Nevertheless, here's 36 seconds of the theme song:
Instead, I've decided to stall by posting a 'Drinking Soundtrack' I shared the other day at BOTBer Kim's 'THIS BELLE ROCKS' blog. Dixie Polka (DCRELIEF ~ BATTLE OF THE BANDS) seemed so enthusiastic about the list that I figured I'd stick it here, too.
Here is what I wrote as an Introduction at Kim's blog:
Every one of these tunes was 80-proof tested by me, most of them in the early 1980s when I was still young enough to drink all night and play all day... after waking up on the living room floor... with my bedroom only twelve feet away.
A song for every drinking occasion.
I will include a few sentences of commentary for each song below.
Yeah, truth is, these songs really HAVE been battle-tested by me in my serious drinking years. (Yep. To us wild boys at the 824 Bay Street house in Santa Monica, California, drinking was SERIOUS bidnizz in the early 1980s.)
These aren't in any particular order, except that the list starts and ends with "Hangover Songs", which is how many of our days began back at the Bay Street house. I have written plenty about The League Of Soul Crusaders and our headquarters at 824 Bay Street over the years on my blogs (particularly 'Stephen T. McCarthy's STUFFS'), so I'm not going to repeat a lot of stuffs. You can Google those keywords and find more if you're interested. I'm just going to get right to the songs...
HAIR OF THE DOG AT 8 AM
Pooh's Pa owned a liquor store in Venice. Pooh worked at the store. Sometimes we'd visit him there. The liquor store had a back room where "product" was stored. Need I say more?
 |
| CRANIUM, NAPOLEON, & TORCH ON THE ROOF OF 824 BAY STREET (The Sign Says, "Thinkin' Maybe We Don't Lead The League?" If they're blurred, it's because they're drunk.) |
DRINKIN' & THINKIN'... ALONE
Sometimes I'd get moody and just want to drink alone. I'd lock myself in my bedroom and listen to Van Morrison (usually 'Astral Weeks' or 'Saint Dominic's Preview') or Rickie Lee Jones (usually 'Pirates', sometimes 'The Magazine').
GUYS & KEGS & THE COPS WERE CALLED
The cops were always being called to our house for "Loud music", "Disturbing the peace". Often it was I who went out to meet them on the lawn because I was able to "maintain" pretty well, even in the midst of a "drunken blackout".
Watch for Waylon and Willie and some other friends of Bocephus.
 |
| STEPHEN T. McCARTHY HUNGOVER AND WAITING IN LINE FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN TICKETS |
HOW TO WAKE UP A SLEEPY BAR IN 30 SECONDS
Yeah, it really works! Nappy and I did it once at 'The Cattleman's' saloon in Prescott, Airheadzona. I grew up with this one, as my parents had the .45 RPM single with the illustrations on the paper dust jacket. Anyone remember that?
DRINKIN', KICKIN' ASS AND TAKIN' NAMES
I started getting heavily into the Blues in the last phase of the 'Bay Street Days'.
.
.
 |
| MOST OF 'THE LEAGUE OF SOUL CRUSADERS' ON A BANK ROOF, 4th OF JULY (We had a thang for roofs) |
I discovered this one later, but it sure does work when "The Evidence" is flowing and everyone's juiced up and lovin' life.
 |
| THE TRUNK OF CRANIUM'S '59 CADILLAC LOADED WITH FRIENDS |
JUNGLE JUICE & JUMBLED JARGON
About a week before the Bay Street house was bulldozed to make way for condominiums, we threw one last party. Everyone (with the guts to be there) was there. I had prepared a music mix tape which included this song on it:
POUR IT ALL NIGHT LONG!
I loves me some Wolf, and this one howls!
 |
| JOLLY JACK'S BAR: HOME AWAY FROM HOME |
FEELIN' WILD BUT LOOKIN' GOOD
Speaking of "Howls", I learned from a book that this song was essentially written in a house along the Venice Canals down near Venice Beach. How "perfect"!
 |
| CRUISIN' & SINGIN' |
A PARTY LIFE FOR ME!
We really did often sing this chorus while cruising the Los Angeles area. (Some people there probably still remember.) Only we'd change the lyrics to "a party life for me!" Yeah, we were clever that way.
And because THIS list goes "up to eleven"...
THE HANGOVER WALTZ
We'd wake up hungover, make a beer run, and play side two of The Beatles' 'White Album' and dance... sort of. We called this "The Hangover Waltz". The centerpiece of The Hangover Waltz was 'Rocky Raccoon'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nucSvl7VXVM
 |
| 824 BAY STREET, SANTA MONICA, CALIF. |
The house is gone and the street is quiet now. But I'll bet that if you listen closely on a Summer night, you can still hear distant echoes of laughter, shouting, fighting, and fun. Life being lived to its fullest, and friendships being forged for life.
