clips and old records into a pulsing tapestry of music written by the duo. Zammuto has described their style as “collage music.” I think this applies very well.
So as I’m reading about these guys I come across the name of a guest vocalist, Anne Doerner. I look her up. I see a photo. I’m all like, that chick looks familiar. I keep reading about the Books. I see something about their first album, my favorite and the source of this track, was recorded in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina, near Asheville, where Zammuto worked after hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Wait, do what? Elmer’s place? Anne? Wait. Huh?
So I hit the reference. Takes me to some magazine’s site where there’s an interview. Okay, yeah, he says something about a hostel in North Carolina.
Next reference… Bingo.
So when I was backpacking the AT years ago, I guess about a year after Thought for Food came out, I got off the trail in Hot Springs, North Carolina. My friend and I stayed in this hiker’s hostel there that was run by an ex Methodist minister named Elmer. The Sunnybank Inn is what it was called. It was an old Victorian style house that he also used as a bed and breakfast. He had an organic farm down the road and there was a great little country cookin’ cafe across the street. Elmer was really interesting. I got the feeling he had been all over the place, seen much and done some crazy shit. He had that old, lost book kinda feeling. While I was there, a woman named Anne was living there with a guy named Nick, who was out of town.
I didn’t even discover The Books until a few years later.
Crazy.