Random sights and sounds…

Random picture: My nephew CEN.  I used to be a CEN critic…these days I’m a big CEN fan.

In 1984 I was walking up the front steps of Fremd High School.  A kid in front of me has Judas Priest cranked on his enormous boom-box.  A Tommy Chong sounding stoner with hair down to his butt stops to ask, “Hey man, does it play Zeppelin?”.  Boom-boxer mumbles “No”.  Stoner says, “Then what good is it man?”

In 1995 I was in Pasadena several days before the Rose Bowl parade.  Hundreds of people pitched tents on the sidewalk, securing front row seats.  I saw an ordinary-looking family of four, laying on a blanket, listening to the Sex Pistols blasting from their dad’s boom-box.  (For the record, one day I’m gonna camp there with Zach.)

Every summer from 1999-2001, a well oiled brotha sat next to the bike path at Chicago’s Oak Street Beach blaring 80’s metal on his boom-box.  For all I know, my head-bangin’ negro still rocks out every summer.  (After Zach was born, I quit riding my bike.)

My three cousins and aunt invited me over for a Christmas lunch.  Today I learned that my grandma was once busted for gardening in the nude – at the age of 94.  Also…I’ve never figured out how my Grandma lived with both her husband and ex-husband at the same time.  Reverse Mormonism?