I'm pretty sure I had THIS SONG on my final Bay Street party mix tape. The lyrics describes our 4 or 5 years at the Bay Street house to a T! You'll get extra credit for listening to it HERE.
~ Stephen [Hic!] McCarthy
'Loyal American Underground'
*You took the da(mn) *Bay Street sign? Ha!
ReplyDeleteIn da bacccccck rm - rain, rain, rain
Ooh, cherry wine!
*(blurred!?) geez.my. head.
Astral weeks - flute, guitar -violins
alone - yeah
In anutha pl. born ageen.
Find me.
-Blcakowts wrok-
All my rowdy...
Hot dang - who's missing?
Pinks and pigs - yow!
*SPRINGSTEEN TICKETS - hmm, a guud day!
Battle of NO - why? (dang drums).
Lemme sleep - knoz every word.
Muddy Waters - REDY!
Freight train harmo. on Sat'day nite.
(Oh Mickey - you' re so fine.)
* Six on-a-roof? Free eggroll!
Bo-ho-cephus - rock my world.
Gotz driv'n sax- go home boy!
Evydence - Gemme dat hat!
*THE TRUNK
Took the rca dog?
Step right up ^
I know - that you know - that I know
you know - every word...
to this slong song.
Wang Dang... beforz my time,
but who cares? pour it.
*HOME AWAY FROM HOME
"Paleface Lounge"
Foose ball & win a keg nite!
Shootin' pool and winning.
WARREN - last call.
I may have dated Lon Chaney. Ha!
Mems. all alone in the moonlight?
*CRUISIN' & SINGIN'
Love balloons - you guys took it
seriously?! AMP ^
Yo Ho - accordion says it all.
Sheesh.
Rocky Raccoon - wow
Tinklin' piano keys.
Knoz every word.
Can we pinch those cheeks?
*824 BAY STREET
Okay, you have the sign ~
I get it.
Hellzapoppin'
Dem roof cats...
Horns, horns, horns!
(@Grandaddy - wink, wink.)
Xtra credit - second time's a charm. Ha!
Oh yeah.........................h.
DIXIE POLKA ~
DeleteI like your stream-o'-consciousness comment.
>>... (Oh Mickey - you' re so fine.)
Oh, gosh, not THAT song!
I'm going to assume you're referring not to the song but to the "Big Mouth" malt liquor (which we consumed in large quantities), and so all is right with the world.
Lon Chaney? I dated him too (in my nightmares). But at 2 AM he'd turn into Tom's #5 chili fries and a six-pack of Heileman's Special Export (what I thought was good beer in 1982), so he wasn't ALL bad.
Ha! Yeah, we took the Bay Street sign. (We took just about everything that wasn't bolted down, and even some things that were... like the Bay Street sign).
The other day, there was a story about Harrison Ford crash-landing a small plane on the Penmar Golf Course on the Santa Monica / Venice border.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/06/harrison-ford-plane-crash-leaves-actor-seriously-injured
Well, we had a "NO DUMPING" sign that was taken from the fence at the Penmar Golf Course. See if you can guess where we placed THAT sign in our Bay Street house!
I still have the Bay Street sign and it's moving to Reno with me. (For the record, it was Twinkie who removed the sign while Napoleon and I were the lookouts. That was a funny night. Twinkie had to go up and down that pole about 12 times before we were finally able to achieve our goal.)
The sign usually rested at the foot of the W.C.Fields statue in our house. W.C. was the official mascot. Well, actually, W.C. shared mascot duties with our crazy dog, Mickey. (He was fine!)
~ Stephen
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteD.P. ~
DeleteI've sometimes tended to call it a "permanent convertible" but that's a misnomer because once the hard top was blow-torched off by Torch, it was a "permanent topless".
I've never seen an episode of 'Baywatch'. Lots of nicknames, eh?
Well, I am still in touch with Pooh and Cranium; my brother Napoleon is still in touch with Twinkie and Wally; and Pooh is still in touch with Torch. So, yeah, one way or another we're all still connected.
~ D-FensDogg
Excuse the delete, ~D-FD
DeleteI posted the photo of my trees in my BOTB margin.
Baywatch was a TV series about life guards on the California shore. Lot of crazy antics, names too, but always watching the bay. I think I only watched one season. I'm sure it was the red (hot) colored, swimsuits they all had to wear. I gave them up for Lent. Ha!
Okay, I've now read this twice,and listened to this three times,(once at Belle's blog). I don't think this has scarred me in any way. I may have had concerns in a few spots, but it seems all's well that ends well, or as rocket j squirrel might say, "stay off the dang roof - your clutch is liable to go out mid-flight."
DeleteThe House of Bay lives forever. And yep, I hear crickets...
DIXIE POLKA ~
DeleteYou been sniffing oil paints again?
I didn't un'erstan' a whole lot of the second comment [DON'T DELETE!] but any friend of Rocket J. Squirrel is a friend of mine. ...Incidentally, I think what he REALLY said was, "Oh, Bullwinkle, that trick NEVER works!" and then he said, "Now here's something we hope you'll REALLY like!"
...I was the first person in North America to start up a 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' Fan Club, did you know that... (bull$h!')?
The Bay Street house was razed for the building of the condominiums in (I believe) 1988. I hadn't lived there since 1984. ...And I'm STILL hungover (and that ain't no bull$h!').
I never watched an episode of 'BAYWATCH' but I knew what it was about. Why watch on TV what I had already lived?
But my maternal Grandma used to watch it, and it boggled Napoleon's mind that this sweet, old lady was watching bull$h!' that even Nappy wouldn't watch.
You, my friend, are a fantastic artist! Someday (or someyear) I am going to buy a painting from you (if I can afford it). Yeah, I'm being serious right now. It might sound like bull$h!', but it ain't.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
["...I was the first person in North America to start up a 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' Fan Club, did you know that... (bull$h!')?"]
DeleteYou mean you didn't? I took that stupid test for nuttin'? Yes, my score lousy, but I was just a little kid. I didn't memorize things so good in those days. Besides cap't kangeroo was stiff competition for my small surroundings. I got one vote among three... unless the Dad worked third... then all bets were off. (Ubetcha)
Baywatch seemed, uh, plastic (tee-hee), and I didn't like Hasselhoff. I gave up television in 2010, and I think I'm a better man for it. Before then, I was just a naggin' female (Ha!). Rocket J: "Don't touch that dial!" Seriously, I don't even own a tv - forget 'em. There are some things I miss, but... not enough.
["You, my friend, are a fantastic artist!"] Such a nice thing to say.
Normally I do 'cost of materials and shipping, only. My agent will rob will you - so we'll leave him out. (Shh!)
Put it on the ever-long, "after I move, get settled in, find a job, get drunk a few times," list. Add: what the heck do I want hangin' on da wall? Maybe a nice Lounge Lizard? Something to hang over the pool table. No pool table? What are you, heathen? (ok - thanks - smile)
dp
"runs better, cheaper, cleaner"
dp ~
Delete>>... You mean you didn't? I took that stupid test for nuttin'?
Nope. I was just makin' it up as I went along. But you didn't take the test for nuttin'. It cost you $25. (the bill is in the mail).
>>... Yes, my score lousy, but I was just a little kid. I didn't memorize things so good in those days.
That's OK. I forgive you.
I liked R&B when I was a little kid, just because it was a cartoon. Then years later, in the VHS era, I bought some 'Best Of...' tapes and discovered that R&B was one of the funniest and cleverest TV shows of all time. Wow! Those writers were WAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE! And at least 95% of the jokes were going over the kids' heads back when it was originally aired. It was really a show for adults but kids (like me) thought it was for them simply because it was cartoons.
Today, R&B is one of my all-time very favorite TV shows and I own EVERY EPISODE on DVD! So creative, so funny!
>>... My agent will rob will you -
Well, sure. If your agent will rob, so will I. I'm as bad a man as he is!
No, no, no! An artist with your talent needs to have that talent rewarded with money, and LOTS OF IT.
>>... Put it on the ever-long, "after I move, get settled in, find a job, get drunk a few times," list.
That was pretty accurate for someone who's never actually met me. Except that I will definitely get drunk a few times BEFORE I find a job. (Priorities, ya know? Gotta keep the priorities straight.)
>>... No pool table? What are you, heathen?
No, I'm Saint Lounge Lizard without a pool table. But I'll tell ya what... I'd rather have a pool table than a pool. Pools, what a lotta work! Chemicals, scrubbing, flushing, refilling. No thanks. God created oceans, which I can body-surf for free, with no chemicals, scrubbing and flushing and refilling.
I asked the Magic 8 Ball if I should move into another home with a pool and the 8 Ball said: "My sources say no". And that's good enuf 4 me.
~ FensD-Dogg(In)
Saint ~FensD-Dogg(In) Lounge Lizard:
DeleteHa! Time is short, so am I, so I left you a tribute post on my blog-spot. If I had to address all of the idiosyncrasies, contained within your comment... it would be akin to L.A. 7-9!
One day I'm going to write about my personal revelation while reading your 1-6. Uph.
dp
My "1-6"? "L.A. 7-9"?
Delete10-4.
10-36? (Am I late?)
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Nah - you got...
Delete10-44 Permission to Leave!
Acts 10:44 - While Saint Lounge Lizard was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
Delete~ Saint D-FensDogg
Hmm, are you... ?
DeleteSaint Peter D-FensDogg...
You may haz another chance.
Nah. I'm Saint Wee Willie Winkie.
Delete~ D-FensDogg
With friends with nicknames like, Pooh, Torch, Cranium - somehow, I'm not surprised.
DeleteHa! You're funny.
Have a safe trip.
DeleteTHANKS! It begins early mornin' tomorrow.
Delete~ D-FensDogg
One summer a bunch of friends and I rented a house in Wildwood, NJ-the picture of Bay street reminded me of that summer (only in the northeast you only get a few months of that weather).
ReplyDeleteI doubt I'd have kept up on Bay St...by mid-August of that year I wanted Labor Day to arrive just so I could experience a sober day...
I think you need to let your readers know that that is not a convertible in the picture....
Oh, right, "TIBURON", the 1964 Caddy with the hard top that Torch blow-torched off and made permanently topless.
DeleteSun or rain, it made no difference, we'd cruise in Tiburon. And as fast as Torch drove, man, raindrops could feel like bullets in the face. Would have felt much worse had we been sober.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
The references to Mickey's Big Mouths in the above comments brought back some memories...
DeleteThe other cheap beer we drank a lot of were Old Milwaukee 16 oz cans...I think back in 1979-1980 it was half as much for a case of those as for Budweiser.
During the Jersey summers there was a place that would sell you five glasses of beer for a dollar...surprisingly, we always started there.
And they wondered why there were so many drunken young men on the boardwalk...had to drink all five glasses while they were cold...duh!
Yeah, right. Serve the guys five glasses of cold beer all at once and what do you suppose the end result will be? That's a quick start on a long night of drinking.
DeleteAnd they're off!... LC starts quickly from the gate to take the early lead. But here comes Billy on the outside, with Leroy trying to nose ahead on the rail...
Another one we drank often because it was about the cheapest one in our area was Schaefer. We called it "The Schaefer Club". Everything got "club" tacked onto the end.
There was a certain Mexican restaurant (Azteca on Lincoln Blvd.) that used to serve .99 cent margaritas up until 12 noon, or so. We used to take good advantage of that, and of course it was called "The Ninety-Nine Cent Club". Ha!
Then there was a bottled beer called Lucky Lager, and if I recall correctly, they were like 10 or 11 oz. instead of 12, but you could buy a whole case of it for, like, $6. or something ridiculous like that.
What we liked best about the "Lucky Lager Club" was that underneath the caps they had symbols and letters printed that were a puzzle. It might be a saying like "Loose Lips Sink Ships" or some other phrase or expression. We used to like to see who could solve the puzzle first. As you can imagine, we'd go through those bottles pretty quickly, because as soon as a puzzle was solved we'd want to get on to the next one.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
;-) I like that GREAT ALBUM!
ReplyDeleteFAE ~
DeleteI don't think a better drinking album could be easily put together.
This one was born from firsthand experience. Hard to beat "the real thing"... which damn sure ain't Coca-Cola!
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
What a fantastic soundtrack of your life in the '80's! My favorites on your list were Rocky Raccoon, and Werewolves of London, though I loved how you wrapped it all up with Louis Armstrong! I always went for the bonus points, as I often froze up on multiple choice exams. One of my favorite trips after college, was when we spent the day at Venice Beach. We loved the people watching, and had lunch at a great seafood restaurant with a spectacular view. I don't remember the name
ReplyDeleteof it, but we ate outside, and had the best time. I think we were there in '84 or '85. Great picture of you, Stephen!
Julie
GEM JULIE ~
DeleteHey, thanks for coming by and sharing such FUN STUFFS!
Oh, VENICE BEACH... if I could be given back all the hours I spent there in my life... I would say, "No thanks. I'll keep the memories and lose the hours".
EVERYBODY should spend at least one day on Venice Beach. Any day in Summer will do, but in the non-Summer months, make it Saturday or Sunday, just to get the full effect.
Fun Fact: Back in the 1960s, God grabbed the East coast of the USA and tilted it up, and all the loose marbles in the country then rolled down to Venice Beach, and they have collected there ever since. There's probably no other place quite like it in America.
Glad you liked the picture.
Another Fun Fact: That photograph of me was taken by Lin Coleman, who later went on to do editing work on Harold Ramis movies. In fact, she was one of the primary editors on the movie 'GROUNDHOG DAY'. See this website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/fullcredits/
My favorite Lin Coleman memory is the night she and I were cruising Sunset Boulevard in her VW Bug with an open keg of beer in the back seat. We had the hose and nozzle reaching up to us in the front seats and anytime we felt like having a beer, we just poured it straight into our glasses right from the backseat keg!
Thankfully, we didn't get caught. But if we had, that would have been the all-time greatest, mother of all "Open Container" charges in L.A. history! (I almost wish we had gotten caught so we'd be famous and idolized by drunks everywhere!)
It was that same night when Lin convinced me (because I was in an intoxicated and weakened condition) to play the part of Jim Morrison of 'The Doors' in her student film. I had written the screenplay at her request, but I had no intention of playing the main character. That night on Sunset Blvd. she yakked me into it, and it was the LAST acting I ever did. (This was years before Val Kilmer played Jim Morrison in that 'Doors' movie.)
Pleased you dug the tunes, JULIE.
Ha! 'WEREWOLVES OF LONDON' - that song couldn't have been born anywhere but in Venice Beach. (Certainly not in refined, civilized London!)
Have you ever seen the YouTube video that features 'THE TOWNHOUSE' BAR in Venice Beach? If not, check it out when you have the time. It's fascinating. The one and only screenplay I've ever written prominently featured The Townhouse bar in Venice Beach, but I didn't learn the very interesting history about 'The Townhouse' bar until many years later when I discovered that YouTube video.
See ya on March 15th for my next BOTB installment? Pssst... Tell a friend.
[;-)}
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
GEM JULIE ~
DeleteBelow is a direct link to the YouTube video I mentioned. Just under 5-minutes long and well worth watching. (By the way, the bartender who serves as the guide in this video has personally served me as well. So, if I'm a no-good drunk... blame HIM! He contributed to my downfall. I was a 'Straight Arrow' until the day I stumbled into 'The Townhouse' and that SOB served me whiskey... and beer... and... women. :0)
THE SECRET OF 'THE TOWNHOUSE' BAR AT VENICE BEACH
~ D-FensDogg
A bunch of classic tunes. I never had a drinking soundtrack, but I was never much of a serious drinker. My soundtracks would have been for other substances, but then again the songs might have never stayed the same.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
LEE ~
ReplyDeleteYes, in my op, these are all good songs for any purpose (even just to sit and listen to) but many of them contain a reference or two to drinking (although that's not necessary to make a song a "drinking" tune - such as 'Astral Weeks') and they just seemed somehow "right" to sip to.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
First, I look forward to that JOA post (I think!). Does that mean you've finished the series?
ReplyDeleteSecond, I really enjoyed the personal pics you posted (and the commentary).
Third, my time is so dang limited that I can't listen to all of these this go-round. I'll make a point of trying to come back here and take them in one at a time. Maybe I'll listen while I do my other blog reading.... I'm really trying to multi-task!
Okay, I'm four songs down. As I listened to the Van Morrison songs, I was thinking these are the after drinking songs. You may have said that, but I was going back and just clicking the songs in order. My next thought was, "He's a mellow drunk." I suppose both could be true.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I've heard the HWJr song before, but I listened again just for fun.
Now, fun story about The Battle of New Orleans. When I was living in Augusta and a regular at this karaoke bar, this was this cross dresser (really nice older guy/gal) who sang there. Not so much of a singer, but still... Anyway, this one of "her" songs. It always cracked me up a bit (since it's not particularly feminine as songs go), but didn't crack me up nearly as much as when "she" sang Stand By Your Man. "Sometimes it's hard to be a woman."
Ha!-Ha! GIRL WONDER, that last part of your comment made me Guffaw Out Loud.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm about half-way through Season 2 of JOA. Still enjoying it although somehow I apparently missed a disc because I didn't see how her friend was stabbed to death. Either a NetFlix mix-up or a DVD that was mislabeled.
I'll have to backtrack at some point, after I'm settled in Reno. Right now my NetFlix account is temporarily closed and I am minutes away from going offline until I have Internet service in Reno.
I start the 2-day drive tomorrow, so this is the end of me... for a week or two. Yak when back...
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
When you get back - you need to look at the Cherdo on the Flipside blog for Thursday, March 12...
ReplyDeleteI said it at my place, but I'll say it here, too: this is a KICK-ASS drinking list! A few of the songs definitely got added to mine :)
ReplyDeleteBest of luck on the move. I hope all goes well and that you'll get to do a battle and swing by ours - I'm really proud of mine this time around :)